Then I heard a loud voice from the throne: Look! God’s dwelling is with humanity, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will no longer exist; grief, crying, and pain will exist no longer, because the previous things have passed away.
Charles Spurgeon wrote, "Thou mayest be poor, or in suffering, or unknown, but for thine encouragement take a review of thy 'calling' and the consequences that flow from it, and especially that blessed result here spoken of."
He wrote this as part of a devotional on Romans 8:30, "Whom He justified, them He also glorified." A few sentences later he quotes, in part, Revelation 21:4, and here exists our glorious hope.
Sometimes life seems hard. We wake up irritated. We don't know why we are irritated and this irritates us even more. Like wind to a forest fire; the wind blows and intensifies the fire, and the more intense the fire the more it pulls the air in and the more it intensifies.
So how do we extinguish the flames of our irritation? How do we pull out of the downward spiral of spiritual depression? First of all, fight spiritual battles with spiritual tools. Our human efforts will do nothing but fan the flames even more.
Spurgeon points us to scripture. First to Romans then to Revelation. He reminds us that God has called us and the reward for following His call is realized in eternity. The hope of every Christian should be found in an eternal focus. So, let's paraphrase and personalize these passages from Revelation.
"One day God will once again dwell with humanity; He will live with us. We will be His people and God Himself will be with us and be our God. He will wipe away every tear from our eyes. Death will no longer exist; grief, crying, and pain will no longer exist because what is now will pass away."
Oh what a glorious hope we have when we focus on eternity and hold fast to the unbreakable promises of our God!
