If you haven’t heard, an extraordinary event has taken place in Wilmore, Kentucky. I called this small rural town home for 5 years when I attended Asbury Theological Seminary from 2002 to 2007. In early February, one of the chapel services for students at Asbury University (the school across the street from the seminary) spontaneously broke out into non-stop worship, prayer, and repentance. Word spread about God moving deeply in the hearts of students in Wilmore and within days tens of thousands of people showed up in this town of about 6,000 to join in prayer and worship. Call it a revival, an outpouring, or what you will. Whatever you call it, I believe God has moved mightily and I rejoice and celebrate what He has done and is doing. My prayer is that we would all be open to the miraculous move of God in our hearts, no matter where we live or work and that His transformation in us would overflow into love and service to the needs of the world around us.

I have attended a number of Asbury’s February worship services virtually (they livestream a lot of it). I have also seen and heard a lot of first-hand accounts from folks in Wilmore. If you’re curious about what’s going on, I would encourage you to find first-hand accounts of people on the ground in Wilmore. I will share some links below as good examples of just that.

One more thing: I first visited Wilmore in 1997 and have had close connections to the town ever since (including the years I lived there). The overall spirit of the people of Wilmore (and the institutions of Asbury University and Asbury Theological Seminary) has ALWAYS been that of sweet and gentle prayer, seeking holiness in the Lord, and repentance from darkness and towards full surrender in Christ. They have never been “showy” or holier-than-thou in the process (in my opinion). And those have been the reported marks of these recent prayer services. The point I am making is that what we are witnessing in Wilmore is really not new for Wilmore. What I see is a community that is simply leaning deeper into who they have been day in and day out for years. They have been faithful in prayer whether there is a viral revival or not. Let us continue to daily love God and love others in the highs and lows of life.

First-hand accounts of the Asbury Outpouring:

Asbury University’s official page about the Outpouring: https://www.asbury.edu/outpouring/

Podcast episode by my friend Andy Miller, whose brother teaches at Asbury University and was there on Feb 8th: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/more-to-the-story-with-andy-miller-iii/id1569988895?i=1000600055285

Podcast episode from Asbury Theological Seminary wherein they host a panel discussion of first-hand accounts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/asbury-seminary-kentucky-chapel/id988435522?i=1000600201484

Blog page of Craig Keener (a wise scholar in Wilmore): https://craigkeener.com/blog/

A dear friend and colleague (Danny Yamashiro) recently interviewed me on his radio program in Boston. He gave me the opportunity to share about my recent dissertation research about the sacred calling of the variety performer. He made the episode available on Spotify and I’d like to share it with you here:

A sermon by Dr. Jesse Joyner, delivered at Eternity Church in Richmond, VA on Nov 13, 2022.

Read full text below or listen to the podcast here.

First Reading Isaiah 65:17-25, English Standard Version

17 “For behold, I create new heavens
    and a new earth,
and the former things shall not be remembered
    or come into mind.
18 But be glad and rejoice forever
    in that which I create;
for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy,
    and her people to be a gladness.
19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem
    and be glad in my people;
no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping
    and the cry of distress.
20 No more shall there be in it
    an infant who lives but a few days,
    or an old man who does not fill out his days,
for the young man shall die a hundred years old,
    and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed.
21 They shall build houses and inhabit them;
    they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22 They shall not build and another inhabit;
    they shall not plant and another eat;
for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,
    and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
23 They shall not labor in vain
    or bear children for calamity, 
for they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the Lord,
    and their descendants with them.
24 Before they call I will answer;
    while they are yet speaking I will hear.
25 The wolf and the lamb shall graze together;
    the lion shall eat straw like the ox,
    and dust shall be the serpent's food.
They shall not hurt or destroy
    in all my holy mountain,”
says the Lord.

Second Reading Revelation 21:1-7, English Standard Version

1 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.”

5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. 7 The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.

Welcome to Mid-November

Good morning. Welcome to mid-November, which is the time of year where we all have the “should I or shouldn’t I put out Christmas decorations yet debate” with ourselves or someone we love. I can put that to rest for all of us: it is never too early to decorate for Christmas.

The Lectionary

Speaking of Christmas and the Christian calendar, I was encouraged by Pastor David who, last Sunday, shared that he drew his sermon text of Haggai from the lectionary. I too, found myself at a place where I did not hear a specific message from the Lord earlier this week about what to preach on. And that is why the lectionary is a beautiful thing. You see, I think it’s OK that pastors and speakers do not always have epiphanies or revelations at times convenient for their weekly sermon rhythms. Sometimes, the Lord’s way of speaking to His people is through the consensus and labors of many saints who have gone before us to collate passages of Scripture into what is called a lectionary. For those who, like me, did not grow up with any kind of lectionary, a lectionary is a traditional way of organizing the story of God’s Word into readings and lessons that tell the stories of Scripture through the yearly calendar, covering the Christian holidays and seasons accordingly. The Revised Common Lectionary is a popular one used all over the world. One of the most beautiful things about the lectionary is that it puts believers all over the world and across denominations on the same page in terms of readings and lessons. There is something powerful and transcendent, I believe, in knowing that we are being formed in our faith through the same passages on this very day alongside of believers from Canada to Ghana to the Philippines. We are also building our faith in step not only with other Presbyterians, but also Baptists, Methodists, Mennonites, Lutherans, and many others in the global Church.

