Jesus: Perfection

The first reading is from Revelation chapter 21.

Revelation 21 · chapter mention

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth.

For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.

I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,

prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,

Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them.

They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.

He will wipe every tear from their eyes.

There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.

He who was seated on the throne said,

I am making everything new.

Then he said,

Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.

He said to me,

It is done.

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.

To him who is thirsty, I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life.

He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God, and he will be my son.

But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral,

those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars,

their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur.

This is the second death.

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.

And he carried me away in the spirit to a mountain great and high,

and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.

It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel,

like a jasper, clear as crystal.

It had a great high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates.

On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel.

There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south, and three on the west.

The wall of the city had twelve foundations,

and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city,

its gates and its walls.

The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide.

He measured the city with the rod, and found it to be twelve thousand stadia in length,

and as wide and high as it is long.

He measured its wall, and it was 144 cubits thick, by man's measurement, which the angel was using.

The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass.

The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone.

The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third calcindony,

the fourth emerald, the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian,

the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz,

the tenth chrysiprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst.

The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl.

The great street of the city was of pure gold, like transparent glass.

I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.

The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it,

for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.

The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendour into it.

On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there.

The glory and honour of the nations will be brought into it.

Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful,

but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life.

And continuing on.

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal,

flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb, down the middle of the great street of the city.

On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit,

yielding its fruit every month.

And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.

No longer will there be any curse.

The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him.

They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.

There will be no more night, they will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun,

for the Lord God will give them light, and they will reign for ever and ever.

The angel said to me,

These words are trustworthy and true.

The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place.

Behold, I am coming soon.

Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy in this book.

I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things.

And when I had heard and seen them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been showing them to me.

But he said to me,

Do not do it.

I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers, the prophets, and with all who keep the words of this book.

Worship God.

And then he told me,

Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, because the time is near.

Let him who does wrong continue to do wrong.

Let him who is vile continue to be vile.

Let him who does right continue to do right.

And let him who is holy continue to be holy.

Behold, I am coming soon.

My reward is with me.

And I will give to everyone according to what he has done.

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.

Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life,

and may go through the gates into the city.

Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts.

The sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches.

I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright morning star.

The Spirit and the Bride say, Come.

And let him who hears say, Come.

And whoever is thirsty, let him come.

And whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.

I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book,

if anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book.

And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy,

God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city,

which are described in this book.

He who testifies to these things says, Yes, I am coming soon.

Amen.

Come, Lord Jesus.

The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people.

Amen.

Will you join with me in prayer?

Gracious Lord and Heavenly Father, thank you for your word

and that wonderful promise that brings the future into the present.

We pray that by your spirit, you might enliven that word in our hearts once again.

Amen.

Give us hope that we might put our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and to obey him.

We pray, Father, that your kingdom might come this morning as we respond to that word.

And we pray these things, Father, so that you might be glorified in your son.

And in his name we pray.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

We have been travelling through the whole of the Bible in the last few weeks

and we are close to the end of our journey.

You will recall that we have been looking at the story of the Bible,

which we have argued is the story of the kingdom of God.

And if you have been with us, it has been a great story with great ideas.

But if that is all it is, I want to suggest to us this morning

that it is completely irrelevant to us and to the world.

For if the Bible is simply a story, it would stand, as it were, against other stories.

It is not real.

But hopefully, as we read from the Bible, we have seen that it claims to be more than just a story.

It claims to be real.

It claims to be the history of God's dealing with the human race in time and space.

So if you were living in Ur 5,000 years ago, you would have met Abraham.

You would have heard of his encounter with God and the promises that were made to him.

The Bible is more than just a series of ideas.

It is not just a fairy tale.

But I also want to say that the Bible is more than just history.

For if the Bible is simply history, it is, again, just as irrelevant to us.

It is irrelevant for most of us that Victoria was the Queen of England some time ago.

It was relevant, perhaps, to her generation.

But to us now, today, in Australia, in Sydney, hundreds of years later.

The story of the Bible is history.

In other words, it is real.

It happened in time and space.

But it is history that has a future.

It extends into the future.

And therefore, it is relevant to us and the world.

Even those who might not be followers of Jesus.

Unless it has a future, let me reiterate that point, it has no relevance.

But because it has a future, it is deeply relevant to all of us.

I suggested in the first week that as we approach the Bible, particularly the Old Testament,

there are four questions that we can ask.

