“And the one seated on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new.’” – Revelation 21:5

A Vision Worth Seeing

The book of Revelation invites us to see—truly see—what God is doing in the world. In chapter 21, the voice from the throne says, “Behold, I am making all things new.” This isn’t just poetic language. It’s an imperative: Look. See. Pay attention.

The Greek word here—ἰδού (idoú)—carries that sense of urgency. It’s as if God is waving us down, saying, “Look here! I need you to see this.” This call to see echoes throughout the New Testament, where Jesus invites people to look beyond the surface and behold the Kingdom of God breaking in.

But many of us struggle to see. Our culture, influenced by centuries of philosophical turns, especially since Descartes, has trained us to start with ourselves: “I think, therefore I am.” But what if Descartes got it backward? What if it’s not “I think, therefore I am,” but “I am, therefore I think”?

In Exodus, when Moses meets God at the burning bush and asks for His name, God replies: “I AM WHO I AM.” This divine self-revelation is the true foundation for knowledge, identity, and meaning. Rather than beginning with our thoughts, Scripture calls us to begin with God’s revelation. It’s a totally different way of seeing ourselves and the world.

Seeing Through God’s Eyes

In Revelation 21, John describes what he saw: a new heaven and a new earth, a holy city descending like a bride prepared for her husband. God promises to dwell among His people, wipe away every tear, and abolish death and mourning. It’s a breathtaking vision of hope and renewal.

But here’s the key: we’re not meant to merely admire this vision. We’re meant to live into it. To begin embodying it now.

Christian author Henry Blackaby put it this way:

“Watch and see where God is working, and join Him in His work.”

He reminds us that experiencing God isn’t about mustering up an encounter through self-effort. It’s about aligning ourselves with what God is already doing. And what is God doing? Making all things new.

Master Planning and Future Hope

At our church, we’ve been doing some literal master planning. We hired an architect named Sam, who walks around with a sketchbook. As we talk, he listens, dreams, and suddenly—with a few swift strokes of his pencil—draws out a vision of what could be. A beautiful new building. A transformed space.

That’s vision. That’s what God is offering us: not just a plan for bricks and mortar, but a picture of the new heavens, the new earth, and the new people He is forming. Jesus gives us a glimpse of that future and says, “Live into it. Let it take root in the present.”

Reimagining People

The Apostle Paul offers a strikingly practical application of this vision in 2 Corinthians 5. He writes,

From now on, we regard no one from a worldly point of view… If anyone is in Christ, new creation! The old has gone, the new has come.

What would it look like to see others—not as they are, but as God sees them? Not defined by their past, but by their potential in Christ?

This challenges us. We often define ourselves—and others—by our wounds, failures, and limitations. But the gospel calls us to a new way of seeing. You are not just your brokenness. You are beloved. You are being remade. And so is your neighbor.

In a world quick to label, dismiss, and divide, Christ gives us a ministry of reconciliation. Why? Because the old has passed away. The new has come. The risen Lord is building a new humanity.

The Eternal Perspective

Ortega is a beautiful place. Sometimes it feels like paradise. But even the most beautiful homes here are subject to rot. Even our historic buildings will one day pass away.

But you—the people of God—will not pass away. You are the beloved of Christ, the bride of the Lamb, the citizens of the new Jerusalem. Heaven and earth may pass away, but God’s people endure. And so we must shift our gaze—from fading structures to eternal souls. From what is passing to what will endure.

Living the Vision

Jesus left His disciples with a “new commandment”: “Love one another as I have loved you.” That is the seed of the new creation. When we live out that love, we begin to manifest the Kingdom now.

So let us no longer look at ourselves or others from a worldly point of view. Instead, let’s adopt the eyes of faith. Eyes that behold. Eyes that see. Eyes that recognize God’s vision and join Him in making it a reality.

“Behold, I am making all things new.”

May we see it. May we believe it. May we live it.

Heavenly Father, thank you for the gift of new life, for our children, and for the promises you give us in your Word. You are inviting us to catch a vision—a vision of a new community grounded in your new commandment to love as you have loved us. You are the one who declares, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Speak to us now through your Word. May the preaching of your Word be your Word—for the glory of Jesus Christ. Amen.

