Scholars call the book of Revelation a work of apocalyptic literature. It is not the genre of zombie wastelands but—from the Greek—the genre of “uncovering.” Revelation works to reveal the truth about the Roman Empire for an audience in Asia Minor. What everything ultimately comes down to, the author explains with symbolic language, is a choice between empire and God. You cannot serve both. And there are real, dire consequences for supporting an empire that encourages hierarchy, violence, and corruption.

However, today’s passage suggests that God’s love might just be enough in the end. While other biblical texts written in different contexts foretell the demise of the nations (see Isaiah 17:13-14; Jeremiah 25:3-32; Joel 3:2, 10-19), Revelation 21 and 22 promise healing and reconciliation. Ultimately God’s grace overwhelms not just death but the sin that causes it. Perhaps we all have a place in God’s “book of life.”

Whereas Psalm 67 prays for God’s radiance in order for Israel to minister to the nations, everyone in the New Jerusalem gets to see the face of Yahweh and bask in its light. However, as our other passages this week have shown, this promise of ultimate unity and fulfillment should not make us complacent. We have work to do.

In life after Easter we must somehow hold together the muddled mass of grace-filled blessings and calls for action. And so we wait and work and learn from the Spirit as we hold on to this tension. All the while we bask in the light of God’s presence with Yahweh’s love written on our foreheads like name tags, the brilliance of God’s blessing radiating from us for all to see.