https://youtubetranscript.com/?v=Oqn0HapZsgg
Let us begin in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen Hail Mary full of grace. The Lord is with thee Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus Holy Mary mother of God pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen St. John the evangelist In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen Well, here we are It’s it’s the end of the ride We got one last little hill and corkscrew Before the bars pop off and you’re allowed to exit safely to the right So yeah, we’ve made it we’ve made it to the end of history, right? I know they were saying that that was supposed to happen in the 90s didn’t happen in the 90s Still more human history to go. We’ve gone through all the way to the end And so everything we get in tonight is just How it’s gonna be the vision of the future so we don’t have to worry about you know blood or or any of that It’s gonna be great Revelation 21 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth the former heaven and the former earth had passed away and the sea was no more I also saw the Holy City a new Jerusalem Coming down out of heaven from God prepared as a bride adorned for her husband I heard a loud voice from the throne saying behold God’s dwelling is with the human race He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will always be with them as their God He will wipe away every tear from their eyes and there shall be no more death or mourning Wailing or pain for the old order has passed away All right, so I’ve got an advanced Bible question anybody who answers it for me. I’ll get a piece of candy Anybody know who built the first city The very first city In the Bible first city in the Bible In the Bible first city in the Bible The first city was built by Cain Yeah, yeah, I’m sure I’m keeping my candy Aaron No the first city was built by Cain, right and So you can see you know when we’re interpreting biblical symbolism going back to the beginning You know remember what Cain did? He was he killed his brother, right? What did he do before that? see Abel was the shepherd and Cain was the farmer right, I don’t want to offend any Farmers or farmers wives here or anybody involved in the agricultural business, but in the biblical imagination the shepherds Were seen as closer to God, right? You know When Israel needed to be purified of idolatry After coming out of Egypt they hung out in the desert, right? They weren’t keeping vines. They weren’t keeping You know fields they weren’t keeping groves of olive trees, right? There that nomadic lifestyle was was kind of Was kind of held up. So as we as we look through biblical history more often than not Cities are the place where trouble happens, right? We look at the Tower of Babel, right? You think they were building that in the middle of nowhere, but that was an urban project right to try and keep the whole place together and so these cities then were They’re they’re not always a good place, you know, and the bigger they are the more trouble they seem to cause Does that remind you of anything? Yeah, you know so so these the symbolism of a city It’s it’s it’s kind of like it’s not the best place, you know But the farmers don’t live in the city Well, so farming and and cities built up together and And then you know cities back then. Yeah Oh boy, oh boy, this is getting out of hand So the point is the point is is that the the city then isn’t always seen as a good place in the biblical mind you know, but It could be redeemed Right. The cities could be redeemed the cities can actually Become you know the inversion of that place where evil is done where greed takes hold And it could be the holy city, right? And that’s what Jerusalem was always supposed to be Jerusalem was always supposed to be the holy city Where God’s will was accomplished and so, you know just as Jesus through death was able to bring life right it was able to Invert what death means, you know turn it upside down on its head turn it into life So he takes this this wicked city and turns it into a holy city Right turns it all upside down And so what we see here is is how? Christ is able to to redeem all of creation, you know, even these places where you know the city That’s the place where that human power is most manifest. That’s where the system of the beast can can inhabit most but He’s able to redeem it. He’s able to make it good We’re talking about the sea being no more and so, you know Is the new earth only going to have land and there’s not going to be any large bodies of water Is that what we’re supposed to understand here and I’m not sure that that’s what we’re going for here If you’ll remember all the way back in chapter 13 There was the second beast right? Where did the second beast come or the the first beast? Where’d the first beast come from? Came out of the sea, right? It’s like this monster, you know, it’s like Godzilla coming out of the ocean You know seven heads and all that And so, you know if we go back to the very first class we were talking about how how the water is that place of chaos Right and you know the water in your bathtub. That’s pretty manageable chaos even with little kids, you know But the sea when there’s a big storm whipped up on it is is a is a deadly place. It’s a dangerous place It’s why Jesus performed more than one miracle out there on the sea to show that he had that mastery over that even there so I think what we’re Supposed to see when it talks about the sea being no more Is is that’s that place of danger that place of? uncontrollable chaos that place where human beings can’t survive That’s not gonna be something we have to worry about anymore in the new heavens in the new earth And maybe there won’t be a sea I don’t know I haven’t seen the new earth yet might not be blue but They’ll probably be blue Jerusalem Jerusalem comes down out of heaven, right and we’re gonna get a More in-depth picture of what Jerusalem looks like But you got this image of the city the holy city coming down out of heaven And so finally heaven and earth are being reunited and fully right that