The End of the New Testament Challenge. Bittersweet. Still hungry. May have to go back through the readings and do the re-reading I talked about along the way.
Angel coming from heaven. Chained up the Satan and sealed it tight. No more trouble out of him. Surely we aren't there yet!
Those who'd been faithful to Christ, not worshiping the beast, lived and reigned with Christ the next 1000 years. The rest of the dead did not. The first resurrection of the dead. Most blessed, most holy. No second death for them. When the 1000 years is over, Satan goes to work again, working against God. God will win, as God always does. Satan will join the Beast and False Prophet (as if there's only one?!).
Judgment. Nothing could stand. Nothing. No one. The book of life. Judged by the way they had lived. Second death. Problem of evil is resolved as the three beasts (the anti-Trinity?) are thrown into the Lake of Fire. In the end, every form of evil is banished from history, finally and forever.
Everything new. New-created. Coming down, out of heaven, to earth. "God has moved into the neighborhood, making his home with men and women! They're his people. He's their God. He'll wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death is gone for good-tears gone, crying gone, pain gone--all the first order of things gone. I'm making everything new...A to Z. I give freely to the thirsty. I'll be God to them; they'll be sons and daughters to me. For the rest: feckless and faithless, degenerates and murderers, sex peddlers and sorcerers, idolaters and all liars, it's Lake Fire and Brimstone. Second death!"
"Holy Jerusalem, descending out of Heaven from God, resplendent in the bright glory of God." Pristine and majestic. Orderly and precise. Gem-laden, treasure-full. Gold streets. No sign of a temple. The Lord God is the temple. No lamps, as God's glory shines. Open gates all the time. Nothing dirty or defiled will get into the City, and no one who defiles or deceives it. Only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life shall get in.
It's a new beginning filled with promise. "In our end is our beginning..." from Hymn of Promise.
In Christ we are a new creation (2 Cor 5:17). Do we believe it, in the same way. Does God's light illuminate us from the inside out? Does God order our lives perfectly? Do we allow God to do so? Are we willing to participate in the new creation? From what part of being newly created do we pull back or resist? Formed by God. Illumined by God. Sustained by God.
Water of Life River flowing down the middle of the street. Tree of life on each side of the river, producing 12 kinds of fruit. 12 tribes of Israel, 12 months. Leaves of the tree for the healing of the nations. Never again will anything be cursed. The Throne of God and of the Lamb is at the center. His servants will offer God service, worshiping. God is all the light anyone needs.
John reaffirms the accuracy of his visions, and his blessed assurance that in the end of all of the struggles and battles of life, God wins. We honor God with our worship of God and only God (not angels, prophets, or earthly rulers). God. Worship God! Don't forget and don't hide it.
"Come! Whoever hears, echo, 'Come!' Is anyone thirsty? Come! All who will, come and drink, Drink freely of the Water of Life!"
"If you add to the words of this prophecy, God will add to your life the disasters written in this book; if you subtract from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will subtract your part from the Tree of Life and the Holy City that are written in this book.
Come, Master Jesus. Come!
The grace of the Master Jesus be with all of you. Oh, Yes!
EP: "As Christians, we pray, 'Yes! Come, Master Jesus!' And when he comes, there's always an element of surprise in the often unexpected ways he comes, which puts a keen edge on our expectation. No longer do we face the future with anxiety about chronology but with eagerness about his coming. We look to the future not as some death-row prisoner counting down the days to the end but rather as eager children...full of hope...waiting for Christmas morning."
May our hope be found in the sure and certain hope that is ours in Jesus Christ.
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