I’m writing this in early November of 2024. The election is happening any day now and me and my wife are house hunting. We’ve been renting for a couple years now and the price of rent is in a simple man’s term: stupid. What was a mortgage payment a few years ago is rent today. Prices for houses in our area are average $250,000. This is not for a brand new house on a few acres of land, maybe including a pool or just a really nice wrap around porch. No, this is for a house on 1/3 of an acre of land and with neighbors piled on top of each other. The street is dirty, the HOA dissolved because of fraud and here we are along with many new families scratching our heads at how anyone can afford a nice house these days.
What this means for me and my wife is we choose to live a simple lifestyle. Our aim is to follow Jesus in everything we do and one of the ways we choose to do this is by being careful to not be materialistic. We do not need the newest I-phone, or a brand new car. We do not need to fill our kitchen cabinets with junk food that does not actually satisfy. We choose not to buy the biggest tv(in fact, we stuck to a 24 inch tv for so long in our living room, my dad could not stand it and bought us a bigger one). Our baby girl does not get toys that will break in 2 weeks, we choose not overload our daughter with toys out the wazoo. Rather everything about our lifestyle we are trying to model a bit off of the Desert fathers and mothers. And even then, we have more than they ever dreamed of, yet we loved the principles they pulled from following Jesus.
The desert fathers and mothers retreated to the desert in an effort to literally resemble Jesus retreating off into the desert. These monks fashion their lifestyles around selling all they had and giving it to the poor. They practiced the spiritual disciples which is in many ways a lost art in the christian church today(a blog for another day). They aimed to live quiet lives, fighting their demons day in and day out, each day trying to become a little more like Jesus than the day before and did this by practically following how Jesus himself chose to live His life.
My boss I believe has this same kind of mindset. Jesus gives us this piece of wisdom to live our lives by.
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.(Matthew 6:25-26 NIV)
My boss, the Desert Fathers and Mothers, and Jesus Himself lived a life believing God will provide. We sometimes think that it was easier to trust in God and live faithfully during the time the Bible was written but I do not think it is much of a comparison game.
The people and stories of the Bible were written in real time, with real overlords who did not seek the welfare of the people. Babylon was there to make Babylon great. Rome was there to make Rome great. Even the Caesar’s in large part cared only about themselves. The gods of the day only asked humanity “what can you do for me?” Not “what can I do for you?”
Tree of Life
Then he showed me the river of the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the city’s main street. The tree of life was on each side of the river, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree are for healing the nations, and there will no longer be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. Night will be no more; people will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, because the Lord God will give them light, and they will reign forever and ever.(Revelation 22:1-5 CSB)
Johns vision is about the end and the last picture he sees is one of this body of water, this river of life flowing down from the throne of God. A Main Street in our day is full of shops and that is also how it would have been in John’s day. Main Street is the epicenter of what is going on in the town. Here though there is no shops selling you merchandise you cannot afford. There is no slimy business owners who will price gouge during tough times.
This Main Street river in the Kingdom of God has the tree of life on each side, bearing fruit for every month of the year meaning, God has provided for you.
It reminds me of that description of the promised land that says it is a “land flowing with milk and honey.” As a kid I would hear this on Veggie Tales and scratch my head because I did not like plain milk, I needed some type of chocolate or strawberry syrup to drink it. And I did not like honey. I did not even know what you would use honey for.
But that image of the promised land being a land flowing with milk and honey meant for those ancient Israelites that it is a land full of cows and bees. Meaning even more so, God did not just provide you with the finished product, he provided you with the means to get the finished product over and over and over again.
Here we see that similar image of God not just providing fruit for you to eat. Rather Jesus has provided you with the trees that produce the fruit for you to eat and a river to continue to feed that tree so that it can keep providing for you.
There will be no curse anymore. What broke in the Garden of Eden has been restored. What divides us today, is broken down and mended tomorrow.
Final Intimacy
They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. Night will be no more; people will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, because the Lord God will give them light, and they will reign forever and ever.(Revelation 22:4-5 CSB)
We all long for something more than what any mere human can provide. So many of us grew up watching Disney movies that told about a love that was like a fairy tale. Girls dreamed of Prince Charming coming to the castle to save them. Boys dreamed of being the Prince Charming saving the girl from the dragon.
Life is not always like that. What Disney failed to tell us is that that girl has emotional damage from her parents locking her in a tower for years and years, not caring for her soul, but instead leaving her to her own devices in hopes some boy dressed as a man will come and deal with her later.
Or that that Prince Charming that girl is waiting for, will never come, because that boy does not know how to care for a woman. He’s been trained by the ways of this world to settle. He goes for the easiest girl to get to. He’ll settle for the troll instead of doing the work to get the princess in the tower because this boy is a boy. He is no man. And he does not understand a life that has to work for what is valuable.
The princesses and Prince Charming will fail each other. Because they are humans in a broken world that has shaped and molded them to fail each other. And even the best of us, drop the ball. Marriages crumble everyday because the communication was not clear and sometimes even happening. Sex was distorted to an image on the screen. Add on to that, money problems, family systems issues, and the fact that people change as they get older. Who you marry is not who you will bury.
Because of the failures of our lovers; from parents, to grandparents, to children, to spouses, to friends, to co-wrokers. We all long for someone who will see us and we see them.
Here we have a God who sees us, and we can see Him. We do not need a veil. We do not need a curtain, or a cloud. We do not need to turn our backs and wait till he passes by to where we can just get glimpse of his shoulder as he keeps walking. We won’t get sick from our bodies physical failure to handle to weight of glory our God carries. No, there will be a day where we are one. We are united together again. We will be His people and He will be our God.
A Final Challenge
From verse 6 all the way to verse 21 of chapter 22 in Revelation we continually are told “I am coming soon”(v.12. CSB). We started this Revelation series getting rid of bad methods of reading this prophetic book. We talked about how this book was written to seven churches in Asia Minor who were experiencing the real struggles of living within Babylon but choosing to follow Jesus. We talked about how to resist the powers and principalities of the day in an effort to become more and more like Jesus day by day. We talked about the true justice only God can bring and how he will wipe away every tear from our eyes and to look forward to the day where he returns.
Revelation is not a book about predicting future conspiracies on who the anti christ actually is and how can we rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. This book is about how you and me, followers of Jesus are that new Jerusalem. We are the people, the presence, the temple of God on this earth and it is up to us on how we bring about the Kingdom of God into our neighborhoods, systems of government and into our families.
How will you change the block in other words to bring truth to Jesus’ prayer “thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
We all live in a Babylon of our day, the question is; how are you being the New Jerusalem within that Babylon today?
How will you be like Daniel and bring the presence of God into the throneroom of King Neb?
How will you be like Jesus and tell Pilate where his authority comes from?
How will you be like Moses and lead the people to the promised land?
We all have a part to play. You do not have to be a preacher or a “professional christian” to overturn Babylon into the Kingdom of God.
And remember, overturning Babylon is not done by the ways of this world. Our King that we follow, does not need an army. His sword was his teaching. His way of rescuing His people was by dying for them and for their enemies.
How will you embody that throughout this week?
The book of revelation is a challenge to step into the fray of the world you live in, and be like Jesus in everything you do there.
Trust that God will provide in every way.
And continue to look forward to the day of His return.
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