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“And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.” John 17:11

Do you want to understand what truly matters to people? Pay attention to their prayers. In John 17, Jesus shares his high priestly prayer, revealing his deep concerns and care for us as he intervenes on our behalf before God. At the heart of Jesus’ plea for his church is a desire for unity, as exemplified by the oneness of the Trinity.

Christians call this unity communion, which means “oneness with.” We are brought into harmony through the mystical and sacred union with God achieved by Jesus’ sacramental body and blood. This profound connection bears witness to the union between Jesus and the Father, affirming his divine purpose to bring life to the world. Jesus repeats his plea for unity among his followers throughout the prayer, emphasizing his desire for all to be one with God and each other, just as he and the Father are one. This unity is vital, enabling the world to see and believe in God through Jesus. (John 17:21)

Our world is rife with conflict, violence, prejudice, and division, leading to a breakdown of human connectedness and the resulting pain and damage. Unfortunately, even within the church, we often reflect the same worldly tribalist tendencies and behaviors without introspection or remorse. This goes against the Lord’s vision for the church and presents a poor example to those outside the faith who long for a more compassionate and united way of being human amidst the extreme factionalism of our culture.

The cheap and easy communication tools afforded to us by social media sadly seem to do more tearing apart the body of Christ than uniting. Harsh and biting voices are given a platform with amplification making their words carry more weight than they should.

I recently heard an excellent talk by John Meacham about the role of Christian leaders in civil society. “If the American Republic is going to long endure. It will endure not least because of an Anglican Sensibility. The air you and I breathe theologically is one of complexity and tolerance and having the courage to admit you don’t know everything.”

Demonstrating humility in this manner reflects a profound comprehension that none of us possess the complete picture, and we are all capable of making mistakes and surrendering to our negative tendencies.

So Meacham challenged us as Christian leaders:

“Here’s what you all can do stop lamenting and start leading. We know things are bad. We’ve had an insurrection; we get it. Okay, things are so terrible, yes, they’re terrible. Why? Because people tend to be terrible. Okay, this is your job, for God’s sake; I mean, y’all are dealing with first principles. What are you commissioned to do? You’re commissioned to forgive sins, and you’re surprised that the world is sinful?… If everybody loved their neighbor, guess what? Jesus wouldn’t have had to command it!”

John Meacham, Episcopal Parish Network Keynote 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AY_KDHGD2hg

The essence of Christian leadership is to remind ourselves of the Gospel’s power to save sinners through God’s grace. In and through gracious respect for the dignity of every human being, we are empowered not to harm each other despite our propensity to sin. Leadership requires bringing this message of God’s redemptive claim of our lives to our collective hearts and minds. As Meacham would challenge: “In this time in which we live, the church has a huge role to play to help our democracy and our relationships with one another to walk this path.”

As the church, our duty and mission have always been to fulfill this responsibility.  We are agents of the gospel and ambassadors of Christ to commissioned for the redemption of humanity.

In Ephesians, the Apostle Paul refers to “mystery” to explain how God works through the church to reveal His plan for the world. (Ephesians 3) Paul then transitions into a prayer for the unfathomable love of God, asking for spiritual strength and for Jesus Christ to dwell within our hearts. As a result, we come to understand God’s vast and extraordinary love.

A new and wonderful phenomenon is emerging in the world through the power of God. The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ are uniting people from different cultures, languages, and backgrounds. Former enemies are finding reconciliation, while Jews and Gentiles are discovering peace with God through the cross. Laws no longer govern our relationships but by mercy and grace. The blood shed on the cross gives us all access to God; through this entryway, we are baptized into a new identity and humanity. We become a unified structure, citizens and members of the same household, and a spiritual temple for God’s spirit to reside in.

Paul contemplates the profound advantages of the Gospel and offers a prayer for the church, recognizing that its influence extends beyond itself. The Gospel is of immense importance to the world, as it brings about the most crucial outcome of Gospel ministry: unity with God and among people. As the barriers of hostility are dismantled, and the new community of believers comes into being, the Holy Spirit’s radiance illuminates the living temple that rests upon the cornerstone of Jesus Christ and the foundation of the apostles. According to the divine plan, this disclosure signifies the unification of all things in heaven and on earth under a single leader, ultimately allowing God to reign supreme through the one head, Jesus Christ. (See Ephesians 1:10, 22, 23)

As followers of Christ, our unity in Him holds immense importance in the spiritual world as we fight against Satan and the forces of evil. We arm ourselves with spiritual weapons and armor to engage in this battle. Even when it may seem like the Gospel is not making a difference, we find solace in Jesus Christ being the ultimate authority. It’s crucial to remember that our struggle is not against flesh and blood, a fact often overlooked in our current political disputes within the church.

