“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.”
-Revelation 21:4
This verse is filled with so much hope—nor more death, or pain or sorrow. Just imagine God wiping away our tears! Paradise restored, and as Dr. Snyder says, it is restored “in a similar but far greater way at the end.” He calls this “the perfect conclusion to the entire Bible. It’s the last act of the play, the amazing final chapter of the mystery story begun in the first few chapters of Genesis.”
The story of life after Eden “is but the long and sorrowful record of fallen human life and all the chaos, foolishness, and blindness ever since.”
But Dr. Snyder continues with good news. “The story could have ended there. Happily, it didn’t. It continues with a God who refuses to abandon his fallen and prodigal world, a God of steadfast love and faithfulness that exceeds all boundaries and even reason. It ends with a restoration of all that was lost and with a conclusion that’s even better than the beginning. Heaven returns to kiss the earth and transform it all into the likeness of the perfect heavenly kingdom. God himself appears on the scene again to rule in person over his beloved creation and to banish forever all evil, tears, pain, bitterness, and death. Paradise is restored. And that is God’s last word pronounced over our universe.
When you know your destination, you can get through the bad stretches along the way. And since the God who will bring his kingdom to us at the end is with us every minute of the day now, we have every reason to expect a great deal of good to come our way as we continue to ask, seek, and knock.
TODAY’S PRAYER: Knowing what the ultimate end looks like and who it is who will bring it to pass (and your security in it all), pray now that God will bring as much of his heaven to earth as possible through you to others.
Photo via Flickr
- God of the Last Minute - September 25, 2018
- Your 100 Day Prayer: Day 100 – A New Day - April 10, 2018
- Your 100 Day Prayer: Day 99 – The Final Chapter - April 9, 2018
