Daily Devotional

This is part of the vision given to John on Patmos about the end of all things. Revelation is a prophetic book and is full of wild imagery and symbolism and it can often be hard to discern and interpret exactly what many of the events described within it mean. But here in Revelation 21 we come to the very end of the world as we know it today. Immediately before this passage we read: Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” God is wiping out the old corrupt world and is making the world anew.

For those of us that are believers, this is a beautiful, and hopeful passage. God promises that He will offer the water of life to those who thirst. For believers that overcome, stand with and for Christ to the end, we will be with God for eternity and will be His own sons and daughters. We’ll be in the presence of the Holy God, enjoying Him and His goodness forever and ever. In 1 Corinthians 2:9 we read “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love him.” In other words, as good as you think eternity with God will be, God says, you can’t even imagine.

But the second half of this passage is a warning. Not everyone will enter into eternal rest with God. In fact He lists out a number of examples of the people that will not partake in eternal life with God. Now let me caution you before you read that list and think, mmmm, I don’t think that list describes me. Because we have all done some if not many of those things listed on that list. Remember that in Romans we read that All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and there is none righteous, no not even one. We are all the ones being described in the second half of this passage.

So how do we have any hope for the first part? Well we don’t. But God (one of my favorite phrases in the Bible), sent His only Son, to die in our place, to take the punishment for our sin, that if we would only believe in Him and His resurrection, we will be saved. You see God in His judgment is going to look at our life, all the things that we have done, the stuff on that bad list, but instead of seeing our failures and sin, if we have trusted in Jesus Christ alone for our salvation, He is instead going to see Jesus' record, not ours. And on that basis will say enter into your rest good and faithful servant. Not because of anything we have done, but because of what Jesus has done for us. Romans 10:9, If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

New King James Version (NKJV)
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.