I grew up within a Southern Baptist context where regularly I would hear our older saints say something along the lines of: “oh what a beautiful day that will be when we are up in heaven and we will not have to experience this pain no more.”
The sentiment comes from a feeling that all is not right with our world today. Something is deeply broken and we all see it whether we see it in our own physical ailments or the economic pressures we face. We see it in the wars on the screen and in our own neighborhoods where sadly even the horrific finds itself in.
There is a deep longing in our hearts for every human being for something better to come along.
The early church felt this way.
Imagine watching your family get stripped from you, clothes ripped off, and beaten to a pulp before they are beheaded all because of the governing overlords quest to be the sole divine that is worshipped. The early church suffered greatly because of the message they had received in their hearts about this new kingdom Jesus is building.
Receiving that message in their hearts though was also a seed of a promise that one day all things would be made new.
Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.” Jesus told her, “Believe me, woman, an hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. (John 4:20-21 CSB)
Jesus hints here at a time coming where it would not matter whether you worshipped in the temple or in the church but rather there is a time coming where God’s presence will be felt everywhere. The dividing lines, the tribalism, the hate, the animosity, the downfalls of capitalism, the deceptiveness of democracy, the pains of a dictatorship would all come crumbling down and be no more because Jesus’ Kingdom would come to fulfillment.
The Gospel
Often when we use the term “gospel” in modern evangelical circles what we mean by that phrase is the good news that Jesus lived the life we could not live, died the death we should have died and was raised to a newness of life in order for us to live in that new life found only in Him. The gospel to many of us is the personal salvation that Jesus offers to us by His sacrifice made on the cross.
The term “gospel” literally means good news. And personal salvation is good news. We all need to be saved. As our Calvinist friends would often remind, we are more broken than we can ever believe, but God’s grace is more profound than we could ever fully embrace.
“Gospel” is literally the word “euangelion” in Greek.
In Hebrew though we have the word “bisser” which meant news, but referred to more a royal announcement or news for the nation.
Depending on the context this news could be good or bad. It could be news that the King and his army won in battle and thus the nation is safe and victorious. It could also mean bad news. Something like the King died in battle and the army was overcome by opposing forces and Babylon is now in charge.
When Jesus comes on the scene he is continuing this tradition of using this “news for the nation” type of language that Isaiah used to talk about this Kingdom of God that would come and be on earth.
Jesus’ mission was to save lost souls, yes; but it’s not just to save lost souls. Rather Jesus was building something new. Not just in each of our individual lives but corporately for the whole world. (Note: Much of individualistic way of viewing salvation comes from our Western, modern American way of living not from Jewish or ancient Christian ways of understanding salvation)
A New Kingdom
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. I also saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.(Revelation 21:1-2 CSB)
This is the last of the seven visions we will see from John. In this final vision John sees “a new heaven and new earth.” Now the language used here saying that the old heaven and old earth passed away can be translated a few different ways but the point John is making is that what we have come to know of as our reality where pain, sickness, and destruction lives is no more. The world we live in now, will not be the world we call home in the future.
Rather because of what Jesus has accomplished he has transformed our reality into a much greater reality.
You may scratch your head though at that line saying “and the sea was no more.” There are other places where the future Kingdom is mentioned of having some type of body of water. I say this because like many of you, I love sitting on the Kayak looking out over the waters. It’s peaceful and calm and I have often met God there. Yet, for much ancient eastern theology, the sea was chaotic, it was the abyss, it was the place where people were not sure God could get too. The sea was full of monsters humans could not imagine. In the early pages of Genesis we are told that God brings order to the chaos of the sea.
Here we are told that chaos is no more. This is good news.
With this comes also talk of a new Jerusalem. Jerusalem was the ancient city of God. The place where God would build his temple and his temple was the place where God dwelt. This new Jerusalem though is not like the others. This new Jerusalem is “prepared like a bride adorned for her husband”(v.2 CSB). This is the new people of God. The “place” where God dwells.
Then I heard a loud voice from the throne: Look, God’s dwelling is with humanity, and he will live with them. They will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them and will be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; grief, crying, and pain will be no more,because the previous things have passed away.(Revelation 21:3-4 CSB)
The temple is gone, in the sense that the temple is now God’s people. What was broken in the garden when it comes God’s relationship with humanity, has now been made right. God and humanity can dwell together again. What was broken has been restored.
Then the one seated on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new.” He also said, “Write, because these words are faithful and true.” Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will freely give to the thirsty from the spring of the water of life. The one who conquers will inherit these things, and I will be his God, and he will be my son. But the cowards, faithless, detestable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars—their share will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” (Revelation 21:5-8 CSB)
The work has been done. We strive, we fight, we long for what was wrong to be made right, but here we see Jesus say that phrase that brings all rest to our souls “It is done!” What seemed impossible to do, has been made possible.
What follows In John’s vision is the demise for this New Jerusalem. The problem is that these dimensions are exaggerations. They are not meant to be taken literal.
So much of our bad teaching on the book of revelation tells us to look for the New Jerusalem to be built and the new temple and keeps your eyes on Israel because that’s where Jesus will be coming back and if we can just build the temple all these things will fall into place. This is bad teaching.
Jesus never was after a literal building. He was after me and you. He was after the Jews yes, but also the Gentiles. So much of our striving as evangelicals has been to protect the Israel as a nation because it is God’s people but the Bible’s storyline takes us in a different direction.
We are trying to build a new temple when Jesus tore the ones we can build down. He’s after dwelling among me and you. The earth is his temple, our bodies are His temple. Our building projects are mere distractions from what he called us to do. Israel, the people was never the sole group he was after. His goal has always been to use Israel to reach the nations and He did that by the blood of Jesus. The dimensions John gives us would have been mind-blowing to the ancient listeners as they heard them. It would communicate to these ancient believers that the New Jerusalem is something more than you can imagine. More than something you could build with your own two hands.
I did not see a temple in it, because the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, because the glory of God illuminates it, 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 close by day because it will never be night there. They will bring the glory and honor of the nations into it. Nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those written in the Lamb’s book of life.(Revelation 21:22-27 CSB)
I was told by a dispensationalist friend of mine years ago that he keeps track on the progress people are making at building a new temple in Jerusalem. He keeps track because he believes if humanity can just get the pieces right in order then Jesus would come back, wipe every thing out and start new.
Jesus was not after that. There is no literal temple in Revelation. The reason why is because the temple, or the tent before that in the storyline of the Bible was just a place for God to dwell among humanity because there was a divide to where they could not dwell together like they did in the garden. But when that veil tore, and Jesus finished the work, God’s Spirit went out. It did not matter whether it was to the Jew or the Gentile, in Israel or Rome. God’s Spirit began making a place for God to dwell with His people again.
Oneday, this will be fully realized. We are in that “already but not yet” scenario.
God’s kingdom has come, His will is being done, but the work has not been fully realized yet. There will come a day where this union will be made full. Until then, we press on by bringing the Kingdom of God to this earth. Not by building literal temples and staking a claim in the ground of modern day Israel, but by building communities of love with our own neighborhoods and seeing the Gospel(the good news of the Kingdom) take shape in our present day.
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