Building the City of God

Are you living for today or tomorrow… or for eternity? 

What is your finish line? Sometimes we talk about having a long view instead of a short view. Sometimes that might look like planning twenty years ahead instead of just planning for today, or tomorrow.

But is that enough to just plan for the next 50 or 60 years?

What do you have your sights set on?

Are you looking towards finishing the race of this life on this side of the grave, only?

Ephesians 1:10 tells us that God’s plan is to reunite heaven and on earth in Christ.

Rev. 21:1-4  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. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

·      Revelation 21:1-4 tells us that our present life here on earth is not everything that we have to live for. We are not living until we die and then our life is over. There is something more…

·      But neither is our end in Heaven. There is more than just heaven.

·      There is the New Creation. New Heaven and New Earth.  The city of God will be brought down to the New Earth. God’s dwelling place will be with Man. There will no longer be death, or sickness or mourning or pain.

·      This is our future in Christ. Do you believe it?  God will dwell with us and bring his glory down to earth in the New Creation and he will give us peace.

·      How does that affect how you live today? You are not in your last days on this earth. I hear a lot of prayer requests about this and that person being sick. That is good. It is good to pray for the sick. Jesus healed the sick when he was on earth. God answers our prayers and heals us. But I want to encourage you to also think about this bigger picture of our reality. Your lives are not ending. Maybe life in your present body, but not your soul. The children’s catechism interprets this by teaching our young ones that we have a soul that can never die.

·      You have much to look forward to. You are a part of something bigger and that has meaning now in this life. It isn’t just going to the clouds to be in heaven, but it is experiencing the New Earth with all of its glory in God’s presence. What we do in this life will have an impact in what we get to experience, in the new life and with whom we get to experience it.

·      This plays out in how we set our goals. If I am living in this life, thinking that I only have so many years until it is over I will make my decisions and plans to seek to make the most of these years. But if, I see life as a part of the whole Kingdom of God leading up to the New Creation, then I will make decisions and plans that work toward making the most of eternity. I will invest my time in building what contributes to the Kingdom. I will invest in building Christ’s Church even if I may not see the fruit on this side of the grave.

·      This in no way means that I neglect the present and physical life. It actually improves the way I see it and the importance I put on it. I invest my time into my children even more to help equip them to live life to the fullest realizing that their souls will last for an eternity not just at the most 100 years.

·      What are we preparing for? Are we preparing only for retirement? We need to prepare for retirement so as not to be a burden for our children or so as not to starve in our old age, but that is not our main goal. We are also preparing for this holy city, the bride of Christ. God is preparing this city as a bride, we are a part of what God is doing. As God uses us to build his church, He is preparing her for His Son.

·      What enables us to persevere and push on? This hope of eternity is what gives us perseverance. When we have our perspective set on eternity, we are empowered to push on even through the difficulties that we cannot see through. As a finish line in a race… This certainty of arriving at the finish line comes from this promise that God has accomplished this through Christ and it is ours by faith. It is not dependent on our performance or our works, but only on our perseverance in the faith in Christ himself.

·      What allows us to have patience and wait?  When we know that the end is secure and stable and certain, then we have no reason to fret. If we are waiting for something and we don’t know whether it will happen or not, then we fret and worry. Waiting for a loved one to return home and it is late…If we know they are fine then we can sleep. But if we worry that something happened then we fret.  But if we are certain of the outcome, then we are calm and at peace. God has given us this certainty of eternity by giving us this promise that he is preparing this city for Christ.

·      May that give you peace, confidence and hope in Christ. You are made for this holy city in the New Creation. You are a part of it and are a privileged participant in preparing for it as God is preparing you and putting you to work in participating with Him in building His city through the work of the church in preaching the cross of Christ and giving yourself sacrificially in every way.