Sermon: New Jerusalem, Here and Now

Lectionary Year C, Easter 6
Text: Revelation 21:(8-9), 10, 22-27; 22:1-5

On Interpretations and Methods of Interpretation

The last few pages of the Bible, the last couple chapters of Revelation, is in most Christian circles interpreted as what “heaven” or our eternal home away from this present world is going to be like. I don’t think that is an entirely wrong interpretation. It’s one that I grew up with and held to for at least three decades of my life. But I do think it is an interpretation that is based on modern ways of reading and interpreting literature; that is, we assume that something that appears at the end, particularly when all the words and language appear to point to a grand conclusion, therefore, must be chronologically and be spatially found at the very end of history.

We are living through times of increasing dysfunction and uncertainty, and there might be a certain amount of comfort that is found by looking to Revelation as an oracle about a future restoration of good order. When we see the violence and atrocities that are being committed by humans against humans, when our own safety and security are less certain than they were than just a few years ago, the words that tell us nothing evil will enter the restored city certainly are inviting. And looking to the words of Revelation for hope is one valid way of reading them.

But are we, the church, to merely suffer and wait through the present troubles until the words of Revelation find their fulfillment at some future time?

Intended Audience

The book of Revelation was not written to 19^th, 20^th, and 21^st century Christians. It was written to seven churches in ancient Asia Minor (in the region of present-day Turkey). They were words with immediate applicability to these churches. The writing took place in the context of a brutal empire, at best agnostic and at worst hostile to the Christian faith, and where the Jewish Temple had been destroyed by that same empire some two to three decades prior to the writing and the Jews had been scattered. Christianity was not yet completely separate from Judaism, although the rift was widening and in many places followers of Christ were no longer welcome in synagogues.

The words, the themes, and the imagery found in Revelation are steeped in the Hebrew scriptures: the Prophets certainly, but also the Torah and the Writings. It does violence to Revelation when it is interpreted apart from the allusions the writer makes back to his scripture. Unfortunately, many modern interpretations of Revelation do just that. They make the a priori assumption that it contains prophecies about the modern world and attempt to fit the words to modern-day events and persons.

One other critical piece of information necessary to interpret Revelation is the knowledge that the term “time of the end” or “age to come” is not pointing to a long distant future, but a new age that was inaugurated and ushered in through the death and resurrection of Jesus. Whenever we see a New Testament writer referring to end times, we need to understand that they assumed that they were already starting to live in it. That said, they also understood that the prior age was still ongoing alongside, and that the complete fulfillment of the promise of the age to come was yet to be in the future.

This rather long preamble I think is necessary because, in a nutshell, what we read from Revelation today, the original recipients would have understood to already be taking place among them.

The Identity of the New Jerusalem

The lectionary reading starts at chapter 21, verse 10, but if we just back up one verse we get a fuller context: “Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, ‘Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.’” Then continuing, “And in the spirit he carried me away to a great, high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God.”

John is told he will be shown the bride and the wife of the Lamb. From other texts in the New Testament, it is understood that the bride metaphor represents the church. John expects to see the church, but instead he sees the New Jerusalem. Many biblical scholars today agree that the New Jerusalem is in fact a symbolic representation of the church. Several of the letters to the churches at the beginning of Revelation contain references to imagery found in the description of the New Jerusalem. For example,

Church at Ephesus	Those who conquer will be given permission to eat from the tree of life (2:7; c.f. 22:2)
Church at Sardis	Those who conquer will have their names in the book of life (3:5; c.f., 21:27)
Church at Philadelphia	Those who conquer will have the name of God and the name of the New Jerusalem written on them (3:12; c.f., 22:4)
Church at Laodicea	Those who conquer will join God on the throne and reign with God (3:21; c.f., 22:3, 5)

I think this reinforces the interpretation that the New Jerusalem is the church.

Characteristics of the New Jerusalem 

What then are some of the features and characteristics that describe the New Jerusalem?

No Temple

First, there is no temple. But then the text immediately goes to state that God and the Lamb is the temple. In any ancient civilization, the temple was the religious, civic, political, and social center. But in the New Jerusalem, there is no separate structure that the people “go” to. Rather, the very presence of God is the temple, and God’s presence permeates the entire city. When this thought is carried through to the interpretation that the New Jerusalem is the church, it means that there are no special locations or objects that are more sacred than others. Everything about the church is included in God’s sphere. In the wilderness sanctuary and the subsequent Israelite temple and the Second temple at Jesus’ time, there were designated levels of holiness and rings of scaredness as one went from the outside to the center, from the courtyard to the Most Holy place, which was seen as the throne room of God. These distinctions no longer exist in the church. Everyone is on equal footing, whatever gender, whatever nationality, whatever socio-economic status – all have direct access to God.

Always Day

The next characteristic of the New Jerusalem is that it is always day, never night, and no illumination is needed because God and the Lamb are its light. Now, this might be literally the case, but I do see it more in symbolic terms, especially when interpreting this city as the church. Both the sun and moon which give light during the day and night, are created objects. But when the Creator is there in person, all other illuminations fade away. What I think this suggests is that whereas in prior ages, prophets and priests mediated God for the people, and God was understood in terms of those messages, in the unfolding age, the church should be seeing and understanding God in the revelation of Jesus Christ, which not coincidentally is the first line of the book of Revelation.

The next characteristic of this city is that the “nations will walk by its light and the kings of the earth will bring glory to it,” and “people will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations.” What this suggests to me is that the city, and therefore, the church, is broadly inclusive.

