Grace, mercy, and peace all these are yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and our Lord Jesus Christ.
Before you read Revelation 22:1-5, I want to make a few comments about the church year/church calendar and just about the text. The part of the church year that we are in is called the “End Times”. This is the time of the church year where we focus on Jesus coming back to take us to be with Him on the Last Day. It is a time between the seasons of Pentecost (where we look at Jesus’ life) and Advent (where we prepare our hearts and minds for the coming of the Savior. This season is sort of the “New Year’s Eve” of the Church year. What we are going to look at today is how Christians live in these what we often call “last days” – especially with those who mistreat and persecute Christians right now. More specifically today we celebrate the truth that because of Jesus’ innocent suffering and death, the paradise of heaven will be ours one day when he returns. This can be a difficult thing to think about now, living in a world that is seemingly more and more corrupt and is full of sin. But your reality is that one day you will live in Paradise.
In connection with thinking about paradise I have a question for you: What is your paradise? Maybe a week at the beach, without any worries. Maybe it is some place from your childhood. We think to ourselves: ah yes that place is my paradise. Maybe it’s a few days in the mountains away from people and distractions, enjoying the fresh air. I’m not exactly sure what your paradise is and don’t want you to stay daydreaming about it now. But keep it in the back of your head as you read the text from Revelation 22.
1Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, 2in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him; 4they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. 5And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever.
You know we're in the last book of the Bible, Revelation. But do the words here sound very similar to another book of the Bible? With a river and the tree of life? Again, we are in the last book of the Bible, but the words are very close to those in the book of Genesis – the firstbook of the Bible. Read these few verses from Genesis 2 and consider the similarities between the two:
8 Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. 9 The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
10 A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters.
You can see similarities. We could say that Eden was a perfect paradise. Let’s review a little: In Eden there were two trees in the middle of the garden. The tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Adam and Eve could eat any fruit they wanted from all the trees in the garden, but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they were not supposed to eat. You remember, though, how this story ends. Adam and Eve ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They sinned against God and against His commandment. As a result, God expelled Adam and Eve from the garden. There was also a curse placed on Adam and Eve and the serpent. Because of their sin Adam and Eve would work hard in the fields. They would work without complete rest, there would be pain in childbearing for Eve. Worst of all, they would also die one day. Because of sin, we also have hardships, pain, and death. But even in the midst of all this bad, God also promised something to Adam and Eve on that fateful day. He said, “I will send a Savior to crush the Devil's head.” (Read Gen 3:15) And he's going to be your Redeemer, he's going to restore the paradise that was lost.
You know well that the world we live in today is not a paradise. You can go on a vacation and have good times in this world. I'm not trying to say that we can't enjoy things like that or that we can enjoy the creation we live in, but after a few days we return from our vacation to normal life with all its problems and frustrations. There is death, there is sadness, there are problems in the world, problems that have to do with social issues, problems with health, there are problems in our jobs, etc., these things are a result of sin. We live in a world full of sin. We carry these burdens. The truth is that this world in a its fallen state is not a paradise.
There is a temptation we face and that is to believe in a paradise here in our world. We sometimes use the “heaven on earth.” It may happen that we think that we need a few things to have paradise on this earth. Maybe it's money, or a bigger house, or perfect relationships with family. We think "If I had that thing, then my life would be paradise." It is interesting, if you read comments from those who lived during very hard times, such as those who were being persecuted for their faith, these words of our text were words that provided much comfort. Why do you think that is? Simply, they were aware of the last days. Their daily lives on earth were difficult, but their hope in the second coming was strong. I don't mean that these people didn't sin or are holier than we were because their worlds were filled with sin as well. But sometimes when our lives are comfortable, we forget about the last day. Emphasis on the here and now can cloud our eyes from the not yet. We can learn something from those who looked forward to the last day with urgency. I hope my point is clear, we cannot have earthly paradise. It's not possible. We will always be missing something. One verse that demonstrates that kind of thinking is Jesus speaking in Matthew when he says: seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you. (Matt. 6:33)
There is another temptation. Sometimes we think that we can reverse the effects of sin by the way that we live. That is to say that by our works, or by solving social problems we can change the effects of sin. We can fix all things so that we have a paradise in the world without problems. We think things like, "If we had the perfect election results for my taste, then we will have an earthly paradise." Or "if we did things to help the environment, we could have a perfect world – a paradise." You can probably think of your own issue that, if resolved, would make paradise here on this earth. Don’t get me wrong, our lives on this earth are a blessing from God in our time of grace. Government is a gift from God, and we want to have leaders who help people and honor God. Nature is also a gift from God, and we want to protect it. But in doing all things there is one thing we cannot fix: sin. Sin has destroyed the perfection of our world and that's why we're not going to have paradise until the last day. Simply put we can only have paradise through our Savior and His work.
Remember when you read the Genesis account earlier? When Adam and Eve sinned, God put a curse on them and us. It didn’t just stop there, though. God also gave them a promise. The promise that a Savior was going to send to redeem the world from sin. Well, God fulfilled His promise after years and years to send a Savior – Jesus. God preserved His promise through time in Egypt, through exiles, judges, bad kings, times of spiritual laxity. And then he sent His Son, Jesus. Jesus lived a perfect life in our place, died on a cross so that you may have eternal life. By faith that is something we believe. By our baptisms we are sure that we are part of those who have the name on their foreheads (look back at the text). And by God's promise we are confident that one day He will return in the last days to take us to heaven. Yes, we struggle now as we live in this world. But soon our struggle will be over, and we will be in heaven. Heaven will be paradise! A time where we get to live with our God face to face.
Now, because this is our reality, we now want to urgently share the word with all people. We don't know when the last day is going to come. Jesus told us that He will come as a thief in the night. So, we want to use our time in that world wisely. We want to invite everyone to enjoy the same paradise that we have. To have a place in heaven means to have a mission on earth.
What is your paradise? I will read the reading again and listen to the beautiful paradise that is yours by the precious blood of Jesus:
1Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, 2in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him; 4they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. 5And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever.
That. Is. Paradise.
Amen.