I don’t imagine it is as bad as it used to be now that we have in car infotainment systems, portable gaming devices, and Wi-Fi access to the world wide web, but traveling with children used to be the worst. When my children were young, we lived 1,053 miles away from grandma’s house, but I assure you it felt much much further than that.
Every Christmas Eve when our children were young, Michelle and I would strap them into the backseat of the car and set out for grandma’s house. We naively thought if we drove through the night the children would fall fast asleep allowing Michelle and I to reflect on our love for each other and share our hopes and dreams with each other as the miles passed quickly by. Our children, we repeatedly discovered, had other ideas how the trip should go. After 35 minutes on the road THE question started coming. You know THE question. “Are we there yet?” The first few times this question is asked you gently answer, “no, my precious child, we are not there yet.” But after the 37th time the question is asked, you start ignoring your precious child in the hopes they grow weary of asking, “Are we there yet?” However, that never happens. Instead, the child, assuming that you are not answering because you cannot hear, starts asking the question louder and louder. “Are we there yet?” “Are we there yet?” “Are we there yet?” When you still refuse to answer the little banshee in the backseat, they fear perhaps you have fallen asleep, and start kicking the back of your seat while asking the question. “Are we there yet?” “Are we there yet?” “Are we there yet?” At this point you have no choice but to answer them. Being the nurturing father that I am I tried answering them with sarcasm. “Are we there yet?”, they asked. “Yes,” I answered, “we have been there for the last half hour I just thought I would drive around the block for a while to see if you could kick a hole in the back of my seat.”
When Michelle scolded me for using sarcasm with our children I tried to reason with the little savages. I would tell them, “I estimate between our frequent stops your mom is making us take (I was upset she scolded me) and the limitations of the posted speed limit for this highway we are averaging 60 miles an hour. We have 1,053 miles to go, therefore, we have 1,053 minutes or 17.55 hours before we are there.” Now, this should have worked. I think this is how the parenting books tell you to speak to your children. But what the books fail to mention is that when you are a child in the backseat of a car, on the way to grandma’s house, on Christmas Eve, being reasonable is not an option. As the hours passed and the integrity of the back of my seat began to fail, I was near the end of my rope. But then it occurred to me, my children don’t know how to tell time. I mean they do now, but they didn’t then. So, when they asked, 17 seconds after the last time they asked, “are we there yet”. I said, “45 minutes.” And… it worked! It didn’t matter if we had 10 hours or 10 minutes, every time they asked the question I answered, “45 minutes”. They seemed somewhat satisfied with the answer and the amount of time my seat was kicked and I was asked “are we there yet?” was cut in half.
I was reminded of our Christmas Eve road trips to grandma’s house when I read our second lesson for today. Twice in Revelation 22:6-13 Jesus says “7,12 Look, I am coming soon!” When I read those words, I realized Jesus was using the word “soon” with us the same way I used the words “45 minutes” with my children. You see these words directly follow the verses we looked at last week. Last week we saw the saints celebrating along a crystal river, beneath the tree of life, and around the throne of God. We talked about how amazing it is that the saints get to see the Face of God and I encouraged you to find comfort in the fact that, because of Jesus, one day you too will see the face of God. However, that sermon was admittedly and unavoidably a little unsatisfying because “one day” is not today. Indeed “one day” seems like a long, long, long way away. Reminding a child of God one day we are going to stand beside the saints and see the face of God is like being strapped into the backseat of the car on Christmas Eve for a 17.55-hour trip to grandma’s house.
As children of God, we can’t wait to dip our toes in the crystal river, sink our teeth into fruit from the tree of life, and stand beside our loved ones basking in the glory that radiates from God’s face. We become increasingly impatient for that day when the world around us grows progressively violent and vile, and as we repeatedly fail to do the good we want to do and seem hell bent on doing the evil we do not want to do, and as more and more of our loved ones walk through the valley of the shadow of death we grow more and more impatient. In our impatience with this sin filled world, full of sinful people such as ourselves; people who suffer the under the curse of sin we start spiritually kicking the back of our Heavenly Father’s seat and repeatedly pray, “Are we there yet?” “Are we there yet?” “Are we there yet?”
