In his book “The Holiness of God” RC Sproul tells the story of a “Pro/Am” golf tournament. A professional golfer was paired with an amateur golfer in a tournament to raise money for charity. Billy Graham loved golf and often played in these types of tournaments. In one tournament after the round of golf was over, a fellow pro golfer asked Billy Graham’s partner how the round went. He responded with great anger by shouting, “I don’t need Billy Graham stuffing religion down my throat.” He stormed off. After a while he had cooled down so his friend approached him and asked if Billy had been a bit rough with him. He said, “No, he didn’t even mention religion.” Turns out the pro golfer just had a bad round! Why would he take it out on Billy Graham like that? Could it be that he recognized something in Billy that convicted him? I think this is what Jesus was getting at when he said the Spirit would convict the world concerning righteousness—specifically, the world’s utter lack of it.

Last Sunday we looked at John 16:1–15. Jesus is with the eleven disciples (Judas has left in order to betray Jesus). This is during the Last Supper. Jesus has been preparing the eleven for what is about to happen. In just a few hours he will be arrested, culminating in his death the following afternoon. He was also preparing them for his resurrection and then ascension into heaven. During this time of teaching he promised them multiple times that he would send the Spirit of truth to them after he ascended. In John 16 he explained some of the Spirit’s role. The Spirit today convicts the world concerning three things: sin, righteousness, and judgment.

And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.”

John 16:8–11 ESV

Jesus explains why the Spirit will convict the world concerning these three things. Bear in mind that when John writes of the “world” he usually means the mass of humanity in rebellion against God. The Spirit convicts the mass of humanity in rebellion against God concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment. The world does not believe in Jesus so the Spirit convicts the world concerning this sin. The ruler of this world (Satan) has already been judged so the Spirit convicts the world concerning its judgment against Jesus and his disciples. Jesus is going to the Father and the disciples will no longer see him so the Spirit convicts the world concerning righteousness. How does this lack of seeing Jesus connect to the world’s righteousness?

In verse 7 of John 16 Jesus said, “Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you.” Jesus must ascend into heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father. Only then will he send his Spirit. Through his Spirit he will be present with his people until the end of the age, just as he promised. The Spirit’s presence magnifies God’s presence on earth. This is why it is to their advantage that he goes away.

Earlier in John’s Gospel Jesus spoke of the Spirit’s work in this world (John 3:5–8). Nicodemus had come to Jesus at night in order to trap him in some way, yet he found himself trapped. He, a Pharisee, a zealous Jew, had to be born again—had to be converted—to faith in Jesus in order to see the kingdom of heaven. This new birth came about through the Spirit’s work. Nicodemus did not understand this and Jesus chided him a bit for it, wondering how he, “a teacher of the Jews,” could not understand this (John 3:10). This is because the Spirit’s work among God’s people had been prophesied for centuries. Through Jeremiah God promised a new covenant that would fulfill and replace the covenant given at Mount Sinai (Jeremiah 31:31–33). This covenant would not be like the covenant given at Mount Sinai—the covenant that they broke. This covenant would involve God putting his law with them, writing it on their hearts, rather than writing it on tablets of stone. The prophet Ezekiel explained this further (Ezekiel 36:22–27). God would give his people a new heart and put a new spirit within them. He would remove the heart of stone from them and give them a heart of flesh. If that weren’t enough, God promises to put his Spirit within his people and cause them to walk in his statutes and to be careful to obey his rules!

Rather than give a list of rules designed to control the sinful impulse in his people, God will change the impulse of his people! The promise of a new heart is the promise of regeneration, the new birth by God’s Spirit. The Spirit will cause his people to be transformed so that they would love God and obey him. This is why Jesus could say hard things like this:

Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.”

John 14:23–24 ESV

In John 16 Jesus tells his disciples that the Spirit will convict the world concerning righteousness. The reason the Spirit will convict the world concerning righteousness is because Jesus is about to return to his Father and the disciples will not see him any longer. What is the result of Jesus returning to the Father and no longer seeing Jesus? He will send his Spirit to them. What will the Spirit do? He will cause them to be born again (1 Peter 1:3–5) by removing their heart of stone and replacing it with a heart of flesh and will write God’s law on these new hearts and will cause them to walk in his statutes and be careful to obey his rules.

