I can’t believe I’m about to admit this publicly. I grew up in Alabama, where college football reigns supreme. A few years ago, I realized that my habit of watching my team play on Saturdays was taking a toll on my well-being. My soul writhed as I watched my team struggle, and if they lost, it affected me for days. For the sake of my shalom, I decided I needed to change my Saturday routine so I stopped watching my team’s games live. Instead, I found other activities to occupy my mind during the game–mowing the grass, playing with my kids, catching up on work, or doing the dishes. After the game ended, I would check the score and learn the outcome. If my team lost, I didn’t need to watch the game, and if they won, I could enjoy watching it later with a sense of shalom. Knowing the outcome altered how I engaged with the game.
You might think my Saturday football-watching habits odd, but they aren’t entirely dissimilar from the role that eschatology (the branch of theology concerned with death, judgment, and the final destiny for humans and creation) plays in the lives of God’s people. Understanding the telos, or the ultimate end or goal, changes how we engage in the world. As a young seminarian, I read Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church by N.T. Wright, and it transformed my understanding of early Christian hope. Wright argues that a proper grasp of the surprising future hope in Jesus Christ directly leads to a present hope that forms the foundation of the Christian mission now.1 In other words, knowing the future telos shapes the way the church engages in the world in the present.
In Scripture, Revelation 21-22 plays a triple role as the culmination of the Book of Revelation, the New Testament, and the entire canon of Scripture.2 It brings the narrative of Scripture to fulfillment and presents an aesthetically beautiful and compelling vision of the telos of creation. The apocalyptic vision in Revelation is addressed to seven first-century churches in Asia Minor, struggling with issues such as external pressure and persecution from outsiders (2:8-11, 13; 3:7-13), pressure to assimilate to Greco-Roman religious practices (2:14-15, 20), and complacency in faith (2:4-5; 3:1-2, 16-17). The vision challenges these congregations to resist assimilation to Greco-Roman culture and spiritual complacency, encouraging believers to overcome present challenges by revealing the nature of the future reign of the One Seated on the Throne and the Lamb.3 “The visions offer a divine perspective on what is true, valuable, and lasting. They expose the true nature of the world’s ungodly political, cultural, economic, and religious system destined for destruction, and they reorient believers’ world views and values around God’s eternal kingdom.”4
As Revelation 21-22 brings the narrative of Scripture to a close, it draws from many Old Testament texts, including Genesis 1-2, Isaiah 43, 54, 60, 65-66, and Ezekiel 40-48. The vision of “a new heaven and a new earth” is not about the destruction of the present world but the redemption and renewal of creation. The original paradise and the nations of the earth are redeemed. Everything about the garden city, New Jerusalem, in Revelation 21-22 counters the oppression, chaos, and death depicted earlier in the great city of Babylon (chaps. 17-18). In the paradise of God, there is no evil, impurity, or accursed thing (21:8, 27; 22:3). Tears, death, and the chaotic sea are absent (21:1, 4). Everything that harms human flourishing has been removed.5 Paradise is characterized by the unmediated, intimate presence of God symbolized by the absence of a temple because the Lord God and the Lamb are the temple (21:22). It is depicted as a place where humanity has regained access to the tree of life, bringing about the “healing of the nations” (22:2).
Michael Gorman argues that the vision of Revelation 21-22 is not primarily about “going to heaven” in the future; instead, it is a script for Christian mission in the present.6 “Revelation does not lead to apathy about the present or future of the world. Rather, it compels its readers to be a missional community that bears witness to the coming of God and the fullness of God’s kingdom among humanity.”7 In other words, Revelation’s ultimate vision for the telos of all creation provides a script for the church’s mission in the present. Building on Gorman’s work, I will discuss four themes of the missional script in Revelation 21-22 for the church today. Similar to my football-watching habit, these final chapters employ a strategy: knowing the outcome changes how we engage in the world.
Understanding the end sets the parameters for the church’s engagement in the world now. The church is God’s new creation people, serving as a preview of the New Jerusalem to come.
First, the goal of creation is worship. The overarching message of Revelation can be summarized as “Worship God” (19:10; 22:9; cf. 7:11; 11:16; 19:4). The worship that takes place before the One Seated on the Throne and the Lamb in chapters 4-5 is the centering vision of the book. In these chapters, the living creatures represent all of creation (wild animals, tame animals, birds, and humans), and the 24 elders lead the people of God in worship.8 Throughout the book, the living creatures and elders become the worship leaders, inviting all creation to join in exclusive worship of God and the Lamb (7:11; 11:16; 14:3; 19:4). The tension in the book’s plot revolves around Satan, who has established an alternate throne on earth (13:2) and is deceiving the whole earth into abandoning the rightful worship of God in favor of worshiping the beast, which represents human rulers (13:3-4, 8, 12, 15).9 The final vision reminds the church that, in the end, there will only be one throne: “the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him” (22:3). Today, the church lives in anticipation of this reality by giving exclusive allegiance to God and the Lamb and resisting the allure of false political and cultural powers. As the church gathers for worship, we remind one another, through the proclamation of the gospel, prayers, songs, and sharing in the Lord’s Supper, that our ultimate allegiance is to God, bearing witness to the world as we resist all other powers which vie for our heart.