The Readings

All that to say, I felt led to lead us together into the first Old Testament lectionary reading from today from Isaiah 65. This passage contains a prophetic promise about the new heavens and the new earth. For the New Testament reading, I chose from the chapter in Revelation that describes the complete fulfillment of that Isaianic prophecy. I’m calling this sermon “The Hope of the New Jerusalem.” If you go to Jerusalem today, there is the “Old City,” which is very old and then there is the “New City,” which is the part of Jerusalem with all the new high rises and 20^th-21^st Century buildings. When we hear about the New Jerusalem in the Bible, it’s not talking about the “New City” that is there today. The New Jerusalem is the heavenly that will come down to earth and be simultaneously paradise, a holy city, and a temple (which is the dwelling place of God).^[1] It is not until the New Heavens and the New Earth in the end when we shall see the complete fulfillment of what the New Jerusalem will look like.

This is not a sermon on the competing views of the end times or whether we should believe in Pre-Millennialism, Post-Millennialism, Amillennialism, or the Preterist view. I will leave that debate up to people much smarter than me. Nor am I interested in predicting the geo-political trajectory of the modern Middle East, except to say that Jesus is the Prince of Peace and through him and him alone can there or will there be peace on earth. Rather, this is a sermon about hope. This is a sermon about how we only see through a glass dimly what is yet to come. But we get glimpses of it both in Scripture and in how God reveals himself to us today. And those glimpses are enough, I believe, to instill in us the living hope of Jesus that sparks our holy imaginations to daily labor forward towards heaven. Our readings today are such glimpses and I want to explore them and let them sink in.

Post-Exilic Israel

            Before we dive into the prophecy in Isaiah, first a little background: this prophecy has both a level of imminent fulfillment for God’s people as well as a hope in the full-on fulfillment that will come in the future still for us with the new heavens and the new earth. When Isaiah lived (in the 700s BC), the Jewish people lived in a divided Kingdom. So, if you remember, there was the one united Kingdom of Israel around 1000 BC under Saul, David, and Solomon. But then there was a political split and they were left with the Northern Kingdom (known as Israel proper) and the Southern Kingdom (known as Judah). Jerusalem was in Judah, the Southern Kingdom. During Isaiah’s lifetime, the world superpower at the time, Assyria, invaded and took control of the Northern Kingdom. Jerusalem and the Southern Kingdom held on to their land for a few more generations only to be invaded by the big bad Babylonians, who destroyed Solomon’s temple and carted off its treasures (and people) to Babylon. This was known as the period of Exile, which lasted 70 years. After the Exile, a friendlier king named Cyrus allowed the Jewish people to return to their homeland and rebuild, which they did, including building a second temple, which lasted all the way up until the times of Jesus and the disciples. The Romans then destroyed that temple just a generation after Jesus left the earth. To this day, all that remains of that temple are stone foundations. You probably know that today, the Muslim Dome of the Rock currently stands at that location.

Have I lost you yet? You won’t be quizzed on it. Just remember that when Isaiah was alive, things were bad for the people of Yahweh – and that bad was going to get even worse for several generations after Isaiah was gone. But the Lord’s prophecies through Isaiah gave them a precious gift in their hardships: hope. When Isaiah opens his book, he says, “Hear me, you heavens! Listen, earth!” (Is 1:2). He is speaking to his current generation. But by the time we get to the end of Isaiah, which is our reading for today (the second to last chapter in the book), he says that God will make a newheavens and a new earth. And what he describes in our chapter is a picture, in part, of what scholar John Oswalt says is the post-exilic return to Jerusalem (again, nearly two hundred years after Isaiah lived).^[2] This is the time when God’s people return to their homeland, rebuild, resettle, and finally get to enjoy the fruit of their own labors rather than working in slavery or indentured servitude to anyone else (Is 65:21-22). But that life is just a foretaste of the fuller fulfillment of this prophecy, the new heavens and the new earth (which is yet to come), which is when infants will never die (Is 65:20). Thus, the beauty of Biblical prophecy is that some of it has already been fulfilled so that we can rejoice in the past works of the Lord, but other elements of Biblical prophecy have yet to be completely fulfilled so that we have a vision and a hope of what can be, could be, and should be in this world.

Be Glad and Rejoice

Regardless of the timing of the partial or full fulfilments of this Isaiah prophecy, the key imperative here is for God’s people to “be glad and rejoice.” Why? Because of what God is creating. God doesn’t say, “what I have created” or “what I will create,” but rather, “what I create” (Is 65:18). The NIV version of the passage here says, “what I am creating,” as an ongoing action. When I read that, I see that God is continually making all things beautiful, restored, and redeemed. It is a continual process that has already begun, is now happening, and will continue to happen, as (to use the words of MLK) the arc of the universe constantly “bends toward justice.”^[3] And we are instructed to “be glad and rejoice forever” in his constant process of renewal. 

Better than the Two Billion Dollar Lottery

In addition to that imperative to rejoice, a major theme I see in both of our passages is something I just mentioned – hope. I mean, did you see the frenzy that the two-billion-dollar lottery whipped up in people? It gave people a sense of hope (what I would argue is a false hope) as they imagined what they would do with it all. I didn’t even buy a ticket, yet I still stared out the window and wondered to myself what I could do with all that money – and it felt good (for a moment). In Christ we have something so much better than the two-billion-dollar lottery. In Christ, we have the living hope – the hope that is always there with us – through his Word, his Spirit, and his Kingdom (1 Peter 1:3). This hope does not vanish when the lottery numbers are drawn. The hope that Jesus gives is always there, always true, and always beyond our wildest dreams. Isaiah and the other prophets give us countless pictures of the hope towards which we should live, of which this passage is just one. As the late Christian musician Rich Mullins once sang:

…how the Lord takes by its corners this old world and shakes us forward and shakes us free to run wild with the hope, run wild with the hope, the hope that this thirst will not last long, that it will soon drown in a song not sung in vain. I hear the thunder in the sky. I see the sky about to rain. And I hear the prairies calling out your name.[4]

Let us run wild with the hope that this thirst will not last long.

