May 10, 1998 A Fresh Start based on Revelation 21:1-5

He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Amen.

Our readings from Revelation continue and this week we explore the new heaven and new earth. Chapter 21 in Revelation is dealing with the time following the final judgment. The unrighteous ones have been condemned to their eternal punishment. Anyone who doesn't have their names written in the book of life will be sent to the lake of fire, and the devil is sent there also.

Having completed all this judgment, there then comes A Fresh Start for all God's people. We will get to start over. All things will be made new. The earth and heaven will be made new.

God will dwell with all people. He will live with us directly. God's dwelt in His tabernacle in early Israelite history. God was present in the tablernacle in Jerusalem. Revelation conveys for us the coming of the New Jerusalem, which is then the new dwelling place of God among His people.

Remember how God lived with Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. He was there having conversations with them, and, after they sinned, He came looking for them. God was that near to His people, until sin corrupted our relationship with our God. Our disobedience broke the bond that existed. The nearness of God was disturbed by sin, because sin separates us from God.

Now God gives us the hope of a different future. In our text, God places before us the certain future for all who trust Christ to forgive them of their sins. And this certain future includes God dwelling with us in a New Jerusalem which is part of a new heaven and earth. This is a comforting future, when our relationship with God is made new.

What a shame it would be to miss out on this future. What a shame to miss the mark.

In 1804 through 1806, Lewis and Clark explored the Northwest. They came within 40 miles of Yellowstone Park, but they missed it completely. This is a good example of missing the mark. Perhaps you've been to Yellowstone, to see the thermal geysers, immense lakes, and splendid waterfalls. If you have, then you know that Lewis and Clark missed the mark.

In 1807 and 1808, John Colter was trapping in the region and was the first white man to see Yellowstone Lake with its rim of spouting geysers. He saw the percolating mud pots and the great canyon of Yellowstone. When he returned, however, no one believed the fantastic stories of what he saw. Another explorer, Jim Bridger also encountered the area, but he exaggerated to such an extent that no one believed the spectacular vistas which were to be seen in that corner of Wyoming. Our nation almost missed the mark.

To have missed it would have been a great loss. It was the first of our National Parks, yet it wasn't until 1869 when an official expedition was sent to document the truth about the place. They hit the mark, they found the target.

It would be a shame to miss the New Jerusalem and all the wonders which God provides for us there. What a loss to not live with our God.

Yet, our sin is enough to keep us away. Our sin deserves the punishment of the eternal lake of fire. Our sin deserves to be evermore separated from God. Each day we disobey God in some new way. Each day we turn away from God because our original sin leads us in that direction. We spend our lives following other gods, such as money, possessions, and popularity. We fail to give our God the service He deserves. This sin is enough to keep us away.

Into this dark picture there is some light which shines. Into the darkness of our sin shines the light for the Gentiles and for all people. This light is the salvation of the ends of the earth. All people are offered the freedom from their sins. This freedom comes through the Son of Man who was glorified. This Son of Man, Jesus Christ was glorified by dying on the cross for our sins. He rose again from that death, too. By His resurrection, He shows us that we too will rise. Believers in Him will indeed rise to everlasting life in the New Jerusalem. On the basis of what Christ has done for us, we can go free from our sins. We escape the punishment. And we enter the new heaven and new earth to live forever with our God.

Our first hymn today had us singing about this happy home. "When shall I come to thee?" The writer anxiously awaits the coming of this home, as we do also. There our sorrows have an end and Thy joys we shall see. On the hymn goes speaking of the happy harbor of the saints and sweet and pleasant soil, a place where no sorrow is found, nor grief, toil or care. The gardens and trees are incredible there. And the hymn closes with the writer wishing that God would bring Him to the New Jerusalem right now.

That ought to be our same feelings after reading our text. Our desire is to be near our God. We admit our sinfulness and desire to be free from it, completely free. We want to start over. The new heaven and new earth are a fresh start for God. The first heaven and earth, tainted with sin, will pass away. The sea will also pass away. The sea is symbolic of God's judgment and wrath upon us, behaving like a stormy sea. Yet because of the blood of Christ, poured out for us, the stormy sea is calmed. The wrath of God is erased and there will no longer be any sea.

God's glorious dwelling place will come to be among us in the new heaven and new earth. God will be with us and will be OUR god. No longer will we be tempted to follow the false gods and idols of the world. God will be our 100% god. And we will be His 100% people. No longer will any separation exist. No longer will our disobedience get in the way of our relationship with Him.

And, what we heard last week is repeated for us again: He will wipe every tear from our eyes. God will take away our reasons for crying. No more death. No more mourning. No more crying. No more pain. This all comes about because the old order of things will pass away. The old sinful order will be erased. The world corrupted with our disobedience will go away and in its place, the New Jerusalem. We get a fresh start. We get to live forever in a world as God intended it to be. Indeed, God says, "I am making everything new!" Then He adds great emphasis to this by telling John to write it down. "Write it down John, because what I am saying is trustworthy and true." And John did write it down and we can read it. God promises to make everything new. The promise can be trusted. And the result can be looked for with great expectation.

This fresh start to come will certainly be the culmination of our faith. However, even now we can get a foretaste of that fresh start. Even now, trusting in Christ, we do gain a fresh start from our sinful lives. We can start over sinless and pure.

This fresh start is most clearly expressed in the sacrament of baptism. In the baptism of Jessica (at St. Paul's) this morning, God gave her a fresh start. He washed her clean of all her sins. He made her His child. He wrote her name in His book of life and reserved a place in the new heaven and new earth.

However, even if you weren't baptized today, you can still experience a fresh start because of your baptism. Martin Luther explained in the Small Catechism how we are to use our baptism daily. He answered the question, "What does such baptizing with water indicate? It indicates that the Old Adam, in us, should, by daily contrition and repentance be drowned and die with all sins and evil desires and that a new man should daily emerge and arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever." So we use baptism daily as we are sorry for our sins (contrition) and turn away from our sins (repentance). That same baptism will then drown our old sinful self and we have a fresh start as our righteous and pure self arises to live before God. We emerge a new person. We get to start over, having been freed from our sins once again.

Having a baptism on Mother's day seems like a wonderful coincidence. Each of us can remember our baptism when we became God's child. We also can all thank God for our mothers. Mothers themselves can each thank the one who made them mothers. A woman becomes a mother when God gives her the gift of the child. What a special gift a child is! It is inconceivable then how a mother might chose to kill her child, whether born or unborn. It is horrible how an estimated 12,000 children in Minnesota suffer abuse or neglect each year. How can we do this to these children who are gifts from God? Yet, the blood of Christ, the Paschal lamb, was shed for these sins too.

There is a high calling that God has for mothers and also fathers. Baptism is the beginning. These parents are to be the primary teachers of their children. They are to bring them up in the knowledge of the Lord. They are to bring them up teaching them about our Easter joy, that we are washed in the tide which flowed from Christ's side. Parents have the special joy to bring their children up in the faith that Christ did wash our sins clean and in His resurrection He set us free from their power.

God gives the gift of children. Then He gives the child the gift of a fresh start in baptism. Our Lord gives each of us a fresh start as we apply our baptism to our lives each day. And, finally, the Lord promises the coming fresh start for the entire world. A new heaven and earth. God dwelling among us. No more tears. All things made new. May you be blessed by the fresh starts the Lord gives you. May we all look forward to that day when all will be made new in Jesus Christ. Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.