Advent III – C

December 13^th, AD 2009

Meadowvale Lutheran Church, Mississauga

Pastor Peter Lisinski

“GOD’S NEW CREATION”

(Sermon No. 3 of 3 on Revelation)

Over the previous two sermons in our series I have claimed that the key to unlocking the mystery of the Book of Revelation is to read and hear it not as a prediction of a far off future event but as a proclamation of a new and present reality accomplished in, with and through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  In his final vision John describes it most fully:

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth.  And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.  And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the home of God is among mortals!  Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for I am making all things new.”

                                                                                (Revelation 21:1-5)

John’s vision reveals two important details in the fulfillment of God’s salvation which, if overlooked, distort its entire meaning.  Firstly, in John’s vision, heaven comes down to earth; God descends to live with us – we do not ascend to live with God!  Although mortals do go to heaven after we die, our ultimate destiny is not remain in that realm of spiritual fulfillment forever; rather our ultimate destiny is to live eternally in the new creation of our risen physical bodies in the material world of a completely recreated earth.

Secondly, in John’s vision, God announces that this new creation is already under construction.  God does not say, “I have made all things new” -- thereby implying completion.  Neither is God’s announcement a promise to be kept in the future!  God does not say, “I will make all things new…” – thereby implying that constructions of the new creation has not yet begun.  God declares, “Behold, I am making all things new!”  God’s whole new creation began in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  And the Christian Church – you and I, together with all believers in God and followers of Jesus – are the tools God uses to continue his divine reconstruction project!

Around the baptismal font, around the communion table, or around our council, board and committee tables, we are nourished by God’s love and nurtured by God’s Word.  Then we are sent beyond the walls of our sanctuary to complete the worship we offer in our liturgy by our lives of service and sacrifice in the world around us.

By welcoming strangers and outcasts; by befriending the poor and disadvantaged; by comforting the distraught and fearful; by challenging the rich, which includes some of us, to recognize our responsibility for poverty; by encouraging the privileged, which includes  may of us, to deeper compassion for the marginalized; by inviting all people, including ourselves, to hear and heed the Advent call to repentance, the church inspires hope that God’s new creation – begun in the resurrection of Jesus Christ – continues to unfold toward wholeness and perfection.  In spite of all our failures, flaws and fears – even our feuds – the church remains the world’s best evidence, and God’s personal guarantee, that it will be finished, and that all God’s faithful children will live to see it.

Amen!  Come, Lord Jesus!