I realized this morning when I went to post today’s devotional, that I hadn’t posted this one!

Revelation 21-22; Isaiah 9-10; Psalm 111

“And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.’” (Revelation 21:3-4 NKJV) 

 The book of the Revelation isn’t one of my favorite books because it’s hard to understand all the lessons throughout the book, although the message to remain faithful comes out clear. That being said, this passage describes the book in a nutshell. God wins and the end result is that God will be with His people. When He’s with us, there will be no more tears, sorrow, death, crying, or pain because we will be living in the new heaven and the new earth. If you read five commentaries on the Revelation you’ll probably get six different explanations for the meaning behind the symbolism and the events described in the book, but the ultimate story, that God wins, is one that everyone who reads this book can see. The fact that God wins and those opposed to God will be punished gave comfort to the early church, and it gives comfort today as well.

My pastor never watches a sporting event live on TV. He records events that he might like to watch and then, if he finds out his team wins, he’ll watch it. If he finds out his team lost, he’ll erase it. Knowing the outcome before he starts watching gives him a sense of peace, even if things look bad for his team early in the game. Knowing the outcome of the ultimate battle between good and evil makes it easier to deal with the problems that come up because we’re on God’s side. We do have problems in this world because we seek to follow God. Those problems are minor for most of us, but they still make life difficult. We can keep going on, though, because we know that we win, and we want to be a part of the winning team. When the battle’s over and God is with us, all the tears, the sorrows, and the problems of the past will fade away and we’ll walk with the Father in all that we do. What a glorious day that will be.

Lord, sometimes it’s the big things in life that get me down; at other times it’s a bunch of small things. Thank You that in the end, all those troubles, all those sorrows will be swept away because I’ll be walking with You.