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Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5

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. I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. Its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. People will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. But nothing unclean will enter it, nor anyone who practices abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. Nothing accursed will be found there any more. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him; they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

A couple weeks ago I gave you a bunch of background on the book of Revelation trying to reclaim this book from the fear mongering/misguided/rapture/end times types.  I told you that the crazy and the creepy in that book had two purposes, neither of which is to tell a literal future.  First, it was meant to out-crazy the real world in order to get people's attention.  Second, it was written as fiction but with a deeply imbedded truth so it didn’t look like overt propaganda against the Emperor… which would get you killed. 

My hope in de-mystifying this book is that we could learn to not get hung up on the style of the writing meant to catch readers' attention and throw Caesar’s goons off the scent, but instead focus on the timeless truths underneath.  When you do that, you begin to see that the whole of Revelation goes back and forth making two points.  One of those truths is to remind people that Jesus is Lord and Caesar is NOT.  Even when the world doesn’t seem that way, THAT’S the truth!  The other truth is a picture of how God intends for the world to look and work.  In today’s lesson we get more of the “what God intends” stuff rather than the stuff that reminds us that Jesus is Lord and that all those fantastical baddies and beasties (aka Caesar and his goons) are NOT!  In today’s lesson, God "reveals" to us the world as God intends for it to be… a world with metaphorically open gates and a city without walls… a place that welcomes ALL people.  A place where all means ALL!  It shows us a place where there is no darkness.  A place where the One True God is on the throne and all of the world’s darkness… the darkness of war, nationalism, racism fueled violence, sexism, homophobia, transphobia and all the other fear-fueled sorts of dangerous supremacies fade into oblivion in the radiant brilliance of God’s light and love. 

This lesson uses the imagery of water flowing like crystal down the middle of the city’s public streets… PUBLIC… in other words, available for ALL to drink, regardless of all the “BUTS” and “Except-Fors” the world would add.  The essentials for life aren’t hoarded in God's vision for the world.  The water isn’t owned by anyone, bottled by anyone or the prices manipulated for the greatest profits at the water pump.  This water isn’t controlled by any sort of Caesar… This metaphorical water is the water of justice which flows freely from the throne of God without end!  

This “Reveleation” also shows us the Tree of Life, which bears abundant fruit every single month of the year! That means there is never a time of hunger, whether that is a hunger for food, or for justice, or equality, or dignity, or even a murderous-white-supremacist-free trip to the neighborhood grocery store! When Jesus is LORD and Caesar is NOT… everyone has all that they need AND everyone has life in abundance!  Because Jesus is LORD and Caesar is NOT… health, healing, and wholeness is available to all of creation and can be found as freely and abundantly as leaves on a tree!  

This was written to be a book of HOPE given to a people stuck in a system of everyday violence, senseless oppression, manufactured paranoia, and fear that led inevitably to anger, hatred and horrific violence with no obvious way out.  It was a book of HOPE given to a people ruled by a fearful ruler in a seemingly unchangeable system, enabled by people who thought they could manipulate the Beast they were creating and who never realized that they too would inevitably be consumed by it as well.  It was a book written both to SHOW the world a hope-filled vision of what God intends, AND to provide the people who were stuck in that spot a DIRECTION… a target to shoot for with their efforts, even when working toward that goal felt like walking into a hurricane, through endless miles of knee deep sand.  It was written to give them hope and help them move toward better days.  

It was ALSO written so that if any FUTURE generation should ever find themselves in that sort of terrible place, where beasts and baddies are fomenting hatred and violence, clawing away rights and freedoms, and bringing violence upon violence into the world… This book was also written, so THAT future generation too would be reminded that is NOT the way God created the world to work!  God’s true intention for this world is an inclusive, compassionate, and caring world without gates or walls… without any us verses them… without fabricated racist fears of replacement.  God’s intention for this world is one where the thirst for justice is satisfied by that overly abundant, crystal clear, ever-flowing river of justice and where the hunger for dignity, purpose, genuine safety, and peace is met beyond our ability to imagine.  

This book was written for those people trying to be faithful while living under the thumb of Nero… AND it was written for every generation that finds itself living under leaders, in systems, and among beasts and baddies who stir up fear, anger, hatred and suffering among the people.  THAT’S why this book was written just as much for US, as it was for THEM.  So that when you and I turn on the news, or scroll through the events of the day and see this horrible and seemingly ever growing shadow enveloping Buffalo, Ukraine, political movements and judicial systems, we too would have this gift of a vision of HOPE to hold onto.  This book was written to remind that generation, our generation and every generation that Jesus is Lord and Caesar is NOT AND that every emperor and hate fueled system will not, and does not, have the last word.  This book is a vision to hold onto when people act like beasts… and nations act like dragons looking to burn the world to the ground.  So whatever you do, don’t give this book away!  Take this book back!  Because it is a book of God’s vision for us and so that we always remember that Jesus is LORD… and Caesar, by whatever name or number or time slot or title he might go by for the moment... IS ABSOLUTELY AND POSITIVELY NOT!  Amen.