Picture a World

Last weekend, Kezzie and I went to one of our favorite types of outings – a used book sale. It was the one at Main Branch of the Richmond Public Library. She found some books and I found mine – most of which were songbooks that I could play on our piano at home. When I got home and started playing through my “new” songbooks, one song in one book in particular captured my attention and imagination. It was a song I had never heard before called “Picture a World” out of this songbook right here. Yes, this is the Sesame Street Songbook. I am a child of the 80s and all we pretty much had was Sesame Street and The Electric Company. This song, “Picture a World,” was written by Joe Raposo, who most famously wrote Kermit’s theme song, “Bein’ Green” as well as other well known songs from the street, like Cookie Monster’s “C is for Cookie.” His songs touched the chords of the human heart, particularly as seen through and for children.

Without naming anything explicitly Christian or religious in nature, his lyrics to this song demonstrate a great deal of what some people call “redemptive imagination,” or a poetic vision of the peaceable kingdom. The lyrics go like this:

Picture a World

Picture a world
Where the rivers are clear
Where a dunk in the water is just a block or two from here
And try to think of a way to make it that way…
Everybody picture a world
Where little kids run
Where the sunshine is pouring love and life on everyone
And try to think of a way to make it that way
Make it that way
Make it that way

Words and Music by Joe Raposo

It’s not Scripture, but it sure does ring true, doesn’t it? The exhortation to “make it that way” is I believe what Jesus calls us to do during our time on this earth. He “made it that way” and now expects us to follow in turn. He taught us to pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Our job as Christ-followers is to usher God’s heavenly kingdom into earth even now. And what is in that heavenly kingdom? Children playing, peace between seeming disparates, and a dunk in the clear water around every corner. The prophet Zechariah gave us a similar vision – one of redemptive imagination for what we shall find in the heavenly Jerusalem:

“Thus says the Lord of hosts: Old men and old women shall again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each with staff in hand because of great age. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets… And I will bring them to dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in faithfulness and in righteousness”” (Zechariah 8:4-5, 8).

What I love about that passage is that children playing is an activity specifically called out as something that will happen in the New Jerusalem. When we watch children play, we are witnessing a glimpse of heaven. When we let the children play, we are facilitating heaven for them. When we play with them, we are entering into a common experience of heaven on earth alongside of them. Holly Catterton Allen, an author who specializes in intergenerational ministry and children’s spirituality, said that when children are in the room, the entire mood of the room changes.^[5] It is disarming to us adults. The presence of children reminds us of just how fragile life can be as well as mirror back to us how insanely serious we take ourselves in this life. I think about our music worship here at Eternity and what the presence of children does for us in the room while we sing. Laura Ann has pointed it out many times before that we love having the children run up and down the aisles and wave whatever they have in their hands back and forth. That attitude is contagious, and it helps us adults loosen up a bit and worship more freely as I believe we should. Without the children among us, we would probably descend into becoming the frozen chosen. 

Zootopia

But heaven doesn’t stop with playing children. There will also be a new peace among all creatures where there was little prior. I’m going to make you suffer through another reference from the world of children. Sarah and I are, after all, surrounding by all things children these days. So it is all we know in this season. This time, I want to draw from the Disney film, Zootopia. As the title implies, the story is set in a zoological utopia – a city where all the mammal species of the world come together and co-exist in harmony with one another.

Whether the story writers knew it or not, I believe they wrote an image of Isaiah 65 with the story of Zootopia. Isaiah says, “the wolf and the lamb shall feed together….they shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain” (Is 65:25). If this sounds familiar, that’s because it is. There is a more commonly quoted passage in Isaiah chapter 11 that is referred to as the “peaceable kingdom” prophecy. You may have seen any one of the many works of art throughout history called The Peaceable Kingdom as artists have depicted predator and prey lounging together in perfect harmony. You see, in the New Jerusalem, there is no longer predator and prey, nor nations warring against one another.

Like an Enemy Army Fleeing in Defeat

Speaking of nations warring against one another, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran pastor during the Nazi regime. He was one of the few German religious leaders who stood up against Nazism and Hitler during World War II. And he paid the ultimate price for it. He was captured, thrown in a concentration camp, and was subsequently executed just two weeks before the Allies liberated Germany and ended the war. He was also a brilliant author, poet, and theologian. One of his poems is called Who Am I? In it, he expresses the tension of a believer’s identity this side of heaven. Here is a portion of the poem:

Who am I? This or the Other?
Am I one person to-day and to-morrow another?
Am I both at once? A hypocrite before others,
And before myself a contemptible woebegone weakling?
Or is something within me like a beaten army
Fleeing in disorder from victory already achieved?

Who am I? They mock me, these lonely question of mine,
Whoever I am, Thou Knowest, O God, I am thine.[6]

Bonhoeffer was internally struggling with that tension we all feel in this period between earth and heaven. The line, “like a beaten army fleeing in disorder from victory already achieved…” has stuck with me ever since I first read it twenty years ago. Jesus is the victor over our hearts and lives. Whatever is left of our fallen human nature (both individually and collectively) is merely “fleeing in disorder” from its already lost battle to the victor Jesus Christ.

The Literal Lion and Lamb

I want to return for a moment to the peaceable kingdom found in our Isaiah passage. There is a local pastor named Jim Lavender who takes the peaceable kingdom imagery to a new level. Jim pastored at Discovery United Methodist Church near Short Pump for over thirty years and is now retired. Before his pastoral vocation, he worked in the circus industry (which makes us instant friends). While in the circus world, he acquired a menagerie of wild and exotic animals that he kept on a farm even into his preaching days. Every so often, he would preach on the peaceable kingdom and bring out a real lion and a real lamb into the sanctuary. And as far as I know, there was never lamb chop for dinner after his presentation. And yes, I have a picture to prove it. I don’t know the year of this photograph, but this is Jim in his earlier years of pastoring, so maybe sometime in the 80s. 

