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In Revelation 21:5 John is told, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

The context here is one of eschatological hope. The preceding voice of the conquering Christ shouts from the throne, “Behold, I am making all things new!” This is the promise of the end of the age. This is the promised consummation of history that harkens all the way back to Genesis. Through the Son we will be brought back into a renewed and restored relationship with our Heavenly Father! 

These words are trustworthy and true! As I stated in Sunday’s sermon, “We aren’t just counting on this eschatological hope. We are staking eternity on it! This is why we are blessed when we read and hear the words of this prophecy. Because they are the very words of God, from the mouth of God, and our God is not a liar. He keeps his promises!”

This is exactly what we read in verse 6, “He said to me, ‘It is done! I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.”

Revelation 21 challenges us to think deeper! If you’re anything like me when you think of Christ being sovereign you do so theoretically. I find myself, in the difficulties of life and circumstances saying things like, “I know God is sovereign, but…” How foolish is that? He is the first and the last, the Alpha and Omega, all things are subject to Him for they proceed from Him. 

Why do we so easily forget this? The answer to that question is found in your gaze. Are your eyes fixed on your circumstances or the God of them? We often want deliverance from the the difficulty and fail to see that suffering in this life is a sure sign of our communion with Him. Well over 100 times we find that suffering in the Christian life is to be expected and every time it is followed by a call to endure with the God who is walking with us amidst the fiery trial. Like the Good Shepherd that He is, He is walking His sheep through the valleys to promised greener pastures. The encouragement for us then is to fix our focus there!

In verse 3-4 we read, “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 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.” And in verse 6 he closes the thought by promising, “To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.”

Christ’s victory is not just in his defeat of sin, death, and satan, but in restored proximity to His people. Christ has come, to offer Himself, as the payment for you to drink. Faith is drinking of the living water of Christ which brings life to a dry soul now while we await the day for this promised personal touch from Jesus. 

God promises that what the infant child began in Bethlehem 2,000 years ago He will finish. This is our eschatological hope!

Holding onto this hope with you, 

-Pastor Ricky