Second, prophecy involves “naming and speaking against values and practices that are at odds with those of God’s coming new creation, whether they occur among God’s people or in the wider world.”10 The book describes itself as prophecy (1:3; 22:7, 10, 18-19) and the author refers to himself as a prophet (22:9). We misunderstand the nature of prophecy if we view it as a synonym for “future telling.” While prophecy may contain elements of future warning, the great prophets of Israel, who served as models for John, such as Ezekiel and Isaiah, primarily spoke God’s truth and judgment about Israel’s relationship to the imperial superpowers of their day. They warned God’s people not to be led astray. The vision of the two witnesses in Revelation 11 stands in the center of the book. These two witnesses represent the people of God, and their role is to prophesy God’s truth to the world (11:3, 6, 10).11 In response, the world rejects, kills, and humiliates them (11:7-10). Through this vision, the first-century church was called to be uncompromising witnesses to the truth in their culture and to be willing to face persecution, even death, for their prophetic testimony. This explains why the cowardly and faithless will not be in the new heaven and new earth (21:8) because prophetic witness requires courage and faith in this world. As a missional script, the church today anticipates the future by courageously confronting the darkness of the present world, characterized by death, evil, and impurity which will not be part of the new creation. The church also serves as a prophetic witness in the world by living in holiness. As we look forward to the arrival of the “holy city” (21:2, 10), we “wash our robes” (22:14; cf. 7:14) to live in holiness now (21:8, 27; 22:3).
Third, mission entails the church living in anticipation of a future where the nations are drawn into this ultimate vision. The theme of the conversion of the nations permeates the message of Revelation (cf. 11:13; 14:6-7; 15:4).12 Revelation is inherently a missional text. The final vision has a universal scope, where all of humanity becomes the people of God (21:3).13 The vision depicts the nations and the kings of the earth freely entering the gates of the New Jerusalem (21:24-26). While the nations and kings of the earth had previously been deceived and rebelled against God (cf. 20:3, 7, 10), the tree of life now offers them healing (22:2). The mission of God’s people is to bring healing to the nations, whether it be physical, relational, spiritual, or political healing.14 We embrace this missional script through hospitality and inclusion, as the gates of the New Jerusalem are never closed (21:25). The vision portrays a multinational people from every tribe, language, nation, and people united in worshipping God (cf. 7:9-17). We live now in anticipation of this vision by inviting the nations to join our worship of the One Seated on the throne and the Lamb.
Fourth, the final vision instills hope within the church. Despite all our best efforts to foreshadow the ultimate future for all creation through our exclusive worship, prophetic witness, and mission, Revelation 21-22 reminds us that only God and the Lamb will bring about the final defeat of all hostile forces and usher in the new creation. The Spirit, through the message of this vision, cultivates a yearning in the church for the ultimate reality of God’s reign. The church cries out, “Come, Lord Jesus!” (22:20). The vision encompasses a new heaven and a new earth that includes the entire created order. The church bears witness to the comprehensive scope of our hope today by actively participating in the restoration of all creation, addressing issues such as climate change, loss of biodiversity, and pollution.15
Revelation 21-22 serves as the triple conclusion for the Book of Revelation, the New Testament, and the entire canon of Scripture. The final vision is not merely designed as a pie-in-the-sky picture of what happens after we die. Understanding the end sets the parameters for the church’s engagement in the world now. The church is God’s new creation people, serving as a preview of the New Jerusalem to come. The vision of these chapters calls the church to offer exclusive allegiance to God and the Lamb through our worship, to prophetically challenge the world’s values and practices that oppose God’s vision for a new creation, to embrace God’s mission to heal the nations, and to embody a living hope for God’s all-encompassing redemption. Dean Flemming writes, “As sojourners between the longing of ‘Come, Lord Jesus!” and the fullness of ‘everything made new’ (Rev 21:5), here is our missional challenge: Are we willing to live what we long for?”16 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
Garrett Best is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Bible and Ministry at York University in Nebraska. He earned his Master of Divinity from Harding School of Theology and a PhD in Biblical Studies from Asbury Theological Seminary. He has served in ministry since 2010 in Churches of Christ in Tennessee, Kentucky, and currently, Nebraska. He and his wife, Robin, have shared thirteen years of marriage together, and they are blessed with two children, a son named Jackson and a daughter named Anna.
N.T. Wright, Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church, New York: HarperOne, 2008.
Michael Gorman, Reading Revelation Responsibly: Uncivil Worship and Witness: Following the Lamb into the New Creation, Eugene: Cascade, 2011, 160; see also Brian Tabb, All Things New: Revelation as Canonical Capstone, NSBT 48, Downers Grove: IVP, 2019; Külli Tõniste, The Ending of the Canon: A Canonical and Intertextual Reading of Revelation 21-22, LNTS 526, London: T&T Clark, 2018.
The One who is “seated on the throne” is the primary designation for God in the book (4:2, 9, 10; 5:1, 7; 6:16; 19:4; 20:11; 21:5).
Tabb, All Things New, 8.
Gorman, Reading Revelation Responsibly, 163.
Ibid, 168-70; See also Dean Flemming, Foretaste of the Future: Reading Revelation in Light of God’s Mission, Downer’s Grove: IVP Academic, 2022, 1-5.
Gorman, Reading Revelation Responsibly, 171.
Craig Koester, Revelation: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary, Anchor Bible 38A, New Haven: Yale University Press, 2014, 367-69.
Ibid, 579.
Gorman, Reading Revelation Responsibly, 166.
Koester, Revelation, 496-98, 505-09.
Richard Bauckham, The Climax of Prophecy: Studies on the Book of Revelation, New York, T&T Clark, 1993, 238-337.
Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 310-12; This does not mean that John is a universalist because some people are clearly excluded from New Jerusalem (cf. Rev. 21:8, 27; 22:15). Revelation offers two possible realities for the nations. They can face judgment for resisting God’s invitations to the nations (19:19, 21; 20:7-15) or they be welcomed into the gates of the New Jerusalem (21:24, 26). Both of these possibilities are equally real for the nations.
Flemming, Foretaste of the Future, 198-203.
Ibid, 205.
Ibid, 207.