The Survivor Tree

In the New Jerusalem, children don’t die. One of the most tragic loss of children in our country’s history happened in 1995 when a domestic terrorist blew up a federal building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. There was a day-care center in that building and many children were tragically taken way too early in life. Just outside the federal building stood an 80-year old oak tree that was badly damaged by the blast. It caught fire from the blast and was close to being completely chopped down during the recovery efforts. But they left it. And about a year later, when survivors returned to the site for a memorial service, they noticed blooms on the once-written off tree. They decided to protect and preserve the tree and sure enough, it grew back strong and beautiful. It now stands as a centerpiece of the memorial plaza on the site of the tragedy. Known as “The Survivor Tree,” the oak stands as a reminder of life in the midst of tragedy and steadfast hope staring down the face of evil. The inscription on the wall around the tree reads:

The spirit of this city and this nation will not be defeated; our deeply rooted faith sustains us.

Seeds are collected and planted from the Oklahoma City Survivor Tree each year and there are now thousands of little Survivor Trees descended from this one growing all over the country.^[7]

Isaiah’s prophecy says in our reading, “for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be” (Is 65:22). We will never understand this side of heaven why things like Oklahoma City happen in this world. They’re so confusing to comprehend and painful to swallow. On the one hand, there is darkness, despair, death, and pain in this worldly existence. But on the other hand, there is life, joy, and survivor trees in this world. We live in this in-between stage where life and death somehow co-exist. But Jesus changed, is changing, and will consummately change all of that. Jesus literally embodied the co-existence of life and death when he died on the cross. He is eternal life, yet he took death upon himself out of love for us humans who are, on our own, incapable of bringing life out of death.  In Philippians 2:8, Paul tells us that Jesus “humbled himself by becoming obedient to death – even death on a cross.”

Jesus did that for us. Then he rose from the grave. He brings life where there is death and light where there is darkness. He gives us hope for the New Jerusalem that will someday be. When we follow him and abide in him, he empowers us to live lives that usher heaven into earth even now. I mentioned the living hope we have in Jesus. Peter is the one who said it in his letter in 1 Peter 1:3:

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…” (1 Peter 1:3).

Thin Places

As Pastor David likes to say, we want to be “thin” places for others in this world. We want to be close to Jesus, so that we can act as havens for others in this world. You may know someone who, when you are around them, make you feel closer to God. It’s not because that person is a deity. It’s because there seems to be just a thin layer of separation between that person and heaven. It is a form of hospitality. People need Jesus. This world needs light. This world needs heaven now. We can be those thin places to the world in our families, our daily workplaces, our neighborhoods, and the city of Richmond as a whole. I think of what Doc and his team are doing by offering a thin place at these residential homes. I think of Eternity at VCU providing a place of college students and staff to learn about and connect to Jesus. I think about Mia and her sacrificial work of facilitating thin places for the kids and youth of this church. And the faithful prayer teams of this congregation who offer up prayers morning, day, and night for the world around us. Providence Christian School, Eternity Music Academy, and the host of other touch points we have to our local community represented here in this room. I pray that we would lean into these thin places and continue to ask for new ways as to how can we be and continue to be ushers of heaven for those around us.

Sanctuary

One more Disney reference: The Hunchback of Notre Dame. This is one of the very few Disney films with outright religious, even Christian, symbolism. Why? Because it is about that great story by Victor Hugo about the reviled Quasimodo who in his deformity hides away in the tower of Paris’ great cathedral. There was a tradition in medieval Europe where someone being chased by the law could run into a church and claim “sanctuary” which essentially gave them legal immunity from the government powers so long as they were in the church (this is found in the Old Testament cities of refuge as well). There is a scene at the end when the gypsy Esmerelda is being falsely accused of witchcraft by an angry mob, who then ties her to a stake to burn. Quasimodo, who has developed a friendship with her, dramatically swings down from the cathedra, braves the flames, and rescues her limp but still alive body from the stake in the square and carries her straight to the cathedral. In his extraordinary strength, he hoists her over his head and shouts, “sanctuary!” to save her from death and condemnation. When I watch that scene, I see two metaphorical relationships. First of all, that is what Jesus does for us. And secondly, it is a picture of who we as Christians could be to the world around us. Like Jesus, we want to pick up the hurt, the poor, the condemned, and bring them to a safe place. We can claim “sanctuary” for them because we know the one true Lord, Judge, and King. This is what being a priesthood of believers means – we are ambassadors for the justice and peace of the kingdom of heaven.

The Engagement Ring

Finally, to our reading in Revelation. This is the culminating vision John receives on the island of Patmos. Jesus shows him a vision of the New Heaven and the New Earth. All our hopes and longings will be satisfied as “the dwelling place of God” will be permanently with us – no longer in this in-between/already-not yet phase of history. But rather we will be with him and he with us completely and fully. Not even a thin layer will separate us from him. We will be with him and with one another forever, void of pain, tears, and death.

I like to see the present state of God’s story with us here on earth like an engagement. And for God’s people, His bride, heaven is the full married life. You know what (or rather, who) the engagement ring is? The Holy Spirit. Listen to Paul in Ephesians:

“In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is a guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory” (Ephesians 1:13-14).

