Resurrection People

Revelation 21:1-6

 “Resurrection People”

01 November 2015 St. Andrew’s Chapel Singapore

Over the last few weeks we’ve seen how hard it can be to live in the world. We only need to turn on the news to learn of the many crises that are ongoing all around us. From six church leaders here in Singapore being convicted of laundering church money to the seemingly never ending flood of refugees fleeing air attacks from both the US and Russia in Syria. From hackers getting their hands on all of our personal information to a cop brutally removing a child from a classroom in front of all her friends. From corporations letting slash and burn tactics get out of hand to the Navy poking China’s territorial claims. Sometimes we have to wonder where good resides in the world.

            Believing what we see around us as the ultimate reality we cry out like Qohelet, the author of Ecclesiastes, “There’s nothing to anything, it’s all smoke. What’s there to show for a lifetime of work, a lifetime of working your fingers to the bone?” (from The Message) It’s understandable and even Biblical to feel like this in the midst of our lives.

            And when we are deep in the events, situations, and stuff of life that make us feel a special kinship with Qohelet, we can begin to ignore four crucial chapters of the Bible: the first two and the last two.

            When we do this, that leaves our functional canon, or the portion of the Bible we intently read and study as starting at the fall in Genesis 3 and ending at the lake of fire in Revelation 20. The world around us tends to confirm that canon. I mean what’s the harm in leaving out 4 of the 1180 chapters of the Bible? It’s only .3% of Scripture.

Andy Crouch, the executive editor of Christianity Today, in his book Playing God warns against the tendency to gloss over or forget about these four key chapters because the other 1176 don’t really tell the world anything new, never mind any good news. We can see Genesis 3 through Revelation 20 by turning on the news or just looking around. Scandal, exploitation, murder, good people trying to make a difference, church fights, the church reaching out to the marginalized.  

Now before everyone starts calling me a heretic for leaving out the fact that Christ’s death was significant and led to good news, let me say I agree. Back to Andy Crouch who in his book Culture Making calls the resurrection, “the most culturally significant event in history.” It was and will remain the center of history, until we get to Revelation 21. It set the stage for the good news of resurrection for us all that we see at the end of Revelation.

So, lets spend a moment with these four chapters and their significance. Genesis one and two clearly state that creation was created with care, love, and purpose. Its important that these chapters begin the story. We are told from whence we came and that we were wonderfully made in and with love as part of a plan with no expectation of anything in return. More importantly, we learn that all of creation is created good with humanity deemed very good.

So where does all this evil in the world come from? Why is it here? Why do bad things happen to the creation that was crafted from nothing by God? All great questions that we could spend years debating. Just browse Amazon or check out a theological library and you’ll see every angle you could think of to answer those questions and even some that you’d never imagine. But, in the end do those questions become more stumbling block than we anticipate?

I’m not saying we shouldn’t engage those questions. Actually we should struggle with them because they are important questions and will help us navigate the trials of life as well as help us sit with others suffering and struggling with the same questions. However, we need to keep Revelation 21 and 22 fresh in our memory to help us answer these weighty questions.

On the back end, here in Revelation we learn that all will again be redeemed and made good. This passage is amazing because it shows us not the end, but rather the teleos or culmination of things. Revelation shows us our destiny, what we are meant to become, of what we are meant to be a part.

John vividly describes how Rome, socialism, ISIS, capitalism, the US, and any other human institution will never be supreme. God, and only God, is supreme. And that is the Gospel, that is great news.

Here in Revelation the Gospel is fulfilled. We, as a part of creation, reach our destiny, our own teleos, our fulfillment. We return to where we belong, where we were made to live. This is why God tells John, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.” God was the beginning and invited us into a plan and God will be there with us at the end. Everything is made new, remade and resurrected according to God’s plan.

From dust you came and to dust you shall return.

In my tradition, when someone dies we don’t call it a funeral rather a Service of Witness to the Resurrection. When we believe that resurrection is something we all participate in through our belief in the promise of Christ’s resurrection and the words at the end of Revelation, death isn’t the end, nor is it a beginning. Death is a reunion with God, with Christ, with all those who have gone before.

I have to admit, it seemed odd to have a passage from Revelation appear as the suggested text for All Saint’s Day. But as I sat with these words over this week, it made so much sense to have us hear these words on the day in which we remember all who have gone before us on this Christian journey.

In a culture where we elevate celebrities, we need a reminder that there are saints among us, many that we will never know. Additionally, we also need the hope of the Gospel that tells us that we aren’t saying hollow words in the Apostles Creed when we say I believe in the communion of saints. We are all a part of that communion of saints. Christ showed us that resurrection is for those that believe and this passage demonstrates that we will all be made new. That what was begun will end at the same place, in the glory of God.

We are invited into this glorious reality. We may not be able to fully comprehend what it will be like. And I think that John is trying to use some glorious metaphors over the remainder of Revelation to describe the beauty and love of his vision, but no human words can adequately describe what is waiting for us. We were created very good and will one day, along with all who have gone before us those saints we lift up today, learn what our true teleos is, who we truly are when we are beyond the fall and with Christ.

Let us work hard to not let the demands of life, the struggles of being human, the frustration of following Christ keep us from remembering four important chapters. For all stories have a beginning and an ending which are just as, if not more important, than the character development. We know where we are headed, we know of Christ victorious. We know we were created good and will return to that state, even if we can’t fully comprehend or imagine what that looks like.

So as we remember all who have gone before and that we will see again, let us truly live as resurrection people who know the end of the story and live a life that reflects our part in the resurrection of all creation.