this heavenly city It’s coming down onto earth and so there’s no longer going to be this barrier of separation between the heavenlies and Who we’re supposed to be you know It’s unity of all creation. It’s completely undoing that Division which happened in the Garden of Eden through sin And this is a gift right You know there was kind of in the late night 19th early 20th centuries There was a lot of mixing with Christianity and politics and they thought it was going to be at the end of history then too You know infinite progress, you know Get your tickets to the wheel in space while there’s time all that And no, it’s not it’s not something that we it’s not something we construct This is a gift that’s given to us and we receive it and hopefully can participate in it So when it talks about How God’s dwelling is with the human race You know, literally the word there is the same word used in the Hebrew Old Testament for tabernacle or tent, right? So you remember the Egyptian the after the Israelites came out of Egypt They set up the tabernacle which would be the meeting tent where they would go to offer sacrifices to God Now in this new heavens and new earth It’s just with the human race, right? It’s just here And talks about the old order having passed away, you know No more death or mourning wailing or pain, right? This old order that had been marked by death that had been it’s frankly a disorder not an order, right? That’s gone. It’s all gone. It’s all been redeemed. It’s all been made new The one who sat on the throne said behold I make all things new Then he said write these words down for they are trustworthy and true. He said to me they are accomplished I am the Alpha and the Omega the beginning in the end to the thirsty. I will give a gift of From the spring of life giving water The victor will inherit these gifts and I shall be his God and he will be my son But as for cowards the unfaithful the depraved murderers the unchaste sorcerers Idol worshipers and deceivers of every sort their lot is in the burning pool of fire and sulfur, which is the second death So This is only the second time that we’ve heard the voice of the father In the book of Revelation if you go all the way back to chapter 1 The father has spoken and through the whole rest of the book of the Revelation It’s been the lamb the one seated on the throne Or it’s been an angel other people talking right obviously sent by the father and so at the very end We’re putting everything back together the father speaks again for the second time and he promises this Life giving water right? So this is another another major theme in all Everything we have from st. John Comes up in In his gospel Gospel more than once Remember the woman at the well Jesus says if you knew who you were speaking to I would give you Life-giving a living water and you would not have to come back to the well, right and then Later on at the feast of tabernacles Jesus says come to me all you were thirsty and I’ll give you streams of living water, right? You know what the Bible means by living water? Means running water You know and running water was always preferred in the ancient world, right because you know A cistern is is a good thing, right? You’ve got water But everybody wants a bit of that water, right? and so you were much more likely to get a microbe or a parasite or or Little bugs in the cisterns Whereas if you had access to a mountain stream or if you had access to a fresh spring of water You know, that’s living water, right? It hasn’t it hasn’t had time to sit still and be dead. So But this isn’t merely just living water, right? This is this is that life-giving water And so we could look at kind of a twofold symbolism here with that living water It’s it is it the Holy Spirit that’s given to us right and if you look at You know the whole the biblical corpus one of the symbols for the Holy Spirit is is that water? It comes to us in baptism or is it eternal life? And the answer is well, yes, that’s exactly what it is It is the Holy Spirit and you know if we’ve been baptized and if we are not conscious of every grave sin We’ve you know been able to make it to confession if we’ve ever done anything Seriously wrong We already have the exact same Holy Spirit within us, which means we have this fountain of eternal life Already in us, right? We’re like little little seeds going around in the world and and through death and through resurrection we kind of spring up into eternal life and That’s being transformed from the inside out and growing into something amazing Which we wouldn’t necessarily see When we’re just looking at each other and so we all are already participating in The life of God hopefully if not make an appointment. We’ll take care of it Now here’s something interesting the father says To the victor will inherit these gifts and I will be his God and he will be my son, right? And there’s this interesting thing that happens to us With God is that these relationships all kind of start stacking up, right? So, you know sometimes we look at it and we are the bride of Christ, right? Other times we are sons of God, you know and This is just another example about how God is able to Fill up everything right how he can be everywhere. He could have that perfection the number seven Including everything in himself And we’re all sons of God and I mean that right that we’re all in the Sun, right? And so I can look at all of you and say, you know, you are a son of God each and every single one of you Because how exactly are you adopted by God? Baptism right and that forms you into the body of Christ, right and In Christ there is no man or woman Greek or Jew slave or free Right. They’re all one in Christ Jesus. And so the only way that we are in adopted God is by being unified to Christ and so We’re all sons Even if you’re a lady Because you’re in you’re in Christ, right? this mystical body of Christ so, you know very often from the pulpit or with In kind of cataclysm situations where I don’t want to go over that. I’ll say sons and daughters of God and You know, that’s that’s a it’s an acceptable