It is odd, though, to think of the world as having righteousness, especially since John usually means “the mass of humanity in rebellion against God”. Jesus is likely alluding to Isaiah:

We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

Isaiah 64:6 ESV

Isaiah says that our righteous deeds, our righteousness, is like a polluted garment. The Spirit will convict the world concerning the world’s “righteousness,” for the world’s righteousness is nothing more than “vestis menstruis polluta”—polluted menstrual cloths. In John 16 Jesus had just told them that the world would hate the disciples and that the time was coming that the world would kill them, thinking they are “offering service to God” (John 16:2). What the world sees as good deeds God sees as filth.

One more point will help us see Jesus’ connection between him leaving and the Spirit convicting the world concerning righteousness. In John 3:19 Jesus said,

“And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.”

John 3:19 ESV

Jesus is the light of the world. Light shines into darkness and exposes what is in the darkness. Jesus left the world, however, and sent his Spirit, but the world cannot see the Spirit. How does the Spirit shine into the darkness, then? Think back to Jesus’ words to Nicodemus. You cannot see the wind. You can hear the wind and you can feel it on your face and you see the leaves and branches moving about and you can see the waves on the sea, but you cannot see the wind directly. It is the same with the Spirit of God. The world cannot see the Spirit yet the world can see the Spirit’s work. How? The Spirit is causing Jesus’ disciples to obey him.

While at the Last Supper Jesus knows his time is short. He is using that time to prepare the disciples for his death, burial, and resurrection. He is also preparing them for his ascension by promising them the Spirit. They will soon experience life in Christ rather than life with Christ. Their role in the world is to be the body of Christ. They, the transformed people of God who have his Spirit dwelling among them, reveal the righteousness of God. The Holy Spirit shows himself in the world by causing us to be born again and by causing us to obey all that Jesus has commanded. The Spirit uses the very real righteousness he is bringing about in his people to convict the world concerning righteousness.

New City, holy living is not an option for followers of Jesus. It is the work of God in this world to cause his people to follow him, to gladly obey him. As Jesus has emphasized in his final hours with his disciples, those who love him will obey him. This is because when the wind blows the branches move. The Spirit of God moves his people into obedience and shines the light into the darkness by showing the world true righteousness. We must, as the followers of Jesus, follow him wherever he leads and we must forsake sin and pursue holiness. We must participate with the Triune God in his mission and purposes in this world, and a significant part of this is our participation in his work of making us holy. We must pursue life in Christ.

Often when we think of the northern kingdom of Israel we think of false worship and idolatry. Much of this stems from what happened immediately after the kingdom split. When Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, refused to listen to wise counsel, the northern tribes left him and declared Jeroboam as their king. Jeroboam recognized a problem, however: the temple of God was in Jerusalem, and Jerusalem was in Judah, and Judah was in Rehoboam’s kingdom.

And Jeroboam said in his heart, “Now the kingdom will turn back to the house of David. If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the temple of the LORD at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn again to their lord, to Rehoboam king of Judah, and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah.” So the king took counsel and made two calves of gold. And he said to the people, “You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” And he set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. Then this thing became a sin, for the people went as far as Dan to be before one. He also made temples on high places and appointed priests from among all the people, who were not of the Levites.

1 Kings 12:26–31 ESV

To prevent the people of Israel from returning to Jerusalem and therefore to Rehoboam, Jeroboam built two golden calves and declared them to be representations of the gods who brought them out of the land of Egypt. This is the very sin Aaron committed while Moses was on the mountain! (See Exodus 32:1–6.) He also built two temples, one in the south and one in the north.

The temple area in Dan has been studied extensively by archaeologists. The place is known as Tel Dan. Some remarkable and amazing things have been discovered there. In Exodus 29:27-28 and in Leviticus 7:32–33 we read that the priests would receive the right side of sacrifices for food. At Tel Dan they have found many more right-sided bones in the priestly areas and left-sided bones in the common worship areas. This would be expected as the priests would eat their portion in their spaces while worshipers would eat their portions in the more public spaces. Also in the priestly areas were found many toe bones. When an animal was butchered its skin was left attached to the feet of the animal. We know from Leviticus 7:8 that the priests were given the skins of animals (to be made into leather) as part of their compensation, so it makes sense that these bones would be in priestly areas. So-called “altar kit” has been found—tools and implements used in the carrying out of temple duties. Archaeologists even know the side of the altar the priests climbed to offer their sacrifices. They know where the ashes from the altar were dumped after being removed from the altar. These things matched the temple in Jerusalem.

