"I saw a new heaven and a new earth," the writer of Revelation says. "God will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death' ^[b] or mourning, crying, or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."

I invite you to imagine a conversation at a Deacons meeting in about 85 to 90 CE in a church in Asia Minor (now modern Turkey.). This church is part of the target audience of the Book of Revelation. Rome emerged from civil war, having four emperors in four years. Now Emperor Diocletian is persecuting Christians.

Deacon One says, "What is the world coming to? I don't want to hear one more word because the news is so terrible. Last week at the Colosseum, they threw eight Christians into the arena, and lions tore them to pieces. And the crowd cheered the whole time. Rome worships death and violence." 

Deacon Two says, "I blame Nero. He is the one who destroyed the Republic. He always scapegoated other people for his failures and then played the victim. Remember, he is the one who burned Rome and blamed Christians for the destruction. But people love the bread and circuses and gladiatorial combat, which distracts from their real problems."

Deacon Three says, "Hold on, I don't think we should blame the Roman Empire. My father was proud to serve in the 5^th Legion in Gaul. Emperor Domitian is a reformer, and we should give him time. The Christians in Rome must learn to keep their heads down and practice their faith quietly." He is interrupted by Deacon One, "But they are asking people to renounce their faith in Christ and swear to the gods of Rome. We must stay faithful." 

"But is that what Jesus would ask of us? Even Peter renounced Jesus three times when faced with a threat to his life. Sometimes you must say what you must in public but cross your fingers behind your back. Jesus would understand." 

"But Jesus died on a cross. Doesn't that mean something? We are supposed to follow his example." The Senior Deacon says, "It's getting late. We need to figure out the communion schedule. And we still have this new book, "The Revelation," to discuss. Did everyone get a chance to read it before the meeting?"

Has it ever been easy to be a Christian? Just being a human is an act of faith and hope. It is easy to fall into the mindset of "everything is awful." I feel caught between wanting to be well-informed and wishing I didn't know too much. Which town in America will have a mass shooting this week? 874 unique book titles were banned in the United States in 2023. As we approach Memorial Day, I wonder why there seem to be more neo-Nazi marches. Didn't we defeat Fascism in World War II? It's the stuff below the headlines that really scare me. Will there be food shortages as the Colorado River and reservoirs dry up? Soon we may have more mass migrations from our water-stricken West than we currently have at the Southern border (which are also related to climate change in Latin America.). Let’s stop there.

Early Christians have much to teach us about faith and hope. How did people hear these words of The Revelation that God is creating a new heaven and earth? Christians of Jewish background would notice these words echo Isaiah 65, where the prophet promised God's new heaven and earth to Jews living in exile in the Babylonian Empire. The author of Revelation frequently refers to Babylon as a code for Rome. If Rome were directly criticized, this book would likely have been destroyed. That is why Revelation is so coded we struggle to unravel it now. The point is that God's promise is still relevant; those in Babylonian exile returned to a New Jerusalem, only to lose it again in the generation after Christ. The ancient hope endures for God's creative work amid suffering.

How the new heaven and earth arrives is different than how we view historical change. The tendency is to think history will end in either human disaster or progress. Vision one is life will deteriorate because of human evil until we destroy ourselves, and God will rescue the faithful. Vision two is a belief that through science and reason, human goodness will triumph, and we will progress towards a final golden age of utopia. But in the Revelation, we neither destroy the old Jerusalem nor build the new one ourselves. The New Jerusalem descends from heaven into human history, and God dwells among us. 

Think of all the times Jesus says, "The Kingdom of Heaven has drawn near:

·     Luke 10:9: "Heal the sick in it and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.'"

·     Matthew 10:7: "And proclaim as you go, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.'"

But Jesus, it has been a very long time. Life is painful, and the world is unjust. Where is God in this? How far away is this New Jerusalem coming down among us?

Luke 17:20-21 reads: "Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, 'The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, "Look, here it is!" or "There!" for behold, the Kingdom of God is in the midst of you.'"

So perhaps the Kingdom of heaven is not coming with the next election, or the next scientific advance, or Supreme Court ruling. Maybe the new heaven and earth break in when we recognize and embrace the possibility of God's love. Sometimes we perceive God's work at the end of Apartheid in South Africa or the Civil Rights Act. We see it shining in people, from Jesus to Martin Luther King, Jr. to your neighbor. This Kingdom often comes in inches. It arrives at an AA meeting, a food pantry, choir practice, when we stop and listen without judgment, or a thousand other ways. We see glimpses of the new heaven and earth, which are never perfect or complete, but for a moment, the tears are wiped away, and we lose our fear of death and embrace life.