Monday, December 21
“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away” (Rev. 21:4). What does this tell us about just how different from this world our new existence will be, an existence in which death, sorrow, and pain are gone?
A Christian was talking to a friend about the hope of the gospel, the promise of eternal life through Jesus Christ. The person responded negatively to the whole idea. “Eternal life?” he said with a shudder. “What a horrible thought! Our 70-80 years here are bad enough. Who’d want to stretch this out forever? That would be hell.”
This person would have a point, except that he didn’t understand that the promise of eternal life isn’t a mere continuation of this life here. Please – who would want that? Instead, as the text above says, the old things are passed away, and all things have become new.
What do the following texts tell us about the new existence that is coming?
The important question for us in all this is: What does it take to be part of this new existence? How do we get there? How can we be sure we are going to be part of it? What things in our life, if any, could stand in the way of our being part of what God has promised us through Jesus?
