“A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold” [GENESIS 2:10-11].
“The angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations” [REVELATION 22:1-2]. [1]
Movie aficionados will recognise that I shamelessly appropriated the title of this message from the 1992 movie that received the same name. Those who watched that film may recall that the movie follows the life of two sons of a Presbyterian preacher in a Montana town during the early part of the twentieth century. As much as I have loved fishing the rivers of our beautiful province throughout my years, I have no intention of delivering a message about fishing. Neither will I be speaking of the lives of two brothers living disparate lives.
In this message, I will be focusing on the fact that Scripture provides the account of mankind beginning in a place with a river running through it, and Scripture ends in a place with a river running through it. It seems appropriate to conclude that rivers are important in the economy of God. I don’t believe that the inclusion of this information in the Word can be attributed to mere serendipity, for what is included in the Word is necessary, not superfluous. Surely, there is a message for us in a brief study of the rivers that are included in these accounts that detail God’s dealings with mankind.
Thus, I will be asking you to join me in a study of the earliest days of mankind, those halcyon days when the earth was new and sin had not yet contaminated creation. Then, having studied those earliest days, I will ask you to join me in considering what God has revealed concerning our destiny, well, at least the destiny of all who are saved from sin and now being prepared for eternity with God our Creator.
A RIVER IN PARADISE — “A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold” [GENESIS 2:10-11]. God does not supply superfluous information in His recorded Word. That which is written is provided for our edification. Thus, when I read that a river flowed out of Eden, I can be assured that there is a purpose this information is provided.
The importance of this information, which seems so trivial, is elevated to a place of importance, if not a position that speaks of the essential, when I realise that the Bible begins with an account of a river in Eden and concludes with the detail that a river flows from the throne of God. These are not throwaway lines that are included in the Word; rather, there is something of significance for the one reading Scripture.
It is not as though the Bible is unaware of rivers and their importance after the expulsion of our first parents from Eden, commonly known as the Garden of Paradise. Obviously, the River Jordan is important in any discussion of the conquest of the Promised Land and the life of Israel in the land. The Nile figures prominently in any discussion involving Egypt during the time Israel was living in that land. The Euphrates River and the Tigris in the land of the Chaldeans, as is true of the Pharpar and the Abana in Syria are important in relating incidents revolving around Babylon or Syria and the interactions of those two nations with the people of God.
Of course most of us would know that rivers have played a significant role in the settlement of North America. Rivers provided the means for explorers to penetrate the forests and the plains of this new world. Similarly, the rivers of North America would become the means for transporting goods from the interior of the continent so that these goods could be loaded onto ships and carried to the cities of the world. Likewise, these rivers allowed transportation of goods to the new settlements of this new world. When water wheels were activated by the currents of these rivers, the flowage of the rivers provided power for early industrial advancements. The waters of the streams served to feed peoples as fish and other nutritious foods were harvested from the rivers. The annual floods enriched the soil of the surrounding regions. Rivers and streams were, and are, vital to the advancement of the nations of the world. And that is especially true for us living in North America in these days.
Let’s look more carefully at the creation as revealed through the opening chapters of this initial book of the Bible. It is as though God is giving us a primer on how this physical world began. On the first day as He began creating, God provided light, separating that light from the darkness. After providing for light and darkness, the LORD made the atmosphere, and appears to have set in motion the patterns we now know as weather. Then the Creator called forth the dry land, gathering the waters into the seas. On the land, God caused the green plants to grow, together with the trees. All was being readied for animal life as we know it, and at the apex of all life God situated mankind. Step-by-step the LORD was acting with deliberation.
Now, there was land and sea, vegetation, and an atmosphere with the necessary gases to support the plants, and there was the prospect for weather. At this point, the Creator flung the stars into space and set our own solar system into motion, even as he spun the moon about this planet we call earth. In effect, the LORD was creating time. There had never been time before this since eternity is timeless.
Now, all was in readiness for aquatic life and avian life. Thus, God filled the oceans with fish and the great sea creatures, together with all the micro-organisms that serve to feed all that lives in the seas. The trees bearing their assorted fruits would provide the birds with the food they required.
