no more tears

A Second Taste

Posted on by Betsy

Last week our lectionary passage offered a taste of heaven, specifically in regard to marriage. (You can read it here if you missed that one.) Today we delve further into what a new heaven and a new earth will be like according to Isaiah. In Isaiah’s words, a new earth is promised that will be a state of being where the children of God can look forward to living together in complete peace and harmony. That’s something we need right now!

Isaiah described a time of social transformation with equitable justice, spiritual transformation that will usher in an unprecedented closeness and intimacy with the very-present God, and ecological transformation that will result in predators eating and living together in comfortable companionship.

Isaiah 65 (Common English Bible)

Look! I’m creating a new heaven and a new earth:
    past events won’t be remembered;
    they won’t come to mind.
18 Be glad and rejoice forever
    in what I’m creating,
    because I’m creating Jerusalem as a joy
    and her people as a source of gladness.
19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad about my people.
    No one will ever hear the sound of weeping or crying in it again.

Joy will abound and long life is promised. Crying and weeping will be a thing of the past.

20 No more will babies live only a few days,
    or the old fail to live out their days.
The one who dies at a hundred will be like a young person,
    and the one falling short of a hundred will seem cursed.

This new earth will see the eradication of theft and oppression. No longer will people work for the benefit of the powers that would take the products of their efforts away. Does this mean no more taxes?? Bring it on!

21 They will build houses and live in them;
    they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22 They won’t build for others to live in,
    nor plant for others to eat.
Like the days of a tree will be the days of my people;
    my chosen will make full use of their handiwork.
23 They won’t labor in vain,
    nor bear children to a world of horrors,
    because they will be people blessed by the Lord,
    they along with their descendants.
24 Before they call, I will answer;
    while they are still speaking, I will hear.

Just stop for a moment and think about what it will be like for God to be so close to you that all you have to do is start a sentence and he will finish it. All you have to do is reach out to him and find that he is already there. This kind of access will be startling and beautiful.

25 Wolf and lamb will graze together,
    and the lion will eat straw like the ox,
    but the snake—its food will be dust.
They won’t hurt or destroy at any place on my holy mountain,
    says the Lord.

Well, you have to feel a little sorry for the snake, but the violence of animal-on-animal feeding frenzies will cease to exist, and species will live together as one. As will people. So these artificial constructs of “us-versus-them” and the prejudice against races that aren’t like you will finally go away.

The holy mountain of God will be a new Eden. Are you ready?

Normandy

Every Tear

Posted on by Betsy

I need to begin today’s devotional with a confession: I am hesitant to write on passages from Revelation. This book is so dense with meaning, so obscure with its analogies, and so over-analyzed that it makes me hold my breath to try to write about it. I had a recent conversation with my editor at Cokesbury when she called to offer me a new contract to write an adult bible study. My first question wasn’t about deadlines or pay … it was, “Is it on Revelation?” She said no, so I told her to have legal send me the contract. I respect this book too much to risk botching it!

That being said, we’ll take a dip into Chapter 7 today as it has a fabulous message with a life-giving ending.

Revelation 7:9-17 (Common English Bible)

9 After this I looked, and there was a great crowd that no one could number. They were from every nation, tribe, people, and language. They were standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They wore white robes and held palm branches in their hands. 10 They cried out with a loud voice:

“Victory belongs to our God
        who sits on the throne,
            and to the Lamb.”

As John envisioned heaven, he continually focused his attention on the throne. He is purposeful and intentional as he directs our sight there. It gives the reader a set of binoculars for seeing the truth … Jesus will reign at the end of days, and every knee will bow before him. Notice that verse 9 talks about the great crowd standing before the Lamb. What do you see? People from every nation, tribe, people, and language. Does your church look like that? Does your community reflect the diversity of heaven? How about your work place and neighborhood? I like to joke that you may be surprised to see who is standing next to you when we gather before the throne. On the other hand, they may be surprised to see you, too!

If heaven is filled with diversity, why do we live in such separation? This is a great reminder that the throne of God is the great equalizer. God loves all his children equally. Shame on us that earth is filled with systems of oppression and discrimination that marginalize the ones he loves.

11 All the angels stood in a circle around the throne, and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell facedown before the throne and worshipped God, 12 saying,

“Amen! Blessing and glory
        and wisdom and thanksgiving
        and honor and power and might
            be to our God forever and always. Amen.”

13 Then one of the elders said to me, “Who are these people wearing white robes, and where did they come from?”

14 I said to him, “Sir, you know.”

Then he said to me, “These people have come out of great hardship. They have washed their robes and made them white in the Lamb’s blood. 15 This is the reason they are before God’s throne. They worship him day and night in his temple, and the one seated on the throne will shelter them. 16 They won’t hunger or thirst anymore. No sun or scorching heat will beat down on them, 17 because the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them. He will lead them to the springs of life-giving water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

It is a cold comfort to know that the hardships endured on earth will result in a place in heaven, but comfort it is. When we are persecuted for Jesus’ sake, when we are discriminated against, lied about, demeaned, rejected, and set aside, we need to remember that our displacement here is but a guarantee of a placement of honor there. If you have ever been ridiculed or put down for speaking God’s truth, get ready. You will wear the white robe of worship.

Read that last sentence again: He will lead them to the springs of life-giving water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. You see, just like in baseball, there is no crying in heaven. No pain, no mourning, no grief, no back-stabbing, no hunger, no loneliness. The Lamb will shepherd us and we will find joy in the flock. Thanks be to God!

And thanks be to Revelation for teaching us to hold on for now.

Almost Heaven by Michelle Robertson