Revelations 22:12-21

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Read Revelations 22:12-21 Verses for meditation: Revelations 22:12-13, 16, 20-21 ESV: 12 "Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” 16 “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.” 20 He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! 21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen. Reflect How does it feel to be reading the very last few verses of the bible? What do the proclamations, the last few of them, say about Christ? Come, Lord Jesus! Does this really express our desire? How does the greatest book end, and on what note? But is this really the end? Relate With mixed feelings, I'm writing this last devotion based on the final ten verses of the greatest book, the bible. What a journe...
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ECCLESIASTES 3

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 TEXT TO REFLECT

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

2 a time to be born, and a time to die;

a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;

3 a time to kill, and a time to heal;

a time to break down, and a time to build up;

4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh;

a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

5 a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;

a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

6 a time to seek, and a time to lose;

a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

7 a time to tear, and a time to sew;

a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

8 a time to love, and a time to hate;

a time for war, and a time for peace.


9 What gain has the worker from his toil? 10 I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. V 1-11

REFLECT

In this passage, the Teacher observes that there is a time and season for opposites: a time to be born and a time to die, a time for war and a time for peace. While I agree with the Teacher that there is a time and a season for each of these, I find it very hard, indeed impossible, to accept that God has made each of these events beautiful in its time. For many of us, a birth is beautiful and we celebrate new births. But how can we say that the time to die is beautiful as well? Or that the time to mourn is as good as the time to dance? Surely, I would rather be laughing and dancing all the time, and not have to weep or mourn at all. Perhaps the hardest to accept is that the time for war is beautiful as is the time for peace. I recoil at the thought that wars can be beautiful, when we see humanity at our worst. 

The Teacher observes on the other hand, that God has placed eternity in our hearts. The sense of eternity gives us the hope that there is a destiny and therefore an end to this cycle of births and deaths, of weeping and laughing. We get the sense that this cycle which the Teacher observes, is not endless and meaningless, but that the cycle has a purpose and goal which will ultimately end in something truly beautiful. With eternity in our hearts, we yearn for and hope that at the end of it all, wars will cease, and there will no longer be weeping and mourning. 

For now we live in a paradox. On the one hand there is eternity in us. We yearn for and believe that there will come a time when we will no longer die, and that there will no longer be tears. On the other hand, we continue to live in this cycle and do not know when the cycle will end.

RELATE

We live everyday hoping and wishing that our happy moments will not end, yet knowing that sadly they will. We wish that our end-of year vacations will last forever, but anticipate that soon we will be back to the daily grind. We wish that our loving relationships will last forever, but face the reality that we will be separated by death or by conflict. Every happy moment that we have is accompanied by sad moments.

Deep inside though, we believe that there will come a time when moments of love will not be interrupted; when the harmony we enjoy with others at home or even at work will not be broken by conflict; when the things that we build and the work that we do will not quickly be torn down or nullified by someone else.

The good news is that this hope of eternity has been placed in our hearts by God. It is not mere wishful thinking. There will indeed come a time when the cycle will end, and all things will become beautiful. 

REST

In his time, in his time

He makes all things beautiful

In his time

Lord please show me everyday

As you're teaching me your way

That you do just what you say

In your time


Chiu Ming Li

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