Revelation 21:3-4 “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” Today's episode begins by explaining where I got this verse and how important it is to respond to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. It then talks about this verse and how amazing it will be when God walks among us and we get to be in His presence. Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
God Will Walk Among Us!!!
Revelation 21:3-4 “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
This morning, I asked Tony if he had a verse for me, and he gave me this one. His friend Phil gave Tony a picture with this verse on it before I even met him. Tony had this picture hanging up in his room, and then we had it hanging in our house after we got married. The picture must have made a lasting impact on my husband because even after all these years, he still remembers the verse. This brought to mind for me this morning the fact that we never know the impact our actions have on others. I wonder if Phil gave this to Tony so that he would memorize the scripture verse? I wonder if he even knows that he did memorize it.
The same is true for all the things you do for others. Sometimes we do something, and we have no idea the impact that it will have on others. For instance, my family had a reunion this summer. My parents were celebrating 60 years of marriage, and so many family members went away to a house in Maine to hang out together for a few days. We were reminiscing about our memories of our siblings when we were younger, and many times, my siblings said, “I had no idea that meant so much to you.” My brother John has mentioned that he loved when I would come visit. He said he had letters I wrote him when I moved away, and that meant so much to him. I had no idea.
Our actions matter. Sometimes we may not want to say something because we aren’t sure if what we say will even matter. It matters. Even if it doesn’t seem to matter in the moment. If you feel prompted to do it, then God has a plan for it. We heard the testimony last week from my friend Catherine. When she was leaving Rehab, she received a book that she tucked away and did not look at again for two years. However, when she took it out two years later, it changed her whole world. She discovered Jesus. She didn’t really know anything about religion, God, Jesus, or any of it, and yet, in that one moment, she knew she would be okay. She knew her family would be okay, and she knew life would be okay.
What if that counselor hadn’t given her the book? What if she felt the Holy Spirit nudge her, but she ignored it because she didn’t want to offend Catherine? I recently wrote a letter to someone that I felt was searching. I felt nudged by the Holy Spirit to write that letter, but then when I told someone I had sent the letter, they said that person would be mad at me. I responded that I felt the Holy Spirit asked me to write the letter, and I would rather have that person mad at me than not listen to the Holy Spirit. However, I did pray that God would prepare his heart for the letter before it arrived. It turned out the person was not upset; they were searching, and they appreciated that I took a step to acknowledge I saw them and was there for them if they wanted to talk or ask any questions. Again, we never know what effect our actions will have. God knows, though, so if He prompts you, do your best to follow through.
Let’s get to the verse above, as it is a great one. It says, “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” God is so good. He is so gentle and loving. In the Old Testament, God’s people could only get so close to Him. They couldn’t be in His direct presence. They were separated from Him. There was a veil separating the Holy place from the Most Holy. The High priest was allowed to enter this area one day a year on the day of atonement.
However, when Jesus came to earth, He was not separate from us. He walked among the people. He was one of us. He spends His time with others. He lived with his apostles for his years in ministry. He also spent time preaching to thousands and healing many others. He lived among us. Then, when Jesus died on the cross, the veil in the temple was torn in two. This was to symbolize that there is no longer a separation between us and the Lord. After Jesus went to be with His Father, He had His Father send us the Holy Spirit, so we would not be left alone. The Holy Spirit came to live inside of each one of us. You can’t get much closer to God than that.
Now we have this verse telling us that God’s dwelling place will be among us, and He will dwell with us. First, we had Jesus dwell with us and among us. He taught us a new way to live. He taught us a new way to think. It was definitely a renewal of the mind. Many of His teachings were hard to hear, and yet they spoke to so many. He stayed with us only a short time, and yet he changed our hearts, minds, and lives forever.
Then the Holy Spirit came to dwell within us. God knew if we were left on our own, we would forget all the amazing things we learned from Jesus. He also knew how easily swayed we were, and if we were left to our own devices, then we would cave when the pressure to forget what Jesus said was applied. God sent us the Holy Spirit to remind us and to guide us. He also sent the Holy Spirit so we would have the courage, the boldness, and the power to spread His word. Without the Holy Spirit, it would have been way too hard to stand up to all those who didn’t believe. It would have been so hard to endure all the persecution and violence. God sent the Holy Spirit, so we would not be left alone.
Now, this verse is saying that we will one day get to live among God. That He will wipe every tear from their eyes. That there will be no more death, mourning, crying, or pain. Can you even imagine a world without those things? There is so much sin, anger, hurt, hate, and so many other things that are not of God on this earth. It will be so nice when all of that is gone, and we can just focus on God. I can’t even imagine what it will be like to be among God. Actually, there is a song called “I Can Only Imagine,” and the chorus explains how I think when I think of seeing God. It says,
“Surrounded by Your glory
What will my heart feel
Will I dance for you, Jesus
Or in awe of You be still
Will I stand in Your presence
Or to my knees will I fall
Will I sing hallelujah
Will I be able to speak at all
I can only imagine
I can only imagine”
I think this is great because it is so true. We have no idea how we will react when we are standing face-to-face with God. The image that just came to mind was Adam and Even in the garden and how they got to hang out with and go for walks with God. How amazing is that!? That will hopefully be us one day. Walking side by side with the Lord. That image right there is something I can keep in my mind when I am tempted to sin. When I am tempted to be ugly to someone, I can remember how great it will feel to be walking side by side with God. It is something we can hold all of our actions up against. Is this feeling, is this action, is this thought more important than the ultimate goal of walking with God?
God cares how we act here on earth. He cares how we treat His children. He cares if we are kind or not. He cares if we feed the hungry and give drinks to the thirsty. We are not all automatically going to heaven. I wish that were the case. However, God is very clear as to what we need to do to get to heaven. Love God and love our neighbors. Are we loving our neighbors? Are we kind to everyone around us? If there is love, there is no room for hate, no room for ugliness, no room for resentment and unforgiveness. What if, going into this new year, we all took a look at our hearts and made some intentions to do better in 2024?
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode. Lord, we look forward to when you will walk among us. If there is anything in our lives that is hindering us from being able to walk with you, we ask that you show us and give us the strength to fix it. We love you, Lord, and we want more than anything to be with you. We want to walk with you in a place where there is no more death, mourning, crying, or pain. Please help us get there, Lord. We know we can’t do it on our own. We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name. Amen!
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. There are just five more days until the beginning of my mentoring group. Register now on my website, walkboldlywithjesus.com, and go to the group mentoring section. (Click Here) The beginning of the year is a great time to be intentional about growing in your faith and growing closer to the Lord. I hope you will join me! If not, I hope you will take some time to decide on a plan to grow in faith this year. Remember, Jesus loves you and so do I! Have a blessed day!
The Word of the Lord for today is, “Children of light, children of joy, reach out to the world and share my hope, my joy, my love. There is so much hatred in the world. There is so much distrust. Go out there and share the joy, the hope, and the love that I give you. Be my instruments of light to a world that is in desperate need of them. Remove the anger that is there. Soften the blows of those who are hurting. I am your God who loves. So go out there and love. Love the little ones. Love whoever needs to be loved. I am the god, and I love each and every one of you.”