Revelation 21:1-6
1 I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
“See, the home of God is among mortals.
He will dwell with them;
they will be his peoples,
and God himself will be with them;
4 he will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for the first things have passed away.”
5 And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.”
In this sermon series on the Book of Revelation it would just be wrong if “The Rapture” was “Left Behind.” See what I did there? It is unfortunate, but when many people think about the Book of Revelation all they can think about is Jesus with one of those old fashioned, fully metal hoovers, vacuuming up the faithful to heaven, while the rest of us are “left behind.” A large group of very loud people have hijacked the Book of Revelation with this toxic invention. It’s been done so completely that there are countless stories of kids coming home from school to an empty house and immediately assuming their family had been raptured and they had been left behind.
It should be “needless to say” but I’ve found over the years it is “absolutely necessary to say”… The Rapture is neither Biblical, nor is it ancient, nor is it real. It was invented in 1830 by John Nelson Darby, in Port Glasgow, Scotland, based on what he claims were the visions of 15 year old Margaret MacDonald. His claim was that Jesus would return not once, but twice. The first time, Jesus would return in secret to “Rapture” the church up to heaven. The second time would be Jesus’ “official” return. It is important to understand that the word “rapture” is not found anywhere in the Bible nor is the idea of a two-fold return of Jesus. The only bit that Darby and other rapture proponents point to in Scripture is a passage in First Thessalonians, “Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever.”
What that verse from First Thessalonians is ACTUALLY about is the human reaction to the event described in the lesson we read from Revelation this morning. You’ll notice that in today’s lesson people are not permanently vacuumed “UP” to heaven, but it is the New Jerusalem… God’s Kingdom… that comes “DOWN” to earth. In ancient times when important people came to town, the locals, excited to see them, would go out of the city to meet them and then walk with them back into town. The best example of that is what the people did for Jesus on Palm Sunday. That’s all this is. No one is vacuumed up to heaven to escape anything. Paul was simply saying that when Jesus returns, people will be so excited to see him that they will all go out to greet him!
Neither Jesus, nor John nor Paul (nor George or Ringo for that matter) ever said or wrote any of this Rapture Nonsense. That idea, that God is an emotionally manipulative, big brother just waiting for us to mess up and leave us behind, turns God into an abusive, rather than loving parent. It’s an evil idea used by those in power to keep the powerless from seeing Revelation as it was intended… as a message of hope in the midst of hopelessness. A hope, grounded in God’s steadfast love for ALL of creation and God’s intention to make ALL of Creation... ALL OF IT... New again. To transform THIS world… our world… into a world where there is no more mourning, crying, or pain
The people who first heard the letter we now call “Revelation” read aloud in worship in their churches in what is now Western Turkey, were living in the shadow of the destruction of the Temple and as a people who functioned continuously as Rome’s minority scapegoat for anything bad that happened anywhere in the Empire. This letter, written to these seven particular churches in that particular time, was meant to be a message of hope for the hopelessly oppressed… a message that God would NOT accept their situation as the status quo.
While you and I were not, and are not, the intended recipients of this letter from John, there are things we can learn by reading their mail 2000 years later. The first thing is that Christians have seen impossible times before and have made it though. Living through dumpster fire times IS possible! The world may scream that Caesar is Lord and demand that we scream the same! But our task, as faithful Christians, is to instead insist that for us, it is Jesus who is Lord… and that means that Caesar, no matter what name he goes by in the current world, is profoundly and absolutely NOT our lord… in any way, shape or form. Ever.
The other thing that the faithful are called to in this letter we call “Revelation”, is to embrace God’s vision of radical and revolutionary justice and hope, not just for Christians, but for the entire world! We are to embrace the vision of our world transformed into the New Jerusalem where those who are thirsty… whether for water or justice or peace… are invited to drink freely. Then, once we’ve embraced that vision, we are to start driving whatever tiny part of this world we have the power to steer, toward that vision without delay… even while it is still just a dream. We are to drive toward that place where there are no more tears, mourning or pain… where there is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female, brown or white, gay or straight, citizen or alien, but ALL are as God created us to be… ONE.
The Book of Revelation is not about an angry, manipulative God with a giant cosmic vacuum for the good and a cosmic timeout of terror for the rest of us. It is an encouragement to hold onto what we value as Christians… compassion, empathy, care for our neighbors, and the power of generous self giving love, even in the most trying of times. And, it is also an invitation from God for the people of those seven churches… and by extension for people like us, reading their mail 2000 years later, to boldly move toward God’s vision of revolutionary hope for the future, even while the world around us still burns like a dumpster fire. We are called to walk step by step in the direction of love and hope, regardless of what is happening around us, until we hear God say, “It is done.” Amen.
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