way to look at it You know, that’s that’s a it’s an acceptable way of talking but but it’s like no we are in Christ specifically You know, we have that spirit within us When we’re looking at all of these All of these people who will not be inheriting the kingdom, you know a lot of that is pretty straightforward You know, don’t be a coward a murderer a sorcerer or idol worshiper It’s that tricky word. Pharmachia again every time we see sorcerer, you know You can like sorcery witchcraft Bad medicine like it’s all the same concept very interesting We’re looking at unfaithful The way that word works in the Greek is actually pretty similar to the way that it works in English So if somebody’s unfaithful, it either means they don’t have faith in God or it means that they’re untrustworthy, right? That they’ve proven themselves unfaithful. So it’s got both of those meanings there. So I just recommend not being unfaithful And the depraved is the exact same word used to describe the the harlot In chapters in the chapters where where she was mentioned so Just you know, the english translation doesn’t necessarily make that But that depravity that idol worship that not being Holy consecrated to God but having this mixed This mixed heart I mean Right, so if we look at it in context of the book of revelation What do we hear over and over and over again? Right remain faithful to God, you know He who holds out to the end will be saved and so Given that that’s the the first Thing that’s mentioned right? I think it’s it’s those who would who would turn back Who would you know fail in a time of persecution? Now obviously the church did have to deal with that As the roman persecutions got bigger and bigger you’d have larger and larger percentages of people who didn’t do that Public penance was what the church kind of decided as as the way back in so you’d be kind of excluded from communion for a period of like Three or four years you’d have to put on sackcloth outside the church and beg for people to pray for you They took it real seriously back then But you know public penance was only ever used for public sins, right? Okay Murder adultery, um idol worship like if in a time of a persecution, uh, you know things that Everybody talks about over coffee and donuts, you know the town gossip, you know Yeah, yeah, right and we still have that common sense distinction, you know Public sins versus private sins things that people know about versus people isn’t generally known One of the seven angels who held the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came to me and said come here I will show you the bride the wife of the lamb He took me in spirit to a great high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from god It gleamed with the splendor of god Its radiance was that of a precious stone like jasper clear as crystal It had a massive high wall With 12 gates where 12 angels were stationed and on which names were inscribed The names of the 12 tribes of the israelites There were three gates facing east three north three south and three west The wall of the city had 12 courses of stones as its foundation On which were inscribed the 12 names of the 12 apostles of the lamp and so If you’re if you’re paying really close attention You’ll notice that the last time we saw the one of the seven angels who said seven seven bulls Seven seven bulls Taking john away in spirit was when we had that chapter all about the harlot, right? Had that vision of the harlot So he’s very clearly showing the antithesis between the holy city and the wretched and depraved city, right? And he uses, you know this this image of the prostitute and That’s kind of a fitting image here The prostitute is a place where identity is confused, right where there’s no loyalty. There’s none of this Singular focus on One identity one man, right? Um, and it’s this place of mixture and confusion, you know Whereas the bride is is described as as a bride as as somebody who is married who is faithful, right? And is consecrated only to Her husband right only to god and uh, you know, uh people complain about the world being patriarchal But it just seems like that’s kind of how things are structured, you know Like why is it that? In just about every situation it was in history It was always you know, when a when a marriage happened the wife assumes the identity of the man it’s like that’s that’s um Something about the masculine identity which you know seems to give um seems to give the identity and um I remember talking about this in one of my classes with one of my teachers and uh She and her husband had adopted a child. They were unable to have one of their own And she was irish-american and he was Slovenian, I think or Slovakian. I can’t remember which one Uh, and and this daughter that they had adopted Really identified with i’ll just say Slovenia, right? Like i’m Slovenian, you know, I just naturally and you know, like she loved her mom just a good mom, but But just that that that place where that identity came from. Um and so So yeah the bride Uh, and we’ve got this very Very interesting image that this city gleams with the splendor of god like a jewel, right? And it’s clear as crystal you can you can see right through it Um, what’s going on there? Well, if we’re going to talk about christ as the light of the world The light shines right through Like there’s nothing getting in the way of manifesting that divine presence So light just goes straight through and then um, you know, there’s no more need For secrecy. There’s no more need to have things hidden, right? Because now that christ is all in all There’s nothing that’s estranged from him. There’s nothing That uh There’s no reason no reason for secrets anymore. Um You know you think about that detail that you know adam and eve were naked in the garden before they sinned and they were without shame right and so all of this clothing that we put on to ourselves all of that is the result of our alienation from god, but you know, um, jesus says, uh What you hear in whispers will be proclaimed in the housetops, right? And at the last judgment