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BIBLE VERSE FOR TODAY… “…Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” Revelation 21:3,4 NLT
An important aspect of our faith is our hope in God making everything right. Everything new. Restoring that which was intended from the very beginning of creation. Restoring that which was lost due to sin and rebellion. We see that all described in Revelation as John’s vision comes to an end.
The place where God dwells, God’s, “home” is the place where all of His people are to view as their “home.” It is one thing to be in our “own” home. It is another to be in someone else’s home. What is pictured here is a sense of God’s home and our home being one. It is the place where we are destined to be, it is a place of refuge, safety and provision.
I think of Jacob at Bethel. As he received his vision of the ladder reaching heaven, he declares, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God…” (Genesis 28:17 NIV) The Lord brought the Hebrews out of bondage in Egypt to settle them in their own land. A (temporal) place where they would live on earth and serve, honor and trust the Lord. Jesus words of comfort to His disciples were, “I go to prepare a place for you….that where I am there you will be also.” (John 14:3)
What is striking about this ultimate picture of the end of the age is not God’s people going to be with God, it is God coming to be with His people. It is the fulfillment at the end of Revelation of the spiritual promise at the beginning of the book when the Lord says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” (Revelation 3:20 ESV)
Throughout scripture we see the “with them God.” This is emphasized in these verses. God “with” His people. God’s people “with” Him.
Then we see absent in God’s home, what is so prevalent in our “earthly” home. “…and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” (Revelation 21:4 NLT) This life is filled with death, sorrow, crying and pain. Someone said, “If pain were water, the world would drown.” All that characterizes this life will be gone in the next and in God’s home.
When I read this verse recently, I found myself pausing and focusing on some of the key words. Words like, “no more.” And then the absence of all that challenges our worldly existence is underscored with the words, “All these things will be gone forever!”
This is not some temporary relief. On an individual basis we may have season that is absent from death, sorrow, crying and pain. But they are the reality in our world for somebody, somewhere. But in God’s home, death, sorrow, crying and pain are gone for everyone, everywhere FOREVER.
That’s the home we need and we can look forward to when our faith and trust is in Christ alone.