Revelation 22
It always comes back to the
one question, “Is it worth it?” The link between worth and worship is inescapable.
Does God deserve our worship? Is He,
based on His person, character, behavior, and glory, deserving of our
adoration? Is He worthy? We answered that affirmatively by and in our worship.
Is a life of being a
disciple of Christ worth it? Is it worth the cost of following, of dying to
self, of taking up the cross? Is being a disciple worth the persecution many
Christians suffer? In many parts of the world and for much of the history of
the faith being a disciple is synonymous with prison, confiscation of property,
loss of family, physical abuse, and often death. In extreme suffering the
question pops up again and again, “Is it worth it?”
All one has to do is
renounce the faith and get back to living, get back to everything the world has
to offer. Once the faith has been renounced one can even indulge in the carnal
pleasures that we have forbidden ourselves. Remain loyal to Christ and
lose all the world has to offer plus you suffer. Is it really worth it?
This chapter concludes the
Revelation with a resounding answer to that question. The answer is a stunning,
powerful and dramatic, YES! Scripture never denies the high cost of being a
disciple. We are encouraged to carefully count the cost and make our decision
fully aware of what it means to follow Christ. But even if we encounter the
highest cost possible we conclude it most certainly is worth it.
Since the Garden of Eden
fiasco we have not had access to the tree of life. That access has been
re-granted. The tree of life is in a state of perpetual harvest. There is no
waiting for the fruit to ripen; it is ready to be enjoyed at all moments. The
leaves of that tree have the power to heal. The marks of our beating for the
faith are healed. The bones that were broken and bruises that were suffered by
the followers of Christ who were stoned for Him are healed. But there is more.
The soul that for a lifetime struggled with devastating depression, even that
heartsick wound, is now healed. The heart of the betrayed wife, that heart that
was torn in two is finally made whole. The man who fought and struggled with
bitterness from the pain of slavery and racism comes to the restoration and
healing. The nations are healed. The conflict that goes back to Ishmael and
Isaac is finally replaced with loving unity.
The very waters of that
place give life. On each side of the Nile there was lush growth, a ribbon of
life in the Egyptian desert. The Fertile Crescent a land between waters of two
rivers was the bounty of ancient kingdoms because of life-giving waters. Along the banks of the Jordan grew the dates
and the figs and grapes and grains that filled a banqueting table, all growing
out of the well-watered soil of the river valley. Here is a river of life-giving
water. It is not subject to drought or pollution or an upstream enemy cutting
off the supply. The river has its headwaters in the throne of God. It is like
His love and grace that flow endlessly and freely, giving life-real life not
just biological function-but real life to all it touches. It waters the tree of
life.
But there is something
absent from the city, several things actually. These are the kinds of things
you find even in the smallest town. But they are absent from this great city.
In the 15th verse there is a representative list of what will not be within the
great city. They are those people who have been overcome by the immorality they
held and ultimately held them. All the titles are distinctly human, even the
term dogs that is a euphemism for the most grotesque forms of sexual deviancy
and prostitution. Not only are the practitioners of evil removed, but the evil
in us is removed as well. All of us have had a struggle with our own evil
within us. We have known the itch of hate, or lust, or greed, or gluttony, or
drunkenness, or you can name your own vice. We have fought it sometimes
successfully and sometimes we failed. We
have felt the temptation so profoundly that it seems bigger than life. In this
paradise that itch is gone.
For some people their sin
has so consumed them that if it were removed from them there would be nothing
left. They have moved from being a person who tells a lie (all of us at some
point) to just being a liar. Not only are those people excluded, but the itch
of evil that is in us is excluded from us as well. In that great place we can't
want or in the least way have a desire for anything that is wrong.
There's one more delightful
thought in this passage. The person who
can never feel homesick is to be pitied. Homesickness is painful and can be
debilitating, but it can be a sweet melancholy as well. Homesickness depends on
what is your home. Where your heart was formed by love and relationship. But it
is also sensory. It can be the smell of the woods in Fall, the roar of the
breakers on the beach. It might be the vivid sunset from a high-rise balcony or
back porch looking over a pasture. It
could be the curve of the chair you were raised in holding you once more.
Homesickness is most of all the person. No matter how long you live you will
never forget the person, the voice, the site, the touch. We are just one
thought away from homesickness. The Prodigal Son may have come back with a
business proposition in mind, but somewhere from the pigsty to the father there
was homesickness. Homesickness satisfied is sweet-the laughter, the meal, the
walking, or the conversation. That moment when we say, “I was homesick, but now
I am home.” That is the heart of verse 4. Homesick for Heaven is hard to
quantify. But in all this longing and wanting there is a knowing that even if
all our nostalgia on Earth were fully satisfied it would not be enough.
Everything tells us we were made for Heaven. In the mean time, longings,
restlessness, struggles and love all tell us we were made for Heaven. We
"shall see his face"- homesickness finally and fully satisfied!
Is the cost of being a
disciple worth it? Without any doubt, whatever the cost, it is worth it! The
cost multiplied 10,000 times over and it is still the greatest bargain of all
eternity!
Questions to ponder
The desires for the things
of this world even when obtained never fully satisfy. They are too weak too insipid. We were made for the strong flavors and rich
fullness of Heaven. What desires or home
sicknesses do you have that may be a glimpse of Heaven?
What is your grand and noble
hope you know can never be fulfilled here on earth?
How might it be fulfilled in
Heaven?