When I bought Sarah’s engagement ring and put it on her finger, it was a deposit guaranteeing (not just wishful thinking) the follow through of our coming marriage. So also when we believe in Jesus, God gifts us his Spirit as a promise of the life to come in the New Jerusalem. John even uses wedding imagery in verse 2 of Revelation 21 where the New Jerusalem itself is “prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”

All Things New

Now look at verse 5, where God says, “Behold I am making all things new.” My professor Donald Guthrie points out that God does not say here, “I am making all new things.” He says, “I am making all things new.” Heaven, whatever it looks like and feels like, will look and feel familiar. It will be recognizable. Why? Because God will make all things new. All of creation will be redeemed and restored in a way that is familiar yet new. Again, as Rich Mullins said, the Lord has and will shake this old world forward and free. My prayer is that we would follow Jesus in that way and daily ask how we can be his ambassadors of hope, peace, and ushering glimpses of heaven into earth even now. If you want some inspiration, look for the children. Go play red light/green light with some children during the fellowship time downstairs after the service. Jump in a pile of leaves outside with some kids. Speaking of ushering heaven into earth, we’re about to pray the Lord’s prayer together.

Communion

But first (and last), I want to share something I heard about first things and last things from an author named Gregory Thompson, who co-leads an organization called Voices Underground, which advocates for racial reconciliation in the world and the Church. You may have heard people say that the Bible starts in a garden and ends in a city (Eden to the New Jerusalem). To that, Thompson says, “the story of vocation does not, in fact, begin with creation. It begins with the Trinity. And… the Bible does not, in fact, end in a city. It ends at a wedding.”^[8] The identifying feature of both the Trinity and a wedding is communion with God. And that is the culminating hope we have for the New Jerusalem. What we get to look forward to is God’s permanent, all-encompassing presence as we enjoy complete communion with Him and with one another.^[9] With that, let us pray as Jesus taught us to pray:

Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation. But deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and glory forever. Amen.

Now let us gather around the Lord’s table for his communion….

---

^[1] Bauckham, Richard. 1993. The Theology of the Book of Revelation. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 132.

^[2] Oswalt, John N. Isaiah: The NIV Application Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 29-33.

^[3] King Jr., Martin Luther. “Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution.” Speech given at the National Cathedral, March 31, 1968.

^[4] Mullins, Rich. 1996. “Calling Out Your Name.”

^[5] Catterton Allen, Holly. 2022. “Intergenerational Teaching and Learning: Benefits, Challenges, and Recommendations from Recent Research.” Presentation at SPCE Annual Conference. San Diego, CA. Oct 21, 2022.

^[6] Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. 1971. Letters and Papers from Prison. New York, NY: Macmillan, 347-348.

^[7] Survivor Tree. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivor_Tree

^[8] Thompson, Greg. 2018. “Music, Worship, and Reflection Together.” Lecture at the Faith at Work Summit. Chicago, IL. October 12, 2018. Available online. Accessed March 31, 2020. https://youtu.be/IMhkNUHyu3o (start at timestamp 33:05 for quoted portion).

^[9] Bauckham, Richard. 1993. The Theology of the Book of Revelation. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 140.

Last month, an old seminary friend of mine (Dr. Andy Miller III) called me up for an interview on his podcast. He was interested in learning more about my dissertation research. It means so much when people care to listen and learn about something that took up a good two years of my life. Yes, of course I would like to share! Here is the link to the interview page, which leads you to the various links where you can access it. I’ve also included the YouTube link below that…

https://andymilleriii.com/articles/juggling-for-jesus-with-jesse-joyner

At Ascent College (where I teach), we believe that children are active participants in the kingdom of God even now. We don’t have to wait until they grow up for God do do great things through them. Furthermore, we as adults have a lot to learn in life from children (especially how to have faith). Join me and my colleague Audrea Gray as we lead a day-long in-person workshop on Children’s Ministry in the DC area (Springfield, VA) next Saturday (Sept 17th). Registration is only $10 and is still open (click here or on the image below):

Tomorrow morning, I have the privilege of teaching a workshop at a conference (the LEAD Conference for the Potomac District of the Assemblies of God). The topic is about how to affirm and support children in their God-given callings in life. The content of the workshop comes from my recent research about calling. Here is the full outline if you’re interested:

Here is the sermon I preached yesterday at Eternity Church in Richmond, VA:

“His Hesed Endures Forever,” March 27, 2022, by Jesse Joyner

Scriptures: Psalm 136, Micah 6:8, and 1 John 4:7-12

The Ironman

I have been a fan of the game of baseball my entire life. My mother got me into it. She herself grew up in Detroit and was a Detroit Tigers fan as a little girl. She was so dedicated that she would secretly listen to games on a handheld radio under her pillow at night, adjusting the volume to the sweet spot where it was loud enough that she could hear but soft enough that her parents thought she was getting her rest for school the next day. For her, it was worth breaking a few of life’s rules in order to enjoy a good baseball game. When I grew up, we lived here in Central Virginia, and the closest Major League Baseball team at the time was the Baltimore Orioles. Due to their proximate nature, by default they became “my team.” I rooted for them, followed their progress in the newspapers, and on special occasions, our family would make the three hour trip to Baltimore to see them play in person.

I can still remember the first game I ever attended. It was the summer of 1988 and to my memory it was the largest gathering/stadium I had ever seen in my seven years of life at that point. We had tickets in the nosebleed section because my father was on a pastor’s salary. But that didn’t take away my joy in the moment because it was enough to just be there. I vividly recall the moment we found our seats and I peered down on the tiny-looking ball players on the field. Standing in the shortstop position was a familiar figure I had only seen on my precious collectible baseball cards – my favorite player: Cal Ripken, Jr. Now, you may or may not have heard that name before, but in 1980s baseball, Cal Ripken, Jr. was kind of like today’s Lebron James or Tom Brady or Serena Williams. He was a superstar athlete who played hard, played exceptionally well, and played consistently.