Thankfully our heavenly Father does not use sarcasm to speak to us, though I would understand if He did. Neither does our heavenly Father try to reason with us, probably because we are so often unreasonable. Instead, He says to us through His Son, “soon”. You see God knows that we don’t know how to tell time. I mean we can tell time according to the rotation of the earth around the sun, but we can’t tell time the way God tells time. In verse 13 Jesus reminds us He is “the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.” To him “a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.”[1] We can’t comprehend time like that, so the heavenly Father, seeking to settle us down, says to us, through His Son, “soon”. “Soon” is a somewhat satisfying answer for us. We don’t fully understand what it means but we understand that our journey through this sin filled world will not last forever and that sooner rather than later we will be with there; we will be beside the crystal river, beneath the tree of life, and around the throne of God.
We may not understand it but the word “soon” soothes us, and we begin to settle patiently in our seats for the remainder of our journey. But then we hear Jesus say something that causes us to squirm uncomfortably in our seats. Jesus says when we get to where we are going, “12… I will give to everyone according to what he has done.” We don’t like the sound of that, not one bit. Because you see we are not the only ones sitting in the back seat of the car. Sitting on either side of us are our two worst enemies in the world. To one side sits the devil and he whispers in our ear, “did you hear that? At the end of this journey, God is going to give to you ‘according to what you have done’. I sure hope you haven’t done anything bad; I hope you have kept every commandment, followed every law, and obeyed every decree because otherwise I don’t think you are going to like what you are going to get.” To the other side of us sits our other enemy. Arguably this enemy is our worst enemy, this enemy is our self. This enemy knows what we have done, not just the words we have spoken or the actions we have taken, but also the things we have thought. This enemy knows things about us that no one else knows and this enemy whispers in our other ear “you know what you are going to get because of the things you have done.”. The more we listen to these two traveling companions the less our journey feels like a trip to grandma’s house for Christmas and the more our journey feels like we are on our way to the dentist for a root cannel. We start to wish the journey would be over later than sooner, desperately we try to think of ways to delay the inevitable, and maybe even contemplate jumping out of the car.
Thankfully, before we do anything drastic, the Holy Spirit, who has been riding shotgun this entire time, turns around and silences our traveling companions by pointing out that the things we, who have been washed clean in the waters of baptism and repeatedly feasted on the forgiveness of the altar, the things we have done are but a reaction to what Jesus has already done for us. Jesus kept every commandment, followed every law, and obeyed every decree that the devil was whispering about. Further, Jesus knows what we have done, He knows everything we have done, He knows because he paid for the things we have done with His death on the cross. Because of Jesus God chooses to forget the things our traveling companions whispered in our ears. Because of Jesus all God sees that we have done is express our gratitude for our forgiveness and salvation. Which is why, the Holy Spirit points out, Jesus also said “My reward is with me”. The Holy Spirit points out the thing that Jesus gives to those who believe is not the punishment we deserve but rather the “reward” He; Jesus has won for us.
Jesus speaks these words to us in the last chapter of the book of Revelation but if you want to get an idea what kind of reward Jesus is going to give us all you have to do is go back to the beginning of the book. In 2:7 the reward Jesus gives us is described as “the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.” In 2:10 the reward is identified as “the crown of life”. In 2:17 it is a “new name”. In 2:26 it is “authority over the nations”. In 3:5 it is your name written in the “book of life”. And in 3:21 the reward Jesus gives us is “the right to sit with me [Jesus] on my [His] throne”.
These rewards are the sort of things that await us at the end of our journey. I am glad the Holy Spirit preserved these words from Revelation 22:6-13 for us. However, I can’t help but wonder if sometimes He wishes He didn’t. Because as soon as God’s children realize they are on a journey far more exciting than a trip to grandma’s house at Christmas, our feet start swinging, and before long we are once again spiritually kicking the back of our heavenly Father’s seat and pestering Him in prayer, “Are we there yet?” “Are we there yet?” “Are we there yet?” “Soon, my children”, is His reply. “Soon my Son will come again, and He will bring you to where I am. Be patient. He is coming soon.” Amen.
[1] 2 Peter 3:8