All that had been created to this point was designed to ensure there would be support for animals that would be created. God then called forth the animals, both those creatures that creep and crawl, together with the beast of the mountains and the forests, and the animals that would serve mankind in the fields. Now all was ready for the apex of the LORD’s creative acts—God would make mankind. Thus, we read, “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth’” [GENESIS 1:26].
All that exists was created for the benefit of mankind. Let me provide just a brief survey of how precise creation is. There is a lot of concern today about atmospheric carbon. Governments are eager to spend exorbitant amounts of moneys to make the western nations “carbon neutral.” Think about this! The annual fires that burn in boreal forests produce three times as much carbon dioxide as do all the nations of the west. And these fires have been producing that atmospheric carbon since the Fall of mankind. Reducing carbon emissions in North America to the levels postulated by 2050 will make no difference to the amount of carbon produced annually on a global basis. What is interesting and seldom taken into consideration by climate activists is that the carbon dioxide produced by the burning of boreal forests is essential for the continued growth of plants in the remainder of the world. Do you suppose there was a Designer Who anticipated what would happen?
Consider the rotation of the earth. If the earth were to spin only a few kilometres per second faster than current rotation, oxygen required for our life would be spun off and into space. The shorter days of a more rapidly spinning earth would have an impact on life, and the waters in the oceans would be pulled toward the equator causing flooding of low-lying areas throughout the earth. We would witness an increase in wind speed, to say nothing of witnessing more and higher velocity cyclones, hurricanes, and tornadoes.
Should the earth spin slower by even a minor amount, we would witness a decrease in the magnetic field, the Coriolis force. The solar wind that constantly strikes the earth would no longer be diverted by the magnetic field generated by the spinning earth. This would result in increased impacts with atmospheric molecules, driving them to higher velocities allowing these molecules to escape the earth’s gravitational pull. In short order, we would have no atmosphere. Also, we would be bombarded with increased gamma radiation, which would ensure higher rates of various cancers and ensure the death of mankind. Of course, this says nothing of the change in the length of the day, which would make the continued existence of plants extremely doubtful. Loss of plant life would quite obviously have an impact on all animals. You don’t suppose there was a Designer Who considered all this, do you?
This perfection of conditions required for life on planet earth was observed by the Koheleth long years past as he observed,
The sun rises,
the sun sets,
then rushes back to where it arose.
The wind blows continually—southward,
then northward, constantly circulating—
and the wind comes back again in its courses.
All the rivers flow toward the sea,
but the sea is never full;
then rivers return to the headwaters where they began.
[ECCLESIASTES 1:5-7 ISV]
I understand that people imagine that others whom they consider to be among the smartest people in the world, argue that this is all due to chance. However, mathematicians tell us the odds of this happening by chance are effectively zero!
God prepared the earth for man, the apex of His creation. All that was prepared was meant to ensure that man could live and thrive on the earth. Those who worship the earth imagine one catastrophe after another. Because they worship the creation, they see man as an intruder, a virus that is destroying that which they have exalted to the level of divine. However, the creation was made for man, not man for the creation.
This is the essence of the stern word written by the Apostle to the Gentiles, “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things” [ROMANS 1:18-23].
When the Living God is excluded from mankind’s thinking, people become incapable of being rational. Man was created to worship His Creator, but when the Creator has been excluded from all consideration, man will worship the creation. The one worshipping the creation will worship man himself. Unconnected from a vital relationship with the Creator, man will create heroes that he deems worthy of his worship until he begins to worship his own being. This accounts in great part for the fact that we focus obsessively on our weight, focus on our dress to ensure that we match our peers, focus on our appearance, focus on everything except our relationship with others and especially on our relationship with the Lord God. This leads us at last to engage in a futile search for personal gratification, which is a losing search.
ANTICIPATING HEAVEN —
“There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.
God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved;
God will help her when morning dawns.
The nations rage, the kingdoms totter;
he utters his voice, the earth melts.
The LORD of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah”
[PSALM 46:4-7]
In this Psalm, the Psalmist anticipates the River of Life, and it is reasonable that he writes of the same river that the Revelator describes in the closing chapter of the Book. Inspired by the Spirit of God, the Psalmist recognises that the Eternal City of God rejoices in all that the LORD has done. And we today can rejoice in anticipation at what our Lord plans, those things which are now seen by faith and which we shall shortly see with our own eyes. Indeed, the nations are in turmoil, and bitter vitriol is spewed forth against the Living God as people exalt their heroes and promote themselves. Their actions only create friction and even more rage, though people are unable to say why they are raging!
