Breaking Free


05/01/2011 - Free Forever



I understand there was a wedding this weekend? On Friday I believe? Did anybody hear about it? I guy named Bill married a gal named Kate somewhere in England I think. I heard a little sound bite about it on the news.

Of course you heard about it, unless you live in cave. It's been media frenzy for months. The royal wedding finally took place at 11 o'clock, London time, on Friday morning, April 29, at Westminster Abbey. It was the most publicized and most watched wedding in the history of the world. Apparently two billion people tuned in. And lots of people loved it, while lots of other people are breathing a sigh of relief that all the hype is finally over. Enough is enough already!

Two thousand guests were invited to the ceremony, six hundred were invited to enjoy a lunchtime buffet after it was over, and three hundred were invited back to Buckingham Palace that night for a sit down dinner and dance party. Elton John, Kanye West, David and Victoria Beckham all made the cut, but former Prime Minister's Tony Blair and Gordon Brown and President Barak Obama didn't. They weren't on the list. Tough ticket to get.

Although the numbers are difficult to crunch, the best estimate I saw for the cost of the whole affair was around $70 million. We offered them Sunnyside for free, but they never got back to us. $70 million is a little more than the $48 million it cost William's mother, Diana, to marry Prince Charles almost thirty years ago.

Now the good news is that the wedding was not funded by the British people directly. Apparently, the cost was split between Kate's family, the Middleton's, Prince Charles, and Queen Elizabeth II. They all foot the bill for the wedding.

But the British people did have to pick up the tab for "security and transport" which was originally estimated to be about $8 million. But because the Prime Minister declared Friday an official holiday in Britain, security got over time that day which jacked up the cost to taxpayers to $32 million. Way to go, Prime Minister. Not a good move if you want to get re-elected. But I don't think anybody really cared, especially after drinking over an estimated 100 million pints of beer on Friday!

Lots and lots of hype about the royal wedding these days which got me thinking about another wedding. The royal wedding may be the wedding of the century, but the wedding I've been thinking a lot about recently is the wedding of all time. It's the wedding of the entire cosmos. It's the marriage between heaven and earth. It's when all that's wrong with this world is made right. And I want us to look at that wedding today and make sure that we've all accepted the invitation to be there.

This morning we conclude our series call Breaking Free with a teaching I've titled "Free Forever." We've been using the Exodus story from the Old Testament as a metaphor to remind us that God is in the liberation business. God wants to set us free from the things that enslave us and keep in bondage, just like he set his people free from their bondage to Pharaoh in Egypt.

But God doesn't just want to set his people free. God wants to liberate everything. He wants to set free all of creation that's been in bondage ever since the curse infected everything God made in Genesis 3.

If you have a Bible please turn to Romans 8. The apostle Paul puts it like this in Romans 8:18-25, I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. (Hang in there suffering saints better days are coming!)19The creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. 22We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption, the redemption of our bodies. 24For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? 25But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

All of creation is in the same bondage that the Israelites were in when they were enslaved in Egypt. Creation needs to be liberated just like they needed to be liberated. But it hasn't happened yet. And so the earth groans and waits to be set free like a woman in childbirth groans and waits to deliver new life.

The tornadoes that rocked Alabama this week and caused wide spread destruction and claimed hundreds of lives are just the latest example that this world is broken. It's not the way it was created to be and it's not the way it will end up being one day. It's in bondage to decay.

Is there beauty in God's creation? Absolutely. Magnificent beauty. I love this time of year. I love the tulips and the hyacinths that have come up under the maple tree in our front yard. I love the mountain pink that's blooming in our backyard. I love the bright yellow forsythia bushes and the pink flowering crab apple trees that look so delicious you could eat them.

I love the dogwoods and the azaleas are starting to burst with color. All of that speaks to the beauty of God and his amazing, breathtaking, delicate creation.

But the disasters? The earthquakes? The tsunamis? The tornadoes? They speak to the fact that this world is still under the curse and violent, destructive things happen every day. The world is not the way God wants it to be, at least not yet.

And so like a pregnant woman groans and waits for her child to be revealed so all of creation groans and waits for the children of God to revealed because when that happens God's entire creation will be set free. Free forever!

And when will that be? When will God's children be revealed? When Jesus comes back that's when they'll be revealed. When Jesus Christ returns to set up his kingdom on this earth, that's when God's people will be resurrected from the grave and put on display before a wide-eyed universe. That's what all creation is waiting for, our adoption, the redemption of our bodies. Because when that happens all creation will be set free too.

I love what John Piper says when he writes, "What happens to our bodies and what happens to creation go together. And what happens to our bodies is not annihilation but redemption .... Our bodies will be redeemed, restored, made new, not thrown away. And so it is with the heavens and the earth."

The power of Christ's resurrection that we celebrated last week and that we celebrate every Sunday is enough not only to remake us, but also to remake every square inch of the universe - mountains, rivers, plants, animals, stars, nebulae, quasars, and galaxies. Deliverance is on its way and there is hope for the future, just like the hope spring time brings after the long, harsh winter we've had.

Martin Luther once said, "Our Lord has written the promise of the resurrection not in books alone, but in every leaf in springtime." The kingdom is coming as sure as springtime follows winter.

And all creation is waiting for it in eager anticipation just like the whole world seemed to be waiting for William and Catherine to be revealed from behind the curtain and step out on the balcony of Buckingham Palace to share their first kiss as husband and wife. And when they did everybody roared and cheered and the ground shook.