O God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, our only Savior,
The Prince of Peace: Give us grace seriously to lay to heart the
Great dangers we are in by our unhappy divisions; take away
all hatred and prejudice, and whatever else may hinder us
from godly union and concord; that, as there is but one Body
and one Spirit, one hope of our calling, one Lord, one Faith,
one Baptism, one God and Father of us all, so we may be all
of one heart and of one soul, united in one holy bond of truth
and peace, of faith and charity, and may with one mind and
one mouth glorify thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

(Book of Common Prayer, p. 818)

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The challenge of the book of Revelation is that there’s more to life than what we see or experience. Without a connection to the author of life and surrender to the grand story, life becomes merely a trivial pursuit. Jesus informs everything. He alone gives significance meaning and abundant life to those who will surrender their hearts and lives to him. The Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, Jesus is Lord overall.

Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21

¹² “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. ¹³ I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”

¹⁴ Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates.

¹⁶ “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”

¹⁷ The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.

²⁰ He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!

²¹ The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.

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As we go through great tribulation in our day, an eternal perspective provides great hope. One day all the pain and suffering and sorrow will be no more. The lamb upon the throne will wipe away every tier from our eyes.

Revelation 7:9-17

A Great Multitude from Every Nation

⁹ After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, ¹⁰ and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” ¹¹ And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, ¹² saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

¹³ Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” ¹⁴ I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

¹⁵ “Therefore they are before the throne of God,
    and serve him day and night in his temple;
    and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.
¹⁶ They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore;
    the sun shall not strike them,
    nor any scorching heat.
¹⁷ For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd,
    and he will guide them to springs of living water,
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

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Sermon from 1 John 1:1-2:6

We have now entered into the period of the church calendar between Easter and Pentecost, known as “The Great 50 Days.” In the year of the Lord’s resurrection, this period was one of great intimacy with the Lord for the early Church, because the resurrected Savior was physically present with them on the earth. They could see him, touch him, and eat with him. This intimacy with the resurrected Lord became the foundation of the apostles’ enduring faith, and the basis upon which the apostle John wrote his first epistle.

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Good Friday Sermon from John 19

One argument that skeptics have used against the death and resurrection of Jesus is called “swoon theory,” meaning that they think Jesus wasn’t actually dead when they took him from the cross, but rather he had fainted or was in a coma. Or in the words of Miracle Max from the movie The Princess Bride, he was only “mostly dead,” meaning he was partly alive and not beyond saving. However, a close look at John 19 disproves this theory.

But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water.

John 19:33-34

Modern science now understands that when a person dies and their body remains still, their blood separates into the heavier clot and the lighter serum. When Jesus’ body was pierced, John saw the gush of these separated liquids: first the red blood and then the light serum, what John described as water. This is proof that this body was dead – a living person’s blood does not separate.

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Sermon from John 20:19-31

The resurrection of Jesus Christ changes everything for us. He is making us new from the inside out, and, in the words of 1 Peter, he have given us “new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1:3).

People often wonder why Christians usually meet to worship on Sunday, the first day of the week. I’ve heard it explained that it is because the resurrected Christ first appeared to his disciples on the first day of the week (John 20:19), and many other resurrection sightings took place on that day. As Christians, we choose this day to gather as a celebration of new beginnings and new life. Every Sunday is the possibility of a new start, a new resurrection that can happen in our lives.

So what is it that is being made new for Christians? How is the resurrection made real in us? Let’s look at how it happened for the disciples.

First, the resurrection is an opportunity for us to say goodbye to insecurity and fear in our lives. In John 20, the disciples are hiding behind locked doors in fear, and Jesus walks straight past those locked doors to bring incredible peace to them. I feel like this has a direct application to our current context. We are stuck in our homes behind our doors because of quarantine due to the coronavirus, out of fear of spreading the illness. Stay at home right now is an appropriate action, but I just want to acknowledge that Jesus can bring his peace straight through those locked doors.

Metaphorically, what fears and insecurities are keeping you behind locked doors? Allow the resurrection of Christ to bring fresh hope and new life to those areas of your life.

