Tag: Revelation 21

  • I Can’t even Imagine

    This diptych (a work made up of two matching parts) shows two things. Firstly, it shows how my mind and imagination work. Second, it shows why it takes me a long time to walk in the woods. The right-hand side is obviously an ai generated visual of the sort of thing I imagine when I’m out in the woods.

    I have a pretty vivid imagination, but there are some things I cannot, for the life of me, get a grasp on. Here are a few.

     For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.1 Corinthians 13:9-12 ESV

    What will it be like when we see the Lord face to face and others fully modeled into everything God created them to be? I can’t imagine.

    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. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. 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 every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”  Revelation 21:1-4 ESV

    What will glory look like?

    For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 ESV

    How long is eternity?

    There are plenty of things about God, His Word and what is to come that I can’t fully grasp. I’m okay with that. I know it will be better than anything I can dream up, even in my vivid imagination.

    There are also some things I do understand. He loved me enough to come and die to free me. He seals me with His Spirit. He is shaping me into the image of His Son. I might not fully understand those things, but His Word, the testimony of the church, and what I have seen and experienced convince me of their reality.

    We don’t have to understand everything fully to know that Jesus is the best thing that has ever happened to us. We don’t need to understand fully to share the truth with others.

    Don’t let what you don’t know hold you back. Read the Word, apply it to life and grow deeper in your faith. Give Him all the glory.

    Be blessed

    Kevin

    SUMMARY

    My imagination cannot picture what it will be like to see the Lord face to face. I do not need to understand that fully to trust it, or to keep telling others about Him.

    TAKEAWAY

    Can you imagine what it will be like to see the Lord face to face, and to see others fully become everything God created them to be?

    You don’t have to understand everything fully to know that Jesus is the best thing that has ever happened to you.

    Don’t let what you don’t know hold you back. Read the Word, apply it to your life, and grow deeper in your faith.

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  • Hold Fast – You are safe against the flood

    Jesus outstretched hand

    This morning, my inboxes had videos of the continuing recovery efforts post-hurricane in the Carolinas and the recent minor flooding in our local area.

    The flood waters reminded me of the presence of evil in the world today. It seems to be rising and threatening to flood over. A quick look at the world around us shows an increasing denial of the truth of Scripture with an increase in every kind of sin. It seems to wash over and threaten to carry everyone away.

    On the other hand, I was also reminded of the power of the Holy Spirit. When the Spirit comes, He pushes other things aside and does so with far more power than evil can withstand. 

    We often think of life as a battle between those two forces… the power of evil versus the power of God. Certainly, life has those elements, but we tend to think of them as a battle of equals. Nothing could be further than the truth.

    Evil, sin, the devil, and the grave are already defeated.  Nothing, no power in all of creation, equals the power of God. Even when evil runs high and with great power, when it threatens to overwhelm everything in its path, its power is minuscule compared to God.

    God’s power holds His people safe in His hands.

    For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Romans 8:38-39 

    Death and the grave are defeated.

    When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 1 Corinthians 15:54-55 ESV

    Satan is defeated

    For your obedience is known to all, so that I rejoice over you, but I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil. The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Romans 16:19-20 ESV

    The final home of all believers is a place where nothing and no one evil can come in.

    And saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.  By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life. Revelation 21:22-27 ESV

    When you watch the news, the media seems to show evil triumphing hold fast. Hold fast when you get bad news about a friend or a loved one. When the world seems to be against you, hold fast.

    No matter how high the river of evil threatens to rise, how far up the banks it creeps, or what the forecast seems to predict, we can hold fast in the arms of Jesus. Nothing can separate us from Him, and God Himself has guaranteed victory.

    When I think of that, I remember a rhyme I heard years ago. I don’t know where it is from,

    Safe in His hands

    Secure in His love

    When life gets hard

    Just look above.

    Until next time, even if you are neck deep in the rising waters, remember that God has proclaimed victory, and the river of the Spirit trumps the river of evil every time. 

    Rejoice in God no matter what the world throws at you.

    Hallelu Yah / Praise God 

    Kevin

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    Safe in the arms of God