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Larry R. Hayward
May 23, 2004
Seventh Sunday of Easter

Endings
Revelation 22:8-21

We come to the conclusion of this school year.
We recognize participants in our music program and youth graduating from high school.
My own car is in the parking lot, literally packed for vacation, engine nearly running.
And at the same time we come to the final chapter of the final book of the Bible — Revelation.

One would think it might be a good day simply to skip the sermon and be on with it.

But I better not.

Let us pray: Lord, as we end, let us also begin, always in your Spirit on your day. Amen.

In what is labeled in my study Bible as the "Epilogue and Benediction"[1] to the epic and mysterious book of Revelation, the seer, John, the primary speaker in the book, leaves us with three distinct sermon possibilities, only one of which, I assure you, this preacher will choose today.

One possibility is a sermon on the multitude of images we find at the conclusion to Revelation, many of which are drawn from other places in the scriptures.

Falling down at the foot of an angel [2]
Alpha and Omega[3]
Washing the robes[4]
The tree of life[5]
The gate of the holy city[6]
The root and descendent of David[7]
The bright morning star[8]
The spirit and the bride[9]
Water as a gift of life.[10]

Any one of these images is worthy of a sermon. Some of them will make their way into today's sermon, but today's sermon will not primarily focus on these images.

Another sermon possibility is an exploration of the claims this book appears to make about the dangers of changing scripture.

"Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book…" the writer says.[11]

"I warn anyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this book; if anyone takes away from the words of the book…God will take away that person's share in the tree of life and in the holy city…"[12]

If the first sermon would be filled with beautiful images, the second sermon would explore ways these words of warning have been used — often inappropriately — by certain types of preachers to impose judgment on, rather than elicit beauty from, the scriptures.

But again, that is not today's sermon.

II.

The possibility for preaching that draws me today is a middle section of this final chapter of Revelation. Let me read these words again:

Let the evildoer still do evil,
And the filthy still be filthy,
And the righteous still do right,
And the holy still be holy.

See, I am coming soon;
My reward is with me,
To repay according to everyone's work…

Blessed are those who wash their robes,
So that they will have the right to the tree of life
And may enter the city by the gates.
Outside are
The dogs
And sorcerers
And fornicators
And murderers
And idolaters,
And everyone who loves and practices
Falsehood.[13]

Interesting passage. What do we make of it?

III.

When I first read this passage, what strikes me is a sense of benign resignation and acceptance to which the writer John has come in his old age.

John, you will remember, is persecuted for his faith. [14]

He is detained on the Isle of Patmos, an isle 37 miles from the coast of Ephesus, where reside his closest friends.[15]

John is likely nearing the end of his life, and he believes, nearing the return of Christ.[16]

At this stage in his life, his career, his faith, he seems to have accepted that in this world, not all evil will be overthrown, not all good will prevail, not all things that need to change will change.

Let the evildoer still do evil,
And the filthy still be filthy,
And the righteous still do right,
And the holy still be holy.

See, I am coming soon [says the Lord];
My reward is with me,
To repay according to everyone's work…[17]

Through much of our lives, the Christian faith instills us with a sense of idealism and action. Inspired by the Spirit, we tackle the great issues of our personal and political lives:

When disease strikes at an early age, we gird up our loins, seek the best treatment, vow to fight to the bitter end.
When our spouse sinks into depression after years of marriage and life together, we are strengthened by our faith to encourage our spouse not to collapse in defeat. We keep fighting, even when the one we love seems to run out of fight.
Likewise, throughout history, Christians have followed the footsteps and example of Jesus Christ, and fought the great evils of the day: slavery and slave trade, desegregation and apartheid, lynching and other forms of cruel and unusual punishment; furthermore, in the name of Jesus Christ, Christians have fed people, clothed people, and sheltered people across the world.

Yet at times some battles in these fights become hopeless, or at least we lose heart in fighting them. The older we get, like John, or perhaps simply the more tired we become, some wars seem not meant to be won…at least yet, at least not by us, at least not yet. Over time

We come to accept that some people must return to the arms of the Great Physician to be healed, rather than be healed by physicians on earth.
We come to accept that some people — even those we love — have to pull themselves out of depression and heartache on their own, while all we can do is stand by and offer prayer and support.
And unfortunately, given the oppression, famine, and cruelty that hibernate for a season but then come out of hibernation and reside among various nations and religions of the world, we come to accept that some injustices, some evil, simply will not go away in this life.

At the end of his life, John is aware of this. He seems to say:

Let the evildoer still do evil…
Righteous still do right…
I am coming soon [says the Lord],
[And I will be the one to] repay
According to everyone's work…[18]

Let it be. Let is be. Sometimes it's okay to let it be.

IV.

