Heavenhigh

God blesses His People!

# 31 2022 Dev. Psalm 144:15. God Blesses His People! Read all of Psalm 144 first. We invite you into God’s space, to read His Word, to think on and interact with. This is God’s story. How will it affect yours? All passages are taken from the NIV.

Psalm 144:15 “blessed is the people whose God is the Lord.”

Intro. Ps.138-145 are eight Davidic Psalms of Prayer/ Praise leading close to the end of the Psalter. The series is framed by two praise Psalms, Ps.138 praising God for answered prayer and Ps.145 praising God for His care of all of creation.

Psalm 144 is a praise prayer for deliverance, praise for God’s concern for the human race and the benefits of God’s love for his people.

Vs.1-2 “Praise be to the Lord my Rock” In the Old Test. “Rock” refers to Jesus Christ. David is under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. David uses five battle terms to describe God’s love: fortress, stronghold, deliverer, shield and refuge. God is all that and much more to those who love God, His Son and Spirit.

Vs.3-4 “Lord, what are human beings that you care for them, mere mortals that you think of them?” God’s care does not cross the mind of the unbeliever but it is a question followers of Jesus ask as well. What is the answer? God loves His creation, including all people; He grieves our fall, the lack of fellowship the lack of love and the lack of care for this world

Vs.5-8 “Part your heavens, Lord, and come down…” David, in desperation, calls on God to display His power in the world in order to be rescued from overwhelming threats. Followers of Jesus must pray this prayer for Ukraine, Afghanistan and for every country where injustice reigns and the innocent suffer. Perhaps we should include our country as well!

Vs.9-10 “I will sing a new song to you, my God…” to you God “who gives victory, who delivers, who rescues” your servants. O, Lord, God our Rock delivers us from the evils of addiction, from the untruths swirling around us and from the injustices of our land.

Vs.12-15 “Then our sons (daughters) in their youth will be like well-nurtured plants.” Because of your love for us and as we acknowledge your love, and follow your ways, there will be prosperity in the land; more than enough for all and peace and tranquility for all. We end as the Psalmist ends.

“Blessed are the people of whom this is true; blessed is the people whose God is the Lord.” Amen and Amen!

My Brothers Keeper!

# 30 2022 Dev. Genesis 4:9 My Brother’s Keeper! Read chapter four first. We invite you into God’s space, to read His Word, to think on and interact with. This is God’s story. How will it affect yours? All passages are taken from the NIV.

Genesis 4:9 “Then the Lord said to Cain, ‘Where is your brother Abel? ‘I don’t know,’ he replied. ‘Am I my brother’s keeper?’”

Back ground: We began at the beginning. A lot can be unpacked from the first sentence of Scripture, perhaps a whole book. But we will give only a short introduction: whatever people perceive the Scriptures to be it is first and foremost an account of God’s love in His relationship with people through Christ Jesus. God’s plan included Jesus as our Savior from the very beginning, Gen 3:15.

Ge. 4 From peace and harmony to conflict; jealousy, comparison, rebellion and murder. The human heart now has the capacity for good and evil, but we have the the ability to choose. People today blame social structure, poverty, racism, whatever the affect may be on people it still comes down to choice. In chapter 4 we see two choices being made.

Vs.1-5 Two of Eve’s children are mentioned here, but already in this chapter, seven generations are mentioned, wives, brothers and sisters, indicating a long period of time and many more children here unto not mentioned. Scripture here is concentrating on the results of the fall; good and evil choices, not on a clear genealogy. “Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. And Abel also brought an offering…” Worship of God was carried out from the beginning. Some commentators, suggest that Abel’s offering was accepted because blood was shed. I think that it was a matter of the heart, Cain’s heart was not right with God,

V.6 Is the heart of this chapter, God said: ‘if you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.’” As mentioned before, desire and rule basically are the same word. God warned Cain to make the right choice.

Vs.8-16 Cain listens to Satan and choses to kill his brother, he is completely rebellious, ‘Am I my brother’s keeper?’” A rebellious reply, Yes, Cain you are your brother’s keeper, followers of Jesus would say! God punishes Cain, rightly so. God says: ‘You will be a restless wander on the earth.’” God does not let him of the hook, God’s Word goes out at that time, that no one must kill Cain. Even in punishment Cain is rebellious, later we see he builds a city, a permanent place, and he moves east of Eden, the land of Nod, a land of wandering, apparently, away from God’s presence.

