Something to Look Forward To

 

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. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”  Revelation 21:3-4

 Do you ever dream of a day when you are no longer in pain? I sure do! How about a day when the relationship issues that plague you are healed? A day when the weight of depression is lifted? A day when you do not have to fear death or mourn the death of loved ones? God’s promises to us at the end of the Bible, in the book of Revelation, are so precious and give us something to hold on to as we endure the challenges of this present age.

 Sometimes things are so difficult that we need a little hope to hold onto. In the darkness of winter, we get Christmas. In the sadness of Good Friday, we have Easter. The early church really knew what they were doing with setting up holidays! Even more so, God knows our hearts and what we need to live this life. He knew that we needed a sneak peak, a preview if you will, of what eternity with Him will be like.

 It will be so different from our experience on this earth that we have little frame of reference, so much of this revelation, this prophecy, is given in symbolic or figurative language. It’s likely that John had no idea what it was he was looking at, so foreign were the creatures, so he shared it to the best of his abilities. Imagine if he saw helicopters flying around a city or tanks rolling over the landscape. He wouldn’t begin to have words to share what they were literally, so he had to resort to figurative language. For example, in Revelation chapter 8 John tells about an angel taking fire from a censer and throwing down on earth, destroying one-third of the land and sea and clean water. In today’s society, I wouldn’t be a bit surprised to see this prophecy played out as a global thermonuclear war. Many of the aspects of this line up quite well with the effects of a nuclear bomb, like    a third of the earth, trees, and green grass burning up and a third of the waters becoming toxic and killing people. But who knows, perhaps something is coming in the future of the earth that would line up even more specifically.

Here's the Thing: What we do know is that, ultimately, our God is victorious, casting all His enemies into a lake of fire where they will be tormented for eternity. And we, God’s children and faithful followers, will be with Him, will see Him as He is and because of that we will be like Him (1 John 3:2). God’s promises to us in today’s verses will be fulfilled completely and we will be without pain or sorrow or death for eternity with Him. That’s something to look forward to!