“Something's Missing”
Text: Rev. 21:9-11, 22-27; 22:1-5
11-6-2022
In the name of the Lamb of God who writes the names of His saints in the Book of Life, dear friends in Christ. It seems inevitable that sooner or later we’ll find ourselves looking at a situation, scratching our heads, and saying "Hmmm.... something's missing." It can happen after you take apart something mechanical, like an engine or a power tool. As you reassemble it, you stop because something doesn’t look or fit quite right. Unfortunately, it isn’t until you have the dumb thing put back together that you notice the extra parts! Gee… could that be the problem?!? It can also happen at holiday meals. Mom and Grandma put dinner on the table and then stand back looking at the feast saying, "Hmmm.... something's missing." Even worse, they might taste one of the dishes that was just made and realize an ingredient is missing. Perhaps the sage was forgotten in the dressing or the allspice in the pie.
All those things might be embarrassing but they’re pretty minor because they can be corrected. It really hurts, though, when the "something missing" is a loved one. I can recall being at a family dinner as a child, when absolutely everything was perfect and in order except for the empty place where my Aunt Nancy should have been. She was missing because she died at a young age leaving behind a husband and 3 children. Maybe that empty spot at your table is where a Mom or Dad, a grandparent, a brother or sister, or even your spouse was supposed to be. It leaves us with an uneasy feeling. Even though we don’t say it, in our minds we know that "something's missing."
That's the way our minds operate. We have a mental image of how things ought to look. But when we see the reality before our eyes, we end up asking "What’s missing?" And that’s what sometimes happens with our picture of heaven. We have ideas about what it’ll be like and that picture in our minds can be created from 2 different sources.
One source is God's Word, the Bible. In it, Jesus painted several word-pictures for us about what heaven would be like. The most descriptive of those images is a beautiful wedding feast. In John 14 He says He’s going to heaven to prepare a place for us in His Father’s house. But He doesn’t get much more specific than that. However, in the Book of Revelation, the Lord gives us a much more detailed snapshot of heaven. One of the scenes from that heavenly picture is found in today's first lesson. St. John had been privileged to get a glimpse of heaven and God permitted him to write about it. And what a beautiful picture John paints for us there with his words.
But as we look at what he wrote we realize, "something’s missing!" There are some things in John’s description that seem to be left out. In fact, he even names for us the various things that aren’t there that we might have assumed would be. Now, we’ve got a problem, don’t we? Heaven is a perfect place but it can’t be if something’s missing, right? Ah, don’t worry. John's picture is complete. The real problem lies in the other source of where we get our ideas about heaven. And that "source" is our own imaginations. You see, what people invariably do is see the picture that John paints and then start filling in the blanks where they think things are missing. That can be dangerous. When we start dipping into the wellspring of our fertile minds and supplying new additions to God's heaven, we end up creating a picture that’s not heaven at all. Our frail, sinful minds distort God's beautiful image of heaven and in the end it becomes a hideous and undesirable place.
It would be like a child taking his watercolors and trying to finish the Mona Lisa. That portrait of beauty would look pretty silly if a kid were allowed to add freckles to her face or a modern hairstyle. Yet, how many people don't do that with God’s beautiful picture of heaven? Some believe that when we get there, we’ll be issued a set of wings and then we’ll just sit around on clouds all day playing harps. Oh, that may sound harmless, but it's a distortion of the true picture of heaven. The silliness of it can turn people off and have them saying, "Well, that sounds boring. If that's what heaven is like, I'd just as soon not go there!" But that kind of image is harmful when folks get the notion in their heads that when they die they’ll have to stand before St. Peter, the security guard of the pearly gates, and he’ll only let you in if you can prove that you’ve lived a good life. If that's true, then we may as well forget about heaven because none of us could ever be enough good to get us in!
