Saturday, December 27, 2014
Revelation 19:4-21:4 Then the twenty-four elders and the four living beings fell down and worshiped God, who was sitting on the throne. They cried out, "Amen! Hallelujah!" And from the throne came a voice that said, "Praise our God, all His servants, from the least to the greatest, all who fear Him." Then I heard again what sounded like the shout of a huge crowd, or the roar of mighty ocean waves, or the crash of loud thunder: "Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns. Let us be glad and rejoice and honor Him. For the time has come for the wedding feast of the Lamb, and His Bride has prepared herself. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. And I saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a beautiful bride prepared for her husband. I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, "Look, the home of God is now among His people! He will live with them, and they will be His people. God himself will be with them. He will remove all of their sorrows, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. For the old world and its evils are gone forever."
HOPE, GLORY, AND PRAISE ALL OF OUR DAYS!
Heaven would not be ours had our Savior, Jesus Christ, not been born. But because Jesus fulfilled the righteous requirements of God's Law perfectly for us and sacrificed Himself in our place, we can have confident hope of heaven. We glorify God and praise His name for revealing the heavenly home already ours by faith in Christ! Until that day, we can sing Hallelujahs for what God has prepared for us!
Then may we hope, th' angelic hosts among,
To sing, redeemed, a glad triumphal song.
He that was born upon this joyful day
Around us all His glory shall display.
Saved by His love, incessant we shall sing
Eternal praise to heaven's almighty King.
(John Byrom, 1749, The Lutheran Hymnal, 84:6)