In fact, Ripken is best known for that last trait – consistency. His nickname was and still is “The Ironman.” He holds the matchless distinction as the player who played the longest career without ever missing a game. He played 2,632 consecutive major league baseball games – that is a span of sixteen years of playing a sport at the highest level and never missing a game – a game where players are frequently benched for underperforming, getting injured, taking performance enhancing drugs, or otherwise taking time off from their team’s schedule. And during that time, he didn’t “just show up.” He showed up every day and played with skill, proficiency, respect for others, and respect for the game. In sum, he was both good and dependable.

See where I’m going with this? God is both Good and Dependable, this time with a capital “G” and a capital “D.” God’s love is consistent, steadfast, enduring, merciful, and compassionate. This morning I don’t want to praise Cal Ripken. His story of endurance represents merely a faint shadow of the reality that is the enduring and pursuing love of God towards us. I want to talk more about this love and what it means. I want us to learn together about this great love God has for us and how he calls us to extend that same love to those around us.

Psalm 136

If Psalm 136 sounds especially familiar to you here at Eternity Church, it is because Pastor David preached on “steadfast love” just six weeks ago. “Steadfast love” is the repeated refrain of Psalm 136. I asked Pastor David if I could carry on the theme of steadfast love in this sermon as a kind of “Steadfast Love, Part 2” and he said something along the lines of, “Of course, that’s the whole point of steadfast love is that you can’t get enough of it.” I agree. The steadfast love of the Lord goes on and on. We could do a sermon on God’s love every week for the rest of our lives and never reach the end of it. 

Psalm 136 is an antiphonal song – that is, it is meant to be sung back and forth between two parties. In this Psalm, one party declares a characteristic or work of the Lord. Then the other party sings back “his love endures forever.” This pattern is repeated 26 times. You may be familiar with the modern take on this Psalm from worship leader Chris Tomlin (sing a short portion of the song: “Give thanks to the Lord, our God and King….His love endures forever…”).

Repetition is found throughout Scripture, and for good reason. We as forgetful humans need all the reminders we can get about the nature of God – especially his love. Think about your own endearing human relationships – those with whom you are the closest. Have you ever said to them, “you don’t have to tell me that you love me or that you’re there for me anymore, you’ve already told me that enough times.” Of course not! We need to hear “I love you” on an endless loop. We never really reach the end of that road in terms of our need for love. Why? Because we are made in God’s image, who is perfect and complete love. And the only one who can fully satisfy our deepest longing for being loved is God himself.

Hesed

Psalm 136 is thus one of God’s gifts of love to us – itself a ceaseless reminder of his love for us. In fact, the key term in the repeated phrase, “his steadfast love endures forever” is arguably, “steadfast love.” The Hebrew term here is hesed, which is loaded with meaning that stretches beyond the sometimes ambiguous English term “love.” We say in English, “I love pizza,” or “I love the VCU Rams.” But that is not hesed.

Hesed is enduring love embedded in faithfulness. One of my college professors translated it as “covenant love.” In their best attempts, English translators over the years have named hesed as “lovingkindness” or “steadfast love.” I think those older sounding phrases actually do capture the meaning of hesed better than the simple term, “love.” Again, hesed is about promise, loyalty, and commitment (See the entry for “hsd” by R. Laird Harris in the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, Vol. 1, edited by Harris, Archer, and Waltke [Chicago, IL: Moody, 1980], pp. 305-307). But it is also a love full of desire, enjoyment, and gladness. That is the love that God has for us. His love is the perfect co-mingling of promise and passion – a blend in which we as humans so miserably fail. Theologian James L. Mays says about Psalm 136: “The coordination of the items in the recitation with the refrain make it clear that hesed is action; the wonders are a performance of hesed.” He goes on, “The making of the universe and the salvation of the people of God are together a history of hesed. The Lord’s hesed is everlasting and fills all time” (James L. Mays, Psalms: Interpretation, A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 1994), p. 420).

Gematria

I want to point out another interesting detail about Psalm 136 that comes from Jewish literary traditions – something called gematria. Gematria is a type of numerology. It is a way in which a Hebrew word communicates meaning through the use of its letters as corresponding to certain numbers. While finding codes and meanings in letters and numbers in the Bible has the potential for abuse and interpretation beyond the author’s intent, gematria is definitely a thing in the Bible and we can learn from it when applied appropriately (Matt 1:17; Rev 13:17-18; see Ronald Youngblood, “Divine Names in the Book of Psalms: Literary Structures and Number Patterns,” Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society 19.1 [1989], p. 177). For example, you may already know the significance of the number seven in Jewish tradition – the number of completeness and fullness (See Elaine Goodfriend, “Seven, the Biblical Number” [https://www.thetorah.com/article/seven-the-biblical-number]). And seven is the culminating day of the week after God made the universe. Even Jesus uses numerology when he encourages Peter to forgive not just seven times, but seventy times seven times (Matt 18:22). He is not telling Peter to literally utter “I forgive you,” to his offender exactly 490 times (or 77 depending on the translation you’re using). Jesus is rather telling Peter to forgive with an enduring and longsuffering love – the same deep and wide forgiveness extended to us by God (R.T. France, Matthew: Tyndale New Testament Commentaries [Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1995], p. 277). If I may, it is a hesed forgiveness.