On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”

John 20:19

Second, he also commissions them to go out with apostolic authority. Although we cannot physically go out because of our stay-at-home orders, the Gospel is not chained behind locked doors. We have technology that can still allow us to communicate, and we can use all of those media to spread the truth of Christ.

Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”

John 20:21

Third, as he sends them, he also empowers them with his Holy Spirit, and he gives them the responsibility of being the very means of God’s grace and forgiveness in the lives of others.

He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”

John 20:22-23

We are ambassadors of his ministry of reconciliation. Maybe this current context can give you the opportunity to think about relationships you have where there are problems that need to be resolved. Is there anyone that you can extend grace and forgiveness to right now?

As the Scripture passage continues, we learn that poor Thomas was the only disciple who wasn’t there at that time, and so he missed the spectacular encounter that the others had with Jesus. I call him “poor Thomas,” because I think he has gotten a bad reputation from this story as “Doubting Thomas.” Yes, Thomas did doubt at first, but who wouldn’t when presented with such an outrageous tale as this? Later, when he does personally encounter the risen Christ, he is one of the first people ever recorded as calling Jesus, “My Lord and my God!” What a marvelous response to the truth of the resurrection! I think a better name for him would be “Worshiping Thomas.”

If you find yourself struggling with doubt like Thomas, please know that God wants to directly address those doubts the same way he did with Thomas. He wants to speak his peace into your heart, to bring new life and confidence to your insecurities, and he wants to commission you to become a means of his grace in this world. He wants to use this trial to test the genuineness of your faith (1 Peter 1:6-7).

John goes on to say:

These are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

John 20:31

Jesus wants each of us to claim the new life that he offers through his resurrection. He offers us the fullness of his resurrected life.

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These are my meditations on the seven last words of Jesus from the Cross with application of the words to our lives as we are called to “pick up our cross, die daily, and follow Jesus.” It was part of the “Three Hours” Good Friday service at The Church of St. John the Divine.

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A Palm Sunday Sermon from Luke 23

I found myself emotional as I was watching the online service led by our worship team on the video screen. I’ve been involved in corporate worship for 25 years, and now because of the Covid-19 quarantine, it has been weeks and weeks since we have been able to meet as a corporate body and worship together. I realized the word for what I’m experiencing is grief.

Grief hits us all in different ways at different times, but it always comes in stages. I can see now how I’m going through them all in regards to my grief over the loss of the church body in my own experience right now: anger, bargaining, denial. And now we must come to acceptance, because the reality is that things are probably still going to get worse before they get better.

And so this Gospel passage finds even more significant application on this Palm Sunday as we face these unprecedented times. As Jesus is hanging on the cross dying, he says, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46). He is surrendering himself totally to the will of the Father. He knows that the will of the Father is his own death, as an act of atonement for the world, a way of expressing God’s love.

This statement from Jesus could be seen as his own acceptance stage of grief. We had previously seen him grieving in the Garden of Gethsemane, truly agonizing over the ordeal he knew was to come. Yet there, on the cross, he comes to acceptance: “Into your hands I commit my spirit.”

As we consider what Jesus went through, we see that he not only experienced the physical suffering that any person who died by crucifixion would. But Jesus also uniquely bore the spiritual suffering of the punishment for all the sins of the world. And yet he was the only person ever to die innocent. All those who witnessed his arrest, torture, and death could see it (Luke 23:4, 14-15, 22, 47). This is what makes him the perfect sacrifice for the sins of the world – the Lamb of God, whose sacrifice would reconcile the world back to himself.

Jesus’ death was the will of the Father, and it was the most difficult will anyone would ever have to bear. The good news for us now is that Jesus bore it on our behalf, and so now we don’t have to.

Jesus bore the most difficult will of the Father, and yet in the same way, the Father calls us to bear great difficulties – corporately and personally. We must follow Jesus’ example and surrender ourselves into the loving and trustworthy hands of the Father.

Take a moment to consider whose hands you are entrusting yourself to. Are we placing our trust in the hands of government officials who are making decisions about how we are to weather this crisis? Are we placing our trust in the hands of medical professionals, whose skill and sacrifice are crucial to our survival? Are we placing our trust in the hands of financial planners and banks who can help us weather the financial crisis? We are always entrusting ourselves to other people, and that trust is often well founded – we SHOULD be trusting people who know how to help us get through.

