Cover to Cover: Revelation 16:20-22:21
Key Passage: Revelation 21:1-8; 22:20-21
Verse of the Day: Revelation 22:20
Key events/ideas in today’s passage:
- The Heavenly Warrior Defeats the Beast (Rev 19:11-21)
- Thousand Year Reign (Revelation 20:1-6)
- Judgment (Revelation 20:7-15)
- New Heaven and New Earth (Revelation 21:1-8)
- Eden Restored (Revelation 22:1-5)
- Christ’s Promise to Come Again (Revelation 22:20)
Verse that stood out: Behold, I am coming soon! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy in this book – Revelation 22:7
Yesterday, we entertained the possibility that the book of Revelation is not intended to answer the question “Are we there yet?” Instead, its main purpose is to help us answer a different question, “What are we here for until we get there?” John answers that question way back in his introduction to the seven churches of Asia Minor, “Grace and peace.” Yes, that’s right – the purpose of this book is to bring us grace and peace for today. Notice, he doesn’t say, “Grace and peace when Jesus comes back.” No, the implication is that through this revelation of Jesus Christ, grace and peace can be yours today.
How can we have grace and peace today? Well, for one thing, the book of Revelation assures us that God has not and will not give up on the world. New Testament scholar Mitchell Reddish put it this way, “The book of Revelation does not present a picture of a God who has given up on the world and is ready to discard it. The message of Revelation is that God is the creator of the world. This world is God’s ‘baby,’ God’s creation. Rather than discard it, God seeks to save it, to rid it of its beasts and its monstrous evils, to drive out its dragons, to purge it of its impurities.” So if God, in his grace, hasn’t given up on the world (and us in it!), then we can live in peace today no matter our circumstances.
Not only can we have peace, but we can persevere. If God hasn’t given up on us then we can keep holding fast to him. No matter our trials, no matter our troubles, we keep living towards Christ’s return trusting that “our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18). How do we live towards Christ’s return? How do we keep from giving up on God? By extending God’s grace to others and by refusing to give up on each other.
We live out the values of God’s coming kingdom when we refuse to give on the kid who’s hooked on drugs. After all, there will be no beasts of addiction in God’s future kingdom. We live out the values of God’s comign kingdom when we refuse to accept poverty or hunger as simply the way things are. After all, when the Lord comes we’ll all dine in abundance at the Lord’s great banqueting table. We refuse to give up on God when we refuse to give up on our attempts to live in unity here on earth. After all, the holy city is not a segregated city (not racially, not denominationally, not economically!) Think of the Christian you like the least. He or she’s going to be right there next to you singing God’s praises! So to be faithful to God’s vision, keep doing your best to live out God’s grace here in anticipation of there.
While we can do anything to usher in God’s kingdom come, we can certainly be its ambassadors until it does.
Congratulations on reading the Bible Through in 90 Days! A few of you have asked me for suggestions on what to read next. Below are links to more reading plans. No one is better than the other. You’ll notice one for Advent which might be great to start this coming Sunday. I also like those readings that provide a little bit of the OT and little bit of the NT each day.
TaylorSandlin.com 
Thank you, thank you, thank you for leading us through God’s word. I was blessed daily by your blog. I woke up each of the 90 days looking forward to grabbing my coffee, reading the passage and then your wise words. Some blogs made me laugh, some made me cry, but all of them made me think, study & meditate on His word and I am grateful! The timing for doing this was perfect! With all the chaos around us being centered on the Word is exactly where we needed to be. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!
Taylor- thanks for doing these blogs each day. I have always resisted reading the Bible straight through because the reading has to be superficial. I prefer looking closely at a short passage. Your blog posting helped bridge the gap by focusing on a small portion of the day’s reading. As always you provided great insight. Grace and peace.
Day 88 and Done!
It was a great experience. I have read the bible through before in 365 days with bits and pieces from OT and NT, Psalms and Proverbs each day but this is the first time end to end.
Sheds light on a lot of things..
We enjoyed reading your blog each evening and appreciated the thought you put into them.
Thank you!
Thank you so much for sharing your insight everyday through your blog! I would close each evening with your words of wisdom. I really appreciate all you put into every blog. I eagerly anticipated how you explained or provided examples to help us relate to God’s word. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family.