SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/6/2015
10:19 PM
My Worship Time
Focus: PT-3
The Internal Character
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Revelation
21:21b-22:2
Message of the
verses: “And the street of the city
was pure gold, like transparent glass. 22 I saw no temple in it, for the Lord
God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 And the city has no need of
the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it,
and its lamp is the Lamb. 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings
of the earth will bring their glory into it. 25 In the daytime (for there will
be no night there) its gates will never be closed; 26 and they will bring the
glory and the honor of the nations into it; 27 and nothing unclean, and no one
who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those
whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
“1 Then he showed me a river of the water
of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, 2 in
the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life,
bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves
of the tree were for the healing of the nations.”
We begin tonight to look at verse twenty-five which shows
us that there will not be any night in the New Jerusalem. We have already wrote about not having any
sun, nor moon, nor will there be any stars, but only light from the Lord will
be used to light up the New Jerusalem, and because of that His light will never
go out. As we compare this with cities
in our world today, especially during the times when the Bible was written
there were gates at different points around the walls of the city and when it
got dark outside the gates would be closed so that there could be no one able to
come into the city. Not so with the New
Jerusalem.
John MacArthur writes the following about the nations
from verse 26: “The kings will not be
the only ones to surrender their earthly prestige and glory when they enter
heaven. The glory and the honor, of the
nations will also dissolve, and as it were, into the eternal worship of God the
Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Like
the twenty-four elders, all who enter heaven ‘will cast their crowns before the
throne’ of God (Rev. 4:10).”
Verse 27 speaks of the fact that noting unclean, and no
one who practices the following sins shall ever come into the New
Jerusalem. One of the sins mentioned is
the practice of abomination and also lying.
Think about the sin of lying for a moment and in this verse we see that
no one who habitually practices lying will enter the New Jerusalem. Now I am not saying that once you become a
believer you can lose the salvation the God has given to you, for once you are
saved you won’t want to lie.
Once again we will allow John MacArthur explain verse one
of chapter twenty-two: “John’s angelic
tour guide next showed him a river of the water of life. With no sea in the eternal state (21:1),
there could be no hydrologic cycle, and hence no rain to fill a river. Thus, the water of life is not water as we
know it; it is a symbol of eternal life (cf. Isa. 12:3; John 3:13-14;
7:38). Like everything else in the New
Jerusalem, the river was clear as crystal so it could reflect the glory of God. It cascaded down from the throne of God and
of the Lamb in a dazzling, sparkling, never-ending stream. Its pure, unpolluted, unobstructed flow
symbolizes the constant flow of everlasting life from God’s throne to God’s
people.
“The phrase ‘in the middle of its street’ is best
translated ‘in the middle of its path’ and connected with the following phrase
on either side of the river was the tree of life. The tree of life is the celestial counterpart
to the tree of life in Eden (Gen. 2:9; 3:22-24), and this tree provides for
those who are immoral. The tree of life
was a familiar Jewish concept that expressed blessing (cf. 2:7; Prov. 3:18;
11:30; 13:12; 15:4), and the celestial tree symbolizes the blessing of eternal
life. That the tree bears twelve kinds
of fruity, yielding its fruit every month emphasizes the infinite variety that
will fill heaven. The use of the term
month does not refer to time, since this is the eternal state and time is no
more. It is an anthropomorphic
expression of the joyous provision of eternity couched in the familiar term of
time.” Now we have been over this large
word in earlier Spiritual Diaries and as best as I can explain it by using the
dictionary: “the attribution of a human
form, human characteristics, or human behavior to nonhuman things, e.g. deities
in mythology and animals in children's stories.” In this case it is speaking of God.
We have to speak a little about the leaves and the word
healing is Therapies, and we get the
word therapeutic from it and as best as I know these leaves are therapeutically
in nature, to be likened to supernatural vitamins, as we take vitamins not
really to treat illness but to be energized.
As we look at that text about the leaves it does not
actually say that we will eat them, but since we will have a glorified body
like Jesus we will be able to eat, but not sure we will want to or we can. John MacArthur writes “It is conceivable that
the saints in heaven will eat, not out of necessity, but for enjoyment.” Boy that will be great that we can eat and
never gain a pound or an inch, just enjoy eating without any consequences.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: Even though we
cannot be absolutely sure of all of these details, we can be sure that heaven
will be the most wonderful place ever created by the Lord and we will get to
enjoy it.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Continue to trust the Lord through the
battles I face, knowing that His grace is sufficient for me.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “If he saw Elijah when he was
taken from him” (2 Kings 2:9-10).
Today’s Bible
question: “Whom did Paul counsel not to
be slanders?” 11/6/2015 10:59 PM
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