7/6/2023

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE READING:

“And the One seated on the throne said, ‘Behold, I make all things new.’ Then He said, ‘Write this down, for these words are faithful and true.’ And He told me, ‘It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give freely from the spring of the water of life. The one who overcomes will inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he will be My son.’”

(Revelation 21. 5-7)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S:

What chance have we to dwell in the new Heaven, new Earth and new Jerusalem? As Christ followers, we know what the answer is and it is not by chance. Our hope is in the work of God through Jesus Christ. He is the God who created all things by bringing order, purpose and structure to the matter which existed without hope. There was no hope of this matter coming together in such a way as to bring life to the forefront without God. Even today, scientists marvel at the astronomical odds of randomness it would take for the conditions to be aligned so that even the spark of life would be ignited. 122 separate factors would have to come into balance for life not only to exist on this planet but for it to exist in a sustained and sustainable manner. If we are looking for the needle in the haystack, the needle would have a better chance of finding us than for us to find it. What this leads us to consider above all other considerations is that only the God who has created life can sustain and maintain this life in an irrevocable way. That irrevocable way is grace. It is the grace which God has made known to the world as the greatest choice humankind can select. It is the grace which makes all things new. It is grace which only God can make known as the effective “treatment” for the sin-festation which is wrought by the one who has chosen to believe there can be life apart from God.

Yet, how can such a life exist when all life exists because of God? He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end and the new beginning. Nothing existed before Him and nothing will come after Him because eternity is His place, space and reality. The Enemy promotes that there is another way, another truth, another life which can exist beyond the parameter of God’s existence. Yet, what reference point can there be if there is no God. If there is no God there is no means of determining who we are, what we are and why we would exist. If we existed, it would be with “nothing” as our point of reference. There would be no light to discern from the dark and vice versa. There would be no stars in the heavens, no land in the midst of the sea and no sea. That vast chaotic vortex and immaterial matter would simply spin never knowing the solidity and solidarity that is needed to speak of authentic life. But, that is the very hope of the Enemy of God. The enemy desires to keep all things as they were before God expressed His God-ness in creation. All the elements in disarray, without connection and without life. It would be an existence without hope which would be no existence at all.

The conclusion is that without God there would be no chance, no opportunity and no hope of there being a new Heaven, Earth and Jerusalem just as there would never have been a Heaven, Earth or Jerusalem in the first place. But, we have been given the knowledge of God’s desire, hope and will with the very promise already made “I make all things new.” God demonstrated the effect of that promise through Jesus the Christ. Jesus declared to His disciples, “I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16.33) Now that promise is expressed in a fulfilling expression to all who will believe “The one who overcomes will inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he will be My son.” (Revelation 21.7) Our opportunity to be overcomers exists by our faith in Jesus as the Christ. We are the prodigals who make the choice to come back to the “father’s” house as a servant. We are welcomed back and “made new.” It is not a denial of our past as if it never existed. The chaos of our lives has existed. When we live in contradistinction to God’s will and revealed word, we thrust ourselves back into the primordial mist of nothingness. Our struggle to make our own way and our own sense remains a struggle which cannot be overcome. Our efforts, our works and even our best intentions will never be sufficient. But, when we do our best to choose God and to serve Him all the days of our lives (depending on mercy, grace and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit) then we shall find the means of overcoming by being overcome. It is then, we find the fullness and the full expression of being made new as when it all began. Nothing is possible without God that makes for authentic life and living in this world and in the new world.

A PRAYER FOR TODAY:

You are our God and we shall be Your people in spirit and in truth. Continue to dwell among us. Let the revelation by Your Holy Spirit inspire us to greater service in a more refined identity. We do not live as ourselves for ourselves. Rather, we live in Christ as He lives in us. We declare it with all the elders and angels in Heaven, saying “Holy, holy, holy is He who was and is and is to come.” In Jesus’ name we live, serve and pray. AMEN.