THE HOLY CITY

Rev. 21: 9- 22:5

Early in my ministry, a Methodist colleague was showing me how he put his bulletin together. It was my first church and I was considering the way neighboring churches shared there information. As I turned to their last page of announcements there were these words: “On August 7, 1981, Sarah Stevenson transferred her membership to the Church of New Jerusalem.” I almost asked him where that church was, until I caught myself. It was a death notice; the Presbyterians would say “In Memoriam” and the Methodists would say “Transferred to the Church of New Jerusalem.” One depicts the movement from a human pew to a heavenly pew; moving from a chancel choir to a celestial choir; doing mission around the world to doing, well, mission around the world. That picture gave me pause and perhaps some comfort. Presbyterians, contrary to what others might say about us, are people who know the Bible and base our beliefs on the Bible. We say “debts and debtors” for the Lord’s Prayer because that’s the way Jesus said it in his Sermon on the Mount;” we say “In Memoriam” instead of “New Jerusalem” because John’s vision described a city without mention of a church. Sometimes we can be downright stubborn about what the Bible says and what it does not say. We correct those who say “As the Bible says, ‘The Lord helps those who help themselves,’” and gently inform them that it was written by Benjamin Franklin in Poor Richard’s Almanac. But if I were a Methodist, as I was as a child, I might indeed picture all of my grandparents being transferred to the “Church of New Jerusalem,” and picturing them worshipping, singing, and sharing the foods of great banquets. We have hints of what the true church looks like from Acts 2: 44-46 about all things being held together; and from Luke 14, the parable of the Great Banquet that Jesus told. But we can even see the image of Heaven (Holy Zion as they called it) if we go all the way back to Isaiah 25 verse 6 and the following. So much of Revelation came from the Old Testament. Listen: “On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make a feast of rich foods for all peoples, a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines. And he will destroy the shroud that is cast over the peoples, the sheet that is spread over all nations; he will swallow up death forever. The Lord will wipe away the tears from their faces … for the Lord has spoken. Lo, this is our God, we have waited for him so that he might save us.” That was Isaiah, and some of Revelation’s images come directly from those words! People’s images of what has been called “the New Age,” or “The New Day,” or in theological terms, the “Eschatological return of the Messiah” come not just from the last book of the Bible, but also from the first book and from the twenty-third book and several others. I would love to think, like Disciples of Christ minister Fred Craddock has described, that as I near my crossing over day, my friends who are already in Heaven, begin to make a banner in my honor and that, as I arrive there, they will spread it out before my very eyes, and through tears of gladness I will read “Welcome Home.” I would like to think, like literalists do, that we could take today’s passage and believe there are actual gates made of pearls and actual roads made with gold and walls decorated with jewels. Children think in literal ways and how beautiful that image is. But the way I understand Revelation is the way that Presbyterian churchman and professor, the late Dr. Bruce Metzger taught it to me: “Revelation does not mean what it says, it means what it means.” That is the man who took the brave step of challenging some translations in the King James Bible such as faith, hope, and charity, arguing that the translation “faith, hope, and love,” is more accurate. Modern translations owe a debt to that man. So like Jesus’ attempts to describe what was indescribable in human terms, he does the same thing as he gives heavenly glimpses to John, using metaphors to help us know the Kingdom of Heaven: it is like a sower, a banquet, a mustard seed, or a treasure; thus Jesus, through John, describes the city in the most precious and priceless of terms. Of course, in verse 10 of Revelation 21 he starts on a high mountain, just as Isaiah did; “In the Spirit,” John said, “he carried me away to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, it’s radiance like a most rare jewel; like jasper. It had a high wall with 12 gates, and at the gates 12 angels, and on the gates the names of the 12 tribes of the sons of Israel, on the east 3 gates, and the north 3 gates and the south 3 gates and the west 3 gates. And the wall had 12 foundations, and on the 12 names of the Apostles of the Lamb.” This is not a city to measured by a surveyor or adorned by a jeweler. This picture with the 12s welcomed people coming from any direction who honor the Lord as the Lamb of God who took away the sin of the world. There is no Temple and no sun in that picture, for the light radiates from the glory of God and from the Lamb. (Again, don’t get out a paintbrush, just take in the images!) All the measurements and adornments are to denote grandeur in breathtaking and dazzling proportions. There is a return, in a matter of speaking, to Genesis, the beginning, when Eden was perfect and untainted by sin. Here is that description by John: “He showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God (Shall We Gather at the River?) and of the Lamb through the middle of the city (There was no river in Old Jerusalem! This image tells us we are crossing over to the other side as many Spiritual songs have affirmed.) There is a tree of life in this Holy City, and it yields 12 kinds of fruit that is, it brings forth that which is delicious, nutritious, and seasonal each month of the year! It is a picture of plenty. It is a huge change from a city being taken over or filled with hungry people. The New Jerusalem has light and food and love; what it does not have is tears or pain or death.

Thanks to what Jesus showed John, we may not have family members with banners or a church of New Jerusalem, but we do have a city, (because that is an image we can understand) but the difference is this one has no temple because God’s Spirit dwells in the hearts of the faithful; that is God’s new temple, and it is good. So today, if you are thinking of a mother or grandmother, a father or grandfather, a spouse or a child or a friend or someone else close who has gone to “be with the Lord” as it has been said, if you believe the Bible, they are in a wonderful place; if you trust in Jesus, they are in a wonderful place; and our Lord has commissioned us to work for justice and peace even in our world so that cracks of Heaven’s light will, so to speak, pour through it’s floorboards, and there will be places where Jesus can see the Kingdom’s work even here. It may happen as we build shelter for others with volunteer labor this week; it may happen as we sit with a loved one in their room or house in their time of illness or mourning; it may happen through ones who are graduating this month, some of whom will make a Kingdom difference through their work or life. Who will make a difference so that the kingdom begins to break in to our world? You may be the one, or sitting by the one, who will join others in changing the world! According to one Old Testament prophet, when “justice rolls down like waters,” we can begin to transform our human cities into holy ones. For a day or two after a tragedy, you may have witnessed (as I have) that greed, self-interest, and prejudice gets set aside as neighbor helps neighbor. Kingdom work has been witnessed amidst the tornado in Kansas, the tornadoes in Volusia and Lake Counties, the fighting of fires, and in the work of our armed forces. But Heaven’s picture is so different from “business as usual” on Earth! One prophet, Isaiah preached this: “When the Messiah comes, the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him: that includes wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge of God and respect for God, along with piety. Seven-fold gifts. He will not judge with his eyes or ears, but with right decisions; he will lift up the poor and meek and have no patience with those who extort from them. And, as we look out on the green pastures and the rugged high mountains, there will be a breathtaking site: a wolf and a lamb will sit next to each other; so will a leopard and a goat, along with a calf and a lion, and a little child. Just as peace had to rule in the safety of the ark while the world was being destroyed, so one day there will be a new day when amazing sights will tear up our eyes with joy. Until then, know that the city is beautiful, the Lamb is worthy, the Word is trustworthy, and the changes will be beyond your comprehension. On the one hand, I cannot wait to get there; on the other, I cannot wait to start working on Earth to make some holy moments. You can too; let’s see what a difference we can make together and separately for the human city, before, one day, we get to the Holy City.

Jeffrey A. Sumner May 12, 2007