What is remarkable about this is how closely the temple Jeroboam built in the city of Dan matches the temple in Jerusalem. In the law of Moses, the form of worship was given great importance. A quick read of Exodus 25–30 shows the great detail prescribed for the tabernacle and the priests’ garments and the tools used in sacrifice. The details are so important that Moses essentially repeats these details in Exodus 36–40, only instead of prescribing how to make the tabernacle, etc., he describes how they were made.

To sum up, it is remarkable how closely—identically?—the temple in Dan matched the temple in Jerusalem, including the steps the priests would take to offer their sacrifices. The form of worship was the same. They used the same tools, offered the sacrifices in the same way, offered the same animals, even, disposed of the ashes in the same way, compensated the priests in the same way. It was, in nearly every way, worship as God had commanded. Yet God was angry. The prophet Amos delivered God’s message to the northern kingdom of Israel.

“I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”

Amos 5:21–24 ESV

Though it appears they did everything right, or “by the book,” God rejected their feasts and their sacrifices. He despised their assemblies in his name. He rejected their singing and music, no matter how skillfully sung or played. Instead, God calls upon the northern kingdom of Israel to “let justice roll down like waters.”

Their injustice between one another led God to reject their worship altogether. What God rejected is worship that was not reflected in their daily lives. The people would show up at the temple, offer the required sacrifices, participate in the worship proceedings, and then go on their merry way with no real love for God or love for one another. This lack of love was demonstrated by their lack of justice.

Today we have considerably more freedom in form for worship. There is no prescribed clothing, no required tools to be used in the Lord’s Supper, no prescribed building or structure, no specific location for worship. Still, while we gather together on Sunday mornings to worship our God with songs and a shared meal and Scripture reading and prayer and a sermon, if our lives are not also an act of ongoing, daily worship in glad obedience to his commands, then what is God to be pleased with? God is pleased with worship that permeates our daily existence and is demonstrated by how we love one another. Let’s offer to Jesus our very best, both on Sunday mornings and every day of the week. Our lives lived for his glory is the real form of worship God desires.

For several years the people of Judah had been in exile. Though God had sent them many prophets to warn them to repent and to turn away from their idols and keep his covenant, they refused. The truth is they had repeatedly failed to be faithful to the Lord though he had shown them great kindness is making them his people when he rescued them out of Egypt all those centuries before. The problem was their heart. In Ezekiel 20 God recounts the problem going back to the very beginning of Israel (and Judah) as a nation.

“On that day I swore to them that I would bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had searched out for them, a land flowing with milk and honey, the most glorious of all lands. And I said to them, ‘Cast away the detestable things your eyes feast on, every one of you, and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt; I am the LORD your God.’ But they rebelled against me and were not willing to listen to me. None of them cast away the detestable things their eyes feasted on, nor did they forsake the idols of Egypt.”

Ezekiel 20:6–8 ESV

Though God had shown them great kindness and poured out on them his incredible blessings, their hearts longed for their idols. In chapter 14 God said the elders of Israel “have taken their idols into their hearts” (Ezekiel 14:1–2). This was the problem from the beginning: their hearts were corrupt.

The prophet Ezekiel had been taken into exile along with many others from Jerusalem and Judah. From Babylon Ezekiel was transported to Jerusalem by the Spirit and was taken to an entrance of the temple (which had not been destroyed yet). He saw 25 men in Jerusalem who were making false claims about the city—and about God himself. He recognized two of these men: Jaazaniah and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah. God warned them that he would bring further judgment on them. Ezekiel began to prophesy and declare this word from the Lord.

And it came to pass, while I was prophesying, that Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died. Then I fell down on my face and cried out with a loud voice and said, “Ah, Lord GOD! Will you make a full end of the remnant of Israel?”

Ezekiel 11:13 ESV

It’s not hard to imagine the shock Ezekiel experienced when, while he was prophesying God’s judgment, God’s judgment fell swiftly and immediately on Pelatiah! He cried out to ask God if this meant the complete and total destruction of the people. God responded by telling Ezekiel that even though many of the people had been exiled to other nations, God was with them where they were. Then he promised a new exodus:

“Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.’ And when they come there, they will remove from it all its detestable things and all its abominations. And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God.”

