Scripture text for Friday, May 21st, 2010: Revelation 21:1-22:21
Full Text Online | Listen Online
Revelation 22:7 says, “Behold, I am coming soon!” The “I” in the verse is Jesus, but when is “soon.” When Dana tells me that she is going to be home “soon”, I anticipate that she will be home in minutes. I certainly do not expect her to take 2,000 years to come back home.
We don’t know when Jesus will come back (Matthew 24:36), but we are told “soon.” And now 2,000 years later we are still waiting.
Verses like this help us to understand the nature of God-time. When I was a young kid, I can remember asking my parents when I would be able to drive the car. They usually responded one of two ways, either “it won’t be long” or simply, “soon.” For me it was an eternity – some distant moment in time that I could not comprehend. But for my parents it was a definite time that they knew would some day come and more quickly than they would prefer.
God is speaking through Jesus that it will not be long before Jesus comes back. God knows when this time will be even if we do not. Creation is in the final phase of God’s work. Jesus has died and resurrected. The final phase is Jesus’ return to us to complete the work he has began. We rejoice and eagerly anticipate Jesus’ return and are grateful that in this final phase it is soon.
———————–
This is the final reading and devotion in the E100 Bible Reading Plan. Congratulations if you have been following along through all 100 passages. We hope God has blessed you through the Word and that you have discovered the benefits of daily Bible reading and better understand the whole story of God.
The Riverside staff has spent considerable time discussing how we can continue to provide daily scripture reading and devotions in the future. We will take a few weeks off from the daily emails, but please email me (dteefey@rcovenant.org) if you read this and would like to see the daily emails continue. This will help us to know who has been benefiting from them.
Devotion prepared by Dan Teefey