everything is made manifest because christ is one and christ fills up the whole thing. And so You don’t need to hide anymore. There’ll be nothing to hide. There’ll be no reason to hide. We’ll just be completely ourselves With no fear no shame No feeling vulnerable We just let it all Let it all out everything You know, everything will be just completely transparent and open Now the city is uh protected by uh gates and by angels, right? and um We’ve already seen Exactly who’s not going to get into the city, right those who received who did not have the mark of the lamb those who Did these sins which exclude you? And that stuff can’t get in anymore can’t get through the gates, you know because the angel is guarding the gates the gates can be locked and um, you know just as Uh, you know in in in genesis after adam and eve are expelled from the garden There’s a there’s a cherubim with a revolving fiery sword. I have no idea what that would look like Guarding the gates of eden, right? We can’t get back in to access the tree of life In the same way, uh, you know, nothing’s going to get in but We’re on the inside now, right? We’re no longer Having been excluded And it talks about these stones as its foundation on which were inscribed, you know, the 12 apostles of the lamb Does anybody here know what the word apostle means? One who is sent right one who is sent so I think we actually get postal service from The same kind of greek roots, right sending things, you know And so the apostles were sent by jesus out into the whole world to proclaim the good news And that faith only comes to us through hearing what the apostles, you know said right in that first generation Hearing what they wrote down through the scriptures and what they handed on as being, you know, fundamentally Constitutive of the church that comes to us through tradition. So really the only way we get back to jesus Is through what the apostles did? right, and so That’s the foundation of our faith. That’s why every sunday we talk about we believe in the apostolic church, right? That what we do goes all the way back to the apostles what they were given by jesus to go out And bring to the whole world, right? so even things like You know the fact that we have bishops and priests and deacons and that we gather on the lord’s day and we’ve got These seven sacraments and these different ways of praying all of that all that is apostolic goes all the way back to the beginning And so that’s why it makes sense that the city has as its foundation 12 names of the apostles what they did because it all comes to us through faith The one who spoke to me held a gold measuring rod to measure the city its gates and its walls The city was square its length the same also as its width He measured the city with the rod and found it 1500 miles in length and width and height He also measured its wall 144 cubits according to the standard unit of measurement that the angel used The wall was constructed of jasper while the city was pure gold clear as glass The foundations of the city wall were decorated with every precious stone The first course of stones was jasper the second sapphire The third calcidoni the fourth emerald the fifth sardonyx the sixth carnelian the seventh chrysalite The eighth barrel the ninth topaz the tenth chrysophrase the 11th hyacinth and the 12th amethyst The 12 gates were 12 pearls each of the gates was made from a single pearl And the street of the city was of pure gold transparent as glass Yes We’re getting a very strange picture here right this giant cube the giant gold cube That comes down to us from heaven So obviously it’s symbolic because otherwise we’re getting some serious star trek next gen flashbacks the borg cube and uh That’s not that’s not what we’re going for. We’re going for something a whole lot better here It’s huge right 1,500 miles They’re converting that into to modern measurements, but if you go back to the greek it’s 12,000 stadia, right? So that was kind of a use in a measurement and of course we see the number 12 That’s like automatically, you know sending off signals there. I’ve been thinking about the number 12 and um You know, it’s uh, it’s 12 tribes of israel, right? But um, but you know god being in charge of all history He was the one who made sure that there were 12 tribes of israel specifically um, and i’m wondering You know when we talked about the number four and the way that’s used in the bible It’s kind of the four corners of the earth Uh kind of represents the whole of the earth So i’m wondering, you know four times four is that just like a magnification of the whole earth and how Uh, everybody is destined to be the whole earth is destined to be integrated into the new israel, right? 12 apostles founders of the new israel But either way we look at it, you know, we’re looking at the 12 tribes of israel times a thousand the immense number And that’s how we get the city of god Now when we look at the entire, uh The whole earth is the only structure that’s ever described as being this perfect cube is the holy of holies in the temple Right that very place where the ark of the covenant was but after they went and lost the ark of the covenant It was just empty which I can’t remember. There was it was a caesar who conquered Jerusalem and or a general and when he walked into the holy of holies He was freaked out because there was nothing in there He was expecting a statue and the jews who did not make any images of god ever to this day was just like nothing So, um, but anyway the dimensions of that were a cube, right? And so the entire city now Is the holy of holies, you know And we remember uh the angel with the measuring rod Had measured only the interior of the temple while the out outer courts were being trampled well that distinction is gone now You know, it’s all the holy of holies. It’s all the place where god is And it’s got this really thick wall 144 cubits a cubit would be about a meter Right, so, you know, I don’t care what kind of cannons or explosives you have. You’re gonna have a hard time getting through that wall um You know and