What is the story so far?

So it is an unfolding story, and we need to see it in its context.

We've read a part of the story, and we need to ask ourselves,

well, what is this particular part about?

But it's more than just description.

It tells us something about God and us and the world and the future.

And so we need to ask that question.

What does this, in the context of the unfolding story,

tell us about God and us and the universe?

And lastly, the question is, well, what difference does Jesus make to what we've read?

Well, the first question, I'll apply the same methodology to Revelation 21 and 22.

Well, the story so far, what is the story so far?

What is the story of the kingdom?

I like to characterize it as a story of tension.

It is a story of conflict.

For the world we live in is not right.

We, deep inside of us, yearn to have a better world.

We want the future to be better than today.

We yearn for a world where there is no tears, no pain, no mourning, no death.

The Bible explains that the reason why we live in this world of tension

is because at the very beginning of the history of the human race,

we decided that God is irrelevant,

that we would do a better job running this world and our lives than him,

that we would do a better job being the one who decides what is good and what is bad,

what is right and what is wrong.

And early on in the history of God's dealing with the human race,

we read that God has promised that he would reverse that,

that he would reverse the cursedness, the world of tension that we live in,

and that he would do it through one man and his family.

And as we trace through the story of the Bible and the working out of that promise,

we see that the climax of this story is again in one man,

a carpenter from Galilee.

That the whole of human history and his resolution of the tensions that we feel

focus on this one man and his execution as a criminal

and ultimately his victory over death.

And yet I think the question that is raised through the story,

as we read the story, even now as we stand, is it true?

For we still live in a world of tension.

If God has made a promise that he would fix the world,

that he would reverse the effect of human rebellion and sin

and curse and death,

why do we still live in a world of pain, of tears, of death?

And if you experience it,

you might hear that this is the question that the rest of the world asks.

You claim that there is a God who has promised all these things,

but where is he?

Does he really care?

You know, that is one of the big questions against Christianity

and the claims of the Bible.

If there were a God and he's powerful and he's loving,

why does suffering exist in this world?

Does he really care?

How is he going to act to fix the world?

Even now, we experience that tension,

that world of evil and tragedy,

in a world that seems God is uninvolved.

And therefore, increasingly,

us who are worshippers of this God in the name of Jesus

become irrelevant.

That our voice disappears

because of the overwhelming,

I guess, nature of those questions.

The same question,

where is God in all this,

in this world of tension,

if he's promised to rectify it all?

I think this is the story of the Bible so far.

And this is the point at which we have come to.

And we come to this episode in Revelation 21 and 22.

And unfortunately,

we won't have time to look at every single detail.

It is a fascinating picture and a very encouraging one.

But I'll just draw out some salient points

from these two chapters.

Well, what is this particular episode about?

It is clearly a picture of the kingdom of God.

For what we are shown in, in this episode,

is the throne room of God.

We're taken to the very seat of God.

What do we see in this picture,

in the kingdom of God?

We see God and his anointed on the throne.

Okay, this is a world,

the world in the first century

is no different to our world today.

It is a world of chaos,

of sickness and evil.

What was shown to John,

who wrote this book,

is that God was and is still king.

Despite of everything that we experience

and that is apparent to us.

Well, what is this king doing

in this world of chaos and suffering?

Chapter 21, verse 5.

He's the pronouncement from the throne.

And this is what he says,

I am making everything new.

In the sovereignty of this God,

what he is doing is a recreation of the world.

Everything is being made new,

completely new.

And as part of that process,

he will destroy all the corruption

and evil of the old world.

And this is why in chapter 21, verse 8,

the new world is one that is without evil

or anyone who does evil.

There is no possibility in a new world

that it would be corrupt again.

He's a difference to the garden.

There is possibility in a garden

that there would be a fall.

In this new world,

in this picture of the new world,

there is no possibility.

The new world is described,

in verse 2,

as a city

and as a bride.

His picture language, of course,

he's seeking to capture

something of the experience

of this new world.

It is a beautiful bride,

a pure,

adorned for her wedding.

It is a magnificent,

glorious city.

A city not just made of bricks and mortar,

but of gold and pearls.

But of course,

a city is more than just brick and mortar.

What makes Chastwood a great city to live in,

if you live in Chastwood or elsewhere,

is not because of the building,

hopefully,

but because of the people.

