Sunday, June 28, 2026

Scripture: Revelation 21:1-7 and Revelation 22:1-5

Sermon Title: “God is Forever”

This week, two earthquakes hit Venezuela within seconds of each other. A 7.2 earthquake followed by a 7.5 magnitude earthquake in a similar location only 38 seconds later. So far, it is believed at least 1,400 people have died. In the Middle East, the US and Iran have been working on a peace deal, but there have been attacks in the Strait of Hormuz, along with a drone attack in Southern Lebanon. And here at home, there have been some contentious Supreme Court Rulings.

As we hear the news stories this week, and truly the past few months, it can feel like our world is spinning out of control. It can seem like war, violence, injustice, oppression, you name it will last forever and get the final say. And yet, that is not what we believe as followers of Jesus Christ. We believe that the Kingdom of God will last forever, not the problems of our world.

If you have been with us these last 5 weeks, we have been in a series called “VBS for Grownups.” We’ve been taking all the lessons and scriptures the kids learned the days of VBS and looking at them through a grown-up lens. We began with the creation story and learned that “God is Our Creator.” We were reminded that we are also called to be good stewards of creation.

Then we learned that “God knows Everything.” And we talked about how we are called to get to know people intimately as well.

We learned that “God is our Safe Place,” and talked about how the Church has not always been a safe place for all people. But we are called to make the Church a safe place, and be a safe place for all people.

Then last week we learned that “God is Love.”

Today we’re finishing up with “God is Forever.”

Our scripture reading that we heard today comes from the last two chapters of the book of Revelation. We began with creation in the first book of the Bible: Genesis, and now we’re ending with new creation in the last book of the Bible: Revelation.

I don’t know what it is about the book of Revelation, people always seem drawn to this book. When I was at my first church, we had a young adult group that met at our house on Sunday Nights and when I asked what book of the Bible they wanted to study, they said “Revelation!”

So, we studied revelation and I remember every week I said the same thing, “Revelation is a book of hope.” So many of us think of the book of Revelation as a scary book, a book about the end of the world. A book of judgment, but it’s truly a book of hope. It was written to Christians who were being persecuted for their faith, and this book was meant to give them hope that persecution would not last forever.

I can remember my own youth group years being afraid to read Revelation. I was scared it was a book that would give me nightmares. I had heard people talk about the end times and this thing called the Rapture. I never read them, but there was even this whole series in the 90s called “Left Behind” that was about the Rapture. I was too scared to read them.

Now I’m going to say something that might sound controversial. We as Methodists do not believe in “The Rapture.” The Rapture was an idea that actually did not come about until the 19thcentury and is not considered historic Christianity.

We do believe that Jesus will return one day and set all things right, but not this idea of a Rapture and people being left behind. We serve a God who does not leave people behind. We serve a God who is Emmanuel, “God with us,” a God who will never leave us or forsake us, a God who goes ahead, beside, and behind us.

UMC.org has this to say about the end times, “Wesley and his spiritual children pay attention to what Jesus said. We don't know, and cannot know, the day nor the hour.’ Instead, we are called to ‘watch and pray’ here and now, living and growing in love toward God and neighbor.”

As I have gotten older, I am not scared of the book of Revelation. I see it as a book of hope.

Revelation is based on a vision of the Apostle John. John had been persecuted and exiled to the Island of Patmos. This is an island in modern day Greece today. And while there, he had this vision from the Lord.

I know many of you did a study of Revelation with Pastor John before I got here. And for those doing Disciple 4 in the Fall, I believe it is a lot about Revelation. Joan Monte who leads Disciplecan correct me if I’m wrong on that.

When reading any book of scripture, it’s important to understand the genre of that book. Some books are history, some are letters, some are prophecies. The book of Revelation is known as apocalyptic.

Apocalyptic Literature is “a type of Jewish literature that uses symbolic imagery to communicate hope in the ultimate triumph of God to those suffering persecution. Events are ordered according to literary rather than strictly chronological patterns.” -Life Application Study Bible

So we do not need to take everything in Revelation as literal. But we do take it as a book offering us hope in a world that can feel like it is spinning out of control.

As I said, when I was younger, I was a little afraid of the book of Revelation. But now, one of the passages we read today is one of my favorites. Sadly, as a pastor I have officiated many funerals, and I have read this passage at many funerals. Specifically, this verse from Revelation 21:4, “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” (NIV)

I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait for the day when death, mourning, crying, and pain are a distant memory. I know here in our congregation we have a lot of people who have lost a spouse within the last year or two. We have people who have lost children, people who have lost parents, we even heard from Alex last week how he lost his father when he was only 15 years old. We have people who have lost siblings. The list goes on and on about loss. As a mom, I have wiped many tears from my girls’ eyes. I have kissed many boo boos. And so, I love this image of serving a God who wipes our tears from our eyes. I love this image of a God who comforts us in our pain. Its such a beautiful image of a loving parent.

Our congregation, like many congregations know the pain and sting of suffering and death. And yet, we as followers of Jesus Christ, we know that suffering, pain, and death are not the end. As followers of Jesus Christ, we have hope.

