Verse of the Day 4/1

Verse of the Day 4/1

Revelation 21:3-4  I heard a loud voice shout from the throne:

God's home is now with his people. He will live with them, and they will be his own. Yes, God will make his home among his people. ⁴ He will wipe all tears from their eyes, and there will be no more death, suffering, crying, or pain. These things of the past are gone forever.    Contemporary English Version (CEV)

I read Revelation in my morning devotions and today's verses are a reminder of what we have to look forward to beyond this life.  With the Corona virus all around us; just about everyone has been made more aware of their own mortality.  No matter what we will die from, the fact of the matter is that 100% of us will someday come to the end of this life.  When we do what we believe, who we place our faith and trust in will make a difference; all the difference in the world and beyond; in what we have to look forward to.

When I read the second part of the chapter it struck me differently than any other time that I have read it.  Starting in Revelation 21:12 it is like the angel is giving a tour of the new Jerusalem, a kind of, "this will be your new home tour".  Whenever our time will come, may we be ready to receive that tour; but until may we say "No power of hell, no scheme of man, Can ever pluck me from His hand, Till He returns or calls me home, Here in the power of Christ I'll stand."

Emerging from the entanglement, the dreariness, the solitude, the loneliness, and the temptations of the wilderness--you shall enter upon your everlasting rest, your unfading inheritance, where there is . . .    no sorrow,     no sin,    no suffering,    no crying,    no evening shadows,    no midnight darkness!  But all is one perfect, cloudless, eternal day--for Jesus is the joy, the light, and the glory thereof!  (Octavius Winslow)

--   In Christ,  Mike    Folllow the Verse of the Day blog at http://mikesvotd.blogspot.com  Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins,  in accordance with the riches of God's grace.  NIV    

Revelation 21:1-7 English Standard Version (ESV)

The New Heaven and the New Earth

21 Then 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. ² And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. ³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place^[a] of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people,^[b] and God himself will be with them as their God.^[c] 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away."

⁵ And he who was seated on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new." Also he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true." ⁶ And 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 from the spring of the water of life without payment. ⁷ The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.