A city is ultimately a network of relationship.

Here is God making a new city,

in other words,

a new human race,

for his new world.

A magnificent,

glorious people.

Pure.

A don for her husband.

But the most significant thing,

I think,

of this picture of the city,

isn't what is there,

we are told,

but what isn't there.

I don't know if you notice

the curious thing.

There is no evil.

Yes,

that is true.

But in verse 22,

did you notice what else is in there?

Have a look.

There is no temple.

That's right.

Now,

that might not surprise you,

but I think for a first century Jew,

it would be very surprising indeed to hear

that the new Jerusalem has no temple.

It would be like me saying,

I've seen a new Sydney,

in the new heavens and the new earth,

and it is glorious.

It is much better than the old Sydney,

except there is no harbour.

And there is no opera house,

and there's no harbour bridge.

And you think,

what is Sydney without the harbour?

It would just be Melbourne.

Melbourne.

And what is so great about that?

See,

each city in our world

have their own distinctive identification.

If I were to mention the Big Ben,

you would know which city I'm talking about,

or the Eiffel Tower.

If I were to mention the temple of God,

you would think Jerusalem.

The temple is what makes Jerusalem the city of God.

For the temple symbolises the very presence of God.

And yet, in this new Jerusalem,

there is no temple.

And we are told why.

Because there is no need for a temple in a new Jerusalem.

In a new Jerusalem,

the Lord God Almighty

and the Lamb are his temple.

For the Lord will be present with his people.

Again, I want to take you through

the story of the Bible so far.

Go back a little bit to Exodus 19,

you remember,

as part of our series.

Exodus 19,

Israel was being prepared to meet God face to face

on Mount Sinai.

There was lightning and thunder.

A terrifying picture.

And what they were told

is that don't come near.

If anyone were to even touch the mountain,

he or she or it must be put to death.

No one can come near into the presence of God.

Even in Israel itself,

there was the temple.

But people were excluded.

There were only a select few

who could come inside the temple.

And even when that were to happen,

there has to be a massacre.

A slaughter of animals

and blood were to be spilled.

But here is different.

In a city of God,

where all of the people of God is present

and God is in the midst of her,

people are to be in fellowship with God face to face.

It reminds us, of course,

of Eden and Genesis 1.

Of Adam and Eve walking, as it were,

side by side,

talking face to face with God.

Here it is.

Again, the future of the kingdom of God.

Where all of us, not excluded,

but in the presence of God,

never with the possibility of being excluded again.

Of course, what stands between Exodus 19

and the life Israel

and Revelation 21 and 22

is Jesus.

We know that.

Jesus is the one who has made the difference.

Do you remember,

as we go towards Easter,

you probably hear this passage again,

Mark 15,

at Jesus' death,

when he finally breathed his last breath,

one of the things that happened was

this enormous curtain in the temple

was torn in half.

Not so much that people now have access to God,

but rather God come

into the midst of sinful people.

Hebrews 10,

Jesus is the high priest

who has offered up

the sacrifice

of his own life

once and for all time

to give us access

to the throne room of God.

There has been a massacre.

There has been a slaughter

and a spilling of blood.

And it is God himself

who has died

in order to bring us

into his presence forever.

Never to be excluded.

And as a result,

chapter 24,

verse,

sorry,

21,

verse 4,

there will be no more tears,

no more mourning,

no crying,

no pain.

There is rather,

in contrast,

a life

in abundance.

Life

in this

new world,

in the kingdom of God,

is pictured

as a river.

to those who are thirsty,

verse 6,

God has promised

the water of life

without cost.

The image is expanded

in chapter 22.

He's a river.

Of course,

if you're living

in the Middle East,

in a desert,

you can really feel

the force of that image.

Water represents life.

No water,

no life.

Here it is,

life in abundance.

The people of God

has access

to the

true of life,

which is set

on either side

of the river,

bearing

12 crops.

In other words,

every month,

every year,

there is a crop

of fruit

from the tree

of life.

In other words,

there's life

forever.

The river flows

through the city.

In other words,

everyone in the city

has access

to the tree of life.

There is no curse,

verse 3.

The lamb

has overcome

the curse.

Those whose name

are written

in his book

can come

and feast

on the tree

of life

forever.

This is the picture

of the kingdom,

of God's rule,

of life

in abundance.

His people

resting in safety.

