Revelation 21:1-6; Wiping away the Tears and All Things New

"Then 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."

I. Introduction--Seeing New Realities

The immense imaginative scope of the Book of Revelation reaches its culmination in this passage. A new heaven and earth is not simply proclaimed but seen. Promises of a new and better life are not just made but implemented. The end, which we so often long to see, is now visible. Yet the daily reality for most of us, and for those who are still haunted by the terrible tragedy at Virginia Tech a few weeks ago, is that, in the words of the hymn, "we feebly struggle, they (the saints) in glory shine." Our reality is one where pain, half-truths or outright lies, disappointment, failed relationships, weak and infirm bodies, and unexpected tragedies seem to dominate.

Indeed, before we hastily reach the new heaven and new earth in this passage, the Book of Revelation presented what we sometimes suspect to be the truth: things get worse before they get better. We "skipped" over so much of the graphic disaster of the Book of Revelation that, in some ways, we are "unworthy" or "unready" to receive such glorious good news as presented in Rev. 21. We have missed the two witnesses and the whore of Bablylon, the beast who writes his number on foreheads, and the angels who pour forth the bowls of the wrath of God on the earth. The scene in Rev. 8-18 makes the ecological disaster of Prince William Sound in Alaska or the continual devastation of the Amazonian rain forest look like child's destruction.

Maybe the compilers of the Revised Common Lectionary were confused or afraid of the intervening passages in Revelation; possibly they had to "finish" it by the time we arrived at Pentecost. In any case, we here rush ahead to the good news before we have descended fully into the imaginative pit of the bad news.

Nevertheless, for all of us, the language of Rev. 21 is an encouragement to realize the powerful force of unseen realities in shaping our lives. Can we permit ourselves to "see" the unseen, to conceive of the good news of a new heaven and earth, to long for a time of healing when the tears are finally wiped away from our eyes? We are not really ready or worthy to receive Rev. 21 until we have been buffeted by life's pains and have ourselves gaped into the yawning maw of hell.

But for those for whom such have been the realities of life, Rev. 21 speaks with uncommon force. It does so primarily by opening our eyes to new realities "out there." In fact, Rev. 21 reminds me of another biblical passage--II Kings 6. In that text Elisha the prophet is surrounded in a city by the King of Aram's men. They are furious at him because he seems to know the military strategy of Aram against Israel as if he had been in the king's bedchamber. One of Elisha's men wakens in the morning and, in fear, points out to Elisha that they are surrounded by the King of Aram's men. They are in deep trouble. Calmly, Elisha prays to God:

"O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see" (II Kings 6:17).

The result is immediate: "So the Lord opened the eyes of the servant, and he saw; the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire (hence the name of the movie!) all around Elisha (II K. 6:17). In other words, the hidden and saving realities are already there; we just need eyes to see. Do you have eyes to see these new realities today?

II. Wiping Away the Tears

In earlier expositions of Revelation, I have pointed to the sevenfold amen or sevenfold affirmation of divine strength in some of the hymns. For example, 7:12 gives a sevenfold ascription of blessing and praise to God. What isn't clear in those passage only becomes clear in Rev. 21 and 22, and that is that there is also a sevenfold series of things that are done away with by God at the end. Let's list them: the sea (21:1); death, grief, crying, pain (21:4); and all that is under God's curse and night (22:3, 5). If there is the "perfect number" of blessings ascribed to God, there will also be the "perfect number" of things that pass away. Just as in the first creation God said that it was "good," so in the re-creation we see that it is not only good, but that it will be perfect. Two "watery" subpoints need mention: the sea and the tears.

Why does John mention in majestic language, "and the sea was no more" (v. 1)? Primarily because in antiquity, and especially in the consciousness of Israel, the sea was not simply dangerous but also a sort of enemy. Unpredictability reigned on the sea. Fear of depredation, high water, crashing rocks, strange sea creatures, unexpected shipwrecks and drowning filled the heart with anxiety. Indeed, you can't really understand ancient Greek mythology without reckoning with their respect for/fear of the sea. We, with our cruise lines and big vessels, tend to think of the sea as a plaything; not so for the ancients. Yet even in our day we are fascinated by stories of the sea's power. One of the most powerful scenes to me from the movie Titanic is near the end, just before the ship sinks, where the priest is reciting prayers to God and quoting Scripture. He quotes from this very passage, and the combination of grief and hope when he intones the words, "and the sea was no more," is arresting.

But another kind of water--our tears--will also be transformed. God will wipe away every tear from our eyes. This was already mentioned earlier in the book (7:17), and is worth noting here. Can we imagine a world without tears? Can we imagine our lives without tears? I confess when I studied this text again, my own tears began to flow! Death, pain, crying, and mourning will pass away? The symphony of anguish, which each day composes a new tune more painful than Mahler could ever have imagined, abolished? This is the truest good news to those who have seen the most devastation. But the majestic language continues.

III. God at the End

All this happens because of God. Finally, God will make the divine dwelling place among us. The theme of God's dwelling with humans (21:3) is one that stretches back to the early days of Israel, to the Wilderness Wanderings. The cloud and pillar of fire was a sign of God's presence. The motile Ark of the Covenant symbolized God's dwelling with the people. The Jerusalem Temple was the seemingly "permanent" illustration of this reality. Finally, in the Gospel of John, we are told, in language very similar to that used here, that God "tabernacled" or "dwelt" among us in Christ (John 1:14). The Holy Spirit, to be celebrated in a few weeks at the Pentecost festival, is the sign of continued divine presence. But Rev. 21 will take it one step further. God, the Creator, will now dwell with mortals. God will be fully with us. And that presence will wipe away all tears.

Once this is said, John finishes with the majestic words of v. 6: "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end..." There will finally be established the truth which has been peeking out at us since the dawn of human history--that God, indeed, stands before, in, and after the creation of the worlds. Pain certainly has the upper hand today, but it shall not always be so. This does not make us flag in our zeal to attack the pain today; indeed, it renews our strength in the midst of the fight. We now know the end, and we can have courage to re-enter the maelstrom. Let that be your charge and courage today.

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