I have never seen the river of which the Psalmist writes, but I confess that I long to see what awaits me and all who are known by the Lord GOD. One need not be of an advanced age to be disillusioned of this world. It is a beautiful world in so many respects, but the beauty of this world is marred and besmirched by sinful people. And here is the greater tragedy—people assume they will go to Heaven when they die. Yes, people know that they must age and shall die. They seldom think of the reason they age, but they would do well to think of the reason for ageing.
We are told in Scripture, “Just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him” [HEBREWS 9:27-28]. There is a lot to unpack in this brief statement.
In this verse, we encounter the fact of death, an event that each one is destined to experience. “It is appointed for man to die once” is telling us not only that we shall die, but that our appointment with death is by appointment. This is not looking forward to a time of death, it is looking back to the beginning of death. In the perfect environment into which our first parents were placed, God warned, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” [GENESIS 2:16-17]. The Creator graciously offered every plant and every fruit to the first pair, with the sole exception of the fruit of one tree. God warned that should they disobey, the result would be death. And, of course, our first parents disobeyed, plunging the race into death.
In ROMANS 5:12-21 the reason for death is provided as the sentence of death imposed on all mankind resulting from the disobedience of our first parents is contrasted with the life that comes through the sacrifice of Christ. The Apostle to the Gentiles writes, “Just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.
“But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.
“Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Death is the result of the choice of our first father to rebel against the Creator. Mother Eve was deceived, but Adam chose to rebel, bringing ruin upon the entire creation and death for all mankind. We are born dying, and we are born separated from God our Creator, and we only grow more estranged with the passage of time!
That verse we saw in the Letter to Hebrew Christians spoke of death, and it reminded us of the unwelcome fact of judgement that follows our death. It is essential that we establish a truth concerning this business of death at this point in the message. When we speak of death, we are speaking of a separation. Few of us have a problem accepting that death means a separation from this life, but death is much more than separation from this life. You see, man is a tripartite being. By that, I mean that we have a body, we are a living soul, and we have a spirit. This is established and emphasised when we witness the Apostle praying, “May the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” [1 THESSALONIANS 5:23].
Man possesses a body, and that body is under sentence of death—separation from what we speak of as our existence. The gray hairs in our head are the messenger of death, reminding each of us that we shall not continue forever as we now are. But man is more than a body. People attempt to maintain their youth, exercising and watching their diet, applying cosmetics in a futile attempt to mask the changes that are occurring, dressing to hide the loss of youthful strength, but ageing comes to all, nevertheless.
However, we are not a body; we are living souls. When we speak of the soul, we speak of the reality of who we are. The soul is best described as the thinking part of mankind, the emotional and intellectual aspects of our being. And this soul, the real you, is destined to continue on without rest and without hope forever and ever. You will either spend eternity in the presence of the God Who has given you your being, or you will be forever separated from Him because you have never known Him.
You also have a spirit—a spirit that is either dead, that is, separated from God, or a spirit that is alive in Christ Jesus because it has been renewed through the second birth. This is what Jesus meant when He spoke to a man named Nicodemus. Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit” [JOHN 3:5-8].
Thus, those who are not twice born will be separated from their Creator for all eternity. The body will die, the soul is condemned, and the spirit is already dead to God. However, for those who are born from above, though this body should die, they have the promise of a new body at the time the Son of God comes for them to receive them into God’s eternal Kingdom. The soul of that person is now saved, and he receives a new spirit, the Spirit of Christ. Thus, the saved individual is spared judgement, which is what is seen as we read that verse in the Letter to Hebrew Christians.
I suppose that some would suppose that I have strayed rather far afield from the point that was made when we considered what the Psalmist had written in the 46th Psalm. However, this excursus was simply to establish some truths that need to be stated. Heaven is God’s dwelling place, and His throne is in the centre of those celestial realms. Those who are of the earth, those who have hope only in this life, shall never see God nor see the river that causes such joy in Heaven. Earth dwellers have hope only in this life, as they join the remainder of mankind in rage and in turmoil. Even when they don’t believe they are in turmoil, their soul—their emotions and their thoughts—constantly rages, distracting them from the peace that each person longs to possess.