that’s the testimony of those Who followed the lamb right? We’ve seen 144 before the 144,000 Those who followed after the lamb who sang his song who had received the seal of god on its foreheads and that That witness that the christian faith will give Is the the protection of the city? And these 12 stones that seems awfully specific doesn’t it? It’s like yes every every course was a different Precious stone i’m running out of parchment. Let’s go, you know But those 12 stones uh come to us from the book of exodus and You know moses didn’t only get instructions from the book of exodus on how to build the tabernacle But also how the priests were supposed to vest And he was for the high priest his brother aron. He was to put together this breastplate with the 12 stones on it Right and each of those stones would have been inscribed with the name of one of the tribes of israel and so um These are the exact same list of stones that we have from the book of exodus, right? That would have been on the breastplate of the high priest But instead of just you know, the high priest having it It’s the whole city and the whole city is the whole people of god So just as we’ve been promised all throughout that we’re going to be a nation of priests, right all of us offering Acceptable sacrifice and worship to god There it is the whole city now has the same adornment that the high priest in the old testament had I have 12 men one from each tribe pick up a stone and build an altar, right? Yeah. Yeah Yeah Yep, yep, this is this is a brilliantly crafted work here it all fits together I saw no temple in the city for its temple was the lord god almighty and the lamb The city had no need of sun or moon to shine on it for the glory of god gave it light And its lamp was the lamb The nations will walk by its light and the kings of the earth will bring their treasure During that during the day its gates will never be shut and there will be no night there The treasure and wealth of the nations will be brought there But nothing unclean will enter it nor anyone who does abominable things or tells lies Only those will enter whose names are written in the lamb’s book of life All right, so It would be very unusual in the ancient world To see a city without a temple or to see a city without a center And Our cities don’t really have centers anymore, right? Like I remember I I was pretty new in detroit where I did my my minor seminary And we were kind of out in the suburbs, right? And the only way I could tell I was in a different town on this highway Were just the signs passing by Right, and it’s all just kind of this Undifferentiated extension of city What’s in the center of wapoten Town center square. Do you really think that’s the center? See I think and this is you know, a complaint I have against most of america So I don’t want wapoten to take it too personally, but I think highway 13 is the center of our town Right We’re not all there Right But I I can’t think of another place that that functions as a center of this town a place where it it finds its identity The place where it’s it’s organized around, you know And I think that’s kind of what’s part of anyway What’s wrong with our societies today is is it’s all kind of an interchangeable It’s all just kind of a place where there’s no firm identity and you can find the same subway You can find the same mcdonald’s starbucks walmart any single one of these towns And it is special being here in wapoten. I don’t want to be too mean to wapoten because but that’s only because Y’all are here, you know and and God decided each and every single one of you was a good idea. So But but You know if you go to europe right and even in these Extremely secular villages where hardly anybody goes to church anymore They still got the church in the center, right and the way they organize the town Is around the church and so you’ve got the church in the center And then you’ve got probably a plaza in front of that and maybe some major streets immediately off that with marketplaces And then you know the streets kind of snake out around, you know, so the the the church in Town and in the ancient world whatever temple of whatever deity was the principality of that town would be like the spoke and all of the The hub and all of the wheel spokes Would go into that and and that would be the place where it all radiates out And so I just think it’s really interesting that we don’t design our cities that way That we decided that we were going to redesign every single town in the united states of america around technology Specifically the automobile Right and it’s like all of a sudden, you know How many people’s kids all live here in wapitan? Not a single one how many people’s kids still live within and every single one of your kids still live within an hour of wapitan Yeah, right we’ve we’ve liquidated our society and these these These pipe these pipes these roads are what transports the liquid wherever the economy is demanding them you know and If all of a sudden the whole machine stops You’re not going to see your kids again So yeah, I That doesn’t really have that rant right there doesn’t have much to do with the book of revelation But i’ve been thinking about it a lot and you guys are all here. So Okay, so let’s get back to the bible here There is no temple in the city what I blew my mind when I Was in seminary was when I was taught that the word that god uses in Genesis chapter one to talk about the image and likeness that he’s creating us is the exact same Word that they used for an idol Right, so we are god’s idols in the world. We are images in the world, right? Oh my gosh That’s mind-blowing right there, right that that you know, we are You know, we are carrying that image of god around that we are his Representations in the world, you know, that’s what we are called to And this will finally be perfect In this holy city because there will be no need for a specific place consecrated to god anymore the specific place for us to remember our Identity as the sons of god as the bride of the lamb because we’ll just be living it finally perfectly