DEVOTIONAL FOR THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 26TH
Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Life in the kingdom”
Our Bible verse for today: “Then he showed me the river of living water, sparkling like crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the broad street of the city. The tree of life was on both sides of the river, bearing 12 kinds of fruit, producing its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree are for healing the nations, and there will no longer be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and His slaves will serve Him. They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. Night will no longer exist, and people will not need lamplight or sunlight, because the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign forever and ever.” Revelation 22:1-5
Our thought for today: “Eternity will be a physical reality.”
What will eternity in the kingdom of God be like? In his book “Heaven” author Randy Alcorn offers this insight, “Scripture describes heaven as both a country (Luke 19:12; Hebrews 11:14-16) and a city (Hebrews 12:22; 13:14; Revelation 21:2). Fifteen times in Revelation 21 and 22 the place God and his people will live together is called a city. The repetition of the word and the detailed description of the architecture, walls, streets, and other features of the city suggest that the term “city” isn’t merely a figure of speech but a literal geographical location. After all, where do we expect physically resurrected people to live if not in a physical environment?”
As we will see in the days to come, Scripture describes the eternal kingdom of God in physical terms we can understand and relate to. And as we will also see, Scripture describes the people of the kingdom in real and physical terms too. Sorry, you won’t look like Casper the friendly ghost sitting on a cloud and strumming a harp. You will be a real (but resurrected) person, in a real and resurrected world.
Alcorn goes on: “This world – including its natural wonders – gives us foretastes and glimpses of the next world. These people – including ourselves – give us foretastes and glimpses of the new people to come … Every joy on earth – including the joy of reunion – is an inkling, a whisper of greater joy. The Grand Canyon, the Alps, the Amazon rain forests, the Serengeti Plain – these are rough sketches of the New Earth. Just like the Garden of Eden, the New Earth will be a place of sensory delight, breathtaking beauty, satisfying relationships, and personal joy.”
Due to the limits of time and space in these devotional messages, I can only scratch the surface of this fascinating subject. If you would like to do more study on this theme – digging more deeply into the Biblical evidence that support these contentions, I encourage you to get Randy’s book.
Tomorrow we will discuss what we, the people of God, will be like in the eternal kingdom. Will you have a body? If so, what will it be like? Will you still be yourself, identifiable for who you were on earth? What kinds of things will we experience and enjoy? And most important, will there be ice cream?
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 