Revelation and Human Reality Session 59 A-level Amphitheater LLUMC March 19, 2011, 10:30-11:30 AM

Nietzsche and the Horse R. J. Hollingsdale, Nietzsche: The Man and His Philosophy, Rev. ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment (Wordsword Classics, 1994),

The Ending of Revelation (Chapters 21-22) 1.More than Paradise Regained 2.Paradise Regained 3.The ending (sing.) and the endings (pl.) of Revelation

“New Heaven and New Earth”  NRS Revelation 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.

New Heaven and New Earth - OT  Isa 65:17 “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind.”  Isaiah 66:22-23 “For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me,” says the LORD; “so shall your descendants and your name remain. From new moon to new moon, and from sabbath to sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before me, says the LORD.”

‘New’ as ‘Another’ or ‘New as ‘Renewed’?  The emphasis is less on ‘new’ versus ‘old’ than on ‘whole’ versus ‘broken’ (Isa 65:17).  The old order is sent into oblivion, not the earth. Leonard L. Thompson, Apocalypse and Empire, 85.

What Will Be No More 1.“the sea was no more” (21:1) 2.“death will be no more” (21:4) 3.“mourning …will be no more” (21:4) 4.“crying [kraugē] …will be no more” (21:4) 5.“pain [ponos] will be no more” (21:4) 6.“all things cursed will be no more” (22:3) 7.“night will be no more” (22:5; cf. 21:25)

“And the Sea Was No More”  Symbol of chaos, the abyss, and of the cosmic conflict (Rev 13:1; 11:7)  Symbol of deliverance (Exodus imagery)  Symbol of people (enemies; 17:1, 15)  Symbol of trade and exploitation (18:21)  Symbol of separation and exile

No More Sea  “‘Sea’ often exists in relationship to evil powers such as the beast or dragon within the book of Revelation (cf. 13:1, 6-7). In Dan. 7:3ff., four beasts came up out of the sea, and Isaiah associates the wicked powers with ‘the tossing sea which cannot rest, whose waters toss up mire and dirt’ (Isa. 57:20). ….Consequently, ‘no more sea’ does not mean the vanishing of this earth but rather of the evil power. This is the natural result of the total defeat of the satanic trinity in 16:6- 16, 17:13-14, 19:11-21 and 20:7-10. As a result, there will be no more death…” Pilchan Lee, The New Jerusalem in the Book of Revelation (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2001), 269.

Cosmic Conflict Framework  NRS Isaiah 65:25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox; but the serpent-- its food shall be dust! They shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain, says the LORD.  Cf. Isaiah 11:1-10!!!!!!!

“God of Faithfulness”  NRS Isaiah 65:16 Then whoever invokes a blessing in the land shall bless by the God of faithfulness, and whoever takes an oath in the land shall swear by the God of faithfulness; because the former troubles are forgotten and are hidden from my sight.

How Did God Win the War?  “ But the serpent – its food shall be dust!” should be read to mean that the serpent’s defeat plays out in the realm of truth vs. falsehood and not in the realm of power.  The serpent lost because he was “a liar from the beginning and the father of lies” (John 8:44).

More Than Paradise Regained  NRS Revelation 21:2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.  Revelation 3:12 If you conquer, I will make you a pillar in the temple of my God; you will never go out of it. I will write on you the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem that comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name.

The Enduring City – OT  NRS Isaiah 65:18-19 But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight. I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and delight in my people; no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it, or the cry of distress.

More Than Paradise Regained – in Johannine Diction  NRS Revelation 21:3-4 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; he 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.”

More Than Paradise Regained  NRS Revelation 21:5 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.”

More Than Paradise Regained – in Johannine Diction  NRS Revelation 21:6-7 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. Those who conquer will inherit these things, and I will be their God and they will be my children.

Death as Ending  NRS Revelation 21:8 “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."

The Great Reversal: Garden vs. City  Rev 21:9 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.”  Rev 21:10 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.

Genealogy of the City  NRS Genesis 4:17 Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch; and he built a city, and named it Enoch after his son Enoch.

The City and Conquest  NRS Genesis 10:8-12 Cush became the father of Nimrod; he was the first on earth to become a mighty warrior. He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the LORD.” The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, and Accad, all of them in the land of Shinar. 11 From that land he went into Assyria, and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-ir, Calah, and Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city.

The City and Human Autonomy  NRS Genesis 11:4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.”

The City as Enemy  NRS Daniel 4:29-30 At the end of twelve months he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, and the king said, “Is this not magnificent Babylon, which I have built as a royal capital by my mighty power and for my glorious majesty?”

The Meaning of the City  “But all the cities he constructed were marked with the same stamp – power.”  “The life of a powerful city is but a constant succession of revolts against God. Her life is the normal result of her origin and development.” Jacques Ellul, The Meaning of the City (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1970), 13, 50.

The Meaning of the New City - 1  What does the fact that it is a city essentially mean? We are in the presence of a series of meanings. The first is that we observe a contrast between the first creation and the second. In the first, God had created a garden for man. Man lives in “nature.” In the second, he is installed in the city. Ellul, Apocalypse, 221. Ellul, Apocalypse, 221.

The Meaning of the New City - 2 that God does not annul history and the work of man but, on the contrary, assumes it. Ellul, Apocalypse, 222 What does this signify? Very simply

The Meaning of the New City - 3  Consequently, the history of humanity is not in vain, annulled by a stroke of the pen, as if nothing of our efforts, our suffering, our hopes, had ever existed: on the contrary, all is gathered up. Then man is saved with his works. Paradise is not a formless cloud, a rose and blue fog and ’nonplace’; it is a good city, a solid place, where the whole creation of man is re-created. -- Ellul, Apocalypse, 222.

The New City as the End of Failure  “Man had never succeeded; he had always experienced failure, and the actual urban monstrosity is testimony to this. Thus that which had been the historic failure of man becomes the triumphant success; there is finally communion, there is finally assembly (and not only of one generation, but of all).” - Ellul, Apocalypse, 224.