So back to gematria. Again, gematria is taking a Hebrew word and assigning a number to each of the letters. Those numbers then add up to a sum total number that communicates something to the reader. Matthew used gematria in his genealogy of Jesus when he went to great lengths for his primarily Jewish audience to point out that “there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile of Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to Christ” (Matt 1:17). The number 14 is the sum total of the numbers that correspond to the letters found in the Hebrew name for David (France, p. 75). Matthew wanted his readers to know in neon lights that this baby Messiah came from the house of David, which was previously promised in the Jewish scriptures (2 Sam 7:12-16; Is 11:1; Jer 23:5-6). In fact, in 2 Samuel 7, the Lord speaks to David through the prophet Nathan concerning David’s offspring: “I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever” (2 Sam 7:13). The Lord continues, “my love [hesed] will never be taken away from him” (2 Sam 7:15).

Have I lost you yet? Here’s where I’m going with all this: There is gematria in Psalm 136. Remember how many times “his love endures forever” is repeated? Yes, 26 times. Guess what Hebrew name’s letters add up to 26? Yahweh – the name of the LORD. Thus, we have in Psalm 136 Yahweh’s very personal and repetitive reminder of his enduring, steadfast, merciful, and passionate love for us.

Hesed Towards Others

The hesed love of God is not just something that God extends to us. He summons us to pass that hesed on to others. In one of the great summaries of Scripture, Micah 6:8, the prophet Micah tells us that the Lord is not looking for obligatory offerings from His people, but rather three things: for us to (1) act justly, (2) love kindness, and (3) walk humbly with our God. When Micah says that second item, “love kindness,” he is using hesed for “kindness,” which means we are called to love hesed. I take this to mean that hesed is not only a character trait of God, but it is also a calling upon all of us – to love God’s enduring love so much that we share his hesed love with the world around us. How do we do that? We find the answer in our New Testament reading, 1 John 4. According to John, we are conduits of God’s love to the world around us. We love only because he first loved us. Love begins with God, flows to us, through us, and into others around us. Likewise, we receive the love of God from others around us who are the conduits of His love. I’ll read 1 John 4:10 again to let it sink in: “This is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

Not A Single Bone Shall Be Broken

When I speak at children’s events, I tell the story of Jesus and his ministry on earth. I point out that Jesus was the only human in history who lived a perfect life – because he was both God and human at the same time. I then explain to them the story of how Jesus was betrayed, arrested, put on trial, and subsequently put on a cross. I tell them that the cross was a terrible way to die – it was the punishment back then that was reserved for the really bad guys. Then I ask them, “but was Jesus a bad guy?” They say, “No.” That’s when I say, “So, Jesus did not die on the cross because he deserved to. He died on the cross because he loves you.” That’s 1 John 4:10: God’s love is that he “sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” What is propitiation? Some versions use the terms “atonement” or “sacrifice.” Propitiation is the act of satisfying the wrath of God, in this context, against the sin of the world. We also know that Jesus accepted this call, albeit with reluctance in his humanity. He told his father in prayer, “If you are willing, take this cup from me” (Luke 22:42a). But we know Jesus did not maintain this reluctance. For the very next thing he said was, “yet not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42b). We further know that Jesus died out of enduring and hesed love for us because of a small detail John leaves us in the crucifixion account. You see, shortly after Jesus and the two criminals beside him were placed on the crosses, the Jews petitioned Pilate to speed up the process so that no bodies would be left on a cross during the Sabbath, which was fast approaching. Pilate sent guards to do just that. What did they do to speed up the process? Break the legs of the crucified. That would accelerate the death of the punished because as long as their legs worked, they could still push themselves up a little to gasp for every last breath of air in an effort to stay alive. John says,

So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs (John 19:32-33).

John himself interprets this as a fulfillment of Scripture, from which the Israelites were given instructions not to break the bones of their passover lambs (Ex 12:46; Num 9:12; see John 19:36). I also see something very telling in this physical detail. And I could be wrong about this, but I have a guess based on the evidence we do have in Scripture. My guess is that Jesus physically accepted the consequences of the cross without trying to fight back against it. Here’s what I mean: The two criminals were still alive when the guards approached them to break their legs. Jesus was not. What is the difference between the criminals and Jesus? The criminals were probably trying to extend their life and breath as long as humanly possible, as if to try to reverse their punishments if even for a few more moments. You see, once a crucified person’s legs are broken, their body weight shifts from being held by the legs to being held by the “shoulders and chest, and the prisoner would suffocate in a few minutes” (Michael Card, The Parable of Joy [Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1995], p. 228). Jesus, on the other hand, gave himself up for us before the guards even got to him for this final blow. He did not fight against his Father’s calling. He lovingly poured out his hesed for us on that cross. Again, not because of anything he did, but rather because his love for us is that great. That is one reason why I think when they came to Jesus, they did not have to break his legs. 