The people who are known by God, those who are twice born, have peace. Knowing that their future is secure in Christ, knowing that their sins are forgiven, knowing that God has promised them what earth dwellers cannot have, they are at peace. We who are redeemed have this rich promise, which is recorded in the Word. This is the promise of God Himself. The Lord God has promised His people, “We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words” [1 THESSALONIANS 4:13-18].
Again, it is vital that we who are saved remember the words recorded in the Letter to the Christians of Corinth. There, Paul has written, “I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’
‘O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?’
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” [1 CORINTHIANS 15:50-57].
Years ago, an old rancher lay dying. And on his death bed, he asked that his two sons might come to him that he might speak with them one last time. When the sons had come into the room where he lay dying, he turned to the elder son and spoke tenderly. “Son, you have been a fine lad, and I’m so proud of you for putting your trust in the Lord Jesus. You’ve walked with Him and honoured Him with a godly life. Your steadfast walk with Him has given me such joy. Now, we’ll be parted for a brief while, but I’ll see you again very soon. Good night, Son.”
Turning his head to look at the younger boy, the father fixed his eyes on him and spoke in a muffled voice that betrayed grief. “Son, you’ve excelled at all you put your hand to, and I have been very proud of you for your accomplishments. However, I have felt great pain in the knowledge that you never put faith in the Son of God. You’ve worked hard and earned a lot of money. You’re generous and you’re good, but acquiring that money has consumed your days. I won’t be here any longer to counsel you or to urge you to do what is right. I must go, and I’ll never see you again. Goodbye, Son. It grieves me to say this, but we will never see one another again. Goodbye.”
At this statement, the younger of the two boys spoke with a note of surprise. “Dad, you told my brother, ‘Good night,’ but you told me ‘Goodbye.’ Why did you tell him ‘Good night,’ but tell me ‘Goodbye?’”
The dying father, with tears streaming down his face, spoke with genuine sorrow, “Son, your brother put his faith in the Son of God, and he has been born again. I know that I’ll see him in Heaven, for we are promised a place there. You, my dear son, were too busy making money to choose to follow the Saviour. We will never see one another either in this life or in the life to come. You have no place in Heaven because you never received the life Jesus offered. Son, I must tell you ‘Goodbye.’ I’ll never see you again.”
That is such a sad tale, but it encapsulates precisely the separation that must take place. Those who are born from above already are being prepared for eternity. They anticipate eternal joy, eternal fulfilment, eternal satisfaction in the presence of the Son of God Who loved us and gave Himself for us. Those who never received Him as Master over life, though they may have been religious, though they may have been church members, have no such promise, no such hope.
How else are we to understand the dark words of warning that Jesus spoke when He said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness’” [MATTHEW 7:21-23].
Later during His ministry in Judea, someone asked the Master whether those who should be saved were but few. Jesus answered, “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil’ [LUKE 13:24-27]!
We, God’s redeemed people, have a promise. And that promise sustains us throughout the days of our journey through this broken world. A promise is only as certain as the veracity of the one making the promise. It is the True and Living God Who gives us this promise, and His Word cannot be broken. I’ve lived more than a few years, and in the days of my life, I have seen many of my family and friends who have gone before me. I grieved over some because I have no hope of seeing them again. They lived without hope in God, living only for what nectar they could extract from this life. When they died, I said “Goodbye,” knowing that I should never see them again. They lived without hope and without God in the world, and as they lived, so they died.
That was not so with others who passed through the dark waters of death. I know that I will see my daughter who left us and was borne in the arms of angels into the presence of the Saviour. I know that I will see my blessed dad, who prayed for me and always pleaded with me to follow Christ. I have a dear grandfather and a grandmother who have gone before me. And there are friends with whom I shared the Faith and walked before the Lord that I will see again. These, I told, “Good night.”
THE RIVER OF LIFE — “The angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations” [REVELATION 22:1-2].
