|
“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” Revelation 21:4
Oh what a wonderful verse. This is my favorite verse in the Bible. Imagine all the pains of this world. Maybe you have lost a best friend to some dreaded disease. Maybe you feel like your life is one mistake after another. You might live with pain in your body from day to day. What ever causes you this pain, this verse is for you!!!
“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” Isn’t this so wonderful to look forward to. Revelation 21 tells us of a place. A place that can’t eve be imagined. A place where there will be no more crying, death, or pain. There will be no more sorrow!!! A place that is built by the hands of God. A place where we all can live in perfect harmony with our Lord.
Now verses 2 and 3 says:
“And I John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. “ Revelation 21:2
“And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.” Revelation 21:3
God showed John a glimpse of this Holy City!!! He let John see our eternal dwelling place, where God will be with those who love Him. Now this is not an ordinary city. New York, Beverly Hills, and London – These places can’t compare to this Holy City called New Jerusalem. The city is 375 miles on each side. That’s 1500 miles around the perimeter walls that surround the city. These walls are 216 ft. tall and made of solid Jasper. Within the walls are twelve gates, three on each side. Each gate is made of a single pearl. The great city will rest on twelve foundations. The foundations are twelve of the most precious stones. Jasper, sapphire, emerald, and so on. In verse 21 you read that the streets were made of pure gold. Can you imagine that, PURE GOLD!!! This is beyond our wildest imagination. This made me real curious, so I looked up the value of gold in January 2006. After about 30 minutes and 2 calculators, I came to the conclusion that one-mile of a two-lane road in heaven is worth exactly$75,932,930,048.40.Yeah, that’s right, billions. Who says God isn’t an awesome God. We will never comprehend all of this until we get there, but God has promised those who believe in Him, all these things. The streets of Gold, the gates of pearl, eternity filled with joyous days will all be ours. And this old world filled with greed, lust, envy, and hate; God will destroy it. All these horrible things will be done away with and replaced with the wonderful New Jerusalem. Wouldn’t you love to dwell in this place? I know I would!!! But not everybody can have eternal life in New Jerusalem.
“But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.” Revelation 21:8
These people will be shut out forever. Now you might be wondering why God would put such a horrible verse in the middle of such a beautiful chapter. I believe He is giving one more chance!!! He is saying that someone reading this might just be a liar or maybe a whoremonger, because all people are sinners. There may be an unbeliever that will never enter the Promised Land. God makes it very clear who will be there and who will not enter His gates.
Now let’s go back a few books and see what 1 Corinthians 6:9 says.
“Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.” 1 Corinthians 6:9-10
God makes it plain as day that many people will not have this great life with Him, but there is still hope. See, God never leaves us hopeless.
“And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” I Corinthians 6:11
What is this saying? It is saying some of you had your names on the list , but by the Grace of God you have been cleansed. Your sins are washed away. You are sanctified and justified. Your name is written in the Lamb’s book of life. You old murderer, liar, stealer….You also will be with me in heaven because the blood that Jesus shed.
See, God wants all of us to partake in His blessings. He wants each of us to live in a place other than this earth, a place without pain or sorrow. No matter what you have done in your past, He still wants you to inherit this kingdom. But you must make the decision to trust Him.
|
