Revelation 21:1-6 (NRSV)
Read Revelation 21:1-6 on biblegateway.com
Chapter 21Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. Verse 2And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Verse 3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; Verse 4he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away." Verse 5And the one who was seated on the throne said, "See, I am making all things new." Also he said, "Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true." Verse 6Then he said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.
Devotion
As the tried-and-true joke within my tradition goes: “How many Lutherans does it take to change a light bulb?” “What do you mean CHANGE?!” It’s not just the dragons and beasts of Revelation that make it scary, it’s that this chaotic battle will end with the one who is seated on the throne “making all things new.” (v.5) Wait, the good news is newness!? Yes, the final victory requires everything we know to be dismantled and destroyed. Does this make you, as it does me, uncomfortable? Who, on the other hand, might receive this as unequivocal good news?” Might the call, then, be to seek out the places of death and mourning and crying and pain and proclaim there the good news that the I AM of all creation is (currently) making all things new? And how might we participate with God in bringing about this newness to the here and now?
Prayer
Restoring God, separate us from our old and broken ways and systems and reveal to us your new way of being in the world. Encourage us to encounter the places where your creation longs for justice and mercy and sustain us as we participate in your coming newness. Amen.
Interested in digging deeper into today’s text?
Read more here.