Friday, April 11, 2014
Revelation 22:4-6 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever. The angel said to me, "These words are trustworthy and true."
PARADISE SWEETNESS
Here John provides another glimpse into what it will be like for us to live in the presence of our Savior. He uses additional picture-language to inspire us in our faith-lives as we wend our way as pilgrims through this valley of sorrows to our true Paradise home.
How does hearing about the joys that will be ours later help us in the daily grind of life now? Think of it this way: When a mother takes her three-year-old daughter to the doctor to get an immunization shot, it would not be too reassuring or helpful for the mom to tell her child: "The shot you're going to get at the doctor will be good for you." But it would help the child very much to hear her mom say: "After you get the prickly shot at the doctor's, I'm going to take you out for an ice cream treat at McDonald's."
So too the Lord shares glimpses of heaven's future grandeur to help us bear up under the thorny trials that poke at us now, to remind us they can't compare with the sweetness of what He has in store for us later.
And there's no doubt about it! "These words are trustworthy and true." They are as certain as the fact that Jesus descended from heaven to live a life of perfect love for us, gave Himself for us on the cross, and came alive for us on Easter morning.
Then let our prayer be in every circumstance (also when we experience prickly troubles):
Lord, in loving contemplation Fix our hearts and eyes on Thee
Till we taste Thy full salvation And Thine unveiled glory see.
(The Lutheran Hymnal, 155:5)
