Sermon -- Chapel at Huron Valley Lutheran High School (May 3, 2019)

REVELATION 22:1-5

FIX OUR EYES ON JESUS.

We Look Forward To Life In Heaven.

In the name + of Jesus.

     Is this world a good place, or a bad place?  Is life full of blessings, or of hardships?  If I were going to make you pick one or the other, your answer will be determined by what's been going on in your life or what you are paying attention to.  If you have a new boyfriend, then everything is great.  People are wonderful, and even the dandelions are pretty.  If your grandmother was just killed in a car accident, then everything is clouded by sadness and pain.  You won't care about the Avengers movie, singing birds, or chocolate chip cookies.  This world gives a mix of sorrow and happiness, blessing and hardship.  We have all felt it.
     You know why this world is full of problems.  The Bible reveals it.  When sin entered the world, it corrupted everything.  It corrupts people.  This is why people are jerks.  It is why people steal from you, lie to you, lie about you, and turn their backs on you.  And it is why you say nasty words about other people and then feel ashamed when you learn that those nasty words got back to the person you were speaking about.  Sin ruins relationships.  And it produces all kinds of problems in life—car troubles, health problems, flooding, allergies, and ultimately death.  The Lord is still good and kind to us, and he does fill our lives with blessings, but those blessings are often tainted by the hardships we face.  Sin has given us a broken the world and broken lives.  And we cannot fix it or escape our own sinful condition.
     This is why we fix our eyes on Jesus.  Jesus has come to save us from our sinful condition.  And you know this, too.  Jesus transferred our sins to his account and covered the debt we owe.  The blood of God's Son pays the price for all the children of mankind.  And Jesus transferred his righteousness to our account.  When you were baptized, you were clothed with Jesus' righteousness and cleansed of every stain of sin.  Since God now declares you innocent and regards you as blameless, you are destined for everlasting life.
     Right now, you are all children of God—forgiven of all sins and saints in God's kingdom.  But the world you live in is still broken.  There are still hardships, sorrows, and pain.  You must understand that the path you are on is the same path Jesus walked.  In this world, you will have troubles.  Jesus did too.  Jesus entered his glory after his resurrection from the dead.  And so it will be for you.  You will be raised up free from sin and sorrow, pain and problems.  We fix our eyes on Jesus as we look forward to life in heaven.
     St. John gave us a glimpse of that perfect life.  It will be a new creation, a new heaven and earth.  Paradise will be restored.  St. John packs a great deal of imagery in these few verses.  God is light, and he will forever shine on his people.  The water of life will be there—a great river flowing so that no one will ever thirst for righteousness.  You will have it in abundance.  The tree of life is there—in fact, two trees which continually bear fruit on which God's saints will feast.  The leaves of those trees will bring perfect healing to bodies, relationships, and whatever has been bruised or broken.  “No longer will there be anything accursed.” (Revelation 22:3)  God's redeemed people will serve him perfectly.  Never again will you know regret for your own sins, nor will you be sinned against.
     St. John does not tell us what we might be doing in heaven—what kind of entertainment there might be, whether or not there are sports, camping trips, or roller coasters.  It doesn't matter.  What does matter is that we will be delivered from all evil.  There will be no more sorrow, mourning, crying, or pain.  There will be no disease, disaster, death, or decay.  What does matter is that we will be with Jesus.  He loved us enough to suffer hell so that we will never have to.  Jesus lived for us, died for us, and rose from the grave to destroy death for us.  God is love, and we will be with him, basking in his love, his light, and his glory forevermore.
     We fix our eyes on Jesus as we look forward to life in heaven.  We fix our eyes on Jesus in order to be kept in his care until we are taken to that perfect life in heaven.  He has already put his name on our foreheads in baptism.  We hunger and thirst for his righteousness, and he continually feeds us.  Jesus is the fruit which hangs from the tree of life, which is the cross which has ransomed you from death.  We already get to feast on that when we come to the altar of our Lord and partake of the heavenly meal.  This is how we fix our eyes and ears and minds and hearts on Jesus, and this is how he strengthens and keeps us in the true faith until life everlasting.  We fix our eyes on Jesus until we receive life in heaven; and then we will be with Jesus forever.

In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.