TheoTrek — A Journey with God in Discipleship
Living a New Reality
Zechariah 14:12-21; Revelation 21:1-10
We live according to our understandings of reality. We weigh our decisions on what we consider the most pressing issues and needs we face. We live in a material world, in a society increasingly aware of competing reality claims. Our growing multi-cultural context presents us with Asian, Indian, and African perspectives on health, values, and religion. Competing philosophies, worldviews, and social norms vie for attention and allegiance. The world of entertainment, media, and business presents us with unrest on many fronts. How do we determine which version of reality we will use to steer our lives? What version of truth will we claim as the adequate foundation of our lives?
Zechariah spoke of a future reality. He anticipated a future that was out of reach. He hoped for a reality that had not yet become the experience of his people. He prophesied of reversal, blessing, and prosperity that God was to send in some unknown future. There was no telling whether he would ever experience the promise he foretold. The reality he lived was very different from the one he proclaimed. His generation would have to wait, hoping that their children, grandchildren, or great-grandchildren might experience the fulfillment he could only anticipate.
Zechariah spoke of the coming blessing of God. Yahweh would infuse the people with God’s very presence such that there would no longer be any distinction between the holy and the ordinary. All the people and all the utensils of the nation would be holy as Yahweh lived directly within and among the people. Such was an almost unimaginable future. It was a reality to celebrate, even if it had not yet come to fulfillment. The people were oppressed and exiled, but there was a message of hope to keep them going. There was a brilliant future that awaited and called them onward.
On the surface, John’s words were not too different from Zechariah’s. John wrote to Jewish believers who were experiencing difficulties in being faithful to Christ Jesus as Lord. Rome did not care too much for these atheists, as they called them. Christians were deemed threats to the empire and guilty of treason. Rome held them as such because they refused to participate in the cultic festivals, offer sacrifices to the gods, and thus called the wrath of the gods down on the people. They did not simply appear to worship another god. They had no gods, for they bowed to no idols whatsoever.
The believers were in a quandary. They could not accept Rome’s interpretation of reality. They were not atheists, nor did they oppose the good of the people. Rome just did not understand. For that lack of understanding, their lives were in jeopardy. They might be called before Roman officials to offer sacrifices to Roman deities, even to a statue of Emperor Domitian. There was no easy solution to the problems they faced in being true to the gospel and protecting their lives from accusation before Roman tribunals.
There were few solutions available to them. They had no recourse to change Roman law. Armed rebellion was both dangerous and contrary to Jesus’ example and teaching. They could not lie or make a pretense of worshiping the Roman idols, for the gospel called them to live with integrity. John’s words did not make the situation any easier. He repeatedly claimed that only those who were faithful to the end would receive the prize of eternal redemption.
John’s words portrayed a gray world in the stark contrasts of black-and-white. There were no gray areas in the context of John’s words. Either one was faithful unto death, or one had no right to call upon the risen Christ as Lord. If one bowed down to the emperor’s idols, one turned away from Christ Jesus.
John spoke of two realities in stark contrast. The physical realm was under the dominion of beastly forces. The Roman Emperor Domitian, claiming divinity, had set up idols of himself for the people to worship. They were to revere him as a god, offering sacrifice to his idol as well as to the gods of Rome and the cities of the Empire. Any who refused to worship the emperor were deemed guilty of treason. No excuses were acceptable. How should the believer respond?
John’s answer was not complicated in the least. It was not comfortable in the least, either. John found himself exiled in Patmos, from whence he writes to encourage the believers to remain true to the only Lord worthy of the title.
There are two realities at war with one another, John claims. The two realities are opponents, and there is no reconciliation between them. It is up to the individual to take sides in the war. One may choose to serve Christ Jesus or choose to serve the Emperor. There is no room to choose both. The rule of Empire exerts itself in the realm of the physical world. It wields power through force and the fear of death. It has the right to kill any who would stand against it, even as Christ Jesus was killed at the hands of Roman soldiers. To stand against Rome is to die. To stand for Christ Jesus is treason before Rome.
Is faith worth the risk of life and limb? For John there is no question. There is no doubt. It was through the door of death that Christ Jesus won the ultimate victory. Following His example aligns our lives with the victory and lordship of Christ Jesus. There is nothing to lose. There is everything to win. We must, however, accept a different perspective on reality. We must learn to live in accordance with a wholly different understand of what is real and true.
John speaks of a new heaven and a new earth. This is a whole other reality and existence. It is Christ Jesus who has brought about this new reality through the victory attained in the resurrection. This new reality has already been achieved. The victory is already won and assured. It is final. God has come into our existence, personally wiping away our tears and granting strength for the days and years to come. Zechariah spoke of a future that had not yet arrived. John speaks of a new reality that is already present.
We think of heaven as a future experience. John says it is real enough that we can experience its reality now. Our hope has become real. As God created flesh to live among us, so this spiritual reality is accessible in this very hour. We need but to claim it as the ultimate reality of our own existence.
Do we believe the gospel to the point of accepting its claims as the ultimate reality of our lives? Will we allow God’s presence, will, and direction to outstrip any other claim to our allegiance? Will we live here and now as a people for whom heaven is a current reality—far greater than the claims of the material and secular society around us? Amid all the shades of gray, John calls us to the clarity of a black and white decision. Which reality will be the sufficient basis for our choices, decisions, and direction? We have an eternal victory assured. Let us not risk throwing it away for the temporal mist of a passing reality. There is too much at stake.
—©Copyright 2006 Christopher B. Harbin