The Last Things First

In the 21st chapter of the Book of Revelation, John of Patmos describes a revelatory vision of the Last Things – the End Times when the Lamb will return to earth in glory with God. John says describes the vision he saw:

He saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem, coming down to earth. God is going to make God’s home fully and completely among us. John envisions that the gates in the city will not be shut. There is no gated community in the New City! No walls. No gates of segregation. But instead people in this new city have come to realize that they belong to each other.

There is a river that flows through the city. There is clean water for everyone in this New City (or should we say in the New Flint Michigan?) On either side of the river is a tree of life that bears fruit all year round so that all people have access to food. There are no food deserts in this New City (the New Philadelphia?). And John sees how the nations will come to the trees for healing. So people will understand that

they belong not only to each other but also to the rest of the created world. In John’s vision the created world is not something humans are given to exploit or dominate.

John of Patmos was a prophet in ways he could never have known! Here we are in 2016 reading an ancient text from the year 80 C.E about a vision of a city of beauty and justice, that is also a GREEN City! That’s remarkable! But what is perhaps important for us to notice is that this vision is not intended to be understood

by those who are allies of the Empire. John is writing in code, this imaginative metaphor written in order to give people who were most terrorized by the Empire, the power and the hope to remain faithful to Jesus. You see, you cannot be an ally of Empire and also at the same time embrace fully this vision from John. It’s like trying to serve two masters – you have to be devoted to one or the other (Matt. 6:24) Because Roman Empire –just like the American Empire–did not (and does not!) have the interest of the God of Liberation in mind. The Empire is concerned with other things.

The vision of John of Patmos is not given to those who would align themselves with the Empire, but to those who are crying out for a New City! And John uses code language so the people who are most hurt by the ways of Empire can survive and find their way to freedom with the God of Liberation on their side. What is your vision of the Last Things? Can you see a Holy Green City coming down from the

heavens like John? Wow! And if that is God’s beautiful will for earth as it is in heaven, then our task is to start living more deeply into this world that God has created and still calls good. Can we live more deeply now in this world because of this powerful vision of the Last Things?