All Things New - Himalayan Heights – May 24 Readings: Super 7 – Revelation 21:1-7

 Super 7 - Key Scriptures for All Christians

All Scripture is God-breathed and useful, but there are some Scriptures that we can consider the Himalayan mountaintops of the Bible. In the next few months, we will be looking at a series of great texts that inspire and move us - the "Himalayan Heights" of God's Word.

Today's Reading:  Revelation 21:1-7

The "Super 7" refers to 7 passages I consider formative in my Bible Study and Christian life. They are taken from both the Old Testament and the New, various sources and various subjects.

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. 2 I also saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband. 3 Then I heard a loud voice from the throne: Look, God’s dwelling is with humanity, and he will live with them. They will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them and will be their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; grief, crying, and pain will be no more, because the previous things have passed away. 5 Then the one seated on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new.” He also said, “Write, because these words are faithful and true.” 6 Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will freely give to the thirsty from the spring of the water of life. 7 The one who conquers will inherit these things, and I will be his God, and he will be my son.

Through the Bible Readings: 1 Kings 13-14, John 6:1–21, Psalm 66:16–20, Proverbs13:21-22

If you wish to read through the Bible in a year, follow these readings. 

Devotional: All Things New     

Anyone getting tired of the shutdown? How about partisan politics? Are you tired of the daily struggle of making a living and raising a family, and especially the struggle of resisting temptation and sin? Living for Jesus in a world that hates him, that resists him, that stands against everything he represents - it is never easy.

But the end of the Bible is a message of hope. It will not always be this way. This sinful world we live in is going to be fixed one day, to become everything God intended it to be. One of the greatest verses in the Bible in Revelation 21: 5, in which it says, "Look, I am making everything new." This rundown, mixed-up, messed-up world has an appointment for renovation. Everything wicked will be banished and everything broken will be repaired. Every trace of sin will be replaced by the full manifestation of the righteousness of Jesus Christ and glory will reign.

John tried to explain this in Revelation 21-22. It is almost impossible for sinful people to imagine a sinless world. It is impossible for people who live in a time-bound world to imagine eternity. The song says, "I can only imagine" but even our imagination fails to grasp the realities of God's eternal glory. Most of John's descriptions are negative - he tells us those things that are part of our experience today that will not be part of heaven.

• There's no sea (21:1). This may refer to the sinful nations of the world. The roiling and political machination is gone and Jesus reigns supreme. The pounding waves of politics and business and all of the things of this world are gone. 
• Death no longer exists (21:4). Jesus has once and for all defeated the ultimate enemy of humanity and it is no longer a threat. Sin is banished and all its effects are nullified. 
• There's no tears, grief, crying, or pain (21:4). All the "former things" have passed away as the new order of things has taken over. God is now in charge and all is well. Every trace of sin, of the curse and all of its effects, has been forever banished. 

The one thing we know is that the Alpha and Omega, Jesus Christ, will give life to everything. The thirst of our soul will be slaked by the living water of Christ and we will rejoice forever with our God.

Father, thank you future and hope you give us through your Son!

Think and Pray:

Spend time meditating and considering the glories of heaven.
Let them feed your soul and strengthen you to face the things that challenge you today.