Vs.17-22 Very quickly society develops, herding, music, iron works, and tools. Another aberration is introduced, polygamy, in opposition to God’s plan for man: “that is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.”

V.23-24 even though great progress is being made in society, and quality of life is improved, Cain’s offspring is repeating the bad choices of the past. Lamech is a rebellious braggart; he kills a young man; ‘if Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamech seventy-seven times.’” Jesus uses that very statement to highlight the importance and permanence of forgiveness. In Cain’s line there was no forgiveness.

V.25 God gives Adam and Eve another son, Seth, a God fearing man like Abel. Abel’s blood, v.10, continues to cry out from the ground, accusing all who commit violence, (Lk. 11: 50-51, Heb. 11:4, 12:24). The killings in our land and Russia in Ukraine comes to mind.

Adam, Eve, Seth and Enoch, is the God fearing generation, and genealogy. “At that time people began to call on the name of the Lord.” Like Cain, getting away from God’s presence is easily done today, but the people of God continue to call on the name of the Lord and God continues to bless us even in a broken world. Praise be to God!

Desiring God’s Grace!

# 29 2022 Dev. Psalm 143:6. Desiring God’s Grace! Read all of Psalm 143 first. We invite you into God’s space, to read His Word, to think on and interact with. This is God’s story. How will it affect yours? All passages are taken from the NIV.

Psalm 143:6 “I spread out my hands to you; I thirst for you like a parched land”

Psalm 143 is a prayer for mercy. This is the last of the penitential Psalms. It is divided into two sections, vs.1-6, vs. 7-10 and a two verse, vs.11-12, is a summary of the prayer.

Vs. 1-2 “Lord, hear my prayer, listen to my cry for mercy;” This is the overriding request from the psalmist, the psalmist puts his trust in God’s “faithfulness and righteousness.” God, no one is righteous before you. We identify, don’t judge us Lord. Amen!

Vs. 3-4 The Psalmist lays out his problem; “the enemy pursues me”, probably, King Saul pursuing David. I am crushed, I am like one dead, living in darkness.

“My spirit grows faint within me; my heart within me is dismayed. We identify, how often are we not overwhelmed with life today?

Vs.5-6 “I remember… I meditate… I consider what your hands have done. I spread out my hands… I thirst for you…” This is what we are going through today, we long for relief, we long for peace and harmony again. Lord Jesus, bring us peace, security and prosperity. Amen!

Vs.7-10 “answer me quickly, Lord, my spirit fails.” This is the heart of the prayer as it should be for all of our prayers. Lord stay close, we are lost without you, show us your unfailing love, we trust you, show us the way, we put our lives in your hands, rescue us from the evil one, teach us your will. “You are our God; may your good Spirit lead us (me) on level ground.” Amen!

Vs. 11-12 “For your name’s sake, preserve my life;” The Psalmist summarizes his prayer. He highlights God’s righteousness v.1, God’s unfailing love v.8, “for I am your servant.” v10. Amen and Amen!

The Fall!

# 28 2022 Dev. Genesis 3:9. The Fall! Read chapter three first. We invite you into God’s space, to read His Word, to think on and interact with. This is God’s story. How will it affect your story? All passages are taken from the NIV.

Genesis 3:9 “But the Lord God called to the man, ‘where are you?’”

Back ground: We began at the beginning. A lot can be unpacked from the first sentence of Scripture, perhaps a whole book. But we will give only a short introduction: whatever people perceive the Scriptures to be it is first and foremost an account of God’s love perceived in His relationship with people in Christ Jesus. The first three chapters of Genesis corresponds with the last three chapters of Revelation.

Intro. Ge. 3 It is hard to imagine things went bad in a day or two, non the less, Satan entered into their life in the garden. This a place where God walked and talked with His creation. Adam’s disobedience changed that relationship, and changed their way of life, from peace and harmony, to one of conflict. Not only human relationships but it includes all of creation (Ro.8:18-25).

Vs.1-5 “Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made.” How is it possible for a snake to talk, as far as the garden is concerned we cannot understand these happenings this side of heaven. There is a lot of speculation, but that is what it is, speculation and imagination. But in a place where God walks and talks with his creation, it is plausible for Satan to talk to Eve. Why Eve? It could be that Adam perhaps did not inform her, “and you must not touch it”, God did not say that. However, Adam was there as well.