But the second half of this passage puts such permission for benign resignation in a more positive context. The context is that no matter how wisely and faithfully we accept certain defeats, we are still called to personal faithfulness and obedience.

Blessed are those who wash their robes
[John says],
So that they will have the right to the tree of life
And may enter the city by the gates.[19]

"Washing the robes" is a symbol of repentance and of presenting ourselves in a state of readiness before God, drawing forgiveness through the atoning death of Christ.[20]
"The tree of life" is a reference to the Garden of Eden, a state or original purity, now re-appearing at the end of time.[21]
"The city" is a reference to the city of God, coming down out of heaven to a less-than-ideal earth.[22]

The message that lies behind this beautiful symbolism is that even when we have, in the words of Reinhold Niebuhr's serenity prayer, "accepted those things we cannot change,"[23] we are still called personally and individually to keep faith, to maintain integrity, in Spike Lee's words, "to do the right thing."[24] Even though, as Kipling wrote, others around us may be "losing their heads," we remain called to "keep ours."[25]

The third part of this passage is difficult for those of us who prefer parts of the Bible that are positive and loving.

Outside [the gates of the city, John says]
Are the dogs
And sorcerers
And fornicators
And murderers
And idolaters,
And everyone who loves
And practices falsehood.[26]

This language seems to say that those who are responsible for the evil in the world that cannot be changed will be barred from the city of God to which we look forward. The gates will never be open to them, and we who trust in God can look forward to heaven while being darn sure others will spend their days in hell.

I know that most Christians believe in hell. I know that it is human nature to desire and to hope that those who do evil are punished, just as we desire and hope that those who do good — including us, of course — are rewarded
It may very well be the case that those who are evil in this life will be permanently barred from the city of God. If that is so, most of us will not send them sympathy cards as they stare in from the outside.

But this passage does not say that people will be barred from God's city permanently. Rather, it ends with a call of repentance:

Let everyone who hears say, "Come."
Let everyone who is thirsty come.
Let everyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift.[27]

As a Presbyterian who deeply respects the sovereignty of God, the transcendence of God, and therefore the ultimate unknowability of God, I dare not try to specify who, if anyone, is permanently barred from God's city, who if anyone lies totally outside the love and forgiveness of God in and through Jesus Christ. I simply cannot take it upon myself to say: "I am certain that this person who did this thing will never be included in heaven." As a Presbyterian who deeply respects God's ultimate power to make this choice, neither will I claim to know with certainty who resides in the divine city.

I only know this.

John's vision
The book of Revelation
The entire Bible

All end with an invitation:

"Come." "Come." "Let everyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift."[28]

I trust and hope and pray
That in the mystery of God's love,
God figures out a way
To lead everyone
Past, present, and future,
To accept his invitation.

In the meantime,
I join you
In trying to do
What this great book of the Bible
Calls us all to do:

Keep our own robes clean,
Do the right thing,
Keep our heads about us
(Even on vacation).

Amen.

1 The HarperCollins Study Bible: New Revised Standard Version, Wayne A. Meeks, General Editor (New York: HarperCollinsPublishers, 1993), 2336. go back
2 Revelation 22:8. go back
3 Revelation 22:13. go back
4 Revelation 22:14. go back
5 Revelation 22:14. go back
6 Revelation 22:14. go back
7 Revelation 22:16. go back
8 Revelation 22:16. go back
9 Revelation 22:17. go back
10 Revelation 22:17. go back
11 Revelation 22:10. go back
12 Revelation 22:11. go back
13 Revelation 22:11,12,14,15. go back
14 Revelation 1:9. See HarperCollins Study Bible note on 1:9. go back
15 Revelation 1:9. Again, see HarperCollins Study Bible note on 1:9. go back
16 Revelation 1:1. go back
17 Revelation 22:11,12. go back
18 Revelation 22:11,12., paraphrased. go back
19 Revelation 22:14. go back
20 HarperCollins Study Bible note on Revelation 7:15. go back
21 HarperCollins Study Bible note on Revelation 2.7. See also Genesis 3:22-24. go back
22 HarperCollins Study Bible note on Revelation 21:2. go back
23 See Elizabeth Sifton, The Serenity Prayer: Faith and Politics in Times of Peace and War (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2003). go back
24 Spike Lee, Do The Right Thing (a movie). go back
25 "If" by Rudyard Kipling. go back
26 Revelation 22:15. go back
27 Revelation 22:17. go back
28 Revelation 22:17. See Christopher C. Rowland, "The Book of Revelation: Introduction, Commentary, and Reflections," in The New Interpreter's Bible, Volume X11 (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1998), especially comment on 22:21 on page 734. go back

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First Presbyterian Church of Cedar Rapids
310 Fifth Street SE Cedar Rapids, IA 52401
Phone: 319-364-6148
E-mail: church@fpccr.org