Heaven Comes Down Here

Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5
Easter 6
May 25, 2025

William G. Carter  

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.

 

I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. Its gates will never be shut by day--and there will be no night there. People will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. But nothing unclean will enter it, nor anyone who practices abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life.

 

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month, and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. Nothing accursed will be found there any more. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him; they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

Last fall, we answered an invitation to visit two old friends. They are retired teachers and have a place on the east shore of Chesapeake Bay. Their old farmhouse was built in the 1840’s. It needed a lot of work when they bought it as a getaway place in 1998. Slow improvements took place, at first during summer vacations. A detached garage was added, then the kitchen enlarged, then a library with a vaulted ceiling. The home is comfortable – but the location is even more spectacular.

Every night, the sunset from the back deck offers an extraordinary light show. You can also watch it from the hammock beneath the shade trees. When soft shell crabs are in season, our friends drop their own traps into the bay and collect supper. If you don’t want to take the boat out on the Chesapeake, you can jump into the swimming pool and cool off.

Just to sum it up, our hostess said, “Welcome to our little piece of heaven on earth!” Heaven on earth. Can you imagine that?

Some of you may enjoy a place like that. If not, you may have spent time in such a place. Some of the characteristics are the same. Natural beauty, splendor, lots of life. Maybe your special place is on the beach. Mine would be in the mountains. And there are two complementary descriptions to mark the location. First, God is there. The Holy One touches down. Second, the place gives life. It’s life-giving.

We’ve visited those places. We have those moments. I’m talking about the moment when we sense heaven and earth are one. When it feels like what has been ripped asunder has been reunited. When the bruised are healed and the broken are healed. When hostility dissipates and opposites are reconciled. Heaven on earth.

It’s that for which Jesus teaches us to pray. Remember the line in the Lord’s Prayer? “Thy kingdom come; thy will be done…” And where? “On earth as it is in heaven.” Heaven is defined as God’s dominion. It is wherever God rules. The territory is enlarged from “heaven” out there to “earth” around here. Heaven on earth. We pray for it.

And this is what Jesus embodied in his incarnation. Jesus is the One from Above. He comes down here, the Presence of Heaven in earthly flesh and bone. We listen to his voice, we look to his deeds, and we hear and see what God intends for everybody on this planet. Even in his crucifixion, one of the Gospel writers describes him as being “lifted up.”[1] That is, he is suspended between the sky and the ground. He holds together heaven and earth.

And this is what the prophet John sees in the vision reported in our scripture. As John is taken to the top of a high mountain, the Holy Spirit opens his eyes. John sees the City of God descending. Not staying out of sight, not remaining inaccessible, not a “castle on a cloud,” but coming into our midst. This is a stunning moment. There is so much that is right about it:

-        There is light everywhere, no shadows, no darkness.

-        There is universal appeal. The nations are there, not just our nation, but the nations.

-        There is universal access. The gates remain open.

-        There is the abundance of life, represented by the river flowing in the middle of the city.

-        This is complete purity and honesty. No unclean habits, no secrets, no lies.

-        At the center of it all is Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God.

Remember the Garden of Eden? John sees the restoration, except this time it is a city, not a garden. Life is flourishing for everybody and everything. This is God’s intention. It always has been. Heaven on earth.

The only wrinkle in the plan is that the rest of us see only earth. We don’t see heaven.

Do you remember that place I described on the Chesapeake Bay? The house that was built in 1840’s? It’s only a few miles from where Harriet Tubman was born into slavery, less than twenty years before. At least, we think so. The plantation owners didn’t regard her as a real human being. She was treated as property, worthy only of being bought and sold.

Our friends took us to lunch in their village. On the way, we stopped in front of the Dorchester County courthouse. Three years ago, a statue of Harriet Tubman was installed outside. It’s located on the exact spot where human beings were bought and sold. Harriet reaches toward the North Star of freedom, inspired by her faith in Jesus and the stories of Moses leading his people out of slavery.

By no coincidence, that statue is also in the very same spot where Harriet “stole away” her niece, who was about to be sold to a new owner.[2] While the slave owner took a meal break from the auction, Harriet stole her away. She did it because her faith taught her that God wants all of us to flourish to the fullness of our ability. Her faith declared nobody should be bound by anything or anybody less than God. We were created in God’s image to experience the fullness of life. Just one person was set free that day. But for her niece, it made all the difference.

“A little piece of heaven on earth.” That’s how our friend described it. Just a little piece.

Every once in a while, we glimpse what the prophet John saw so clearly. The clouds open, visions are clear, and life begins anew. There is life all around us, all the time, but we don’t always perceive it. Saints and poets, maybe they see it some. But reality waits for all of us to catch on.

Let me tell you what I find most striking about this vision in the Book of Revelation. It happens in the present tense. John sees the Holy City coming. Not merely in the future, but here and now. Not completely here, but already present. The river of life is here. The tree of life is available. The healing of the nations is ready. Somewhere just out of earshot, the heavenly choir is already singing. God’s new creation has broken in.

It’s not obvious to all. Neither is the Holy City completely unveiled. Yet the truth of the Gospel is that heaven has come to earth in Jesus Christ. The holy invasion is underway. And this is what a broken-down world needs most of all. A lot of cynics may dismiss it, well aware of the church’s spotty track record on mission. Some would dismiss the prophet John’s vision as some kind of purple haze fantasy; all of us must decide for ourselves if we believe it is real.

But I pledge my faith in what John saw, because I see it in the love and faithfulness of this congregation. The New Testament theologian Paul Minear once put it this way: “Delete the thought of heaven from (our) lexicon, and (we are) soon reduced to a one-dimensional environment, living without any invisible means of support.”[3] No heaven, and we are stuck only with ourselves, a closed system, no assistance from anywhere.

Yet faith invites us to say, “Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” Faith invites us to hope for what we cannot yet see. Faith invites us to trust that Christ is risen and living among us. Faith announces, “There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God; (it is) the holy place where the Most High dwells.”[4]

Today, we ordain our elders and deacons. My charge to them is the same as my charge to all of us. We are here to proclaim in word and deed that the glad river is the river of life. It flows from the heavenly throne of Christ, always from Christ, and it pours into this dry and weary land. There is help. There is hope. There is love. There is joy. Our work as church is to create an irrigation system that brings all the gifts of God to the people of God. Let the river of life flow on.

 

For heaven has touched down and continues to come among us. And until the day when everybody can see it for themselves, we live and love and serve as if it is already here. Because it is.

(c) William G. Carter. All rights reserved.

---

[1] John 12:32.

[2] https://harriettubmanbyway.org/new-beacon-of-hope-harriet-tubman-statue-finds-permanent-home-in-her-homeland/

[3] Paul Minear, I Saw a New Earth (Washington, D.C.: Corpus Books, 1968) 14.

[4] Psalm 46:4