Satan’s temptation causes Eve and Adam to doubt, “Did God really say, you will not certainly die… For God knows… your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God…”That is a strong argument.

Vs.6-9 The temptation has what we could call the universal appeal: she saw the fruit was good to eat, it was pleasing to the eye, and desirable to gain knowledge, she picked and ate and gave to her husband. Adam choose his wife over obedience to God. It appears that once they ate they felt shame and tried to cover their nakedness. Right away they hid themselves from what they had experienced many times, the sound of God walking in the garden. “But God called to the man, ‘Where are you?’” God of course knew the situation but God being a God of grace, mercy and forgiveness makes the first move and calls out to them. This is a call still going out from God to His people, a call to every person lost, every person overwhelmed with life, every person not able to find their way back to Him. Praise the Lord!

Vs.10-20 Now they have to fess up, right upfront things go bad. God asked the man first, his answer “the woman you put here with me…”. Adam blames God. God addresses the woman, her answer, ‘the serpent deceived me…’”. God addresses the serpent, he has no one to blame.

God curses the serpent, but also Satan. The serpent is cursed above all wild animals, obviously, in spite of their benefit in keeping down the rodent population, almost everyone hates snakes, especially women. But Satan is also cursed, v. 15 “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring^[^a^] and hers; he will crush^[^b^] your head ,and you will strike his heel.” This is what we call the Mother Promise, a direct reference to the work of Jesus Christ. That means that Christ will be and is victorious. Satan does not have free reign, he is bound and if we stay away from him by our faith and by God’s rules, we are protected.

Eve also is punished in that childbearing will be very painful. ‘Your desire will be for your husband and he will rule over you.’” In hebrew, Rule and desire basically are the same word.

Adam, ‘cursed is the ground because of you;’” by ‘painful toil… by the sweat of your brow you will eat your food.’” And you will die, ‘for dust you are and to dust you will return.’” Not a pretty picture for either one of them.

Vs.21-24 “The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.” They would not be allowed to eat from the Tree of Life that was in the middle of the garden, God “banished them from the Garden of Eden,” God placed a guard to block the way to the Tree of Life, we see the Tree of Life again in Rev. 22:1-5. So where is Eden now? Obviously, Eden was and is in a spiritual dimension, real but not assessable to humans today.

God Our Refuge!

# 27 2022 Dev. Psalm 142:5. God Our Refuge! Read all of Psalm 142 first. We invite you into God’s space, to read His Word, to think on and interact with. This is God’s story. How will it affect your story? All passages are taken from the NIV.

Psalm 142:5 “I cry to you, Lord; I say, ‘You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.’”

Psalm 142 is a prayer for God’s mercy. David appeals to God for help. He is hiding in a cave, probably from king Saul who is out to kill him. Was this prayer in the cave where David was hiding from King Saul? David had the opportunity to kill Saul but he refused to strike down the Lord’s anointed, because evil deeds come from evil men. (1 Sam. 24)

Vs.1-2 “I cry aloud to the Lord;” The prayer is personal, all in the first person. This prayer could come from anyone of us, who may feel alone, or persecuted, or may have relational problems, any number of troubles. “I lift up my voice to the Lord for mercy.”

Vs.3-4 “When my spirit grows faint within me,” It is you, Lord, I depend on, you know my path and all the pitfalls waiting for me. Today, how quickly we feel alone, how easily we are abandoned over difference of opinions, we all feel the lack of concern, lack of love.

Vs.5 “I cry to you, Lord; I say, ‘You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.” Here faith overtakes legitimate complaints, faith confronts trouble, faith, sees God as a refuge in the storm. You, Lord, are our portion, our healing, our salvation, our refuge and place of rest in this life and in the life to come. Praise the Lord!

Vs.6-7 “I cry to you, Lord;” not to friends, not to escape’ like drugs, alcohol, or sex, only you, Lord, can rescue me. We need to know when we cannot go on alone, admit we need help, only you, God, can set us free.

When we proclaim God as our help, our Savior, our refuge: “Then the righteous will gather about me (us) because of your goodness to me (us).” That is what church is all about, fellowship, support and witness. We thank God!

The Answer to Loneliness!

# 26 2022 Dev. Genesis 2:18. The Answer to Loneliness! Read chapter two first. We invite you into God’s space, to read His Word, to think on and interact with. This is God’s story. How will it affect your story? All passages are taken from the NIV.

