Until Resurrection Day, death had the final say. I wonder if Satan chortled an evil chortle in Eden as he thought he’d outsmarted God. Maybe thinking God had made a pivotal error of promising, even threatening mortality if Adam (and Eve) ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, though it was […]
On Easter Sunday, I went to a local beach with my parents for a sunrise service to celebrate God’s making all things new in the resurrection of Christ. A highlight for me was watching the sun rise in the east as the full moon set over the Gulf of Mexico. It made me wish I […]
Revelation 21:1 Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. […]
It’s Easter Sunday. The tomb is empty. The Lord Jesus is Risen (Luke 24). All things have been made new (Revelation 21:5). The consequence of the fall of man–our mortality–has been paid in full. And there’s new hope for us in Him because of it. The sting of death is gone. The grave has no […]
You may have heard statements like “It’s always darkest before the dawn” or “Calm before the storm.” Each refers to a time just before the “Soon”. Silent, dark, stillness. In the flow of Passion Week, Jesus is in the tomb. Soon, everything will be made new because He defeated sin and death on the Cross. […]
A three-dimensional physical world and a life experience marked by time—that’s our frame of reference. From the time we’re born until the time we die, it’s with us … marked by movements of the sun and moon and stars, as well as by the movement of our earth. Physical objects and marked time condition us […]
Today’s passage separates the Christian-Happy-Wishers from the realists. The Christian Happy Wisher group wants to see all the good little Christians beamed up to heaven before things get really bad. They want judgment to happen only to those nasty evildoers at the Great White Throne and the good little Christians sit by with hands folded […]
(The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. Revelation 20: 5-6 What “rest of the dead” and who was part of that first resurrection? I’m glad you asked. Let’s back up: […]
If you want to get into an argument with a theologian, this next passage is a tutorial.* * * Revelation 20:1 And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. 2 He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is […]
Alright. I’m going to tell you a little secret. I love doing the photos associated with these devotionals each year. This year’s has proven a little harder because of the content. At times it’s been my favorite part…choosing images, rendering and piecing collages, to display visually what is going on. ***Not today. I don’t want […]
