The New Jerusalem
Kalamazoo Mennonite Fellowship
Revelation 21:1-22:5
Will Fitzgerald
May 25, 2025
I love the Jewish expression, tikkun olam, meaning “repairing the world.” We live in the midst of such brokenness, and it is not enough that we just made as good a life as possible for just ourselves, our kind of people, but also seek the welfare of all the world: justice and fairness for all humanity, health and prosperity for all, care for the earth and all creatures in it, even the patterns of weather and climate, and the recovery from toxins and poisons in the soil and waters.
Sometimes, though, it’s so discouraging.
Some of you may have seen the email I sent around about a small protest Bess led on Wednesday at thirty minutes past midnight. Seven of us, who maybe didn’t have to get up early next morning, who maybe had more time than sense, went downtown to protest the middle of the night the meeting by the Rules Committee of the US House of Representatives. Bess made wonderful signs with big googly eyes, and we chanted, “We have our eyes on you!” and took some pictures and shared them, hoping that, perhaps, social media and traditional media might pick that up. It was a last minute, hail Mary kind of protest, and none of us really believed we were doing much more than being that small pebble that might be part of a small flow that might be part of a landslide that leads to large systematic change. But perhaps it was more, “I don't do this to change the country, I do this so the country won't change me,” as A.J. Muste said. But, of course, the state of our nation does change us, leading us towards bitterness and despair — and for some of us, to deportation or the denial of vital medicines. And if we were able to replace the current administration with people more to our liking, it might be less bad or even a little bit better, but it won’t be good.
And perhaps we just need to grit our teeth, bear down, struggle hard against the odds, against the powers. We’ll continue to call our representatives, make our protest signs, reach out to one another, reduce, recycle, repair, do all the hard and necessary things in the face of despair. To keep on keeping on.
But sometimes. But sometimes we need a bigger vision, a whole new conception of how things will turn out, and this is what we read in the words from the revelation to John.
This might make us a little uncomfortable, but let’s set aside that discomfort, and accept the comfort that’s offered. It’s really amazing.
Actually, let’s take a beat. Perhaps if we inhabit this text not so much of a sure vision of the way things are going to be, and more like, say, a poem.
21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
The first thing John sees is a new heaven and a new earth. The earth, the sea, and even the heavens we have right now have passed away. First earth, first heaven, first seas are literally replaced by a new earth, new heaven, new seas.
So, let’s take solace in John’s vision: the old world is no so much repaired as replaced. Of course, let’s continue to work for tikkun olam, for repairing this old world. But a better land awaits.
2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
The second thing John sees is the new and holy city of Jerusalem floating down from the new heaven to the new earth. I think that this image suggests that, when the city is in the new heaven, it has one resident: God; the city is called, “the dwelling place of God.”
3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
“See, the home of God is among mortals.
[God] will dwell with them;
they will be his peoples,
and God himself will be with them;
4 [God] will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for the first things have passed away.”
5 And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
But now we see that God is making a home for us mortals as well. Jesus came and “pitched his tent among us,” and now God is inviting us into the tent, into the city. And here we get the first of a series of heavenly promises, these classic promises that have been a comfort for centuries:
- God wipes the tears from our eyes: there will be no more sorrowing.
- Death will be no more; Our lives will be eternal, and never-ending
- Pain will be no more; those of us with aging or aching bodies can appreciate what a change this will be!
In this new city, on this new earth with a new heaven, all things are new.
6 Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life. 7 Those who conquer will inherit these things, and I will be their God and they will be my children. 8 But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the polluted, the murderers, the fornicators, the sorcerers, the idolaters, and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
Things will be new from first to last. Those of us who have thirsted for justice, or peace, or a better understand of how things work, or better relationships, or whatever is missing from your lives today: God will freely provide “water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.”
Some of us may bump up against the lake of fire imagery, and I don’t ask that you accept it. I have thoughts, but they are for another time. But I will say this: After a lifetime of dealing with really difficult people, I look forward to not having to deal with oppressors and haters. Don’t you? Just as I look forward to being purged from the pains in my body, I look forward to a completely healthy society.
Ok, get ready we’re heading towards another description of the New Jerusalem. As I read it, I want you to close your eyes and imagine it.
9 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” 10 And in the spirit he carried me away to a great, high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God. 11 It has the glory of God and a radiance like a very rare jewel, like jasper, clear as crystal. 12 It has a great, high wall with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates are inscribed the names of the twelve tribes of the Israelites; 13 on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. 14 And the wall of the city has twelve foundations, and on them are the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
15 The angel who talked to me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls. 16 The city lies foursquare, its length the same as its width; and he measured the city with his rod, fifteen hundred miles; its length and width and height are equal. 17 He also measured its wall, one hundred forty-four cubits by human measurement, which the angel was using. 18 The wall is built of jasper, while the city is pure gold, clear as glass. 19 The foundations of the wall of the city are adorned with every jewel; the first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. 21 And the twelve gates are twelve pearls, each of the gates is a single pearl, and the street of the city is pure gold, transparent as glass.
We don’t need to go into great detail here. In fact, this feels like the most poem-like part of the passage, and the response feels more like it calls for a song, like “Golden Slippers,” or Jerimiah Ingalls’s “New Jerusalem.” So, let’s sing. I’m going to teach you a song. And then we are going to write some new verses for it.
- I am on my journey home
- To the new Jerusalem
- The streets are made of gold
- The streets are laid with jewels
- The gates are made of pearl
- We will see the tree of life
- We will see the throne of God
- I am on my journey home, to the New Jerusalem
We are approaching the end of this vision, and I just have a few more things to say.
22 I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. 23 And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. 25 Its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. 26 People will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. 27 But nothing unclean will enter it, nor anyone who practices abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
So far, the vision has emphasized the break between the old earth and the new; the old world has “passed away.” But something interesting happens here: the vision states, “the kings of the earth will bring their glory into” the New Jerusalem, and “people will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations.” We understand that now, in some sense, that the old earth has not completely passed away, and those gates have a use.
I understand this to mean that all the best that humanity has produced will be brought into the new life. I don’t know what that means for you, but maybe you have some ideas you’d like to share. I like to think that the music I so much enjoy now will be enjoyable in the new life. Art? Architecture? Science? Also for me, and let me fly my nerd flag here, I am hopeful that I’ll still be able to write computer programs.
Finally, these verses bring us back to something we started with:
22:1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 3 Nothing accursed will be found there any more. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him; 4 they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
I started talking about tikkun olam, the repair of the world. We finish with a number of images, but let me point specifically to “the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.” Again, this suggests to me that the work of repair and healing of the world in which we are currently engaged are part of the “glory” that we bring into the New Jerusalem, and has its completion as we live in the city, live near the river of life.
Again, I hope these have been “comfortable words” this morning. I would love to hear some of your reactions and thoughts. What are you looking forward to in the New Jerusalem?