WOW!
Opening Prayer
Lord Jesus, help me to remember that You are the Sovereign Lord, the King of the universe.
Read Revelation 21:1–8
A New Heaven and a New Earth
21 Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,”[a] for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’[b] or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
6 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 water without cost from the spring of the water of life. 7 Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. 8 But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
Footnotes
a Revelation 21:1 Isaiah 65:17
b Revelation 21:4 Isaiah 25:8
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
What about this life would you hope is changed when we reach heaven?“Sam gasped, ‘Is everything sad going to come untrue? What’s happened to the world?’” (JRR Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King). The same sort of astonished joy, immeasurably more in fact, will be ours when Jesus makes everything new.
These verses echo the promises of God through the ages – “My dwelling place will be with them,” “the Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces,” “he will swallow up death forever” (Ezekiel 37:26–28; Isaiah 25:6–8). This is the final fulfillment of all the covenant promises of God – this is the good news he promised his people in ages past: “I will put my dwelling-place among you … I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people” (Leviticus 26:11,12). Finally, here it is!
How he will do it, we do not know. But most certainly, if the good news is good news at all, it means that the Maker of all things will one day make everything new. Let that sink in today. One day, the one on the throne will make everything sad come untrue.
Apply
What are the sad things in your life? What things in our broken world (that God calls us to make better) weigh heavily on you? How can you be the hands and feet of Jesus to affect a change?
Closing prayer
Jesus, I bring You my pain and my fears; I put my trust in You, the Beginning and the End.
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