I grew to manhood on the prairies in Kansas. Our home was on the edge of the region that is known as the “Flint Hills.” The streams flow slowly through that area, the dark rivers flow lazily and the waters are foreboding. Seldom are you able to peer into the waters and see what lies hidden in the depths. Each summer as a boy, I would swim in the Verdigris River, never seeing any of the denizens—the catfish, the snapping turtles—that I knew lurked beneath those waters. Many times I dove from small cliffs or off bridges into those murky waters. I waded in Little Cedar Creek and in Big Cedar Creek; they were just as dark as was the Verdigris River or Fall River. My first research entailed wading the Cottonwood River to take water samples in an ecological study of the process of eutrophication. It was impossible to see the bottom of the stream, though it was only waist deep. It was an example of the streams of the Flint Hills.
Later, living in Texas, I fished for catfish and alligator gar in the Trinity River and in the lakes around the Metroplex or in the dark waters of Lake Meredith in the Panhandle of the state. How unlike the clear streams of the Rocky Mountains where I now live and serve. The clear waters of the mountain tarns and the crystal waters of the streams flowing down the mountainsides are often deceptive to the unwary fisherman because of the clarity of the water.
Fishing from a float tube on Foley Lake high above the Vedder River, I marvelled at my ability to see fish swimming more than ten meters below me. Once, while fishing the Skagit River, I endeavoured to cross a small arm of the stream that was only a few meters wide. As I stepped off the shore I was instantly aware that the little arm of that stream was several meters deep as I, weighed down with my gear, plunged deep over my head. The clarity of the water was deceptive and I didn’t realise how deep the water was. Clear as the waters are throughout these beautiful mountains, they nevertheless mask microorganisms that are otherwise unseen and pose a danger to anyone who thinks to drink those crystal waters. Giardiasis, beaver fever, is always present even in the clear, bubbling waters that rush down the rocky slopes.
That is not the case with the river that flows from the throne of God, for it is not only bright as crystal, but it gives life. It is a reminder that God is the source of all life, and that in Him we have not only our being but our joy. Indeed, we see the testimony that encourages us, saying, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was fully God. The Word was with God in the beginning. All things were created by him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created. In him was life, and the life was the light of mankind. And the light shines on in the darkness, but the darkness has not mastered it” [JOHN 1:1-5 NET 2nd].
There is so much that is hinted in these verses that we cannot now understand. We will know fully when at last we see the River of the Water of Life, but at the present we have only a dim understanding. I confess that when God speaks of a river flowing from the throne of God, I anticipate that I will see a river flowing with crystal waters. And in some way, that river contributes to a tree which nourishes the body and provides healing for the nations. It is not at all apparent to me that the language is symbolic.
I cannot tell all that shall be revealed in Heaven, but I am confident of this:
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him.”
[1 CORINTHIANS 2:9]
I am assured that I shall see my Redeemer. Even as the old Patriarch has testified,
“After my skin has been thus destroyed,
yet in my flesh I shall see God,
whom I shall see for myself,
and my eyes shall behold, and not another.”
[JOB 19:26-27]
I read in the pages of the Apocalypse, a scene that I am certain I shall see. John writes, “Whenever the [cherubim] give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the [redeemed saints] fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
‘Worthy are you, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they existed and were created.’”
[REVELATION 4:9-11]
And when the Son of God appears and receives the title deed to God’s Creation, I read, “The [cherubim] and the [redeemed saints] fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying,
‘Worthy are you to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation,
and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,
and they shall reign on the earth.’”
[REVELATION 5:8-10]
I will see this! My eyes will witness Him as He receives the scroll demonstrating His authority. My lips will repeat these words with all the redeemed of the Lord God. And I will speak with enthusiasm. You see, He has purchased my salvation, forgiving all my sin, and made me one of His saints. I am not worthy, but He is worthy to receive praise. That’s my God! He has all power. He is my rock, and He is my salvation. He is the mighty God, conqueror of death, hell, and the grave. His Name is Jesus! Amen.
But what of you? When life is no more for you, what is your destiny? Will you be eternally in the presence of the Living God Who is your Creator? Or will you be excluded from His presence forever. The answer to this question will be determined in this life; you must choose either to believe the Son of God or refuse to receive Him as Master over your life.
The Word of God extends this offer to you, even today, saying, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved” [ROMANS 10:9-10]. God invites each one to life today, promising, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” [ROMANS 10:13]. Amen.
[1] Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