The Gates of the City

The text also tells us that the gates of the city will never be shut by day, and then adds an observation that there is no more night. Therefore, the city’s gates will never be shut, ever. Most traditional interpretations take this part of the description of the New Jerusalem and interpret in terms of security: that in this future city, there will be no more reason to fear. Again, I think that is a valid interpretation. But in this discussion, where we are interpreting the city as the church, I think there are additional possibilities for understanding the open gates.

The gates are open to let those who are coming from the outside into the city. And we just heard that the nations and their kings, walking by the light of the Lamb, are coming to the city. What this suggests is threefold. First, that the light from the church shines so brightly that the world around will want to come inside. Second, that the church is a welcoming place for everyone. The nations may have very different customs and practices, and those who enter are different in nationality and race. Yet they have one thing in common with those that are already inside: they are walking by the light of the Lamb. And the gates are open to them. They are welcome. The third point is that their entering in adds to the glory of the church. The light that shines in the city grows brighter as these different cultures, nations, practices, traditions, and experiences add to the church.

What is Not in the City

Going on… The next characteristic of the city is described in the negative, describing what is not present. “But nothing unclean will enter it, nor anyone who practices abomination or falsehood… Nothing accursed will be found there any more.”

A Brief History of Sacred Spaces

To understand why this is so important, we must look back at the history of sacred spaces in the Bible. The first sacred space was the Garden of Eden, but it was invaded by a liar and caused the fall of humankind. The wilderness tabernacle was the next defined sacred space, but almost immediately after the final curtain was hung, Nadab and Abihu brought in unauthorized fire into the sanctuary and promptly died as a result. The word unauthorized can also be translated “strange” and has the meaning of “not holy”. Solomon’s Temple was profaned numerous times during its history. And the Second Temple was first defiled by Antiochus IV Epiphanes when he erected an altar to Zeus. The cleansing of the Temple by Jesus demonstrates that he believed that there were elements of uncleanness and defilement ongoing in the Temple during his time.

We tend to think of clean and unclean and defilement as limited to the religious sphere, but in ancient conception there was no clear distinction among religious, societal, and political spheres. Uncleanness was considered a pollution to all of life, if left unchecked. It could spread to the entire nation and cut them off from God. The purification rituals were provided to offer ways of correcting this potential danger.

Every sacred space recorded in Hebrew and Jewish history had been defiled. History does not bode well for sacred spaces. But the promise is that when the New Jerusalem manifests in its final glory, nothing will be allowed into it that causes defilement. No seed of impurity will be allowed in again. No contagious contamination will be allowed in to spread and destroy this final sacred space.

Uncleanness and Contamination in Revelation

What are some of these pollutants that is being referred to? Revelation 21:8 offers a possible clarification, “But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the polluted, the murderers, the fornicators, the sorcerers, the idolaters, and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

When we hear this, we might immediately think of these as individual sins committed by individuals. But we should recall the context of the writing of Revelation: that it was written to churches after the destruction of Jerusalem, to Christians who at times were persecuted by the Roman Empire. Revelation was written to encourage resistance against the Empire and to not give up.

Aside from isolated incidents of persecution against Christians, at that time there was no systematic persecution against them nor was there any specific law forbidding Christianity. Only when Christians were accused by someone for violating the customs and laws of the Empire did religious allegiance become an issue. And for much of this part of history, the test was merely to denounce Jesus Christ. It was easy to acquiesce to the Empire, remain quiet, and be fairly safe and secure. I read the above chapter 21:8 as a polemic against this kind of “getting by” kind of Christianity. Revelation is demanding that Christians take a bold stand against the Empire and what it stands for.

Contagious Contamination in the 21st Century Church

The uncleanness, the abomination, and the lies that Revelation refers to, I believe, is the kind of Christianity that is acceptable to the powers of the world, with the desire to be in league with these powers, and the timidity and cowardice and fear that keeps good Christians silent in the face of clear and obvious immorality and injustice. This kind of pollution is contagious, and I do believe it has contaminated a great swath of modern-day Christianity. The warnings and challenges found in Revelation are just as relevant today as it was during the Roman Empire.

The Source of Life

The kind of church that does not compromise with the powers of the world, which does not seek worldly power, and which is vocal in challenging the injustices of the powerful has something to offer: Life. Life is at the center of the New Jerusalem. Life is pictured as a river flowing from the center of the city and the Tree of Life straddling this river. The source of Life is the God and the Lamb, who are on their throne.

The only genuine power and authority is already in the church. The source of truth and life is among the church. Yet the church is frequently all too willing to pursue temporal power and privilege; to embrace tacitly, and sometimes explicitly, lies to further its temporal power; to claim support for life yet demonstrate that it is a claim in name only.

We are living in an age of renewed empire. Power is being consolidated into the hands of a few. We see the increasing sufferings of more and more populations, not just here in America but throughout the world. American Christianity is still very much a privileged segment of society. Many of us realize there is much wrong in our society, even here locally. Yet we would rather remain the silent majority. To be too loud might bring negative attention, perhaps even opposition.

What does living faithfully in Christ look like? Would we speak and behave differently if our trust was completely in the faithfulness of Christ to carry us through whatever we go through? What does it look like for the church, and this church, to be a bright shining light to the world? Do we experience the River of Life and the Tree of Life in our midst? Is it freely available to anyone who is willing to partake of it?

A small group of Christ’s followers on Easter morning changed the world. That same power and authority is still with us. We may be small, but we can be bold in proclaiming and living the life that is found in Christ. We can offer to this community a foretaste, today, of the New Jerusalem promised in its final glory.