However, our ultimate trust should be in the good hands of God the Father. There is NO ONE more trustworthy and able to control our outcomes.

Like Jesus did, we should commit our spirits, our life, our breath to God the Father. It’s striking that in the current circumstance, the Covid-19 virus attacks our breath – it is the respiratory system that often fails under this disease. Will you entrust your very breath to the Father, even when it is under targeted attack?

The thief on the cross next to Jesus models this very thing to us. Facing his imminent death, he entrusts himself to Jesus by begging him, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (Luke 23:42). Jesus shows him favor, love, and kindness, proving that his trust was well-founded.

As we face our own dangerous and uncertain times, let’s commit our own spirits to God the Father in the way Jesus did.

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Sermon from John 9

Corrie Ten Boom was a heroic woman who lived during the time of the Holocaust. She would hide Jewish children in her home, in a place that is known as “The Hiding Place.” After the war was over, she would travel around speaking about her experience, and she used to bring an old tapestry to show her audience. She would hold up the backside, showing lots of knots and loose threads – it looked like a tangled mess. However, when she turned it around, the tapestry revealed that those threads were all working to together to make a beautiful golden crown. She used this as an illustration, saying that often the things we see in our lives and in the world around us feel like a mess, but from God’s perspective, he sees glory. She encouraged her listeners to try to see things from God’s perspective, and this Scripture passage gives us the same message.

In this Scripture passage, Jesus saw a man blind from birth. Continuing the illustration above, this is a single thread, that many people couldn’t understand how this difficult situation was contributing to a good big picture. People looked at this man, and they said that the man’s lifelong blindness must be the result of sin. However, when they asked Jesus about it, he explained God’s perspective.

Jesus said that the blindness was not an evil or a problem or a reflection of sin, but rather it was an opportunity for something glorious.

In today’s circumstances with illness, fear, and isolation, it’s easy for us to focus on the negative, assuming that God is punishing us or that he has lost control. However, if we open our eyes and minds to consider what God might be doing during this time, he is more likely using this challenging time as an opportunity to reveal his glory.

Jesus said, “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world” (v. 5). In the midst of darkness and challenge, a light is shining, and that light is Jesus.

During this time when we are unable to go to church to meet with God and his people, we have an excellent opportunity to step back and recognize that church is not the only place that Jesus can be found! If we have eyes to see, we can recognize that wherever we are is where God can be found. Our homes are to be the dwelling place of God.

One thing to think about regarding this Scripture passage is that many people suffer from blindness. Blindness is not just a physical affliction, but also a spiritual one. The religious leaders of Jesus’ day were blinded by their legalism, their skepticism, and their pride.

Their blindness prevented them from accepting Jesus’ healing of this man, because he had done it on the Sabbath, and they focused on his breaking of that rule rather than on the amazing miracle Jesus did and what it meant for who he was (v.16).

Does our own blindness keep us focused on the rules and our own intellects and busyness, and prevent us from seeing what God is doing? He desires for us to focus on a relationship with him rather than on the way we think things are supposed to be.

The Pharisees also expressed their skepticism about what Jesus even did. They doubted the the man actually had been born blind, and so they questioned the man’s parents (v. 18). The parents gave in to their fear of the religious leaders, and they let it prevent them from being courageous in faith, even though they had seen the amazing miracle Jesus did for their son.

Like them, we have allowed our fears, doubts, and skepticism to rule our hearts. In today’s world, we have a common enemy – the coronavirus – and we have an opportunity to unify together in calling on the Lord. Now is not the time to be giving in to doubt and unbelief, but rather to be grabbing hold of our faith and living out the Gospel of Jesus.

The man who had been healed from blindness can be our example, because he stood up in courage and testified to what Jesus did for him (v. 24-34). Because of his testimony, the Pharisees cast him out of the synagogue, which many Jews would have considered to be devastating. However, the man went straight to Jesus, where he found faith, affirmation, and acceptance.

In the same way, the Lord is faithful to us, to always shine his light in the darkness in our lives, and to turn difficult and challenging events in our lives, and use them for good. I encourage you during this dark and difficult time to take a pen and some paper and actually write down all the blessings God is giving you during this time, and the ways he has blessed you in the past.

As you open up your eyes to see what God has done and what he is doing, he will continue to open your eyes to see how he is the eternal and unchanging Light of the World.

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