Mid-week Homily

Revelation 21:1-5 A fresh new start
A fresh new start is what so many are longing for. Yet, despite this desire for a fresh new start, many people are pessimistic about it. I am reminded of the difference between the optimist and the pessimist. The optimist believes that we are living in the best of all possible worlds. The pessimist believes that he’s right! This is as good as it gets!

But along comes our Epistle lesson for this day, which reminds us that a new start is exactly what god has in mind and will bring to pass. Because the power of the resurrection you and I can look forward to a new day, a new people and a New World.

I. The old kind of people and the old kind of world are to go.
A. The old kind of people will disappear. The passing away of present human nature will occur with the elimination of “the first earth” (v.1)
1. Human beings were created “very good” (Genesis.1: 31) Imagine what humanity would have been like had it remained that way!
2. Our first parents Adam and Eve corrupted human nature. St. Paul in Ephesians 2:1 summarizes the condition as “dead through trespasses and sins.” Romans chapter 1 is the most devastating indictment of humanity. Paul states in verse 18: “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness since what may be known about god is plain to them
3. Humanity, therefore, has been beleaguered by the results of a corrupted nature. Revelation 21:4 suggests that tears, death, mourning, crying and pain are the human lot.
4. God’s created people have become “not His people” for sin separates people from God, and they are related to Him only by judgment and Law.
5. The old human nature must be destroyed. Luther said: “the old Adam must by daily contrition and repentance be drowned and die” Those who come to Judgment Day without the new birth will be eliminated from God’s happy plan.
B. The old kind of world will pass away.
1. It, too, was originally perfect.
2. But through sin even nature has been corrupted. A new farming season is upon us. How will this year fare? We don't know! 2002 was a year of excessive heat, followed by 2003 - the year of the great flood. 4 days of excessive rain over the 4th of July weekend brought on record amounts of rain. Some have stated that the full effect could not be noticed until those 4 days of rain was multiplied out by 10. Within 40 days an honest assessment was made that the harvest for some would be bleak. And with respect to recovery; again some have stated that you must multiply that out again by 10. In other words, it took 400 days minimum; (close to a year and a half) before a full recovery in our area would begin! And now we have an oil spill on our nation's gulf coast. What are the ramifications of this disaster? Oil prices will rise a fishing industry in ruins. How long Lord, how long?
3. Though we may be uncertain of the precise nature of the restoration of the physical world, we do know that the present “polluted” order will pass away. “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.” (Revelation 21:1)

Transition: When the old is done away with there will be something entirely new.

II. There will be a new kind of people and a new kind of word.
A. God will make and is in the process of making new people.
1. The Old Adam dies in contrition as it faces God’s Law.
2. Through the work of the Holy Spirit a new person comes forth. The process of rebirth and becoming a new creation applies. God is at work in the church with the Gospel to establish His new kind of people by justifying and sanctifying them.
3. The results astound us. We are so limited in apprehending what the eventual form of “salvation” will be that we must hear it in negative terms. – Tears, death, mourning, crying, and pain will be eliminated and gone!
4. How? Here we remember what happens as the Gospel is proclaimed. God is at work. He works through both Word and Sacrament, creating His own people, enlightening them, sanctifying them, and incorporating them into the New Israel, the body of Christ the Church.
In the Epistle He gives them a glimpse of the glorious future awaiting them.
B. God will provide a new kind of world for the new kind of people.
1. The exact nature of the new world is beyond our conceptual ability now. We will await the unveiling, though we are not now able to describe “the furniture of heaven.”
2. But its characteristics are clear. It will be pleasing according to God’s perfect standards. It will be marked by His own presence. It will exclude all the problems that afflict the world today. Recall that three times in our text the Lord promises to be with His people.

CONCLUSION: Our Epistle lesson gives us a fine vision of the future. But, is it only another utopian dream? We are directed back to God’s written word: “These words are trustworthy and true.” (Revelation 21:5)