Responding

DEVOTION

THE REVELATION

RESPONDING

Rev 21:5-8

5 He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."

6 He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. 7 He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. 8 But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars — their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death."

NIV

God is speaking directly to John here, and it is certainly a prelude to how all life will be in the new city of Jerusalem. From the beginning God spoke directly with his creation, from Adam through all the prophets. Then there was four hundred years when he said nothing to them. After that time Jesus came to earth, and it was God the Son who spoke with man and when he left, he sent God, the Holy Spirit to speak with us. But now being the Alpha and Omega, it is God once again who speaks from the throne. Now it is true this could be God the Son rather than God the Father speaking. But Jesus is at the right hand of the Father, and where is the Spirit? Although this is interesting to contemplate it is what he said that is of the greater importance. He told John that he was making everything new. Everything, all, the compete, the whole will be new. Everything that we know about our earth, our solar system and all the universe will be gone and everything will be new. A whole different system will exist. Just for a start, when we see the description of the size of the new city of Jerusalem we will see that is it fifteen hundred miles long and fifteen hundred miles wide, a square, but it will also be just as high. This is well beyond our current atmosphere. A whole new environmental system will exist. What exactly it will be we will not know until we get there, but we know for sure all that exists today will no longer be. All of mankind’s efforts to save the world will be for nothing. All the talk about climate change will is useless for God is going to destroy it all anyway and make all things new. That is not to say we should pollute the earth on purpose, but the fact still remains, man cannot destroy that which God has created, unless God permits it, then it is his will. He goes on to tell John what the result will be in this all new creation for believers and for unbelievers. Without repeating all his words, the point he is making is we who continue to believe, to trust in him, not just for salvation, but for every aspect of our lives, will drink from the spring of living water. We will inherit all this that is new. We will be living for all eternity with God in this new city of Jerusalem. He also explains in rather detail the condition of human life without his influence upon them. When a person repents and turns to God, accepting Jesus Christ as their Savior, he has an influence in their lives. We understand the word grace as it is used throughout scripture carries the meaning of the divine influence upon our hearts and how that is reflected in our lives. This influence directs our lives, it is a light onto our path, and he directs our footsteps. The choices we make in life are because of his influence. This affects every aspect of our lives, we cannot divide his influence between our own desires and his desires for us. We cannot serve two masters. Although that is specifically speaking about loving God and loving money, that we cannot do that, in fact as we have already discovered that may well be the adultery committed against God, this two masters could also apply to our wills. We cannot serve the will of God and serve our own will at the same time. We can only serve one or the other. To us who can overcome our own will and submit it to God, we will be with him forever. But to those who are engaged in this list of attitudes and behaviors, it is a different outcome. The cowardly, which in the Greek means fearful, timid, faithless, will not inherit the new, but will be cast into the burning lake. The same fate awaits those who do not believe in Christ. In the Greek this would imply a heathen. A person who rejects the whole idea that in order to be saved, in order to go to heaven, in order to have eternal life, they must repent and accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior, they must be born again. Although this would certainly include all people who believe in some other god. This would include Bahi’I, Buddhism, Confucianism, Hinduism Islam, Shint, Judaism, Taoism along with a list of many others. But it also might include many who consider themselves Christian, but do not ascribe to all the truth within Scripture, such as having to be born again in order to see the kingdom of God, which are the words of Jesus. It might also include those who say or consider themselves as Christian, but do not live according to other aspects of the truth, such as trusting in money for security, that is back to the two masters thing. The list of attitudes and behaviors which people engage when they do not submit to the divine influence upon their hearts could be quite long. This point is we either believe it all, or we do not believe. We cannot pick and choose what we believe and what we do not. It is all or nothing. There are some really nice people in this world who do some really great things for others. Thes are people who would not be among the list of vile, murders, sexually immoral, practitioners of the black arts and liars, yet they would also not be among the group called believers. This is a case of either we are in or out, there is no middle ground, no gray. It is either black or white. We either believe or we don’t. These are the words of him who sits upon the throne. Believers are with him, all others experience the second death. That may sound a little harsh, but he has been, for a very long time, giving all people an opportunity to believe. All mankind, no matter what current man made faith, or god they have created for themselves have had the opportunity to know God.

Rom 1:18-20

18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them , because God has made it plain to them . 20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities — his eternal power and divine nature — have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

NIV

None of us are without excuse. There is no excuse for not being a believer and inheriting all that is new. The only reason a person would be sent to the lake of fire and experience the second death is because they have chosen to refuse the truth about God. It is their own fault and nobody else’s. We need to make sure we remain true to all the scriptures, to all the truth of God. This is not creating a list of do’s and don’ts, but rather being aware of his influence upon our hearts, and responding accordingly. It is all about responding.