Revelation 21:1-5
(Use the link below to read the verses.)
Growing
up, did you ever feel like crying out, “I want my mommy”?
I did. In fact, there
was even one time, as an adult, when the circumstances of life had been
exceptionally painful. During a business trip, while driving down a lonely
highway at night, I cried out for my Mother who had passed away recently.
The
world around us can be cruel. Circumstances, people, the human condition and
life in general can weigh heavy on our hearts. It can hurt us in ways we don’t
even realize at the time. The world within us can be just as cruel when we feel
hopeless, powerless, doubt, fear, rejection and loss.
Into
this world around us and within us, we feel the need for love, security, hope
and purpose. When the world is out of control, we desperately cry out for
someone to help us. We may cry out to God, or it might even be to our Mommy.
But it’s to someone who we feel will love us unconditionally.
John wrote Revelation during a period of time when many
Christians were being persecuted because they refused to worship Caesar as
Lord. In fact, John himself had been sent to the island of Patmos because of
his Christian beliefs and witness.
In part, Revelation was written as an encouragement to
those believers experiencing first-hand the wrath of the Roman authorities. They
experienced physical and emotional persecution. They felt isolated and alone.
At times, they probably wondered where God was. How could He allow these things
to happen?
3 I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s
home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his
people. God himself will be with them. 4 He will wipe every
tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or
pain. All these things are gone forever.” Revelation
21:3-4 NLT
Into their pain, John pointed them to what lay beyond the
persecution; beyond the trials of life. He pointed them to that day when God would hold
them in His arms. He pointed them to the promises of God. That God would always
be with them; would always be faithful to them; would always be at work in
their lives; would never desert them.
Those
same promises are true for you and me today.
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