"Come, Lord Jesus" December 31 Readings: Revelation 21-22

 

Reading the Bible Chronologically in 2022

This year, instead of reading from Genesis to Revelation, we will read the Bible as the story flows, as it happened and was written. There are several plans out there and I have worked to combine them into a plan that lets the Bible tell its own story "as it happened." Remember, the Bible is inspired, but not in the order the books appear in our Bibles. The Old Testament is approximately 3/4 of the Bible, but I have divided it so that we will spend half the year in the OT, and half the year in the NT. 

Bible Readings:  Revelation 21-22  

Background:   

We spend a lot of time trying to find life, to find fun and contentment and pleasure and peace in this world. But in Revelation 22, the last chapter of the Bible, we see a truth that helps us in the search for real life. Observe verses 1 and 2.

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

Coming from the throne of God is a river of living water that feeds the tree of life and brings healing to the nations. Life flows from the throne of God - and nowhere else. God is life. Real life, true life - it flows from his throne to us. Don't look for, from this world, what only God can offer. Eternal life, abundant life, joy, contentment and fulfillment, these flow from heaven in streams of living water. He alone satisfies the soul with everlasting joy.

The Bible begins with God speaking the world into existence. Now, the Bible ends with God's words again.

He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!

First Jesus gives us a blessed promise. He's coming quickly. Oh, of course, quickly is defined by the One to whom a day is as a thousand years. But he is coming. One day. Soon or in the distant future, he will come and consummate this world in his glory. 

Daily Devotional: Come, Lord Jesus 

Theologians and preachers have speculated about heaven for a long time. The New Testament is clear about how we get there - we ride the coattails of the righteousness of Jesus Christ to eternal glory. None of us is worthy of heaven or fit for it. Since sin cannot dwell there, and we are all sinners, we are excluded until the blood of Christ cleanses us and the power of Christ makes us new. Clothed in the righteousness of Christ we who deserve hell can become fit for heaven.

That much is clear, but what will heaven be like? On that, there is a wide divergence of opinion. The description given in Revelation 21 is not all that helpful. Look at verses 19-21.

The foundations of the city wall were adorned with every kind of precious stone:the first foundation jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald,the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. The 12 gates are 12 pearls; each individual gate was made of a single pearl. The broad street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.

My guess is that John was doing the best he can to describe the glory he saw, but that heaven is so far above and beyond human experience that he did the best he could to write down what he saw. The problem is that I'm not really sure what chrysolite, chrysoprase, or jacinth are. How about you? What does it mean that each of the gates was made of a single pearl, or that the street is made of pure gold that looks like transparent glass? I just don't have a good sense of what that means. Pure gold like transparent glass?  Not visualizing that.

Heaven is beyond our existence. I cannot envision a sinless, perfect world, one that sin has never and will never touch, one that is unaffected by time, where death and decay have no place. In fact, that leads me to my point. When John describes heaven, he spends most of his time describing what isn't there.

• 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. 
• Death no longer exists (21:4). Jesus has once and for all defeated the enemy of humanity and it is no longer a threat. 
• There are 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. 
• There's no sanctuary (21:22). No sacrifice or place of worship is needed. God is there personally. 
• There's no source of light - sun or moon (21:23). It's not needed because the glory of God provides all the light that is needed. 
• There's no closing time (21:25). The gates are open eternally. 
• There's nothing profane (21:27). Sin has been banished once and for all. 

I can't tell you exactly what heaven is going to be like, but I can tell you this, everything that is wrong, evil, awful, hurtful, and bad about life here on earth - it won't be there. God will. Jesus will. Those who believe in Jesus will be there - redeemed and transformed. But all the mess of this world will be gone.

I can't tell you exactly what heaven will be like, but it will be wonderful!

And so, we say with the Apostle John, "Come, Lord Jesus." Life can be hard, or it can be good, But come, Lord Jesus. When everything is coming up roses or when it's stinking like fertilizer, come, Lord Jesus. 

Someone once observed that there is something the first two chapters of the Bible have in common with the last two. No Satan. God made the world and he ends it his way. He wins. The end. 

With all the wickedness, confusion, terrorism, war, poverty, and suffering in the world, all of God's people, the redeemed of Christ, the saints set apart by his grace sigh and say as one, 

Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!

Father, I thank you that Christ prepared a place for me in glory by his blood shed on the cross. I thank you that all the evil, grief and pain of this world will only last a time, but that your glory is eternal. 

Consider God's Word:

Are you longing for the coming of Christ, living each day preparing for heaven and investing in heavenly treasure?
What is it about heaven that is a blessing to you?
What is it about heaven that you still wonder about?