A New Heaven and a New Earth

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.  I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.  And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.  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." 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.  He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son.  -Revelations 21:1-7

At the monthly C&C meeting tonight, I shared with the group this particular passage from Revelation, which I have encountered repeatedly over the past few days.  I read it a couple of mornings ago, then once again at the Christian Essentials class on Sunday, then when I went to listen to a friend preach at Presby Chapel, he based his sermon on the same passage.  

 

I remember the same friend had told me that whenever we listen to a sermon and feel like the message has touched our hearts, the Holy Spirit is at work in our Hearts.  On Tuesday, he spoke of the passage that the apostle John had written in his old age, while jailed for his faith in Christ.  This passage was written during the 1st century, a time when many Christians were being persecuted.  He had a vision revealed to him by Jesus Christ, and what he wrote would serve as encouragement to Christians in a difficult time.  The word "new" meant differently back 2000 years ago than it does now.  In this 'fast food' culture, we like to think of the word new as something completely different from something old.  We throw away the old, and buy a new lap top, new clothes.  We get into a new relationship, we make new friends and stop talking to our old friends.  We don't like someone and we fire them, we try to push them away from us.  Back in the 1st century, the word new meant renewing - restoring something old into something better, something "new".  It didn't mean throwing the old away, but keeping the old and transforming it.  Jesus promises to transform our lives through Him.  We can be made new in Christ, our hurts and pains can be healed, our sinful pasts and our transgressions wiped clean.  He is the beginning and the end, the Alpha and the Omega, who is in all and who through all things are made.  What an encouraging message!  As I listened, I felt God tugging at my heart.  I felt inspired, that God wants to take us as we are and make us better through His supernatural powers.  He invites us to come and drink from the stream of life, so what in Him we may find eternal life.  

 

I thought of my family, my friends - the many relationships I had in my life.  And I thought about God's promise to restore His creation - not only the universe but most importantly - humans, as He made in His own image.  I was renewed with a new hope, a hope that comes with a belief in the power of the Holy Spirit, the transforming power of Christ.  How much can He do with our lives?!  More than we can ever imagine.  The message touched my heart in a way that reminded me to believe in God's love for his children, and the promise that he has come to change our lives - turning them upside down and liberating us from the bondage of the world!  My heart was filled with a hope, not merely in people, but in God who works in our hearts.  As long as we are an image bearer of God (and we all are as humans), there is hope in Christ that we can be transformed!  So, if we see others as children of God, we believe in the ability of God to transform their (and our own) lives, no matter how messed up they (or we ourselves!) are!  I believe that through the word of God, spoken through His messenger, my faith was affirmed even more.  

 

Tonight as we concluded the meeting with prayer, my heart started to beat faster as I listened to R pray.  He is just a young kid, but his words somehow really touched my heart.  The things he prayed about were spot on, and exactly what we needed to say to God as a fellowship committee.  God is amazing, using even the youngest among us to speak to us.  I definitely felt God's spirit among us as a sense of calm and peace overcame me while we prayed.  Then tonight, I prayed with Mr. Guy on the phone and as we prayed, the same sense of rush came over me again.  I felt my heart - lubdub, lubdub - beating faster and faster.  We really were speaking to a true and living God who was listening to our requests.  

 

I shared with E tonight that I felt that through all these experiences that I have encountered God, my faith in Him grew more and more, to a point where now I can say that I BELIEVE - truly - that Jesus is Lord.  And to believe more firmly makes me want to pray even more - to present my requests to God, to share with him my worries and my anguish, and also my joys, my longings, and my desires.  He has become more and more alive to me.  Thank you God.  I know of your promise to renew all of us, and I will keep praying!