Message for the 5th Sunday of Easter: 9/5/04: Revelation 21:1-6

21  Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.  2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.  3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.  4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
5 He who was seated on the throne said, ‘‘I am making everything new!” Then he said, ‘‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
6 He said to me: ‘‘It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. (NIV)

Making all things new

I presume most of you have experienced owning a new car, or have at least shared in the experience of a friend or mate. It’s a kind of special thing – even if we bought a second hand car – new to us.

A friend told me this story: They had an aging XF Falcon station wagon when we were living in central Australia – robust transport, but starting to be no longer 100% reliable – which is not a good idea when you travel on roads where there are at times well over 100km between roadhouses and not necessarily much traffic.

So during a holiday in the Barossa Valley, they saw an advertisment for run-out model Corollas. They went to have a look – never thinking they would end up buying a new car. They were of the opinion that buying a new car is a waste of money – as you loose so much the moment you drive it out of the showroom. However, it turned out to buy a new car was only marginally more expensive than purchasing a two year old second hand equivalent would have been – so it seemed like a good deal. A new car was bought.

They were very excited. And it is exciting, isn’t, having a new car. It smells so nice, new. It’s got a certain wow factor. All gleaming and clean inside and out and even the engine bay! You keep in the garage. You drive extra careful. You really look after it. Beautiful.

Well, a week later or so their car got its first dent. A short post by the roadside ended a slow reverse rather suddenly.
Isn’t that always a bit of a let-down. An all new car – gleaming, nice, perfect, gets scratched or dented. The first dent is always hardest to get over. The new is no longer so new and perfect. Something is lost.

Later on the car becomes more like a comfortable, well known part of the family. Good, reliable transport. We might even wash it now and then. We know how it drives, what it can and can’t do.
And then, we begin to look at the new models and cars around and play with the thought of changing over.

New things become old. Whether it be a car, or a house, or a fridge, or computer, or our bodies....
That is the way this world goes. Nothing lasts forever. Things age.
Fortunately, cars tend to be more reliable than computers and their Microsoft programs. Our bodies are even more amazing. They can recover from and keep going through great stress at times. But in the end all things age, wear out, malfunction and… finally die.

In the case of cars that may be embarrassing (especially when your engine decides to pack up half way across a crowded intersection), it may cause financial hardship, and temporary difficulties – but finally the car can be replaced – with a newer, shinier, more powerful and gadget-laden model. New again!
With our bodies it’s a different story – they are not really replaceable, in spite of the ever increasing store of artificial spares. Once our body is gone - this is it. Death is inevitable. We loose friends, loved ones, parents, even children at times. This is part of our life on earth – but that doesn’t make it any easier to accept. It is difficult to let go, many struggle with the process of aging and dying. It is hard to experience a relationship taken from us though death.
Death is our most powerful enemy.

Into the middle of this reality our Lord speaks.

After fearful scenes of conflict and fights, of destruction and persecution and death in the revelation of St John we are introduced to a serene and beautiful scene: An new heaven and new earth. No more sea – no more chaos or threat to God’s order. Death overcome. No more tears or pain or persecution. Fresh life-water for everyone who thirsts. God and people dwelling happily together.

Here we come to the core message of the Revelation - much maligned, misunderstood and abused through the ages, as this book has been. God speaks into our world of turmoil.
God speaks into the midst of our reality of ageing, of death, of things slowly decaying – both in and around us:
I am making all things new.

Here are echoes of what the prophet Isaiah (Is 43:19) spoke about to the discouraged, depressed Israelites in exile. God is the God of renewal, of new beginnings, of fresh chances. Israel experienced this again and again.
Peter, John and Paul and followers of Christ through the ages have experienced this.
Maybe you have experienced at times in your life this renewal of God, refreshment, renewal, new beginnings – a gift given to you. Just that we tend to forget over time – as things move on, age, decay, fall apart.

Yet renewal is the business of the God we worship today and every day. The God who created us. Who loves us. Who, through and in Christ, has overcame our ultimate enemy, death. In Christ we can expect a renewal of not temporary duration, but of eternal consequence.

In the church we tend to speak so glibly and easily of eternity. Do we really truly comprehend what that means: eternity, forever. I doubt it.

However, our experiences of renewal (temporary as they are) are little glimpses of this powerful, all-encompassing renewal that awaits us.
Presented to us curtesy of the God who stands outside our time-and-space-bound existence and yet again and again breaks into this existence because he loves us and he wants us with him forever.

Our cars may age and eventually die. Our bodies certainly do that. But there is something beyond that reality around us.

God is the God of eternal renewal. He seeks to take from us any fear of the future – for he holds it in his hands, safely and forever. Indeed, with him, this is a positive future, a blessed future, a secure future,a  future that reaches beyond our best imaginations and wildest dream, a future that may look different from what we envisage and plan, but a future nonetheless in safe hands. A future beyond death, beyond decay, without end!

The process of making all things new has begun. It started at the first Easter and it will continue to the final consummation and renewal of all things at the end of time. And we are part of this process. God has invited us into this process.

Yes, there is decay, things don’t always look rosy or easy.

Water of life – garden refused

And the peace of God which exceeds all our human understanding keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our renewing and life-giving lord and Saviour. Amen.