Genesis 2:18 “The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”

A little history. We have finished the new Testament and are close to finishing the Psalms. Week by week it has taken five years. You many see all of our post at heavenhigh.org. We hope and pray these devotionals are and continue to be a blessing,

Back ground: We began at the beginning. A lot can be unpacked from the first sentence of scripture, perhaps a whole book. But we will give only a short introduction: whatever people perceive the scriptures to be it is first and foremost an account of God’s love seen in His relationship with people. That first sentence also confronts us with a decision: will we accept this as the Word of God? Will we accept God’s Word by a function of our faith? The world, of course, accepts non of this and even many theological commentators do not accept the first eleven chapters as historical, not to mention the evolution issue. Today, even the most secular scientists admit creation has intelligent design, of course it has, followers of Jesus know that. The first three chapters of Genesis corresponds with the last three chapters of Revelation.

Intro. Gen. 2:4 seems to start over, after the initial introduction of the 7 days of creation. That 7 days’ summary appears to be a mnemonic device (a memory aid), 7 is a perfect number that could be a much longer length of time.

Vs.1-3 God sets aside the 7^th day, blessed it, proclaimed it holy, and designated it as a day to rest. Christians celebrate rest and worship on the 1^st day of the week, the day Jesus rose from the dead. In the Old Testament, Saturday is designated as the Sabbath. God designates earthly rest as a precursor to God’s eternal rest in the New Heaven and the New Earth.

Vs.4-7 In these verses God details for us the creation process. “God spoke and it was so” and God used the natural processes He put into nature, that He continues to use today. God watered the earth, springs, dew, no rain at that time. Growth came up at God’s direction. He “formed man from the dust of the earth and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” We do not agree with the idea of evolution, however, there is microevolution, not a crossover from one species to another but changes within the species to accommodate the environment.

Vs.8-9 God “planted a garden… for the man he had formed.” A sanctuary of fruit trees, pleasing to the man’s eye and for food. But there is a catch: “in the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” In the sanctuary, as in life, there is a place to choose good and evil.

Vs.10-14 “A river watering the garden flowed from Eden;” There are four headwaters to this river, The Pishon; we do not know this river, the Gihon; flowing from the south, we do not know this river, the Tigris; flowing from the north, and the Euphrates; flowing from the north east. Given the size of the rivers we know, the river in the garden was large, indicating a very large garden. In Rev. 22 we see a restoration of the garden: “Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb ²down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. ³No longer will there be any curse.”

Vs.15-17 God “took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” And God set a limit for Adam, do ‘not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.’” Jesus, recreates us, we who believe on Him, will certainly not die, but live forever. Praise God!

Vs.18-25 The Lord God said, ‘it is not good for man to be alone I will make a helper suitable for him.’” God also created all the animals and all the birds, Adam named them all “But for Adam no suitable helper was found” … Man was lonely. “Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib^[^h^] he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said,

“This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called ‘woman,’
for she was taken out of man.”

²⁴That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.”

God created men and women, in His own image, equally created to complement each other. Someone said to me once, Husbands and wives are like “Lego” they work together, they fit together, they hold together.

“Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame” This is a fantastic story, it is not scientific, nor does science discredit its validity, it is a story of God’s love for His people and God’s desire for fellowship with all of His creation. I hope Adam and Eve lived a long time in the garden in peace and harmony before Satan came along. We thank God!

A Urgent Prayer!

# 25 2022 Dev. Psalm 141:1. A Urgent Prayer! Read all of Psalm 141 first. We invite you into God’s space, to read His Word, to think on and interact with. This is God’s story. How will it affect your story? All passages are taken from the NIV.

Psalm 141:1 “I call to you, Lord, come quickly to me; hear me when I call to you.”

Psalm 141 is a prayer for deliverance from the wicked and from wicked ways. The center of the prayer is v5, Let the righteous direct us, punishment is a kindness, “rebuke…is oil on my head.”

Vs.1,2 “I call to you, Lord, come quickly to me;” This prayer is an urgent plea: “come quickly”. The Psalmist appeals to current (Old Test.) worship practices: “May my prayer…like incense” stand before you. May lifting my hands “be like the evening sacrifice.” May our prayers identify with worship today!

