4-27-2019

Good Morning All,

    Revelation 21: 3-4; “I heard a loud voice from the throne say, “God lives with humans! God will make his home with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them and be their God. ⁴ He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There won’t be any more death. There won’t be any grief, crying, or pain, because the first things have disappeared.”

    We all like it when the story ends the way it should.  The nice guy marries the nice girl.  The bad guys are punished.  The guy who has to overcome insurmountable odds wins in the end.  The cowboy kisses his horse and rides off into the sunset.  There is something about these stories which have a sense of completion for us.  Even if you watch a movie or read a novel and early on you can see on the story is going to end, we keep watching or reading because we want to see the story end the way it should.  We want the story to end the way it should.  We don’t like lose ends; we don’t want any unfinished business.  It should end with no loose ends but in a neat and tidy finish.  We get that also with the Bible.

    The last two or three chapters of Revelation fix what gets broken in the first two or three chapters in Genesis.  We can really see this if we think of heaven, not as a place, but as an existence.  Heaven is living in the visual, physical presence of God.  Adam and Eve lived in heaven when they lived in the Garden of Eden.  They would walk with God in the cool of the morning and be in complete and total communion with him.  However, sin ripped that in two and heaven and earth were separated.  Creation, which was perfect, now became chaotic and frustrated by man’s sin. 

     Yet with Jesus’ death and resurrection, the change begins.  The sinful realm and reign is still here but so is God’s reign of grace.  We are saved from our sins but not yet perfected.  We are getting closer with each passing moment but until this happens; God is giving those who do not believe time to repent and he is giving us time to reach out to them so that the Spirit will be seen by them through us.  So, we wait for Jesus to return.  We wait and watch eagerly for that time.

     Because when that time comes, all will be perfected.  When Jesus returns, heaven will again be on earth.  All of creation will be restored.  The chaos and the frustration will be gone.  We will once again be able to walk with God in the cool of the morning.  We too, will be perfected.  Just as the world went out of control when man sinned, so it will be returned to control when Jesus returns.  Just as man destroyed our existence with God with our sin, God restores our existence with God and makes us whole with Him once again.

     This is the ending we look forward to; the restoration of creation, the return to the life in an Eden like existence.  We will live perfectly in the presence of God in complete joy and peace; with all the other believers.  Heaven and earth are united again in perfect union.   

Gracious Father, we wait with eager anticipation for the completion of this age.  Give to us the courage and faith to sustain us until Jesus does return.  Keep us in your hands and guard and protect us by your mighty arm.  Bring peace and comfort to those who do not know it.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret