Word of God daily online Bible study
From the living Bible
April 19, 2009
Scripture verse of the day
Revelation 21:2
And I, John, saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven. It was a glorious sight, beautiful as the bride at her wedding.
Scripture reading of the day Revelation 20 1:4, 10 — 27
He will wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, or sorrow, or crying, or pain. All of that has gone forever.
In a vision he took me to a towering mountain peak and from there I watched the wondrous city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of the skies from God. It was filled with the glory of God, and flashed and glowed like a precious gem, crystal-clear like Jasper. Its walls were broad and high, with 12 gates guarded by default Angels. In the names of the 12 tribes of Israel were written on the Gates.
There were three gates on each side — North, South, East and West.
The walls had 12 foundation stones, and are them were written the names of the 12 apostles of the Lamb.
The Angel held in his hand a golden measuring stick to measure the city and its gates and walls.
When he measured it, he found it was a square as wide as it was long; in fact, it was in the form of a cube, for its height was exactly the same as its other dimensions — 2400 km each way. Then He Measured the thickness of the walls and found them to be 66 m across, the Angel called out these measurements to me, using standard units.
The city itself was pure, transparent gold, like glass. The wall was made of Jasper, and was built on 12 layers of foundation stones inlaid with gems; the first layer with Jasper; the second was Safire; the third with chalcedony; the fourth with Emerald; the fifth with sardonyx; the six with Sardius; the seventh with chrysolite; the eighth with beryl; the ninth with Topaz; the tenth with chrysoprase; the 11th with jacinth; the 12th with amethyst.
The 12 gates were made of pearls — each gate from a single Perl. And the main gate was pure transparent gold, like glass.
No temple can be seen in the city, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are worshiped and it everywhere. And the city has no need of sun or moon to light it, the glory of God and of the Lamb illuminate it. It’s light will light the nations of the earth, and the rulers of the world will come and bring their glory to it. Its gates never close: they stay open all day long — and there is no night. And the glory and honor of all the nations shall be brought into it. Nothing evil will he permitted in it — no one’s immoral or dishonest — but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
Sam’s response
Within today’s reading, we get a glimpse of heaven, explained by John in Revelation 21. This revelation with all its details in particulars gives us a taste of what is to come. Can you imagine a wall 66 m wide? Can you imagine walking on transparent gold? Can you imagine a place where there is no sin? Can you imagine a place where there is no death?
When you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, and you allow the spirit to transform you while you are here, you can be assured that you will have a place in the city. All the difficulties, all the trials, all weariness, all the brokenness, all the sickness and all the sorrow will be washed away.
This is sometimes too amazing and wonderful to even imagine, but I sure can’t wait for that day comes.
Let me ask you a question. Are you going to heaven? Are you moving closer to God each day and preparing for that day? Have you given your heart and mind to Jesus?
If not, then today is a great day to start. All you have to do is to sincerely with all your heart come before the Lord and ask him to be your Savior. You must state openly, and believe that Jesus died on the cross for you, and on the third day he rose, and ascended to heaven to sit beside the father’s right-hand.
Understand that no works of your hands is going to help your salvation. Being saved is a gift of God, and it is freely given to all who ask. So ask! Ask God to walk with you for the rest of your life. God knows you hurts, God knows your brokenness, God knows everything about you, and no matter what you have done he still loves you anyway. Our God is a forgiving God, who forgives all our sins and blots a lot of his memory when we asked for forgiveness. So if there’s things you have done that you feel will disallow you from having a relationship with God, I’m here to tell you that it does not matter what you have done, we are all sinners, we have all fallen short of the glory of God. We are not saved by what we do or what we don’t do. We are saved by asking God, and Jesus, to be a father, our friend, our guide, and our Savior.
This does not give us an open right to sin, because when you are saved in the Holy Spirit moves in, you will no longer be able to send without a conviction inside of you telling you that you are sinning. This is a good thing as it helps us from slipping off the path.
If reading this you have made a decision to come to Christ, and get down on your knees before the Lord and ask him to come into your heart. If you really want this you can have it. God loves you and all he wants is to be loved by you and worshiped. It’s a big choice, but it’s the best choice you can never make.
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