Vs.3,4 “Set a guard over my mouth, Lord;” Our mouths speak out of our hearts. Guard our hearts, Lord, control our speech and our actions. May evildoers not prosper.

V.5 The center of the prayer is very personal: “Let a righteous man strike me- that is a kindness; let him rebuke me- that is oil on my head.” The Psalmist prays for physical intervention, for verbal correction, he will not refuse it. In other words, in the time of the author and hopefully today, he/she will listen to correction. Are we listening to the ultimate correction, God in His Word? Are we accepting the love and grace of Jesus? Are we responding to the guidance of the Holy Spirit?

Vs.6,7 These two verses give us insight into the consequence of doing evil. The world makes light of God’s justice, after all, where is God? Well, there is a God and He is a God of justice but not only justice, He is also a God of love, mercy and of grace. God is in control of history, He has a plan, a purpose for mankind. Thank you, Lord Jesus!

Vs.8,9,10 “But my eyes are fixed on you.” This is the bottom line at the time of this prayer and for our time today, “in you I (we) take refuge.” Keep us safe from the evils of the worldly and the world. There are traps and snares all around us, like, online gambling, casinos, availability of drugs on line and in the streets to mention a few. There are too many pitfalls to list here but we all are responsible to trust God to protect us. But my (our) eyes are fixed on you, Sovereign Lord; in you I (we) take refuge…” Trust God for the future!

The Beginning!

# 24 2022 Dev. Genesis 1:1. The Beginning! Read chapter one first. We invite you into God’s space, to read His Word, to think on and interact with. This is God’s story. How will it affect your story? All passages are taken from the NIV.

Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”

Intro: Today we begin at the beginning. A lot can be unpacked from the first sentence of scripture, perhaps a whole book. But we will give only a short introduction: whatever people perceive the scriptures to be it is first and foremost an account of God’s relationship with His people. That first sentence also confronts us with decisions: will we accept this as the Word of God? Will we accept God’s Word by a function of our faith? The world, of course, accepts non of this and even many theological commentators do not accept the first eleven chapters as historical, not to mention the evolution issue. Today, even the most secular scientist admits creation has intelligent design, of course it has, followers of Jesus know that. The first three chapters of Genesis corresponds with the last three chapters of Revelation.

Day one, “darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the spirit of God was hovering over the waters”. The Spirit, the Breath of God, is the the source of all life on earth. ‘’’And God said let there be light,’ and there was light.” What kind of light? God does not need the sun or moon, “there will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light (Rev. 22:5).” And God saw that the light was good.

Day two, “God said, ‘Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from the water… God called the vault ‘sky’. And there was evening, and morning- the second day.”

Day three, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let the dry ground appear… then God said. ‘Let the land produce vegetation:’ and the land produced, plants, trees and fruit. “And God saw that it was good.”

Day four, “God said, ‘let there be light in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night,” and so it was, “God made two great lights-the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night…and God saw that it was good”

Day five, “God said, ‘let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky…God blessed them and said, ‘be fruitful and increase on the earth.” God’s intention is to have abundance on the earth, forests, grass lands, birds and fish in the sea, a world of plenty for His people.

Day six, “God said. ‘let the land produce living creatures according to their kind: livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind.” And so it was so. “God said, ‘let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish… birds, over the livestock and all the wild animals…’ So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.” We see God’s glory in His creation, and we share in that glory by the blessing to increase and fill the earth. That is only possible in the family unit that God has created, male and female, God blesses procreation as He does through out His creation. Any other relationship is on the wrong side of God’s created order.

“God saw all that He had made, and it was very good.” God is good all of the time. Since the fall, not all is good, but in Christ God’s goodness to mankind is restored, He has restored good in the followers of Jesus. Thanks be to God!

God Our Protector!

# 23 2022 Dev. Psalm 140:6,7. God Our Protector! Read all of Psalm 140 first. We invite you into God’s space, to read His Word, to think on and interact with. This is God’s story. How will it affect your story? All passages are taken from the NIV.

Psalm 140:6,7 “I say to the Lord, ‘You are my God.’ Hear, Lord, my cry for mercy.
Sovereign Lord, my strong deliverer…”

Intro. Ps.138-145 are eight Davidic Psalms of Praise leading close to the end of the Psalter. The series is framed by two praise Psalms, Ps.138 praising God for answered prayer and Ps.145 praising God for His care of all of creation.

