First off, read Revelation 21:22-26. Take the obligatory amount of time to be confused, because it’s Revelation, and it confuses us all a little bit. Now, let’s continue.
I find these words cryptically encouraging.
All too often, I feel like the future is bleak. No matter how much gets done, there seem to be more tests and papers. Reading just never gets done. And let’s be real, sometimes group projects feel like root canals. And this is just the reality of school, where we’ve all chosen to place ourselves.
The world is at once a much bleaker place. War and disease, poverty and bigotry all seem too powerful to overcome. We continue to risk the integrity of the environment for the sake of profit. What can our future hold?
John’s world wasn’t all that different. He hadn’t been a student for a long time, though he had many pupils who followed his teaching. But war and disease, poverty and bigotry were all too familiar to John and his contemporary Christians. Further, in the eyes of the Roman Empire, they were dangerous atheists because rather than believing in the entire pantheon, they believed in just one God. So Rome began to hunt, and eventually martyr, all of John’s fellow apostles, leaving John alone in exile on the island of Patmos.
And there, alone, John had a vision, not for a great last meal or the return of his friends, but the redemption of all creation. Rather than just returning things to the status quo, John saw God taking control, saw Christ the Lamb coming to live at the center of all things. In the midst of a desperate situation, John saw a renewed city, the Kingdom of God, lit by the light of God, never shrouded in darkness. And who is welcome here? All nations, apparently event the Romans who exiled him, may enter with glory and honor.
And there, alone, John had a vision, not for a great last meal or the return of his friends, but the redemption of all creation. Rather than just returning things to the status quo, John saw God taking control, saw Christ the Lamb coming to live at the center of all things. In the midst of a desperate situation, John saw a renewed city, the Kingdom of God, lit by the light of God, never shrouded in darkness. And who is welcome here? All nations, apparently event the Romans who exiled him, may enter with glory and honor.
I want eyes like that. Eyes that take hold of God’s hope even in the midst of tragedy. Eyes that envision deliverance rather than vengeance. Eyes that yearn for illumination rather than subjugation. Of course, the first thing we can do is try to see the good in all things. Let’s look for God in the world today, and everyday. And let’s hope for Christ to be the center of all things.
Drew
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