Trinity IX, August 18, 2019 W.H.

Revelation 21:1-5,

In the name of the one who tabernacles with us,

Dear Fellow-Redeemed:

       If only things would get better.  The first president Bush borrowed a slogan from Germany in the 1930.  He promised a new world order.  Other politicians make similar promises.  We have had a new deal, Camelot, Make America great.  Politicians do not deliver.  It is probably better said, they cannot deliver.

       Following the news, we are led to believe that our life suffers total chaos, disruption and division.  And we probably blame the politicians with whom we disagree.  We should blame sin and evil.

Today’s text gives us something better to which to look forward.  It gives us the hope for a new and better world.  It is  a hope certain.  St. John promises the new heaven and earth.

God promises us all a fresh start.  Our theme:

THE NEW HEAVEN AND EARTH ARE COMING.

This hope has already begun.  It is called the Church Militant.  It

will be complete when the Church triumphs.  John wrote:

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first

heaven and the first earth had passed away.  Also there was no more sea. 

       There is reason we long for the new heaven and earth.  We all

ruined God’s old heaven and old earth.  We likely blame God, at least, a little.  But God made it to be perfect.

       We ruined it by sin.  Sin divides.  Our sin devastates.  Sin is why nations are at odds with each other and within themselves.  The foundation of order and authority in this world is the family.  Sin, from the beginning broke down the order of the family.

       We ruined it to the core.  Our sin is the cause.  God says:

All who do something sinful is also breaking the Law, because that's what sin is-breaking God's law. I Jn3:4 

Sin is lawlessness.  Sin perverts.  Human sin ruins all. 

Sin runs deep. Try as we may to solve world problems or national problems, sin continues.  We could outlaw guns.  Evil men will continue to kill.  No one is innocent.  All have sinned…

       For hope and promise we must look beyond ourselves, beyond politicians, beyond this world.  We must look to God.  He

promises something better.  Listen to verse 3,

And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, 'Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God.

       These words ring a bell with those who have studied the Bible.  They echo God's words to the first church, the people

of Israel, the first church militant.  When Moses climbed Mt. Sinai,

 God told him to tell the people of the church militant.

Therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine.  And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. 

When God commanded Israel to leave Mt. Sinai, God promised,

My Presence will go with you and I will give you rest.

       Where God is, there is “the beginnings” of the new heaven and the new earth.  The words need repetition.  Where God is, there is “the beginnings” of the new heaven and the new earth. 

God told Joseph, the stepfather of Jesus.  It is part of Christmas.

Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,' which is translated, 'God with us". Matt 1:23. This is where God is.

He is with us in the person of His only begotten Son, Jesus.

       God sent His Son as the one pure and holy person to give us new birth.  Jesus is God.  Jesus brings God to us.  Jesus is with us.  He is with us to rescue us from ourselves and our sin.  Jesus took it from us. He took it all to Himself.  It killed "God with us".  Now it can’t kill us.  We don’t have it anymore.  We have hope.

       One by one, God cleanses human hearts and souls.  By Baptism and faith, we are regenerated, renewed, and renovated.  We are a holy.  Listen to God:

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.  IICor5:17 

Believers citizen the Church, God’s kingdom.

       The Church is located in two places.  Here on earth it is “The Church Militant”.  We are the church militant.  Saints, not yet dead, people it.  We call her militant because has many enemies.  We fight because evil battles us.  We fight.

       We are not alone is the battles.  To protect us from the evil one, God arms us with word and Sacrament.  God sends us into the evil world to rescue those yet prisoners of the old world order.  We battle to bring God’s renewing Spirit to others. 

       And we wait patiently for the return of our Savior who is God with us.  As He ascended He promised to complete the job He started at Christmas.  At His ascension He launched His Church but promised to be with us always as we fight.  He promised to

return to bring a new heaven and earth.  We wait.  Hear John!

Then I, John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

John the Baptist preached about the bridegroom of Christ:

He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend

of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. 

Jesus spoke about the groom in the parable of the ten virgins.  His point while we wait:  Be ready for His return.

       We are His bride.  We wait for His return.  By faith, we wait.  By faith, we are ready.  He scrubbed us clean of sin with His blood and the cleansing power of Baptism.  By faith we are pure.

       It is still a dirty world.  We still get dirty.  We need constant cleaning as we wait.  And Jesus washes us daily by Baptism.

       The day will come, the day for which we wait.  God said.

He who sat on the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new", and He said to me, "Write, for these words are true and faithful.

That day, Jesus will purge all evil from the heaven and earth.

       When He returns God’s Church triumphs.  The things that make life unpleasant, that cause pain, all the things that bring tears will be gone.  They will be purged by fire.

       Everything will be clean, fresh and new.  Not only will God be

with us by faith, He will be with us by sight,

And God will wipe away every tear from their eye; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying; and there shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away...Behold, I make all things new.

said the One on the throne.  Dr. Luther wrote of it:

We shall have the same form and essence, which Jesus now has since His resurrection. Then we need no longer eat, drink, sleep, walk, stand, etc., but will live without any creatural necessities. The entire body will be as pure and bright as the sun and as light as the air, and, finally, so healthy, so blissful, and filled with such heavenly, eternal joy in God that it will never hunger, thirst, grow weary, or decline. That will indeed be a far different and an immeasurably more glorious image than the present one.  What we bear there will be far different from what we bear here. There will be no dissatisfaction, no annoyances, no hardships to bear, such as we have in this lazy, lame image, where we must bear and drag this heavy, indolent paunch about with us, lift it, and have it led. No, there it will swish through all the heavens as swiftly and lightly as lightning and soar over the clouds among the dear angels. St. Paul was intent on impressing these thoughts on us so that we might accustom ourselves already to rising into that life by faith and remember what we are hoping and wishing and praying for when we recite the article: I believe in the resurrection, not only of the spirit—as the heretics said—but also of that very flesh, or body, which we bear on our necks. We believe that it, too, will become a celestial, spiritual body. For what St. Paul discusses…with so many words is only an explanation of this article. He teaches nothing but what these words contain and convey: “resurrection of the flesh.”

Old things will go.  All will become new in the Church of triumph.  It begins now as we believe.  We are new and improved. 

We belong to the new world order.  We wait for the triumph.

Amen.  Soli Deo Gloria!