Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Appreciating Abundance

Mankind was evicted from the Garden of Eden (Gen 3:24a) because sin entered paradise through the first Adam (Gen 3:1-7). In the first paradise there were only two persons to appreciate the beauty, taste the pleasures, and experience God's abundance. Perhaps you can say, they did not have knowledge to be able to appreciate His abundance. When sin entered and they were evicted, mankind had knowledge but they did not have access to paradise to appreciate God's abundance. In the second paradise (Rev 22:1-9) whole cities and nations shall find abundant appreciation in the presence of God and the Lamb and enjoy life everlasting in pleasures unimaginable.

In Rev 21:2 the apostle John stated he saw the holy city of David (New Jerusalem) coming down from God out of heaven. Then he gives a more detailed view of the city (Rev 21:9-27). It will be a beautiful, majestic city. We continue our study in Revelation this week to the last chapter in the Bible. It begins with an angel showing John a vision of what life in the New Jerusalem will be like.

He sees a pure, unpolluted river of water of life. The river of paradise flows directly from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street. The water is unpolluted. It is pure and clear as crystal.

On either side of the river there will be the tree of life. It will have twelve crops of fruit that will grow all year long, not seasonally as it does now. '...the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations' (Rev 22:2). Access to the tree of life is restored in the second paradise. Compare Gen 3:24b and Rev 22:2. The leaves on the the tree will bring about what humankind has chased without success, or real intent - peace.

God pronounced a curse on all creation due to the sin of the first Adam. We find the curse of sin will be no more. Total adherence to the Word of God among the saints in the New Jerusalem will not be the exception, but the norm. And God the Father and the Son will be served - worshipped - on a perpetual basis (Rev 22:3). It will be a perfect glory. The evil ones; i.e. satan, beast, false prophets, unbelievers, and wicked were cast into the lake of fire (Rev 20:10, 11-14; 21:8).
And the saints shall see the face of God and live, not die. He will own them because He will have his seal on their foreheads. God will dwell with them and they shall reign with him for ever.
There will be no need for daylight, night light or candle light. '...the glory of God did light it, and the Lamb is the lamp of it (Rev 21:23).

The angel reminds John that all the sayings of the vision are true and trustworthy. God of the holy prophets sent his angel, the messenger, to reveal these things to the holy man of God to reveal to the world the things which must be done. God would not use a holy angel or a holy man to deceive the world. It must be believed that these sayings are faithful and true.

Prior to the end of the lesson text, the Master proclaimed a promise that has given assurance to Christians down through the ages. Jesus said, 'Behold, I come quickly...' (Rev 22:7). The word quickly should not be interpreted as fast. Our understanding of time and God's are very different. In addition to the promise to come quickly, the Master told John to record how anyone who read and acted upon the prophecies contained in the book of Revelation would be blessed.

After witnessing everything he had seen and heard in the Spirit, John was overwhelmed. He fell down at the angel's feet and began to worship. The angel reproved John for worshipping him, reminding him that he was only a created being. Worship God! The angel took no credit. And John confesses his sin by actually placing his wrong doing in the Bible for all to read.

Written by Deborah C. Davis

1 comment:

Mack Bell said...

This Was Very Good, It Was A Help To Me, Teaching The Lesson