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When we think of the family members and friends who have passed away–in the past year, the past decade, the past generation–we also gain a sense of a world that is passing away. {{more: continue …}}?When the people we know die, they take with them the experiences of the First World War, the Second World War and the Great Depression. They take with them the sounds and smells of the machine shop, the barn, or the slaughter house, or the kitchen in a house in which they grew into adulthood. We see their faces look back at us from the photos in an album, their expressions coming from a time that is now out of reach. When the people who are closest to us pass away, a part of our world passes away. Death does this.?
A new world…
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Revelation’s vision of the future surrounds human beings and the world itself. The God who created the world holds out a future for the world and for the people who belong to it. In the Book of Revelation God is identity is that of Creator. In the throne room vision in 4:11, God is given praise for having brought all things into being. In 5:13, every creature in heaven and on earth gives praise to God and the Lamb for the life they bring. The future in terms of a new creation in 21:1-6 in no way denies the value of the first creation. It affirms that creation is what God does. The counterpart to new creation is not dissolution but new creation.
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Death is real for those whom God has created. There is also the promise of resurrection in Christ. In resurrection there is a new act of creation. Resurrection is the promise of a transformed existence a new existence. This is also what John envisions for the world itself. Death affects all of us and the world to which we belong. In god’s relentless will to redeem, God gives us the promise of making us and our world new.
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Revelation underscores the integrity of God. What God has spoken, God will do. There is integrity between God’s speech and action. Sin, evil, and death all call the future into question. The author of Revelation and the prophets bring a word of hope into the present by affirming that the God who has created all things is the same God will bring all things to their completion.
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God is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end (21:1). Our own personal existence and the world’s existence are framed by the presence of God. Death is real for ourselves and those we love. Death is not final. In God, the future holds the promise of life.
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Thanks Be to God!?See you on Sunday as we further explore revelation 26:1-6.?“I don’t know how, but I know WHO!”?Peace,
Pastor Nelda?Kennedale
First United Methodist Church is located at 229 W 4th St, Kennedale, TX 76060?. Find out more @ The
Mission Store and @ First United Methodist
Church Facebook
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