Our Eternal Future
December 22 - 27, 2024 | Always Peachy Devotionals | The Future Week 4
I mentioned last week that I love science fiction.
I do. It’s how my brain is wired. I was just as excited about learning Klingon or Elvish as I was learning Spanish. But as much as I love science fiction and fantasy, it is only a tool to understand reality more deeply.
That’s what story has always been to me: A gift to help me understand life.
Story has the ability to help us understand our choices more clearly. Something about presenting options in metaphor makes them less offensive than simply stating them outright. And if you can help someone understand what is true through metaphor, it’s just a simple step to understanding the application of truth in reality. Truth is true no matter where you find it.
This week in our devotions, we’re going to be venturing into the Book of the Revelation more than once. Frankly, we can’t talk about our eternal future without looking to the Revelation. One of the reasons why we have the Revelation is so that we can know what our futures hold. But let’s be very clear about this: A lot of the Revelation is a mystery.
Much of what is written in this extraordinary book is symbolic, although maybe not as much as we think. I’m of the opinion that it’s far more literal than many believe. It’s certainly written more linearly than most people assume.
But we’re not going to go into the portions of Revelation that are hotly contested or vague enough to inspire debate. My hope and prayer with anything that ever appears on this site is that it provides encouragement and confidence to draw each of us closer to God—not to confuse us more. Life is confusing enough as it is.
So we are going to stick with what we know for sure, what God has clearly told us. And the rest of the book that isn’t as clear? Well, we can lean on what we know for sure to interpret that: God is good, He has a plan for us, and He always keeps His promises. That’s enough for me.
So what do we know for sure about our eternal futures? And what can we learn from God’s Word that will help us stay focused when we hit the rough patches of life?
Monday - We will be safe (Revelation 7:16-17)
Tuesday - We will be at peace (Isaiah 11:6-9)
Wednesday - We will be with our loved ones (2 Samuel 12:23)
Thursday - We will no longer sin (Revelation 22:3)
Friday - We will be with Jesus (Revelation 22:4)
There are so many things in the Revelation that are hard to understand or imagine, but we know enough about God that we can read between the lines. He is good. He is faithful. He is all-powerful. And He is worthy.
He’s the only one who is worthy to redeem the universe from our sins, to wrest the keys to creation away from the enemy who manipulates and accuses us. I’m looking forward to that day.
Many of my dear friends and I daydream at times about what eternity will be like, whether we’ll have apartments or individual mansions. Whether we will eat fruit or meat or if the fruit will taste like meat. Whether we will get to fly around or just appear wherever we want. How much of the future and past we will know. There are so many unanswered questions, but we know a few things for sure.
One of those things we know for sure is our memory verse this week, Revelation 21:3.
Can you imagine living next door to God? Having God as your next door neighbor? Isn’t that wild? But that’s exactly what this is saying.
In eternity, God won’t be far away, separated by an impassable chasm created by our sin. He will be with us. Not just present by His Holy Spirit in us, but present in every other way. He will live among us. We will live with him.
I can’t even wrap my brain around that.
He is already present with us in so many ways in our lives now, but that’s because God is everywhere. He is part of our lives today whether we want it or not. But in eternity, we will get to be present with Him. We won’t be limited or held back by our fallen natures any longer, and we can stand in His presence without guilt or shame or fear.
I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that, not even when I have eternity to process it. I hope I never get used to it.
What is something you’re looking forward to when you think about our eternal future in heaven?
Praying for all of you this last week of 2024. Stay safe out there.
Amy
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