What the whole

of history

and the story

of the Bible

has been looking

forward to

and now

come to

completion,

the reality.

And what will

God's people

do

in this place,

in God's

kingdom,

in His presence?

Chapter 22,

verse 3.

They do

what they

were created

to do.

They

worship Him.

They

serve Him.

And in doing

so,

verse 5,

they reign

with Him.

It is true

to say

that heaven,

the kingdom

of God,

is going to be

one long

church service.

as it

should be.

In our

fallenness,

when we

think of

the kingdom,

when we

think of

the future,

we tend

to think

of us

in it.

That we

are the

center of

this kingdom.

That we

are the

center of

our future.

I remember

having a

conversation

with my

kids in

the car,

and I

explained to

them what

heaven would

be like,

and they

were really

quite upset.

One of

them,

in fact,

said,

I don't

want to

be there.

Part of

the reason

is that

somebody has

told them

they thought

that the

kingdom of

God in

the future

would be

like

Lunar

Park,

endless

rides.

In our

sinfulness,

we have

sort of

deconstructed

and

reconstructed

kingdom

in our

image.

No wonder

the idea

of one

long

church

service

is so

unappealing.

The

kingdom,

the future,

rather,

is laid

out for

God,

and us

in the

proper

place,

worshipping

God,

enjoying

him

forever.

He is

the center

of the

future.

He is

Revelation

21 and

22.

The story

so far,

what this

episode,

but what

does this

tell us

about God

and us

and the

universe

and the

times?

Well,

one of

the realities

which the

Bible keeps

coming back

to is the

fact that

there is

the kingdom

of God

and Jesus

is the

king,

that he

is Lord.

That

Jesus is

Lord is

more than

just an

idea.

It is

real.

It has

happened in

time and

space.

when Jesus

rose from

the dead,

he was

crowned the

king of

the world.

And that

is what is

in store

for the

future.

In other

words,

there is

a future.

There is

a future

in this

world.

There is

a future

for all

of us.

The future

is not

hopeless.

I read

during the

week a

quote from

Augustine,

one of the

great theologians

of our

church in

the past.

He says,

there,

there,

in the

future,

we shall

rest and

see,

see and

love,

love and

praise.

This is

what shall

be in

the end

without

end.

For what

other end

do we

propose to

ourselves

than to

attain to

the kingdom

of which

there is

no end?

A

kingdom

of rest,

of the

presence of

God,

of love,

of worship.

There is

a future.

It is a

wonderful

future.

Again,

I've been

reading a

little bit

about future

this week

and it

occurred to

me how

important it

is to

the present.

Unless you

have a

future,

you don't

have any

meaning in

the present.

Another word

for meaning

is a

point.

When you're

reading a

story,

when you're

watching a

movie,

there's an

allusion to

movie,

when you're

watching a

movie or

reading a

story,

it's all

very

interesting

but it

means nothing

unless there

is a

point,

there is a

destination,

there is an

end.

This is why

it's actually

quite difficult

if you're

in the

middle of

a story

to know

what the

story is

really about.

It's just a

meandering,

a putting

together of

facts.

Unless there

is a

destination,

unless there

is a

point,

unless there

is an

end point,

everything

that you

experience

in the

middle of

the story

doesn't

make sense.

This is

why it's

so important

when God

deals with

the human

race,

that he

shows us

a picture

of the

destination.

For the

destination

makes sense

of everything

that we

experience

now.

If you

know the

end,

you know

what everything

that you

see and

experience and

understand and

heard is

going towards.

The full

picture,

as Deb has

alluded to,

or mentioned,

has been

shown to

us.

It makes

sense of

everything.

But we

have to be

careful,

for the

present is

not the

future.

We read

of this

kingdom of

God,

of this

river of

life,

of life in

abundance,

of an

experience that

is without

tears and

pain and

mourning and

death.

And we

read that

Jesus is

Lord.

Is Jesus

Lord in the

present?

Yes,

he is

Lord.

And we

sort of

jump from

there into

the future

and we

confuse the

two.

And when

we do,

I think what

happens is we

become terribly

disappointed.

You know,

if we are in

the kingdom and

Jesus is

Lord,

surely our

experience as

the people of

God should

be won without

pain or

tears or

mourning or

sickness or

retrenchment or

divorce.

There should be

no sin.

we must

not confuse

the future

with the

present for

the future

is not

yet.