all the way through without any Mixture or distraction or anything like that? There’s no temple in the city The temple is the lord god almighty and the lamb and it’s us all of us having been united to god All right the kings of the earth If you if I had just you know last week talked about the kings of the earth, would you have thought they were the good guys? No, right. I mean we’ve heard about the inhabitants of the earth Those were always the people who had accepted the mark of the beast There was always the people and all of a sudden we’re hearing about the kings of the earth And this is the first time in the book of revelation that they’re mentioned in a positive light, right? Guess how many times? Previous to this the kings of the earth had been mentioned in the book of revelation Six times Right six times that number of human power Which is so easily distorted and easily thrown off right, but god Brings it into that seventh right into that completeness into that wholeness where it can include everything even the people who most often have Caused problems, right? Now earthly authority is not bad in itself All right, we can’t organize a society without somebody Organizing it without somebody being in charge. It’s a part of the way the church is organized The bishop has authority over me father dale has authority over me, right? Because it’s a hierarchical organization But it so often goes wrong, right? That’s like the whole history of israel right there the leadership’s bad. The people are bad They get conquered and then they cry out and then they’re good again for a little bit and then a whole cycle repeats again But finally at the end christ is all in all and these kings come bringing gifts to the lamb Finally in that proper Relationship to the lamb. They’re finally worshipping properly And the wealth of the nations comes to it You know nothing good about this world will ever be lost, right? Everything that’s worthy in this world everything that’s good in this world will find its way into the next world So all art music Whatever is good anywhere in the earth that will be present in forever On to chapter 22 Then the angel showed me the river of life-giving water Sparkling like crystal flowing from the throne of god and of the lamb down the middle of its street On either side of the river grew the tree of life that produces fruit 12 times a year once a month The leaves of the trees serve as medicine for the nations. Nothing accursed will be found there anymore The throne of god and the lamb will be in it and his servants will worship him They will look upon his face and his name will be on their foreheads Night will be no more nor will they need light for lamp or the sun for the lord god shall give them light and they shall reign forever and ever So this uh this passage References back especially to ezekiel 47 and a whole bunch of what we’ve been talking about for like the past 20 minutes Comes from those later chapters of ezekiel right this vision of the new jerusalem this broad Deep slow flowing river. It’s this river is huge in ezekiel’s vision like you walk out And then you wait out and it’s just broad deep flowing river, right so instead of that chaotic sea That place where it’s like hey, this water is going to kill us. Oh, this water is only life-giving And the tree of life grows on either side of the river, right So you remember, you know the tree of knowledge of good and evil was not the only Big deal tree in the garden of eden, right? In fact, that’s exactly why adam and eve were expelled from the garden of eden god specifically says If they stretch out their hands and now eat from the tree of life, they’ll be immortal and that wouldn’t be the kind of immortality that We are looking for right like in our imagination and in the great stories immortal creatures Usually aren’t that nice. Are they we’re looking at like vampires, right? They’re only immortal because they suck the life out of other people and you know for my generation. It’s lord voldemort, right? like he’s seeking after immortality and that’s The reason why he commits all of these evil deeds making him the bad guy of you know, the big old book series uh That’s why god put the cherubim with the revolving sword at the gates of eden So we wouldn’t reach out our hands take the tree of life And be stuck in evil Forever, you know, so at this point death is kind of a mercy you know, you’ve got 70 years 80 for those who are strong and Then you don’t have to deal with the evil anymore. You’re done with the striving And The leaves are medicine of nations and um You know, there’s there’s probably probably means just about what it says complete healing and integration of body and soul. I’m reminded of The end of the purgatorial so dante’s divine comedy from the 13th century Most people just think of it as the inferno, but he also goes through purgatory and heaven And uh, that’s actually literally where all the good stuff is and so whenever somebody says Oh, i’ve only read the inferno. It’s like you literally missed all the good stuff You know at the very top of mount purgatory is the earthly paradise where adam and eve had been expelled from and dante drinks, uh from The two rivers that come out there the leave and that causes him to forget his sins and the bitterness associated with the sins that he had committed And the river you own a um He regains Good memories and I mean genuinely good memories, right anything that brought him closer to god And so, you know this Symbolism doesn’t add up exactly That’s not leaves as rivers, but but I think that’s the sort of healing that we have to look forward to right We’re even Where our sins used to be the only thing we’ll see is how god operated there How his grace? Restores and perfects us there, right? And you will no longer see the bitterness of that sin But but how god was able to to restore that bring it to life And make that a place where we’re actually built up right as saint paul says we’re sin abounds grace abounds all the more All right, and then They see the face of god, right? So how does every like old