"Times Up"

May 14

Read: Rev. 21

God and Time

“Times Up”

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away…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.” (Rev. 21:1-3)

This timeline will end and a new one will begin some day. This is what God is working towards…it is what he has ALWAYS been working towards…this is his plan. God’s ultimate goal is to dwell with his people. I believe God is excited about this. I think God is looking forward to the new heavens and new earth. He is eager for our final state… NOT in a way that he is lacking anything now but excited all the same.

Why is this important? When we realize that God is working towards a specific end and that he has not brought it about yet, then we realize that there is a good reason for it. It is not because God has forgotten about us that he has not returned yet. Nor is it because he is not looking forward to the new heavens and new earth. God has not come back yet because he has not finished calling all of the people he is going to call to himself. We know this from Peter: “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9) God is excited about being with his people on the new earth and is waiting because he loves his children and there are more yet to repent and come to him.

God is waiting for a good reason, not haphazardly. Every day of waiting is one more day of people being brought from death to life… of people being saved and given eternal life in Christ. We may wish that God would come back NOW when we are suffering, scared, or frustrated…but in a way that would be selfish if it were to mean coming back before one whom God was going to call was born had yet responded to the gospel. So we wait patiently with God for the great and glorious day. God does not seem to be “outside of time” and therefore experiencing the reality of Rev. 21 right now, but rather it would seem as though God was with us in our waiting.

This final state of God’s people is one where he dwells with them in even more unique and intimate ways than he does now. Look at the words of the Lord as he speaks from the throne in this vision to John: “Behold, I am making all things new.” (v.5) God has a sense of “new” and “old”… there is a “new” us that will be present with God on the “new earth” and in the “new Jerusalem”. This final state is what God has been working towards all along. In the same way that WE have days that are numbered does this world - this timeline, this creation - it’s days are numbered as well!

If God is looking forward to being with his people on the new earth, then we ought to be looking forward to being there with him! How could we read the descriptions and not be excited?:

“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…To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and they will be my child… the glory of God gives (the New Jerusalem) light, and its lamp is the Lamb…nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false…No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.” (Rev. 21,22)

May we patiently wait… never anxious or frustrated. May the Lord settle our hearts within us and when we see any evil in this world around us may we be reminded that its days are numbered. This timeline will end and a new one begins. We are the sons and daughters of God and this is our inheritance! God is willing to be in us - and in that way “in time” - and is looking forward to the good and perfect end HE is bringing about. He will be our God and we will be his people in new and even greater ways. May that be our hope this weekend. Love you guys. - JDP