Devotional Day 21

Scripture

Revelation 21:1-8

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. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 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. 4 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.” 5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. 7 The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. 8 But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

Devotional

Revelation 21 presents to us who have chosen to worship Jesus, a beautiful promise of a sure and steadfast future. I think that it does us well to often read these scriptures about our eternal hope and so strengthen our souls.

In this passage we read that there will be a new heavens and a new earth coming down out of heaven from God, which will be the dwelling place for us and the Lord together. Remember the garden of Eden, where God physically walked with Adam and Eve through the garden in a wonderful, tangible relationship - well this is a part of our future too! God has promised when this moment comes that “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.”. This is the beautiful inheritance of those of us who love God, that yes we might mourn today, cry and feel sorrow and pain today, but this is not our forever, that a time is coming when the Lord himself will wipe away our tears and our pain will become a distant memory, and probably even beyond that. In this day we will see the complete fullness of Jesus’ promise to us as he says ‘to the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment’. What a wonderful promise and what a wonderful future, and this is only the beginning.

It is worth it to turn from anything that isn’t God, to worship Jesus that we might enjoy this eternal life! For verse 7 tells us that it is ‘the one who conquers who will have this heritage’. It’s time to trust Jesus completely. With total abandon to anything else that seeks to draw our trust and affection away from him. Jesus is God and he alone is worthy of our worship and our lives, everything else is is sinking sand! What a beautiful hope filled future he has prepared for us, lets peel our eyes away from everything else and have eyes only for our king Jesus!

Prayer

Jesus, I am so sorry for the idolatry I’ve engaged in especially with pornography. I trust you, I choose you and I am renouncing everything else that has taken your place in my life. You alone are God and you alone are trustworthy, true and good. I worship you Jesus as my King, my Lord and my Saviour. I renounce the idolatry of pornography, turn from my trust in it and I place all of that faith, trust and worship in you. In Jesus name, Amen!