The Lord is great. He should be praised in the city of our God, on His holy mountain. It is high and beautiful and brings joy to the whole world.....God is within its palaces. He is known as it's defender....it is the city of the Lord All-powerful- the city of our God! (vs.1-3,8)
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth.....and I saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. It was prepared like a bride dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now God's presence is with people, and He will live with them, and they will be His people. God Himself will be with them and He will be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death, sadness, crying or pain, because all the old ways are gone." The One sitting on the throne said, "Look! I am making everything new!". Then He said, "Write this down, because these words are true and can be trusted" The One sitting on the throne said, "It is finished." Revelation 21
Just returned home from a few days in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and Lake Tahoe where the majesty of God's creative powers can hardly be disputed. There is Lake Mono - 760,000 years old, blue like London topaz with stalagmites bursting through its surfaces. Lake Tahoe holds enough water that if it were to be dispersed over the California land mass, it would be over a foot deep all over the state. 1.4 million tons of water evaporate from Lake Tahoe every day, but it only shrinks by one-tenth of an inch. Azures, shades of emerald, white and black granite, purple wildflowers all sparkle and play like prisms in the sun. Pine-scented air and the sounds of rushing waterfalls emptying into the Truckee River invigorate body and spirit. So when I read about God on His holy mountain I have some small context this morning. It is difficult to look up at Mt. Whitney's peak and not think, "How great is my God!"
From the beginning He has chosen to live with us. Eden was perfect. God walked with us there until we chose to corrupt perfection. Then He dwelt in the tabernacle in the wilderness until Solomon built the Jerusalem temple. Destroyed in 70 AD, it has not been rebuilt. But God's plan all along was to live somewhere else. To be in a place where He was not isolated nor relegated to a specific building. His plan was to live in us! The psalmist didn't know this secret when he wrote this song, but we do! Our God dwells in us by the Spirit. We are the temple...God tabernacling in our own tents! Our God is within the palaces we have become. Anywhere He is is great! Wherever He lives there is to be joy felt by the whole world. Our access to Him is unprecedented and bold because He still dwells with His children. He has never left His creation, but it groans for the perfection it once knew. We all do. We live with innate homesickness for what we know we lost along the way....God's ideal.
He has not forgotten what it was He wanted in the first place - to live with us in purity and joy. He has a plan and it is big! To start over! Clearly there will come a day when He looks at the whole scheme of things and declares it finished. Our God will be ready then to make a new universe where He is able to walk with us, touch our eyes and wipe them free of tears, our hearts to make them free of pain and our bodies to give them life forever! To laugh and talk with us....to walk beside the streams of heaven and to share with us the fruit of its trees from which we can freely eat. To revel in our raucous praise and accept our humblest gratitude. Joy unspeakable in His great presence for eternity as we live with Him in the New Jerusalem, the city of our Great God! If I were a skeptic, I would still take my chances on heaven just to be sure I didn't miss out on such never-ending glory. I would be sobered by God's promise: "These words are true and can be trusted!".
Great is our Lord and greatly to be praised in the city of our God and in the temples we have become!
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth.....and I saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. It was prepared like a bride dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now God's presence is with people, and He will live with them, and they will be His people. God Himself will be with them and He will be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death, sadness, crying or pain, because all the old ways are gone." The One sitting on the throne said, "Look! I am making everything new!". Then He said, "Write this down, because these words are true and can be trusted" The One sitting on the throne said, "It is finished." Revelation 21
Just returned home from a few days in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and Lake Tahoe where the majesty of God's creative powers can hardly be disputed. There is Lake Mono - 760,000 years old, blue like London topaz with stalagmites bursting through its surfaces. Lake Tahoe holds enough water that if it were to be dispersed over the California land mass, it would be over a foot deep all over the state. 1.4 million tons of water evaporate from Lake Tahoe every day, but it only shrinks by one-tenth of an inch. Azures, shades of emerald, white and black granite, purple wildflowers all sparkle and play like prisms in the sun. Pine-scented air and the sounds of rushing waterfalls emptying into the Truckee River invigorate body and spirit. So when I read about God on His holy mountain I have some small context this morning. It is difficult to look up at Mt. Whitney's peak and not think, "How great is my God!"
From the beginning He has chosen to live with us. Eden was perfect. God walked with us there until we chose to corrupt perfection. Then He dwelt in the tabernacle in the wilderness until Solomon built the Jerusalem temple. Destroyed in 70 AD, it has not been rebuilt. But God's plan all along was to live somewhere else. To be in a place where He was not isolated nor relegated to a specific building. His plan was to live in us! The psalmist didn't know this secret when he wrote this song, but we do! Our God dwells in us by the Spirit. We are the temple...God tabernacling in our own tents! Our God is within the palaces we have become. Anywhere He is is great! Wherever He lives there is to be joy felt by the whole world. Our access to Him is unprecedented and bold because He still dwells with His children. He has never left His creation, but it groans for the perfection it once knew. We all do. We live with innate homesickness for what we know we lost along the way....God's ideal.
He has not forgotten what it was He wanted in the first place - to live with us in purity and joy. He has a plan and it is big! To start over! Clearly there will come a day when He looks at the whole scheme of things and declares it finished. Our God will be ready then to make a new universe where He is able to walk with us, touch our eyes and wipe them free of tears, our hearts to make them free of pain and our bodies to give them life forever! To laugh and talk with us....to walk beside the streams of heaven and to share with us the fruit of its trees from which we can freely eat. To revel in our raucous praise and accept our humblest gratitude. Joy unspeakable in His great presence for eternity as we live with Him in the New Jerusalem, the city of our Great God! If I were a skeptic, I would still take my chances on heaven just to be sure I didn't miss out on such never-ending glory. I would be sobered by God's promise: "These words are true and can be trusted!".
Great is our Lord and greatly to be praised in the city of our God and in the temples we have become!
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