Psalm 140 is a four stanza prayer (song) with a two verse conclusion. Seven different physical descriptions are used. In our day we may well identify with the Psalmist, lawlessness is all around us, there are no consequences, the restraint of the law is non existent in some areas. We cry out to God for the many innocent victims and for the children.

Vs.1-3 “Rescue me, Lord, from evildoers…” A prayer for protection, from those wiling to use violence against those of a different ethnic orientation, against those who disagree, against those of a different religious or political thought. Even in some churches today you may not have a different opinion, a different spiritual orientation. Rescue us Lord!

Vs.4-5 “Keep me safe, Lord, from the hands of the wicked…” Keep us safe from violence, from spiritual pitfalls, snares and traps set on followers of Jesus by many people influenced by Satan.

Vs.6-8 “I say to the Lord, ‘You are my God.’” The Psalmist confirms God as his protector: “My strong deliverer, you shield my head in the day of battle.” As followers of Jesus, we are in a battle in our time, conservative Christians are canceled, maligned, we are the enemy, in the world, in our country, and even in the church. We pray to God: “Do not grant the wicked their desires, Lord; do not let their plans succeed.”

Vs.9-11 “Those who surround me (us) proudly rear their heads; may the mischief of their lips engulf them.” This we pray, Lord, leaders are leading us astray: our political leaders and our religious leaders are hard bent on destroying what is good, what is right, what is according to your will. We pray, Lord Jesus; “may slanderers not be established in the land; may disaster hunt down the violent.”

Vs.12-13 We know that God is in control, that is what we confirm along with the psalmist. “I (we) know that the Lord secures justice for the poor and upholds the cause of the needy. Surely the righteous will praise your name, and the upright will live in your presence.” Praise be to God!

Christ is on the Way!

# 22 2022 Dev. Rev. 22:7. Christ is on the way! Read all of Rev. 22 first. We invite you into God’s space, to read His Word, to think and interact with. This is God’s story. Will it affect your story? All passages are taken from the NIV.

Rev.22:7 “Look, I am coming soon! Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy written in this scroll.”

Intro. These visions that John sees are not actual events but will and have come to pass at one time or another and will be repeated in increasing intensity until the end. The vision is put into the words of men so that those who believe will understand by the power of the Holy Spirit. What is being described here is from eternity to eternity. God, who is outside of time, operates in the eternal present, represents to us what is about to happen in time, as long as time lasts.

Rev. 22 is the last chapter of Revelation, the last book of the New Testament. Ch. 21 already introduced us to the New Jerusalem, that is the New Heaven and the New Earth. There are three sections: Eden Restored, John and the Angel and an epilogue: invitation and warning.

Vs.1-5 The center of this new universe is the throne of God and of Jesus and the Holy Spirit represented here as the river of life. Eden is restored and is up graded past the original garden. The blessing of original Eden; direct fellowship with God, the innocence of sin-less-ness, the fruit of the trees, always ready, ripe, and never going bad. All that is restored but to a higher and greater degree; face to face with God, sin no longer possible, not depending on night and day, or depending on the weather, yet God’s creation is still with us in all it’s glory that the tree of life symbolizes.

Vs.6-11 reiterates the beginning of the book, John is chosen and told to write all he sees. The reason for the book is to comfort God’s people: “Look, I am coming soon!” Here John is told “do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this scroll, because the time is near…” God’s time: a thousand years is as one day to God. We are still waiting for Christ’s return, with all that is going on right now; a destructive and an unjust war, horrible shootings of innocent children, a world wide economy that will plunge millions of people into debilitating poverty around the world and the gender issues. Many believers want Christ to come soon, but He comes like a thief in the night, when we least expect it.

Vs.12-21 “Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.” Jesus is not talking about sins committed, believers are forgiven, He talking about what we have done for Him, for the Kingdom of God and the people of God, indeed we will be rewarded accordingly. There is also a warning about adding or subtracting from God’s Word. That, in my opinion, includes interpretations and misrepresentations of God’s word that enhance our own evil agendas, of which there are many in the world and moving into some churches. This is one of the reasons true believers are anxious for the Lord the come quickly. But Jesus comforts us in v 17: “The Spirit and the bride (the church) say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.” That has been God’s call from the beginning of creation to this day and until the end of time.

We end this book as John ends the Word of God: “He who testifies to these things says, ‘Yes, I am coming soon.’

Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen.”