I
heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the dwelling of
God is with men
The
Bible does not have an abundance of things to say about heaven, but
in our first lesson this morning from St. John's Revelation, we have
a beautiful image of what heaven is. Building
on imagery from the prophet Isaiah, John sees
a new heaven and a new earth, and then a new city, descending from
heaven. Its
descent from heaven is
a symbol of its origin in God. He
reports, I
heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the dwelling of
God is with men. It
is interesting to talk to geographers who study where cities are
established and why. One major consideration its proximity to water
for a supply of fresh water. In New Mexico all almost all of the
major towns are on the Rio Grande because of the importance of this
water supply in the desert. Before the advent of modern shipping—when
eating grapes from Chile
in the northern hemisphere would have been unimaginable—easy
access to grown food was also important. For provision of housing,
forests and trees that can be harvested are
needed to make shelters.
These considerations have to do with preserving and perpetuating
human life, seeing that all the members of the polis
have food, water and shelter. Cities are also established for
economic reasons. Many of the great cities of the world are on the
ocean or on major bays with access to the ocean in order to expedite
trade. A region's
natural resources can become a boon for a local economy and see the
flourishing of new
cities. Many of the cities in Oklahoma and Texas have grown to their
extent because of oil. Cities are places for the preservation of
human life and for commerce, but they are also for communion and
fellowship. A visitor to New York City is invariably impressed by the
number of languages overhead by simply walking the streets or taking
the subway, and yet all these millions of diverse people manage to
live together in relative peace.
This New Jerusalem shares some
of these considerations in common. For example, we are told that
there is stream in this city. In the following chapter of Revelation,
St. John reports, And
he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal,
proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of
the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree
of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit
every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the
nations. These fruits
and this stream symbolize the fulfillment of all human longing. No
longer will there be the numbing pain of empty stomachs or parched
throats. The cycle of hunger, hunt, and satiation will have an end
because we will no longer be subject to these bodily needs and will
know the ultimate satiation of
joy in the Lord. Similarly, though there will not be in this city the
clamor
of ambition and greed, there will be a kind of commerce. Again, we
are told that, the
gates of the city shall not be shut at all by day. . . And the kings
of the earth shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it.
There is powerful symbolic value to these images. The glory and honor
of the nations are all the good things that human culture has
produced that are
not in opposition to the one true God or his glory. All that is
beautiful, noble and true will find its home and fulfillment in this
city because it is the city of God who is himself, Beautiful, Noble,
and True, the source of all human good, whether artistic or moral.
Finally, this city will be about communion and fellowship. John is
told earlier in Revelation that among the citizens of this city, he
sees a great
multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds,
and people, and tongues. It
is a New York City but with greater diversity and certainly more
peace. But the greatest fellowship of this city will not be with
humans, but rather with God. Of this city, we are told, Behold,
the dwelling of God is with men.
The God who is throughout all eternity who does need or want
anything, wills to be in communion with us, and has made a way for us
to share in that communion through the joining of divine and human
natures in the Son, our
Lord Jesus Christ.
Mortal human existence has been taken into the godhead to be
transfigured and redeemed.
Today,
this communion with
God and each other
is what we celebrate with the baptism of Charlie Belle
is just a few moments. The Bible relates how in the fall of human
nature, man has sought to live apart from God and from his brothers
and sisters. First Adam and Eve choose to decide what was good and
evil, and to live by their own light rather than the light of God in
an implicit rejection of communion with God. This breakdown in
fellowship was succeeded by its fruit: Cain slays his innocent
brother Abel. These
are the
two principal
human
lies documented in these opening chapters of Genesis: first the lie
we tell ourselves when we say we don't need God, and then,
the
other lie we
tell ourselves when we say that
we don't need our brothers and sisters. If you're looking at your
fellow human being and saying I don't need or want you, this is more
the spirit of Adam than the spirit of the new Adam, our Lord Jesus.
Today, we commit Charlie Belle
to this communion with God, knowing that today she receives the
greatest gift she will ever receive: the Holy Spirit, communion with
the body of Christ here on earth, and a place in that heavenly city,
New Jerusalem. Thanks be to God.
