By: Casey Korstanje
I was sitting on the platform along with a dozen other musicians just minutes away from playing the opening hymn for the evening of worship program. And I was in a panic.
Pastor Alan had just handed out an “order of service” and apparently I was missing the first song. Insider tip: the “order of service” is a little piece of paper that lists what you play and when, how many verses, who is making announcements and when, who is praying.
I had my hymn book music binder open to the first hymn, #541, “He The Pearly Gates Will Open.” But the “order of service” said the opening piece was #540. And there wasn’t one in my book.
“What’s 540? I don’t have 540.” (Sax players secretly suffer from crippling performance anxiety). I could feel the panic rising. And then Glenna, one seat over on french horn, noticed my alarm.
“It’s a reading,” she whispered.
“A reading?” Relief poured over me. “Oh, of course, a reading. They don’t print those in the music binder.” I peered at the “order of service” and sure enough, Paul’s name was printed beside #540 and he was already striding up to the microphone.
Reading #540 was a selection of verses plucked from Revelation chapter 21.
“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.” Rev. 21:1 (KJV) The reading went on to describe the tabernacle of God being with us, and the ultimate promise that God Himself shall dwell with us, and that He would wipe away all tears, and death would be defeated.
John, describing the vision, includes a rather precise description of the New Jerusalem descending from heaven.
“And the building of the wall of it was of jasper, and the city was pure gold, like unto glass.” vs 18. The scripture talks about the measurements, and foundations “garnished with all manner of precious stones.” It’s a staggering sight that can give me shivers.
John describes how an angel took him “in the spirit” to a high mountain. This wasn’t just any angel either, it was one of the seven who had previously carried one of the bowls of judgment.
Anyway, John notes the city wall was broad and high, with twelve gates guarded by twelve angels. And that “the names of the twelve tribes of Israel were written on the gates.” Rev. 21:12 (NLT)
So great… but, uh, which names again? Why “the twelve tribes of Israel.”
Right, except that now we have some options, too many perhaps to nail this down.
There’s Genesis 49 with Jacob’s blessing of his 12 sons. The list includes Levi and Joseph. By Numbers 1, Levi is out and Joseph is replaced by his sons Ephraim and Manasseh. In Deuteronomy 33, Moses excludes Simeon but includes Levi and Joseph. Ezekiel 48 may help. It first lists how the land was divided, which excludes Levi and Joseph and subs in Ephraim and Manasseh. But then talks about the heavenly Jerusalem (ah ha!) and uses the original 12 sons. So maybe that’s it. But then John, in Revelation 7, (the very book!), talks about the sealing of the 144,000 “of all the tribes of the children of Israel” but excludes Dan and Ephraim and reinstates Levi and Joseph.
Now jump from the last book of the Bible to the first, Genesis, chapter 29 specifically, where we meet four women in unhappy circumstances of no fault of their own.
First there is Leah who is described as having “no sparkle in her eyes,” (you may have “weak eyes” or “dull eyes” in your translation). It’s a euphemism for “not very attractive.” And she is married off to a man who is pining for her sister Rachel. Rachel, who is given as wife to the man who married her sister a week earlier, discovers that she can’t have children. Then there are two slave girls Zilpah and Bilhah. Their life situation makes them as about as important as a dog or goat to the owners. Chattel to do with as you please.
I know, different time, different rules. Maybe. But no one wants to be unloved, no one wants to learn they can’t have children, and no one wants to be a slave.
Of the four women, Leah has the most children, six. And all six make most of the lists. So let’s talk about Leah. She feels unloved, unwanted, and the names she gives her sons mark the pain she is feeling and, in the midst of that pain, her relationship with God.
She calls her first son Reuben “for she said, ‘The Lord has noticed my misery, and now my husband will love me.’” Genesis 29:32 (NLT) In other words, Reuben means: God sees me. Simeon means: God hears me. Levi: God has given me another son. Judah: Now I will praise the Lord. Issachar: God has answered my prayers. Zebulun: God has rewarded me.
The names trace Leah’s journey with God through pain and rejection. She recognizes that God sees her specifically, and cares, and hears her prayers, and is involved with her.
Ultimately, the names she gave her children end up engraved upon the immortal gates of heaven. And they declare that God sees you, He hears you, He cares for you and He loves you.
And that’s why we sang hymn #541 “He The Pearly Gates Will Open.”
