Revelation: Remember Who Wins

I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth have passed away, and the sea is no more. I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband. I heard a loud voice out of heaven saying, “Behold, God’s dwelling is with people, and 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 from them every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; neither will there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more. The first things have passed away.”

He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” He said, “Write, for these words of God are faithful and true.” He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give freely to him who is thirsty from the spring of the water of life. He who overcomes, I will give him these things. I will be his God, and he will be my son.”                            Revelation 21:1-7 (WEB)

These are the verses I was reading to my son when at the age of 17 he left this earth to live with Jesus. As I read, his breathing labored, his eyes widened and he smiled just a bit and his breathing ceased. Did he see that which I spoke? I don’t know but it seems…possible. His race was done. His reward was a promise fulfilled.

I hope you take the time to read the whole of Revelation. John seems to write with a perspective that speaks of great human and supernatural evil. Many modern theologians do not agree. John believes that evil will be conquered through God’s great grace and power not human nature or our noble struggle. Each of us must seek God’s truth in this strange but intriguing book.

While much remains a mystery to me at this time, I do hear God telling me that time is short. Maybe He means my time or that in the great scheme of time that I have little of it to complete the race He has given me. In any case, I do find that my ears are straining to hear and my priorities reflect my desire to take each step of every day in obedience to His word. I am moving on a path that does not always make sense in my flesh. And yet I have peace in this path while the struggle is sometimes fierce. I recognize that I am in a war. There are so many who do not even realize that they are the ‘spoils of the war’. Their very souls are what the enemy desires to lock away in his cage. But the One who is the Good Shepherd continues to seek the strays of His flock. He is using me to testify and woo them back into His fold.

He showed me a river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street. On this side of the river and on that was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruits, yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. There will be no curse any more. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no night, and they need no lamp light; for the Lord God will illuminate them. They will reign forever and ever.

He said to me, “These words are faithful and true. The Lord God of the spirits of the prophets sent his angel to show to his bondservants the things which must happen soon.”

“Behold, I come quickly. Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”                   Revelation 22:1-6 (WEB, my emphasis)

“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness…”              Matthew 6:33 (NIV)