Ezekiel 11:17–20 ESV

What will make this new exodus any more successful (in terms of their faithfulness) than the last one? God says he will give the people “one heart”—single-minded devotion to God. Israel’s problem all along had been their dual-mindedness. They longed for the food of Egypt while also half-heartedly worshiping the God of Israel. In this promise of the new covenant God says he will give them a new heart, one that is whole and undivided. This is no mere repair of the heart; he will remove the heart of stone and will give them a heart of flesh.

In the Ancient Near East the Egyptians practiced mummification. Part of this process was the removal of organs, including the heart. They understood the heart to be the organ that controlled the arms and legs—the entire body. Of course we know the heart pumps blood, but God speaks to us in language we understand. We actually use similar language today as we are told to “follow your heart”. Those who say this do not mean the heart controls the arms and legs (the brain does that) yet they also know that the “heart” is the seat of one’s desires. We act according to our strongest desires.

When God promises to give his people “one heart” by removing their “heart of stone” and replacing it with a “heart of flesh” he means that their will and their desires will be completely and utterly transformed. His people will love him and will seek to honor him. No more will they take idols “into their hearts” for their hearts will be filled with love for God.

Let’s live in this new reality. None of us could love God or desire to follow him apart from the miraculous work he promised to do. Our hearts are no longer dead or made of stone but are alive and beating for God. Let’s live as exiles, knowing that God is with us wherever we are. Let’s live as those who have one heart, hearts that are devoted to God.

It seems that every four years we’re told that this election is the most important election ever. I am amazed at the ever-increasing importance of them! Working backwards one wonders how unimportant the election of, say, 1816 was. This is not to diminish the importance of the issues at stake today. Voters face issues that will, in many ways, determine the future of the United States of America—just as voters faced such issues in 1816. Some may wish to point to abortion as the defining issue, yet voters in the early 19th century lived in a nation in which chattel slavery was legal. It is difficult to rank one national evil as worse than the other, given the barbaric natures of each.

As Christians we need perspective. Specifically, we need God’s perspective. We live in a specific time in a specific place and we face specific problems, yet God is outside of time and space and he has all things under control. He is working human history toward his intended goal, even as we work toward what we understand to be his purposes in this world. We pursue justice, for example, yet we do so knowing two things: 1. true justice will not come in this lifetime; 2. true justice will come when the Lord of justice brings it. In a sense, we fight a losing battle, but only from our limited perspective. We will never eradicate injustice yet we pursue it because it is God’s ultimate aim and it will happen when he comes again. This is true of caring for the environment, fighting poverty and sex trafficking, etc. We pursue what is good and right because God desires our pursuit of it, even as we cannot bring it about—at least not to the degree he will when he comes to finish his work of cosmic restoration.

Much of our political divisiveness comes from our limited perspectives, from our inability to see much beyond today or even tomorrow. We like to think that even being able to see the next four years provides us all the perspective we need, yet God remains on his throne and sees all of human history from his position of eternal presence. He is, after all, the Great I AM. While we think in terms of election cycles and presidential administrations God doesn’t think in terms of decades or centuries or even millennia. He has eternity in mind, at all times. He is not limited in understanding and never worries about tomorrow.

This brings us to our main point: election. Is this the most important election ever? No. It is not. In his letter to the church in Ephesus Paul wrote about the most important election ever.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

Ephesians 1:3–10

Here we see quite clearly God’s plans for human history, whether in 21st-century America or first-century Ephesus. God’s election, his sovereign choice to save his people, took place before the foundation of the world! This is the most important election ever! Notice what his purpose in this election is: that we should be holy and blameless before him.

Paul says that in love God predestined us to be adopted as his sons, that is, as those who could inherit the Father’s estate. This was according to the purpose of his will. Paul repeats this idea: God lavished on us the riches of his grace according to his purpose. This divine purpose for human history was “set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time.” Its aim? To unite all things in Christ. This is what God is about in the world today, just as he was in 1816 and 1016 and in 1016BC. This is what he is working toward. This is his purpose. Since this is God’s purpose for this world, this makes the election of his people the most important election of all.

What does this have to do with presidential elections and races for the House of Representative and the Senate, for county drain commissioners and judges, for school boards and city proposals? These things have their importance, but that importance is not ultimate. Scripture instructs us to pray for our leaders, for those in authority over us. We should do this. We should care about national and state and local elections. We should care about them with God’s perspective, however.