testament manifestation of god’s presence go? Oh, no, i’m doomed. I’ve seen the face of god and now i’m going to die right You know, that’s what isaiah thought when he had the vision of the temple That’s what joshua thought when the commander of the lord of hosts was there. That’s what geddian thought it’s like They thought if we see the face of god, we cannot live we cannot live with that But now we can We can in that world we will be able to see the face of god and live because we’ll have been completely conformed to the son that we will Be able to relate to the father The same way that the son relates to the father to have that relationship between the two Yes Um, i’m not sure I understand the question, you know like the beatific vision. Yes. Yes. So Does that happen at the moment of death? No, right. So you got death judgment And then once you’re in heaven, right so all the souls up in heaven they’re enjoying the beatific vision right now um The vision of god and you’re not seeing them with your eyeballs, right? It’s a mental vision of god It’s going to be crazy. I’m looking forward to it No, they are they are But it’s still in a way imperfect with the souls in heaven because a human being is not supposed to be a disembodied soul Human being is supposed to be flesh and soul, you know That’s how we’re fundamentally constituted and so our flesh is going to have its own kind of participation in the beatific vision because Beatific vision will flow into the highest faculties of our soul and out through the whole rest of our being So And we will reign with him forever and ever right And so I think there’s still going to be stuff to do And I don’t know what kind of stuff it’s going to be right? But when we talk about you know our baptismal identity as kings, right? All of you a priest profiting king by virtue of your baptism, you know, that’s about bringing about god’s kingdom here on earth Right in the right way not like in a political activism way But by living a just and virtuous life by putting on the garments that are good deeds Um by loving god and loving neighbor That’s how we are kings with the king of kings on this earth So if we’re going to be reigning forever and ever It’s like it’s going to be different, but I think it has to be the same And so I have no idea what this new earth is going to be like but um, I want to get there You know so I can find out about it And he said to me these words are trustworthy and true and the lord the god of prophetic spirits sent his angel to show his servants what must happen soon Behold I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the prophetic message of this book It is I john who heard and saw these things and when I heard and saw them I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me But he said to me don’t I am a fellow servant of yours and one of your brothers of the And of your brothers the prophets and of those who keep the message of this book worship god That he said to me do not seal up the prophetic words of this book for the appointed time is near Let the wicked still act wickedly and the filthy still be filthy the righteous must still do right and the holies still be holy so This is the epilogue of the book of revelation is a little chaotic right it’s like Like things are just coming at us from every different angle the speakers change, you know So, you know, we’ve got like an angel speaking to us and all of a sudden christ is speaking to us It’s all it’s all coming down You know, we’re always talking about soon right and christ says behold i’m coming soon and we’re like this is soon You know But everything in this book is real right now, right 144 000 in the lamb The river of life giving water access to the tree of life You know the holy spirit that we have now is the same Holy spirit that will fill us completely in god’s kingdom. And so all of this is uh Is the end time right all of this? Is the soon all of this is happening now um Now john is is we could tell he’s wrapping things up here, right? So when we get to verse eight, it is i john who heard and saw these things He’s talking about the whole book that we’ve just covered, right? And he again attempts idolatry with this angel angel corrects him saying no We’re gonna i’m a fellow servant of yours, right? And that’s equality right there because angels are way more intelligent way more powerful than we are Yet underneath the lamb were held as equals And then the This order to not seal the prophecy, right so The book of daniel at the very end the angel tells daniel to seal up the prophecy the time has not yet come and there’s like a dozen legends of Alexander the great so so let’s get a little bit of a history here daniel Was said to have written during the time of nevican as the king of babalon, right? That’s like 500 bc Right in about 300 bc is when alexander the great is sweeping over The the mediterranean world the whole known world as as they were aware of it uh, there’s like There’s like a ton of legends about The jews in jerusalem showing You know unsealing the scroll of the prophet daniel and showing to him where he fits in with that that that prophecy, right? They’ve got this ancient ancient ancient scroll and saying look that one right there is you you know, um I don’t know if those legends are true, but dang it’d be cool if it was right like that’s how history should have happened um But there’s not there’s none of that now, right? There’s none of that now the time is now And we are in the fulfillment right here Behold I am coming soon. I bring with me the recompense. I will give to each according to his deeds I am the alpha and the omega the first and the last the beginning and the end Blessed are they who wash their robes so as to have the right to the tree of life and enter the city through its gates Outside are the dogs the sorcerers the unchaste the murderers the idol worshipers and all who love and practice deceit I jesus sent my angel to you to give you this testimony for the churches I am the root and offspring of david the bright morning star The spirit and the bride say come let the