The future

is future,

the present

is present.

The future

has broken

in to

the present.

Yes,

we experience

the future

in a very

real way

by faith,

but it is

veiled

just like the

cross.

when you

look at the

cross of

Christ,

you see the

glory of

God,

you see the

Son of God

being crowned

as the King

of the world.

But what do

you see?

You see a

naked Jewish

man being

hung on an

instrument of

torture by the

Romans being

executed.

But when you

have the eyes

of faith,

you will see

that it is

there that

the Lamb

is redeeming

the world.

He is

washing us

clean by

that very

very act.

The present

is the

present.

The future

is the

future.

We do

experience

the future

but in a

real way

by faith.

The fullness

of the future

is still

to come.

Now is

the time

of now

and not

yet.

We must

not confuse

the truth.

What does

it mean

for us?

Yes,

there is a

future.

It makes

sense of

the present.

The present

is now.

What is

happening

now?

Well,

the first

thing that

we see

is,

I suppose,

the sobering

thought that

some will

not have

a future

with Jesus.

Chapter

20,

21,

verse 8.

There will

be some

who will

be shut

out,

excluded.

Their

destiny,

according to

this picture

of the future,

is the

second

death.

having a

future that

is coming

and imminent

carries a

warning.

Chapter 22,

verses 7

to 10.

Jesus says

he's coming.

It has

present

implication,

for the

present is

a moment

of opportunity

not to be

missed.

I'm doing

some study

at the

moment.

There is a

future.

It's the

first of

April.

One of my

papers is due.

The

opportunity to

get the

paper done

and not

fail the

course,

I have to

say,

is dwindling

and getting

smaller and

smaller by

the minute.

Every day

that passes,

that window

of opportunity

gets smaller.

It is with

Jesus.

Jesus is

Lord.

He will

come back

to establish

the kingdom

of God.

The

opportunity

to be

included

as that

part of

their kingdom

is getting

smaller and

smaller as

the day

continues.

Once he

comes,

that opportunity

is gone.

And so

there is

an invitation

in verse

17 of

chapter 22.

Take the

opportunity

while it

is still

available

to you.

If you

are one

who does

not know

of Jesus,

who has

no hope

of this

future,

what the

kingdom of

God is

taking you

and I

to,

is the

conclusion

that there

is an

opportunity

now.

And that

opportunity

has to be

taken while

it is still

there.

Take the

opportunity

to receive

salvation.

There might

be people

in your

life that

you care

about,

that you

might want

to avail

that opportunity

to.

Invite

them to

come into

the kingdom,

not to come

to church

per se,

but invite

them into

a relationship

with Jesus.

Invite

them to

be blessed

by God.

You know,

one of the

things that

we've been

saying in

the story

of the

kingdom is

that God

has promised

blessing to

the world.

You recall

that.

Well,

where's the

blessing in

this?

Revelation

Revelation 1:3

chapter 1

verse 3.

Revelation,

the point

of writing

Revelation

is so

that we

might be

blessed.

We might

be blessed

by reading

this word,

this picture

of the

future.

This is the

time of

blessing.

What does

it mean to

be blessed

by God?

What does

it mean

when you

read this

picture of

the kingdom?

It's akin

to me

making a

very important

piece of

warning.

If I

were to

say to

you,

news has

come to

me that

there is a

bomb in

the building.

It's an

important piece

of news.

And there

are two

choices that

you have.

You can

either heed

that news

and start

running,

or you can

ignore that

news.

Here's an

impending

danger.

If you

listen to

the warning,

you will

be blessed

because you

will escape

the explosion

and live.

Here's a

picture of

the future

kingdom that

is coming.

And there

are two

responses to

it.

You can

either believe

that word of

the warning

and flee the

coming wrath

and hold on

to Jesus

for salvation,

or you can

ignore it.

And if you

heed that

word, you

will be

blessed.

Now is

the time

for blessing.

blessing means

heeding that

word, believing

what the

gospel says.

The second

thing now I

want to

mention is

that Jesus

is Lord.

This book,

along with

the rest of

the Bible,

have been

written to

the people

of God.

And one

of the

things that

you will

see in

the history

of the

people of

God is

that

consistently

they are

losers.

If you're

not a

Christian,

truth in

advertising,

you become

a Christian,

you'll be

a loser.

Consistently,

they look

like they're

defeated.

