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the presence and the future

Revelation 21:1-27

Revelation 21:1 Then I saw a new sky and a new land; because the first sky and the first land had passed away, and the sea was no more.
Revelation 21:2 I also saw the sacred city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of the sky from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.
Revelation 21:3 Then I heard a loud voice from the throne: Notice, God’s dwelling is with humanity, and he will live with them. They will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them and will be their God.
Revelation 21:4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will exist no more; grief, crying, and pain will exist no more, because the previous things have passed away.
Revelation 21:5 Then the one seated on the throne said, “Notice, I am making everything new.” He also said, “Write, because these words are faithful and true.”
Revelation 21:6 Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the origin, and the destination. I will freely give to the thirsty from the spring of the water of life.
Revelation 21:7 The one who conquers will inherit these things, and I will be his God, and he will be my son.
Revelation 21:8 But the cowards, faithless, detestable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars — their share will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
Revelation 21:9 Then one of the seven agents, who had held the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues, came, and spoke with me: “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.”
Revelation 21:10 He then carried me away in the Breath to a great, high mountain and showed me the sacred city, Jerusalem, coming down out of the sky from God,
Revelation 21:11 arrayed with God’s glory. Her radiance was like a precious jewel, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.
Revelation 21:12 The city had a massive high wall, with twelve gates. Twelve agents were at the gates; the names of the twelve tribes of Israel’s sons were inscribed on the gates.
Revelation 21:13 There were three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west.
Revelation 21:14 The city wall had twelve foundations, and the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb were on the foundations.
Revelation 21:15 The one who spoke with me had a golden measuring rod to measure the city, its gates, and its wall.
Revelation 21:16 The city is laid out in a square; its length and width are the same. He measured the city with the rod at 12,000 stadia. Its length, width, and height are equal.
Revelation 21:17 Then he measured its wall, 144 cubits according to human measurement, which the agent used.
Revelation 21:18 The building material of its wall was jasper, and the city was pure gold clear as glass.
Revelation 21:19 The foundations of the city wall were adorned with every kind of jewel: the first foundation is jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald,
Revelation 21:20 the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst.
Revelation 21:21 The twelve gates are twelve pearls; each individual gate was made of a single pearl. The main street of the city was pure gold, transparent as glass.
Revelation 21:22 I did not see a temple in it, because the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.
Revelation 21:23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, because the glory of God illuminates it, and its lamp is the Lamb.
Revelation 21:24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the land will bring their glory into it.
Revelation 21:25 Its gates will never close by day because it will never be night there.
Revelation 21:26 They will bring the glory and honor of the nations into it.
Revelation 21:27 Nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those written in the Lamb’s book of life.

the presence and the future

The most beautiful thing about the believer’s future revealed in this chapter is not the golden streets, or jeweled walls, or pearly gates. The radiance of the city comes from the manifest presence of God himself. He will be with us, and his presence will make all the difference. The sheer power and glory of his presence will banish forever those things about life that we thought were forever. From then on, there will be no more mourning, crying, pain or death. These “former things” will pass away. The new thing that God will do among us will not involve any of those former things. Sometimes it is hard to see God in the disappointments of this age. It will not be so in the future. His presence will be manifest.

LORD, help us to trust in your presence today, as we long for your eternal presence in our future.