The kingdom is coming. And it will be a peaceable kingdom, free from the bondage of war and conflict. The prophets in the Old Testament talked a lot about the coming kingdom, perhaps no one more than the prophet Isaiah.

Turn to Isaiah 11. In Isaiah 11:6-9 the prophet describes it this way,The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. 7The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. 8 Infants will play near the hole of the cobra, young children will put their hands into the viper's nest. 9They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.

Peace. That's what God's kingdom is about. It will be a peaceable kingdom. No more natural disasters. No more natural enemies. The wolf and the lamb. The cow and the bear. The infant and the snake will all live together in peace. Moms will be able to say to their two year-olds, "Go out and play with your pet viper for awhile!" No worries. No dangers. And the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord. Everyone will know God there.

Turn over to Isaiah 65. Isaiah puts it this way in Isaiah 65:17-19, "See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind. 18But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy. 19I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people; the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more.

Jerusalem, whose name means "city of peace," a city which has been destroyed and rebuilt at least 18 times in its violent history will finally be a city of peace! No more weeping. No more crying.

New heavens and a new earth. God is going to make all things new. Someone has said, "Whatever sin has touched and polluted, God will redeem and cleanse. If redemption does not go as far as the curse of sin, then God has failed. Whatever the extent of the consequences of sin, so must the extent of redemption be."

Jesus talked about the renewal of all things in Matthew 19:27-28, Peter answered him, "We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?" 28Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel."

What's in it for you, Peter? A lot. There's a lot in it for you and for everyone else who has followed Jesus. There will a government in the kingdom with Jesus ruling as King. And those who have served him faithfully will rule with him. In this passage Jesus talks about the apostles sitting on twelve thrones, ruling over the twelve tribes of Israel. In other passages he talks about some ruling over ten cities and some over five cities and then he says those who prove faithful with little will be entrusted with much. Nothing done in Jesus name will fail to be rewarded.

Renewal and restoration are what Jesus' miracles were all about. Every one of the miracles of Jesus, except the cursing of the fig tree which was a sign of God's judgment on Israel, was about restoration and renewal, reversing the effects of the curse and giving us glimpses of the kingdom. He healed the sick, he made the lame to walk, the blind to see, the mute to speak, the deaf to hear. He calmed a life threatening storm, set people free from demonic oppression, he fed the hungry, kept the party going by turning water into wine, brought money out of a fish's mouth, restored a severed ear, raised the dead. Jesus was all about setting creation free from the shackles of sin and death. So life and joy and peace and wholeness and beauty were always the results of his miracles and a taste of what's ahead for all of us when heaven and earth become one.

And that oneness will happen at the great wedding described for us in Revelation 21. It's the royal wedding that all of creation is waiting for. Turn to the end of the story and Revelation 21.

In Revelation 21:1-7 we read, 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. 2I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Look! God's dwelling place is now among people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4He 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." 5He 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." 6He 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. 7Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children.

Remember what we said last week. Jesus can be trusted. These words are trustworthy and they are true, we read in verse 5.

One day heaven will come down to this earth like a royal bride walking down the long aisle of Westminster Abbey to be united with her husband.

The dream of God will finally come true. And what is God's dream? God's dream is found in verse 3, Look! God's dwelling place is now among people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.

God's dream has always been to live among his people. And when heaven and earth become one at the royal marriage that dream will finally come true. God will dwell among his people and we will see God's face and be forever changed by it.

The ancient theologians often spoke about this idea of seeing God's face. They had a term for it. They called it the "beatific vision." The term actually comes from three Latin words that together mean "a happy making sight." And the sight they were talking about was the sight of God.

Revelation 22:3-4 adds this, No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will in the city, and his servants will serve him. 4They will see his face, and his name will on their foreheads.

The best part of the new heaven and new earth will be seeing the face of God. Again I think of the royal wedding on Friday and all those people standing outside the locked gates of Buckingham Palace waiting to see the faces of Prince William and his bride, Catherine. And when they appeared and waved from the balcony they could only stand at distance and admire them from afar.

But when we see the face of God he will come so close that he'll be able to wipe the tears from our eyes because in his kingdom the gates are never locked. The gates will always be open to those who want to see him. And when we see him we will become like him.

That's what the apostle John promises in1 John 3:2-3, Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. 3But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

All of us are invited to this wedding to see God face to face. But sadly some choose not to be there. Look at Revelation 21:8, 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.

It's tragic. Some will choose not to be part of the kingdom. But you don't have to be one of them. You have a choice to be inside or outside the gates. Accept the royal invitation to come into the kingdom by believing in the King who said in John 11:25-26, I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even though they die, and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.

The whole story of God ends with an invitation to a royal wedding in Revelation 22:17,The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let those who hear say, "Come!" Let those who are thirsty come; and let all who wish take the free gift of the water of life.

Take that free drink. Come into the kingdom. And one day you and all of creation will be free forever!


Questions of the Week

  • The dream of God is an idea that is significant for us at Valley View. How would you describe the dream of God? What is our role in that dream?
  • Have you ever thought about the metaphor of a wedding for the final redemption of all creation? How does that image speak to you? Why do you think that scripture uses that image to describe creation's ultimate destiny?
  • Have you experienced God differently through this Lenten season that we've recently celebrated? How has the Spirit worked in you to give you freedom?
  • Paul says that if anyone is in Christ, that is the New Creation. How do we experience the New Creation today? What does it look like to live as people of the New Creation?