The Jumbotron

I want to take you back to Baltimore for a moment. Years after my first visit to an Orioles game, my mother took me back for a mother-son date. For several years in my preteen and early teen years, my Mom had a tradition of treating me to a trip to an Orioles game for my birthday. We would drive up to the game together, go out for dinner overlooking Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, and then walk over to the Orioles game. And just like my first trip, even these birthday trips were in the nosebleed seats. I never complained about that because for me it was a birthday gift enough just to attend an Orioles game with my mother. The trip experience for my 13th birthday was a memorable one and I’ll tell you why. At the start of the game, we found our seats in the far left field section – in the upper deck. We were so far from the game that you needed binoculars to see the batters and you could forget about seeing all the player stats and replays on the jumbotron in center field. Only the expensive seats had a straight on view of the jumbotron. At around the third or fourth inning (there are nine total), my mother started acting restless and suggested that we get up and find some better seats in another section. This was a bit out of character for Mom. She was, after all, the woman who raised me to be an honest person who follows rules and stays in their assigned seat. I was becoming a teenager, and thus I was old enough to know that you can’t just get up and take seats in another section at a Major League Baseball game. That was essentially stealing a more expensive seat from the Orioles franchise. I was a fan, and I wasn’t about to take from my team’s earnings. I also knew they had ushers in each section who would check your tickets, especially so in the nicer sections. I told my mother I was fine sitting in our seats and that I was having a great time. But she persisted. Another inning or two went by – she kept saying, “let’s get up and move over there,” and I kept saying, “Mom, I’m really good, I can see the game from here.” But she endured. By the sixth inning, she said, “Get up, Jesse, we’re going to a better section.” She grabbed her things and headed for the stairs. So as not to be alone on my birthday, I followed my mother in all of her disobedient behavior. She led us to a nicer section indeed. A mid-level tier with a superb perch over third base – and a straight on view of the flashy jumbotron. She scurried past the ushers with me in tow, acting like she owned the place so as not to make it appear that we, in fact, were not mid-level tier paying customers. She found two empty seats and plopped us down just in time for the middle of the sixth inning. I felt rushed and confused, but at least we were sitting down with some better seats. Then my mother said, “Hey, look at the big screen.” I paid attention to the jumbotron. Suddenly, the in-park speakers blared out, you guessed it, birthday music. And there it was, in large letters, for thirty thousand Orioles fans to see (and maybe even Cal Ripken himself), “Happy 13th birthday, Jesse Joyner, love Mom.”

I sat there in shock and gratefulness. My name was in lights at Baltimore’s Camden Yards. I felt so loved and thought of. And in an instant, all of my mother’s strange behavior and persistent insistence that we move made perfect sense. When she originally bought tickets for this special occasion, she did not know that our seats would not have a view of the jumbotron. She needed to change that for the occasion to be special. I can’t help but get emotional recalling that moment because it was such a simple gift, yet it was given with the endless love of a mother. You could say it was the hesed love of a mother. She wouldn’t take “no” for an answer. She broke a few of life’s rules out of great love for her son. On top of all that, she spent extravagantly considering our low family income at the time. Whatever that message cost her, it was certainly more than we were used to getting as kids growing up.

God is that kind of father to us. He chases us. He endures for us. He is constantly and lovingly calling us to a better place – even when we are comfortable and content with where we are. He shows us that there is something better on the other side of the stadium. And we won’t know what that is until we get up and follow him and sit with him. He might even shatter your understanding of norms and man-made rules along the way. That is the hesed love of God. May we grow in our understanding of it, receive it, and share His hesed with those around us.

A New Prayer About God’s Hesed in John

In closing, I want us to respond to this message of God’s unfathomable love for us by doing our own version of call and response with the phrase, “his hesed endures forever.” This is the fourth Sunday of Lent, so I am going to read out twenty-six expressions of the love of Jesus found in his years of public ministry leading up to the cross. I gathered these moments, more or less chronologically, from the book of John, which is the Gospel that most explicitly describes the love of God. After each one, we as a congregation will collectively recite, “his hesed endures forever.” I believe that the life and story of Jesus is the embodiment, or more accurately, the incarnation of Yahweh’s hesed love for us. Are we ready? This might take a few moments, so settle in and allow these narrative testimonies from the life of Jesus shape you and form you as you recite this liturgy:

To our Lord who called the disciples to follow with your compelling glance of love, and who also calls us with your patient face of grace and kindness…

His hesed endures forever

To our Lord who enthusiastically parties with us and celebrates covenant love by making an average wedding an awesome wedding…

His hesed endures forever

To Christ our Lord, who is jealous for the sanctity of his Father’s house, who tears apart consumerism to make space for prayer and worship in our lives…

His hesed endures forever

Give thanks to Jesus, the only begotten Son of the Father, who gives us new birth in the Spirit…

His hesed endures forever

Who broke customary rules to speak to the Samaritan woman and offer her living water… 

His hesed endures forever

Who said to the royal official, “Your son will live” and it was so…

His hesed endures forever

Who said to a man unable to move for 38 years at the pool of Bethesda, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk,” and it was so…

His hesed endures forever

Who took a boy’s lunch and turned it into an abundant feast for thousands… 

His hesed endures forever

Who traversed over water like it was a marble floor… 

His hesed endures forever

To Jesus who promised that whoever comes to him will have streams of living water flow through them… 

His hesed endures forever

Who double-healed the man born blind by opening both his physical eyes as well as his spiritual eyes… 

His hesed endures forever

To Jesus our good shepherd who calls us by name, leads us out, and lays down his life for us… 

His hesed endures forever

Who called out to a dead Lazarus and with the two words, “Come out,” displayed your resurrection power for all to see…

His hesed endures forever

Whose very presence calls for gratuitous offerings, like Mary’s perfume…

His hesed endures forever

To the humble and victorious king, who rides triumphantly on a donkey… 

His hesed endures forever

Who kneels down and washes the dirty feet of your followers… 

His hesed endures forever

Who promised us the empowering presence of your Holy Spirit… 

His hesed endures forever

Who calls us to abide in you… 

His hesed endures forever

Who gives us eternal life… 

His hesed endures forever

Who prays that we may be one as you and the Father are one… 

His hesed endures forever

Who abides in us… 

His hesed endures forever

To Jesus who accepted his call to the cross out of love for us… 

His hesed endures forever

Who suffered unjustly… 

His hesed endures forever

Who died a criminal’s death, though not a criminal…

His hesed endures forever

Who cried, “It is finished”…

His hesed endures forever

To him who willingly gave his life for us out of love, who did not fight for survival on the cross, but rather accepted the call of his Father, to the point that the soldiers did not have to accelerate the death sentence by breaking his legs, as it is written: “Not one of his bones will be broken”…

His hesed endures forever. Amen.