Dan Kent invites us to see three grand themes that are woven throughout Revelation and are brought together at the end of this grand book. These themes are the “two ways” pattern repeated throughout Scripture, the fact that the path of God is a person and that the destination of the path is communal.
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Arrival
• Dan Kent
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Chapter 21 of Revelation begins the conclusion of this great book. It operates like the final stages of a movie—often called a denouement. It’s a part of the story where loose ends are tied up. For instance, if the movie has shown how a prisoner has been wrongfully convicted, this is the time when he is released from the prison and reconnected with family and friends.
Dan Kent uses the verses in the first part of chapter 21 to tie up some loose ends, to connect grand themes that are central to the entire story of Revelation and the Bible as a whole. There are three that he examines.
The first loose end is what he calls the “two ways” montage. This is a pattern throughout Scripture that contrasts the way of following God with the way of rejecting God. It is often stated as two opposites: way of life versus the way of death (Jeremiah 21:8), prosperity versus destruction (Deuteronomy 30:15), righteousness versus wickedness (Psalm 1:6). God has set before us two ways and we can choose between them. This is a call to attention that God gives us. Dan points out that our journey through Revelation has challenged us to consider this call. Specifically it is a call to choose between the way of pilgrimage verse the way of tourism. We can be spectators of what’s going on or we can participate in God’s redemption of all things.
Secondly, Dan points out the loose end that the path is a person. Jesus says that he is the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6). God does not come as a mere teaching. He comes as a person. He does not send a set of religious rules. He enters into relationship. He is not inviting us to buy into a set of concepts. He wants us to experience covenantal love. This is truly a relationship of give-and-take, one where we can walk in honest friendship with God through Jesus. By the Spirit we are participants in the love of the Trinity, thereby knowing and being known by God.
Third, the destination is communal. The church is the body of Christ. Since Jesus is the way, this means that we are participants of the way to The Way. The path is a person who embodies triune love. This way is therefore always relational. And we have the opportunity to experience and embody this relational love as a pilgrim on the way. We do this together as we walk out love in our day-to-day connections.
Hide Extended SummaryTopics: Community, Faithfulness
Sermon Series: The Unveiling, The End Is the Beginning
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Focus Scripture:
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Revelation 21:1-8
Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 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 without cost from the spring of the water of life. Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
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