A New Heaven and a New Earth

Text: Revelation 20:11-21:8

Reflection and Question: Now we begin the run up to Christmas, when Luke and Matthew will take center stage to tell the story of Emmanuel, God with us. But these Gospel writers are not the only tellers in Scripture of how Jesus comes. This passage in Revelation is surely the most beautiful. In it, the suffering of heaven and earth has passed away and from a new heaven Jerusalem descends as the bride. John breaks into poetry to capture the glory of God dwelling with us when “mourning and crying and pain will be no more.” How does this picture of God with us in Revelation make you feel?

Prayer: Holy God, whom Jesus called Father, You promise that “those who conquer will inherit these things, and I will be their God and they will be my children.” Find us among those who conquer, we pray, so that we may be Your children. Amen.

This meditation is based on the Daily Lectionary Year 2 from the Book of Common Worship for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) (1993).