The Apostle Paul writes about this in 1 Thessalonians. Paul writes, “Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope.” (1 Thessalonians 4:13)

You see as followers of Jesus Christ, yes, we grieve, because death and pain are not of God. Death and pain are not God’s intent for the world. So yes, of course we grieve, but we do not grieve as people without hope. We have the hope of Jesus Christ. We have the hope of Resurrection and Eternal Life. We have the hope that we serve a God who is forever and whose Kingdom shall have no end.

When we watch the news and hear stories of violence, injustice, oppression war, racism, sexism, the list goes on and on, we can grieve. We can feel hopeless. But we must remember that we serve a God of hope. We must remember that the kingdoms of this world will not last forever. But the kingdom of God will last forever. Our God is forever.

I love that VBS began with the creation story in Genesis and ends in new creation in Revelation. For many Bibles, the heading at the top of Revelation 22 reads, “Eden Restored.” You see new creation is not about destruction, it’s about God restoring the way the world was originally intended to be. A world without pain, evil, mourning, pain, and death. A world without political partisanship, earthquakes, and war.

I know you heard these words earlier when the students from Stetson Wesley read, and they did a great job, but I want you to hear them again. The last chapter of Revelation describes a river and a tree of life. Now hear again these words, maybe close your eyes as you picture this scene.

“And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.” (Revelation 22:2-5, NIV)

I don’t know about you, but as I read these words I can’t help but think how we need some healing for the nations. Many nations in our world need healing from natural disasters, including our own nation. Many nations need healing from health epidemics and pandemics. Many nations need healing from war and famine. Many nations, certainly our nation needs healing from political corruption and division.

John describes how no longer will there be any curse, talking about the curse of sin and evil in our world. I know it’s a Christmas Song, but when I read these words, I can’t help but think of the third verse of “Joy to the World.”

“No more let sins and sorrows grow, Nor thorns infest the ground: He comes to make His blessings flow Far as the curse is found, far as the curse is found, far as the curse is found.”

I love these words of John describing how we will see God’s face, his name will be on our foreheads and there will be no more night. We will not need the light of the sun, because God will be our light and we will reign forever and ever.

When you have children, you label many of their things with permanent marker so that if they get lost, people will know who the item belongs to. In our home we’ve labeled lunch boxes, backpacks, and water bottles just to name a few things. The movie Toy Story 5 just came out, we’re excited that the youth group is going to see it later today.

And on the bottom of many of the toy’s feet in Toy Story is written the word “Andy,” so that people will know who they belong to.

This is the same about God. God’s name will be written on our foreheads. Maybe not literally in permanent marker. But we will be known as belonging to God. Maybe you too need to be reminded that you are not labeled by the pain, suffering, and darkness of your life. But you are labeled by the God of the universe who calls you a Son or Daughter. A God who says, “You belong to me.”

Lastly, if you’ve spent much time with young children, you know that fear of the dark is a common fear. Kids often want a night light or a door cracked to let in light from a hallway. And the truth is that even though we laugh at this fear in children, many adults are afraid of the dark as well. Many older adults don’t like to drive at night. I have creeped myself out if I go on a walk too early in the morning or too late at night.

And the truth is, we are all afraid of the darkness of this world. We are afraid of the pain and evil of this world. But here we are reminded that darkness will not get the final say. Here we are reminded that light will get the final say. And we will not need the light of this world anymore because we will have the eternal light of God.

Each week in this series I have given you homework. Some weeks have been easier or more difficult than others. This week’s I think should hopefully be easy. If not easy, I think it should be life-giving. This week I want you to be on the lookout for the Kingdom of God breaking into our world. I want you to be on the lookout for signs of hope. Some might even refer to this as “God Sightings.”

In our car, one of the girls’ favorite games to play is “Eye Spy.” I’m sure you’re familiar with the game. One person finds something and says, “I spy with my little eye, something green,” and the others have to guess what that item is. I want you to think of signs of hope as eye spy. “I spy with my little eye, this sign of hope in our world.”

Maybe it’s a friend reaching out calling you or sending a card when you’re having a tough time. Maybe it’s a ministry getting started or getting funded. Maybe its people coming together to help during a natural disaster. Whatever it is, be on the lookout for signs of hope in our world. Be on the lookout for the Kingdom of God breaking into our broken world. Be on the lookout for “God Sightings.” Like children who need the door cracked to let in the light, may we too be people who crack the door to let God’s light into the darkness of our world.

And don’t just keep these God sightings, these signs of hope to yourself. Share them with others. Maybe write them down in a gratitude journal. Thank the Lord for being able to witness these signs of hope. When we share signs of hope with one another, we become a more hopeful people.

So be on the lookout this week. Keep your eyes peeled and your heart opened. And report back next week what you see. Let’s play a God version of “Eye Spy” this week.

So are you ready to review what we have learned in our grownup version of VBS?

Repeat after me,

“God is our Creator.”

“God Knows Everything.”

“God is Our Safe Place.”

“God is Love.”

“God is Forever.”

May we cling to this truth that God is forever. If God and the Kingdom of God is forever, then that means that the pain of this world is not forever. Darkness is not forever. Evil is not forever. Light and goodness are forever. God is forever. May that give us hope in a world that feels dark and hopeless.

Amen