Revelation 21:5
5 And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.”
It's almost summer here in Wisconsin - that is on the calendar. It has felt like Summer for a couple of weeks or more. I was walking with Linda and remarked how just 8 weeks ago we were longing for warm weather. The fight between Winter and Summer is called Spring here, but it is just that - a fight. One day its warm, the next cold. One day is dry, the next wet. I had one day where I turned on the furnace in the morning for a couple of minutes just to warm up the house, only to turn on the air conditioner at night just to get rid of the warm humidity. That's Wisconsin.
What if Winter leading to Summer through this thing called Spring was not a natural way for us to see something Jesus was teaching us? The Winter is long, dark, cold. Spring comes in to usher in light, hope, warmth...good news arrives. One day I'm looking at snow on the ground and then all of a sudden it's green - flowers emerge, trees blossom, and "look, I am making everything new."
I walk - almost every day - and often use it as a prayer/meditation time. I "muse" as this blog is entitled. The very typical part of my walk is to say a personalized version of the Lord's Prayer. I find Jesus' prayer to be concise, and yet complete. You remember the second line: "Let your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."
Ask the typical Christian what they think of in relation to the Kingdom of God and they will often not have the slightest idea of how to explain it. So also, Heaven itself. A Kingdom is a very real thing - a defined place where someone leads, or rules; and there are laws, or ways in which things are to be done. In Jesus' prayer for us, the plea is for the Kingdom of God to come to earth, for his will to be done on the earth...sounds great to me. But is it future tense only? Why can't it be NOW too?
His Kingdom will is/can be done on earth as it is in heaven...isn't that what Jesus taught us to pray.
SO, that then gets us to the place of wondering about what Heaven is like anyway. I know people who think Heaven is like a long church service - after all, isn't there worship going on in Heaven all of the time? And for many, we sigh, and think how we're not very spiritual because we can't say, "Oh, I'm really looking forward to an unending worship service..."
BUT here's the key: What heaven looks like is something we're given a picture of in Jesus' earthly ministry.
Luke 4:18-19
18 “The Spirit of the LORD is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free,
19 and that the time of the LORD’s favor has come.”
Matthew 4:23-24
23 Jesus traveled throughout the region of Galilee, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And he healed every kind of disease and illness.
24 News about him spread as far as Syria, and people soon began bringing to him all who were sick. And whatever their sickness or disease, or if they were demon-possessed or epileptic or paralyzed—he healed them all.
Heaven is the place where the captives walk free...
The blind go out and get a book to read...
The oppressed live without fear of tyrants...
Sickness...disease...demons...epilepsy...the paralyzed... None of that is there...
"Look, I make all things new." You notice the words. He doesn't say "I am making all new things." No, he's taking the Winter of our cold, dark world and make all the things that existed then, new! Life is restored, and creation that he called "good" in Genesis 1 is once again completely good.
"Look, I make all things new." means we don't get new glasses, we get new eyes! When Jesus walked the earth he healed and restored, he didn't hand out crutches.
"Look, I make all things new..." That's You and Me too....I can't wait to see that.
Peace
5 And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.”
It's almost summer here in Wisconsin - that is on the calendar. It has felt like Summer for a couple of weeks or more. I was walking with Linda and remarked how just 8 weeks ago we were longing for warm weather. The fight between Winter and Summer is called Spring here, but it is just that - a fight. One day its warm, the next cold. One day is dry, the next wet. I had one day where I turned on the furnace in the morning for a couple of minutes just to warm up the house, only to turn on the air conditioner at night just to get rid of the warm humidity. That's Wisconsin.
What if Winter leading to Summer through this thing called Spring was not a natural way for us to see something Jesus was teaching us? The Winter is long, dark, cold. Spring comes in to usher in light, hope, warmth...good news arrives. One day I'm looking at snow on the ground and then all of a sudden it's green - flowers emerge, trees blossom, and "look, I am making everything new."
I walk - almost every day - and often use it as a prayer/meditation time. I "muse" as this blog is entitled. The very typical part of my walk is to say a personalized version of the Lord's Prayer. I find Jesus' prayer to be concise, and yet complete. You remember the second line: "Let your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."
Ask the typical Christian what they think of in relation to the Kingdom of God and they will often not have the slightest idea of how to explain it. So also, Heaven itself. A Kingdom is a very real thing - a defined place where someone leads, or rules; and there are laws, or ways in which things are to be done. In Jesus' prayer for us, the plea is for the Kingdom of God to come to earth, for his will to be done on the earth...sounds great to me. But is it future tense only? Why can't it be NOW too?
His Kingdom will is/can be done on earth as it is in heaven...isn't that what Jesus taught us to pray.
SO, that then gets us to the place of wondering about what Heaven is like anyway. I know people who think Heaven is like a long church service - after all, isn't there worship going on in Heaven all of the time? And for many, we sigh, and think how we're not very spiritual because we can't say, "Oh, I'm really looking forward to an unending worship service..."
BUT here's the key: What heaven looks like is something we're given a picture of in Jesus' earthly ministry.
Luke 4:18-19
18 “The Spirit of the LORD is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free,
19 and that the time of the LORD’s favor has come.”
Matthew 4:23-24
23 Jesus traveled throughout the region of Galilee, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And he healed every kind of disease and illness.
24 News about him spread as far as Syria, and people soon began bringing to him all who were sick. And whatever their sickness or disease, or if they were demon-possessed or epileptic or paralyzed—he healed them all.
Heaven is the place where the captives walk free...
The blind go out and get a book to read...
The oppressed live without fear of tyrants...
Sickness...disease...demons...epilepsy...the paralyzed... None of that is there...
"Look, I make all things new." You notice the words. He doesn't say "I am making all new things." No, he's taking the Winter of our cold, dark world and make all the things that existed then, new! Life is restored, and creation that he called "good" in Genesis 1 is once again completely good.
"Look, I make all things new." means we don't get new glasses, we get new eyes! When Jesus walked the earth he healed and restored, he didn't hand out crutches.
"Look, I make all things new..." That's You and Me too....I can't wait to see that.
Peace
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