hearers say come Let the one who thirsts come forward And the one who wants to receive the gift of life giving water All right, so at the beginning of the book we heard about How the father is the alpha and the omega, right? And now christ is saying I am the alpha and the omega the first and the last the beginning and the end So he’s taking on the identity of his father, right? And having been sent he now has all the rights and prerogatives of the father to bring it all back to him Um, uh, blessed are those who wash their robes. Well, that’s actually a really hopeful message right there, right? That’s not blessed are those who are able to keep things absolutely perfect since their baptism Right and that’s a that’s a comforting thought really is like, you know I may have sinned again. I may have screwed up again But as long as i’m repenting I am still being obedient All right, the very first words of jesus in the gospel repent repent the kingdom of heaven is at hand So we’re still blessed every time we return to the sacrament of reconciliation every time we even Repent in our hearts of any venial sins that we might have committed Well, that’s a blessing right there. We are once again washing ourselves in the blood of the lamb And we’re still blessed every time we return to the sacrament of reconciliation Now the new jerusalem is is the whole of creation, right? uh, and so You know the only At the end it only seems like the only two things that are written are the new heavens and the new earth And the lake of fire, right? Those are the only things that remain so Jerusalem and then inside jerusalem. It’s now the whole new creation is this new city I warn everyone who hears this book The prophetic words of this book if anyone adds to them god will add to him the plagues described in this book If anyone takes away from the words in this prophetic book God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city described in this book The one who gives this testimony says yes, I am coming soon. Amen. Come lord jesus the grace of the lord jesus be with all All right, so That’s the end of it. Um the only thing I want to add to it is uh We have this apostolic faith, right and we talked about you know, the one who is sent Um and saint john gives Certainly priests like me, but any of us who are tasked with teaching the faith Tasked with explaining it interpreting it Do not add anything Do not take anything away and you know anywhere where I felt in this whole presentation series like i’m Just teaching what the church teaches just explaining what the book teaches I’ve just said it and anywhere where i’m like i’m not sure about this. This is kind of my own opinion It might be true, but it’s not 100 solid. I think i’ve been able to say, you know To my own interpretation, but that’s that’s kind of the rule is If we’re going to get back to jesus through the apostles We’ve got a faithfully hand on what the apostles have given to us. And so um Yeah We don’t want those curses All right, so Just a few final thoughts, um There were definitely moments especially when we were looking at the system of the beast where I got the sense that all of us were like Starting to connect with our own time, right? Things that might be frightening We are not the first generation of christians to think that you know The christians in the seventh century in the holy land when all of a sudden The muslim conquerors were coming up from the south and just swept the last vestiges of the roman empire there away You know you read their writings. They thought they were going through the end times right then and there you know christians During the time of the protestant reformation They thought it was kind of the end of the world Catholics were looking at these these protestant revolters and they were like this is the great apostasy And then the protestants looked at the corrupt wealthy, you know catholic church and said that’s the whore of babalon, you know 500 years later here we all are so it is genuinely impossible for us to see our own context properly we Don’t have brought enough vision When christ says, you know, not even the son knows but only the father, you know it’s like Yeah, it’s really a big deal that we don’t know the day or the time right because what would we do if we knew the day in the time We would procrastinate Right. We would almost certainly do that. There’s yeah so That’s a mercy for us To not know the day and the hour and to not be able to read the signs of the times and that level of detail But this church this book was given to the whole church for the whole time of the church, right? And that’s why at the very beginning two moons ago I talked about symbolism and how these symbolic patterns manifest themselves across reality and they repeat themselves In bigger and smaller ways, right? So it doesn’t matter that we can’t properly identify the context that we’re in is this the big apostasy Or is this just a little one? doesn’t matter the way we are called to behave is very clear Our instructions are to remain faithful to the lamb Our instructions are to offer proper worship to god and to god alone Our instructions are to stay awake and alert to keep our robes clean and to continue To continue the life that began in our baptism And so we don’t need to over complicate this book because no matter What context we’re in? The instructions are always the same and they have been for the entirety of the history of the church It’s all that remain faithful love god above all things and then one final little note The book of revelation is so utterly rich in scriptural references, right? And for most of your bibles if you look down kind of in one of the bottom corners of each page You’ll you’ll have like a chapter and verse and it’ll give you all sorts of book of revelations if you want to Really dive into it just start following those references, right? And and you’ll you’ll get a bible study straight from John the apostle himself who learned straight from jesus And had the gift of revelation attached to being an apostle so Thank you for your time and attention