In the midst of anger and division and the pursuit of political power by deeply opposed factions, we should recognize that God is busy at work, bringing about the fullness of his election. That is, God is at work in his people, drawing them to himself, strengthening their faith, causing them to be holy and blameless. This is God’s plan for this world. Therefore, let us shine brightly as beacons of his hope. Let us be eager to proclaim the greatness of his love and mercy offered in Jesus. Let us not lose sight on the one who holds the future, not only of America and the official resident of that big ol’ house on Pennsylvania Avenue, but of every single atom in this universe. It marches on toward God’s intended purpose, which “he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time.”

Whether you vote today or you have already voted or you will not vote today, know that God has cast the deciding vote for salvation, and there is no veto power, no opposing legislative majorities, no electoral colleges that can stop his plan for the ages.

Dear friends, our confession is as simple as it is profound: Jesus is Lord. Live this today.

The apostle John had a series of visions that make up the book of Revelation. These visions revealed the flow of human history from God’s perspective. Over and over again John saw evil on the precipice of victory, only to see a Lamb—that had been slaughtered—standing victorious over it all. No matter how great the disaster and how widespread the suffering, it all ends with the throne of God and none other than the Lord Jesus reigning from it.

In chapter 21 John saw a vision of the culmination of human history as Jesus fulfills God’s plans for the world.

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. And 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.”

Revelation 21:1–4 ESV

God created the world to be the place where he would walk in friendship and in fellowship with his people. We see this in his attempt to walk in the garden with Adam and Eve. This walk was, as you know, interrupted by Adam’s rebellion against God. This led to Adam and Eve and all their children being banished from that garden. It was only the work of God in providing clothing for them that offered them any hope. His promise to them was that one day he would end the suffering and pain and would restore them to the very place they were created to occupy.

John saw a vision of this new world. He describes it as a new city that comes down from heaven and is prepared for God himself. Then we hear the declaration that fulfills all of God’s promises: “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.” What was lost due to sin and rebellion has been restored by God. In the next chapter John sees the city has a garden in the middle of it, with the river of the water of life flowing through it. Thus the story of God begins with him walking with his people in a garden and ends with him walking with his people in a garden.

What makes this possible is what happens in between these gardens. Here’s how John sees it.

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.” 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. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.”

Revelation 21:4–7 ESV

He is the Alpha and the Omega—and every letter in between. He is the first and the last. From beginning to end—from garden to garden—salvation is the work of God in Christ through his Spirit. He is the author and finisher of faith.

When John sees the new city coming down from heaven, he’s seeing salvation and the promises of God from God’s perspective. What is that perspective, exactly? Jesus declares to John in the vision, “It is done!”

The word translated “It is done” is one of those do-it-all words. Jesus says, technically, “They are done,” referring to all of his promises, though this is encapsulated in our translation just as nicely. The word can mean to give birth. In Galatians 4:4 Paul says Jesus was born of woman. She produced or brought forth her son. It can mean to manufacture or make. In Acts 19:26 a man named Demetrius complained that Paul was claiming that gods made with hands are not gods. The word can be used of a process or events that come about. In Hebrews 9:15 the author says Jesus’ death has occurred. It happened. It came about. The word was also used of a change in condition. In Mark 1:17 Jesus says he will make his disciples become fishers of men. They will become something they were not.

When Jesus declares to John, “It is done!” he is saying all of these things. It has come about, it has happened, it has taken place. The promises of God have been produced. They have been given birth. Everything has been transformed. “Behold, I am making all things new.”

From God’s perspective it is as if this has already taken place. When God makes a promise, that promise is so sure and so trustworthy it is as if it has already been fulfilled, even when fulfillment remains thousands of years into the future! The promises of God are not given as a carrot-on-a-stick, as if they were always just out of reach though we keep pursuing them. While the fullness of our experience of these promises remains in the future, we experience the reality of these promises in the present. The promise is that the future dwelling place of God is with his people and the present reality is Jesus’ promise, “Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” The fullness of his presence is future, yet the reality of his presence is now.

What this means for you is that your circumstances are temporary. They may be full of pain and suffering and sorrow and loss. The promises of God are so sure that God himself can declare, “They are done!” The fullness may be future, but the reality is present. The promises of God are given as a comfort in the present for the surety of the future.

Rest in these promises. Find comfort in them. Cling to them. The Alpha and Omega is also the Beta and the Gamma and the Delta… Though God’s plan in the garden appeared to have been thwarted, we know from John’s vision that we will return to an even greater garden, one that will never be taken from us again.