“The Great City” (Revelation 21:10,22–22:5)

Revelation 21:10,22–22:5

Listen to Sermon

Pastor Tom Johnson, May 26, 2019

In our reading from Revelation, John has a vision of a great city. The great city is the New Jerusalem descending down from heaven from God to earth. The city already has inhabitants from every nation on earth in it. The entire city is illuminated by the light of Christ—the Lamb of God is so bright that there is no need for the sun or the moon to shine. It is never night there. It’s gates are always open welcome to whoever has been cleansed of their sins by Baptism and whose names are now written in the book of life. The River of Life runs through this city. The river begins from the throne of the Lamb. The roots of Tree of Life straddles the river on each side. It yields 12 different kinds of fruit and brings healing to all the nations. The citizens of this Great City worship the Lamb—the resurrected Christ. They see him face to face. The name of Jesus is written on their foreheads. And together with the Lord they will reign forever and ever. You will remember that John’s vision in Revelation is a vision of what is, what was, and what will be. It is a timeless reality of God’s Kingdom.

The Great City—the New Jerusalem is also the way Jerusalem was always intended to be. Jerusalem was always supposed to be filled with people from every nation, living together in perfect communion with one another and with God, worshiping the true and living God, and experiencing healing and blessing together and forever. But of course, we know the history of Jerusalem. Her inhabitants failed to keep God’s covenant. They were exclusive—and did not always welcome the stranger. Their gates were locked shut. They did not love and serve one another as they were called. They were not faithful to love and serve the true and living God alone. Jesus wept over Jerusalem. He said, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing” (Lk 13:34). Jerusalem even rejected her King and crucified him. John’s vision is of the New Jerusalem—not just the earthly one that failed time and time again. But it is a vision of what the Kingdom of God truly is like. It is a picture of the way things ought to be—just as we pray, “Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” So God wants us to be the Great City on earth as it is in heaven.

“Epoch of a Great City” by Harry Sternberg (1937)

In 1937 Harry Sternberg painted a mural at the Lakeview Post Office in Chicago. The painting is entitled “Epoch of a Great City.” The picture tells the story of Chicago when it was just an outpost in the frontier. It shows how industry and agriculture built the city from the ground up. It shows the great Chicago fire destroying the city in 1871. Then like the Phoenix rising from the ashes, skyscrapers rise out of view of the painting to unknown heights.  Our city—or Chicagoland as we sometimes call this region—is a world class city. It is one of six cities considered to be world marathon majors along with Boston, New York, London, Berlin, and Tokyo. Sternberg’s painting tells the story of what is, what was, and what will be. But it falls short of the glory and beauty of God’s vision of who we can be as a city and as the people of God—the Body of Christ in the midst of this great city.

God’s vision in Revelation challenges us to put Christ as the center of everything we do—or perhaps more accurately, we acknowledge that Christ is already at the center. As Scripture says, “In him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28a). He is the Light who has come into the darkness of this world. John writes in his Gospel, “In him was life, and the life was the light of people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:4,5). Every generation of the inhabitants of God’s Great City, the New Jerusalem have the challenge to open our gates to the stream of people from every nation, tribe, tongue, and people. It’s why we say, “We welcome you to be at home among us!”

No matter where you’re from, no matter what you have done, no matter who you are, the door is open for you to come in and join us as we gather around our Lord and Savior, give thanks for all his gifts and lift him up as the Light of the World. At the font we enter the gates of the New Jerusalem. The cleansing of Baptism not only brings the forgiveness of sins but also of a shared adoption where we receive the indelible mark on our foreheads that we belong to Christ. It is why we make the sign of the Cross on the foreheads of the newly baptized. And together we gather around the Tree of Life—the Tree of the Cross—the Lord’s Table. We receive the fruit of Christ’s death and resurrection in the Bread and the Wine of his Body and Blood for the healing, forgiveness, and assurance of life for the nations.

John’s vision is of the New Jerusalem that is, was, and is to be. I love the picture of this city coming to rescue the world. Usually the picture is of a King coming to rescue a besieged city and her people. Here we are a city with our King coming to  bless the world. That is who we are. That is who we are called to be—just as Jesus’ says in our Gospel: “We will come to them and make our home with them.” “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give o you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”