Author Archive for: meiling

Hi GAMErs,

Today we start the book of Ezekiel, a book written by the prophet Ezekiel in approximately 593 B.C.  Though written approximately 700 years apart from one another, the book of Ezekiel and the book of Revelation contain some powerful and overlapping images of who God is and what heaven is like.

Today’s passage is Ezekiel 1:1-28.  Let’s go!

Ezekiel 1:1-3 (NIV) 
1  In the thirtieth year, in the fourth month on the fifth day, while I was among the exiles by the Kebar River, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God. 
2  On the fifth of the month–it was the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin– 
3  the word of the LORD came to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, by the Kebar River in the land of the Babylonians. There the hand of the LORD was upon him.
 
On verses 1-3:  Ezekiel is a priest at a time when the Jewish people have been ousted from their own land by the Babylonians and are living as exiles in Babylon.  It is during this time that Ezekiel begins to hear from God in a prophetic way.  Ezekiel even specifies the day, the month and the year this started happening. 

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Revelation 22:1-21.  Let’s go!

Revelation 22:1-2 (NIV) 
1  Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb
2  down the middle of the great street of the city…

On verse 1-2a:  In Psalm 46:4 we read that “[t]here is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells.”  Here in Revelation 22, John gets to see that river.  According to John’s description, heaven is such a beautiful city that there is a river of living water, clear as crystal, that flows from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the main street of heaven.

Revelation 22:2 (NIV) 
2   …On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.

On verse 2b:  In Genesis 2:9 we first read about a tree of life in the Garden of Eden, a tree whose fruit somehow enables those who ate it to live forever (Genesis 3:22).  According to John’s vision, in heaven this tree of life stands on each side of the river and bears fruit every month, 12 crops of fruit a year.  Its leaves are “for the healing of the nations” (v2).

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Revelation 21:1-27.  Let’s go!

Revelation 21:1 (NIV) 
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.

On verse 1:  To me Revelation 21 is one of the most beautiful passages in all the Bible.  As much as I like the song “What a Wonderful World” made famous by Louis Armstrong, and as beautiful and wonderful as our world is, there is no denying that there is much brokenness and hurt that affects our world as well.  Here we see God, who specializes in making all things new (v5), creating a new heaven and a new earth that are not beset by the problems we have in our world.

Revelation 21:2 (NIV) 
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.

On verse 2:  In the Bible and in life we see how flawed, ugly and broken we as God’s people can be.  Yet here in one of the final visions of the Bible, we see God’s people, called “the Holy City” and “the new Jerusalem”, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.  Radiant, flawless, and beautiful – that’s the way Jesus sees you and me in heaven.