Seeing Through The End

I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 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. 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.” And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” (Revelation 21:2-5)

Not all great films include an element of surprise or a paradigm shift at the end, but some films are great for this reason. Yesterday, I watched a movie called The Illusionist that I would not own if not for its brilliant ending. Knowing the ending, I watched the film quite differently than the first time I saw it. This is also true of movies like The Book of Eli, or, more famously, The Sixth Sense and Fight Club. In these films, knowing the end not only changes the way you see the rest of the story the second time, but the way you interpret the rest of the story. You attribute different motivations and feelings to certain characters when you have a full knowledge of the story. In the Illusionist, for example, Eisenheim the Illusionist (the main character/Edward Norton) appears in the middle of the film to a first-time viewer to be a broken and desperate man due to the loss of his lover. However, one aware of the ending knows that Eisenheim is appearing a certain way as part of a masterfully woven plan.

As Christians, in faith we know how things end. We can’t predict the day or the hour, or the exact events leading up to it (those who spend a great deal of time trying to predict these things are very foolish and perhaps I will argue this in another post), but Scripture does show us the end of this world, and it is in the text above.

To be sure, God dwelling with man is the direct result the removal of sin at Calvary. Earlier in Revelation, this is made clear through the worship of Jesus: “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood your ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.” (Revelation 5:9-10).

The Bible must always be interpreted with the end in mind, and with an understanding of what secured the end, the cross. The Revelation 21 passage above should not be taken independently from the gospel, for it is part of the gospel. It is the consummation or culmination of the gospel! It is part of the glory for which Christ endured the cross.

Looking back at the movie, Eisenheim is asked by the chief inspector what he wants. His reply is, “to be with her.” This appears desperate and maniacal to a first-time watcher, but makes one who knows the ending think, “Why did I not get it before!?” And this is one reason Christ went to the cross, to be with her, his bride, the Church.

The Bible needs to be interpreted through this lens, and we need to keep in mind that the Bible is not merely some great, classical story. Revelation 21 is not merely the end of the Bible, but the reality that all who trust Christ will see with their own eyes. Thus we not only interpret the Bible through the lens of the entire gospel, but we interpret our lives the same way. When life is difficult and discouraging, we must have the end in full view. We have to believe the Bible that the end is more glorious because of our suffering (we certainly see this in the cross of Christ!).

The hard thing is that we can’t see how God will work all things together for our good (Rom. 8:28), but not seeing is no reason not to believe, for is faith not the “conviction of things not seen” (Heb 11:1)? The practice of faith in our daily lives is to see our daily circumstances through the lens of the gospel, including the end or consummation of the gospel. Only with this end in full view is it possible to rejoice in our sufferings (1 Pet. 4:13).

But the end is not the end. I have used the term "end" out of mere convenience. God coming to dwell with men is not the final end, but a new beginning. So Semisonic was correct in singing, “every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.” What we see in Revelation 21 is the completion of that which began in Genesis 1:1, the first time God created. But for his recreation in Revelation 21, there will be no end. As C.S. Lewis closed the Chronicles of Narnia, "not all the books in the world could contain the stories which will come from that world." May you live every day for forever and with forever in full view.