Revelation 21:1-7 (NIV)
We all have a dream for or life. But God also has a dream for our life. I’ve always told my girls that God laughs loudest when we tell Him our plans. I might even venture to make the point that He probably smiles when we lay out our dreams as well. Not that He’s against our dreams for our life but that He wants us to pay attention to the fact that He most likely has dreams for us also.
Remember the song, “Runnin Down a Dream” by Tom Petty? It’s basically about having this feeling of joy while driving down a road leading to wide open spaces with nothing standing in your way only glorious possibilities. Hence the title. We see ourselves as traveling down that same road. The road of great possibilities. But we never stop to think, is this God’s dream for my life? I submit we’re way too focused on the road of our own making.
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In the scripture, John has this revelation of God’s dream. People are under great tribulation. The scripture speaks to John’s revelation to the people of the church. He sees a new heaven and a new earth. God showing the people their future.
Remember the year 2000 (or Y2K) as it was fearfully spoken? The huge scare? So, what happened? Nothing, right? All that fear, all that angst for nothing. Should have been a lesson in not projecting things that aren’t in the Bible.
Since the church was under pressure, John wrote Revelation as a book of hope. Funny I’d never thought of the book of Revelation as a book of hope. Scary maybe but never hopeful. Guess it pays to go to church so you can learn things you never knew. And I never knew that John wrote this book to convey hope. But as I did more research on the book, I soon learned that it’s the bookend that ends the Bible.
The message of the book of Revelation is: God wins! Well, now, I knew that but still in my ignorance I never equated it to hope. I guess I just never understood all the in-between stuff. You know what they say, “The things we don’t understand we fear.” So there you have it. My excuse. Sounds good, yes?
John speaks to their situation then and to our situation today. John sees heaven coming down to earth and wiping away every tear from our eyes giving that perfect comfort only God can give. It shows how God is in the world today.
Revelation tells us about this vision of amazing comfort to those who are suffering. It says so in verses 2 & 3: “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, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.” But the best part for me is verse 4 when it speaks to the wiping away of tears: “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.”
All the suffering is gone. God is wiping away all the tears. God wins! John reminds us of this fact. So, when we’re impacted by the tragedies of life it’s good to know that God wins. No more bad stuff. Not even death can stand up to God’s light. If God is there to comfort the afflicted then God is there to afflict the comfortable. God will accomplish what God is going to accomplish. With or without us.
We learn as children if we are good we get to go to heaven. But Revelation speaks to heaven coming down to earth. God invites us to be a part of his dream and what He’s doing here and now. Our part is striving toward the dream. Finding our way closer and closer to not only our own dream but to God’s dream for us.
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Act, serve, be like Jesus.
We need to be living heaven on earth.
God’s dream for the world is our participation and to see the play come together.
And that’s what I learned in Church……see ya next time!