But let’s go back and look at the things that are missing from John’s picture of heaven, because they’re missing for a reason. For example, he says there isn’t a temple in heaven. No churches, no steeples, no buildings for worship. Why not? Because they're unnecessary. All of heaven is a holy sanctuary where we’ll be able to enjoy the presence of Almighty God. Here on earth, God designated places where His people could meet with Him. At first it was the Tabernacle, then the Jerusalem Temple, and later the Synagogues were added. Now, we have churches all across the world for the same purpose. Our sins have separated us from God so we need a place to go where God has promised to fix that problem. We come here to this building that is dedicated to the Lord in order to be cleansed of our sins so that we can more fully enjoy God's presence. But all of these worship places are temporary. That's why a church can burn to the ground or be destroyed by a tornado without the people losing their hope of salvation and eternal life. If nothing else, the loss of their church building stands as a reminder that our earthly churches are just temporary meeting places. There won’t be a need for such places in heaven.
The glory of being in God's holy sanctuary of heaven is better than anything we could ever imagine. It's more than just the end of sitting in hard pews, having to maintain and repair the church building, or enduring an occasional long sermon from your Pastor. No, the best part of being in God's heaven can be found in the remainder of things that are missing in St. John's picture. He says that there will no longer be a sun or moon because the God's holy presence will shine brighter than any light in our universe. This also tells us that time will come to an end. You won’t have to worry about changing your clocks for daylight savings time! Your enjoyment of heaven will never to stop. Worship will never be boring in heaven, and no one will be looking at their watch, wondering when it’ll be time to leave.
John goes on to tell us that the gates to God's holy city will never shut. In other words, there is no fear of attack in heaven. We won't have to lock our doors because the threat of robbery or violence will be completely gone. The reason why is that there won't be any evil allowed in heaven. All the sinful desires of hate and greed won’t exist in people’s hearts. They’ll be missing.
The best and greatest "missing" part of heaven, though, John saves for last. He says that there will be no more curse and we will be able to see God face to face. He's telling us that the barrier of sin, which has separated us from God, will be removed once and for all. The curse upon mankind due to sin will be totally gone. And our struggle with sin and temptation will be over. In the Old Testament, we're told that no human being could ever see God face to face and still live. That's because while we're here on earth we are still sinners. But in heaven we will be able to see God's face because our sinful nature will be gone. We will stand completely clean and purified by the blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ. John says that we will see God's face and not be destroyed. That’s because we have received the mark of the Lamb. In Holy Baptism the Pastor says "Receive the sign of the holy cross both on your forehead and upon your heart to mark you as one redeemed by Christ the crucified." That mark of the cross is a sure sign that your salvation has been secured through the washing of those holy waters. You belong to God, not to the world or Satan. And because of that, you will be able to have complete and unrestricted access to God in heaven.
For now, we must wait. And as we wait, we take comfort in the beautiful picture of heaven that God has blessed us with. But there's one more aspect of this picture we need to see to make it complete. It's the whole reason why we celebrate a Sunday called “All Saints Day.” You see, John tells us that the only people who will share in all this goodness are those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. That happened when you were Baptized into God’s Kingdom. This includes all the believers who have gone before us and all those who are still living. All of our loved ones who died in the faith will be there. We will join together with them in an unending feast at the Lord's table. Whenever we celebrate the Lord's Supper, let it be a reminder to you of that great feast that Christ has waiting for you. As we eat the bread and drink the wine, we are receiving a foretaste of heaven right here on earth. Christ Himself is coming to us through those simple elements. Through it, He is preparing us for our heavenly home. What a great day that will be when our pilgrim's journey here on earth is finished and we can join the saints in heaven around God’s eternal banquet table!
I know that the Bible says there won't be any tears or sorrow in heaven. And I know that we won’t be looking around saying, "something's missing." The only thing that might be missing is the presence of someone that we cared about here on earth; someone who doesn’t know or trust in Jesus as their Savior. May God give us the courage to reach out to them with the Gospel while there is still time. So, I encourage you to share that beautiful promise of heaven with someone this week. Share the good news of how Christ has prepared this wonderful, eternal home for us and He wants everyone to join Him there. It’s the best and most important news they’ll ever hear. And by the power of the Holy Spirit, may they receive it with joy just as we have. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria!