The first things have passed away Rev.21:4
2 Cor.5:2: “For in this we groan.” The body, in time, here on earth, is our present house of sorrow. Here, as years bass by, 2 Cor.4:16 says: “Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.” Ps.42:3: “My tears have been my food day and by night, while they say to me all day long, ‘Where is your God?’” But God takes account of all of our sorrows and our tears are all, each one, recorded in His book [Ps.56:8].
There are no wasted sufferings in the economy of God. Sorrows for a season effect eternal comforts for suffering saints. Through them we enter into fellowship with Christ as Heb.5:8 says: “Though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience through the things He suffered.”
Through suffering we learn by experience what we are told in 2 Cor.1:3-5: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ.”
Ps.119:75: “In faithfulness You have afflicted me.” Can you say so? Ps.119:71: “It was good for me that I was afflicted.” Is this your testimony?
When standing on eternal shores, it certainly will be. When seen from the standpoint of an All-Wise Sovereign, you will say so. If our trust in His kindly wisdom were but more simple, we would say so now.
Imagine that we for a moment might be granted all-knowledge with all wisdom to discern our ideal situation. Then, added to that, we had all-power to effect any change that wisdom perceived. We should choose for ourselves precisely the circumstance that we find ourselves in at the moment. We would realize that these very afflictions are the best possible situation for our eternal well-being.
This is what God, the All-Wise, the All-Powerful, has done. No better situation than your present sorrow could possibly be imagined in the process of securing conformity to the likeness of Christ. It is true. 1 Pet.5:10: “After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, shall Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.”
He is yet on the throne, a throne from which He makes all things new [Rev.21:5]. All things new: the process begins now, in the heart, in the renewal of the inner man day by day. There, within by the transforming Spirit of Christ, newness has already begun.
“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold all things have become new” -2 Cor.5:17. And the new, beginning within, unfolds in transformation of character. It will eventually result in a new heaven and earth being established.
Through the dreaded and seeming unrelenting afflictions of life, the Lord’s design is to remake all things; and He begins with our hearts. The outward, the physical, the temporal will follow in due course. Rom.8:21: “The creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.” That relief from external discomforts and sorrows will only fully be realized in the coming final Day.
It is only then that every tear will be wiped away. Some may be wiped dry here, but many will yet stain our cheeks presently. Only in that place will there be no death, mourning, or pain. Rev.21:4: “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” These are the first things which necessarily afflict before being banished.
Pain precedes pleasure. Rejoicing follows mourning. Death snatches its victim ere God raises His victor. Yes, sorrows abide for a season below, but the Word is sure, faithful, and true: “It is done!” -Rev.21:6.
Sweating brows toiling and limp beneath a blazing sun’s curse will yet be led to springing refreshing founts of life [Rev.7:16,17]. Rev.21:6: “I will give to the one who thirst from the spring of the water of life without cost!” Overspread is Almighty’s shade under which no pangs of lack or tormenting thorns can abide [Rev.7:15-17].
Rev.21:7: “He who overcomes will inherit these things.” 1 Pet.1:4-7: “An inheritance imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you. Who by the power of God are guarded through faith unto a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials: that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
Yes, it is for him who overcomes. All have something to overcome in this world by faith in the Son of God. 1 Jn.5:4,5: “Whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith. Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” Yes, we must overcome: suffering’s distressing spectrum in a sin-cursed world, repulsive temptations from the subtle serpent, and threats of one’s own lust to erupt and spew forth its venomous defilements. We must overcome.
There exists only one horrid option: the lake that burns with fire and brimstone. The cowardly who flee sufferings for Christ here, will plunge headlong into torments unending in that Day. Those who refuse to account God as true on earth will have the gnawing worm’s conscience reminding them of that reality throughout all eternity.
But let us not linger here amid the smoking groans of the damned. Rev.21:9: “Come here, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” Can you see her, brilliant and blissful, honored among ten thousands of the choicest souls of the ages? Behold her, linen wrapped, bright and blameless. Rev.19:8: “It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.” Gaze at her glittering virtuous crown glorifying her Beloved [Prov.12:4].
Do you hear the thunderous swelling notes resounding in cloudless eternal skies? Rev.19:7: “Let us rejoice and be exceeding glad and let us give the glory to Him: for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.”
Yes, she has made herself ready. The Day has dawned and the Lamb receives her as His own. Ps.45:9-11: And now at His “right hand stands the queen in gold…
“Listen, O daughter, give attention and incline your ear: Forget your own people and your father’s house; then the King will desire your beauty…She will be led to the King in embroidered work…with gladness and rejoicing;
“They shall enter into the King’s palace.”
Dear Listener, may you be among those who make up this glorious bride of Christ.
Copyright Steve Phillips 2020