How can we find hope when the weight of the world feels so oppressive? Heavy? Where do we turn when everything around us seems to be falling apart? As things seem to get worse, it’s not our imagination. The Bible clearly predicts a difficult and devastating future on earth before God makes all things new.
So, as things begin to unravel, we need to be reminded that things are not falling apart. They are actually falling into place…right at the feet of Jesus! Revelation 21 reminds us to keep looking up!
Things are not falling apart. They are actually falling into place…right at the feet of Jesus!
I’ll never forget a story my brother shared of an experience he had years ago on the border of Rwanda. He related that the hot African sun beat down unmercifully on everything and anything while he was trying to cross the border between Uganda and Rwanda in the fall of ’94. The Rwandan civil war had ended, and he had just made arrangements for medical services to be given to hundreds of thousands of refugees inside Rwanda.
As he prepared to cross the border, guarded by soldiers who lounged at their posts, he noticed a little Rwandan girl. She was seated in the back of a pickup truck, clutching a blanket, rocking back and forth, and quietly singing to herself. My brother was told she was one of the thousands of children whose parents had been killed during the war. This little girl had personally witnessed the violent deaths of every member of her family. She was left all alone in the world.
When my brother asked a nearby soldier what she was singing, he listened casually then said, “She is singing something about God’s love.” My brother asked the soldier to listen more carefully and tell him exactly what she was singing. This time the soldier listened intently then said, “She is singing ‘Jesus loves me, this I know; for the Bible tells me so.’”
The evil actions of others had stripped the little girl of everything except her faith in Jesus! In a deeply moving way, the little girl was clinging to all she had left in the world, which was her hope in God’s love for her.
God gives us the courage to look up
Such stories read in the newspaper, such scenes of cruelty observed on televised newscasts, such violence witnessed in our streets and schools and homes could cause any caring person to be deeply distressed over the evil actions of wicked people in our world. I find myself at times avoiding the news because of the outrage I experience at such reports.
But sometimes the evil actions of others become very personal, and we cannot avoid them because they are committed against us or against our loved ones. In such instances, the outrage can become a root of deep-seated anger, hatred, frustration, fear, and bitterness that festers until our lives are filled with agitation and distress.
If you have been stripped of anything—or everything—look up!
Have you been stripped of everything? Stripped materially, emotionally, financially, socially, intellectually, physically? Stripped of your marriage, your health, your family, your home, your friends, your reputation, your youth? Are your days filled with distress because of the evil actions of others? Does your future look bleak and barren because your present is so bitter?
If you have been stripped of anything—or everything—look up!
“Then I saw ‘a new heaven and a new earth,’ for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God … And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell 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. There will be no more death” or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’” (Revelation 21:1, 2a, 3-4)
The vision of God’s glory gives you and me the same hope for the future as the little Rwandan refugee. What hope did she have for the future? None—except for the hope she had in Jesus. In Him, each of us has a glorious future—a glorious hope—because one day God will straighten the crooked, right the wrong, humble the proud, judge the wicked, and vindicate the righteous! He will settle accounts! Why? Because God is just! And righteous! And holy! And good!
God promises to make everything new
Revelation 21 reminds us that we can trust the Judge of all the earth to do right. Trust Him! This is the challenge for you and me when we see His judgment begin to take effect.
Like the piercing rays of the sun penetrating through blackened storm clouds, ask God to help you see His glory penetrating the dark wickedness and rebelliousness of the entire world. Even now, God is vindicating His people and setting us free to place our faith and hope in the One who alone is absolutely just, righteous, and merciful…Jesus.
Ask God to help you see His glory penetrating the dark wickedness and rebelliousness of the entire world.
Keep looking up! One day, we are going home to live with Him forever! His glory will no longer be a vision by faith, we will see Him face-to-face! And that will be heaven!
“He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’ Then he said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.’” (Revelation 21:5)