The world

is just

too strong.

The enemies

of God

are just

too clever

for us.

And we

get smashed

every time.

And if

you're a

Christian,

I wonder

whether you

feel that

all the

time.

You sort

of win a

battle,

but you

feel like

you're

losing

the

war all

the

time.

What this

picture of

the future

kingdom shows

us is that

although we

live like

people who

seem defeated,

if Jesus

is Lord,

as he's

demonstrated at

the resurrection,

then the

future belongs

to him,

despite of

all that is

apparent to

us.

And if the

future belongs

to him,

it belongs to

those of

us who

belong to

him.

You

remember what

Jesus says

in Matthew

on the

Sermon on

Mount,

blessed are

the poor.

The world

does not

look like

they belong

to the

poor.

The world

belongs to

the rich,

the powerful,

the clever,

the articulate.

But the

Bible shows

us clearly

that if

Jesus is

Lord,

it belongs

to those

who belong

to him.

Even

though at

this time

we look

like the

poor,

people,

we look

like people

who are

grieving.

For in

reality we

are kings

and priests.

The third

point I will

make in

terms of the

implication for

us is now

and not yet.

We still

experience a

world of

pain and

suffering.

We still

experience

sin.

In

Revelation

21,

22,

it says

that the

future

kingdom of

God

belongs to

those who

are pure.

And for

those of

us on

this side

of heaven,

we yearn

to be

pure.

None of

us are

pure.

When I

look at

myself,

when I

look at

you,

I don't

see people

who are

pure.

I

experience

my own

sin.

But the

reality of

who we

are will

become

apparent

at that

time.

Now is

the time

of

now and

not yet.

When

Jesus

return,

you and

I will

be

transformed

into

his

likeness.

And at

that time,

we will

be

welcomed

into the

city because

we have

been

purified by

the blood

of Jesus.

In the

meantime,

we've grown

along with

the rest

of creation

for the

coming

kingdom.

Lastly,

where is

the kingdom

to be

seen

now?

Where is

the kingdom

visible?

If it is

veiled,

where can

we see

the kingdom?

I want

to suggest

that in

the kingdom,

what will

be the

people doing?

So what

will we

be doing?

We'll be

worshipping

God.

We'll be

serving

him.

We'll be

ruling

with God.

And that

is exactly

where we

see the

kingdom of

God at

work at

this point

in time.

We see

the kingdom

most

visible when

the people

of God

are worshipping

God,

serving him.

And that

is what we

have come

together to

do,

is it not?

We have

come together

in the name

of Christ

to sing

praises to

God and

to love

one another.

This is

the reality

of the

kingdom

now.

Ruling

the world,

the kingdom

of God,

isn't talking

about being

in charge.

We might

not have

any political

power,

but that's

irrelevant.

We

participate

in the

rule of

King Jesus

by worshipping

him,

by proclaiming

his kingship,

by deferring

our needs

for the sake

of others

so that they

might know

Christ.

When we

do that,

we experience

the kingdom.

When we

do that,

the kingdom

becomes

visible.

The story

of the

Bible

is the

story of

the kingdom.

It is

more than

just a

bunch of

good ideas.

It is

more than

just history,

although it

did happen.

It is

history

with a

trajectory,

with a

pathway

towards the

future.

It is a

certain

thing.

Jesus

is the

Lord.

He is

Lord now.

He will

come again

and the

kingdom will

be visible

at that

time.

In the

meantime,

he is

still

Lord.

We are

to proclaim

him as

Lord.

We are

to live

as people

of the

kingdom

with him

as the

Lord.

Let me

encourage you

with those

words.

Will you

join me

in prayer?

Gracious

Lord,

Heavenly

Father,

thank you

that Jesus

is the

Lord of

the

world.

Thank you

that you

have given

us a

hope,

a word

of what

the future

holds and

what reality

is now.

We pray,

Father,

that we

might live

in light

of that

hope,

seeing all

of our

life in

the context

of that

coming

kingdom,

the

priorities,

the meaning,

the

relationships.

We pray,

Father,

that in our

priorities,

in our

lives,

in our

proclamation,

in our

worship,

that the

world and

us might

see clearly

that Jesus

is Lord

and in

doing so,

all glory

might go to

him.

And we

pray this

for his

sake.

And we

pray along

with John,

come Lord

Jesus,

come.

Amen.