Today, I am reading and commenting on Revelation 20-22.

After writing abut the Judgement, John writes that he saw a new heaven and a new earth because the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.  He writes that He who sat upon the throne said to him, “It is done.”  Not, “It will be done.”  The One who spoke to John spoke in the present tense, not the future tense.  For the most part, I think the present tense there was being spoken as part of the vision of what would happen in the future, but part of me wonders if perhaps we are to understand that the new heaven and the new earth have already been created.  There is a thread which runs through the New Testament that teaches that God’s Kingdom has already come and we need to live in it according to its “laws”.  So, perhaps we are to live as if we are in the new heaven and the new earth, even though the first heaven and earth have not yet passed away.  John writes that nothing impure will enter into the new heaven and earth, nor will anyone who does what is deceitful or shameful, only those whose names have been written in the book of life.

Regardless of whether the One on the throne was speaking in the present tense of the first century or the present tense of the time in the future when John’s vision would take place, in the epilogue of this book, Jesus says to John, “Look, I am coming soon.”  And John is told not to seal up the words of the scroll he is writing to describe his vision because the time of that vision is near.  Time is running out for us to do what is holy and right.  Time is running out for those who have not yet accepted God’s gift of salvation.  The Spirit cries “Come”, and we also are to cry “Come”, inviting all to drink of the free gift of the water of life.  He is coming soon, let us prepare ourselves so that we are ready for that day.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.