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November 29 Daily Devotional

(Monthly Theme: Christ's Full Victory)

The End

Rev. Andrew Kuyvenhoven

" 'He will wipe every tear from their eyes.' " —Revelation 21:4

Bible Reading

REVELATION 21:1-4

Devotional

If Jesus Christ is our Savior and Lord, we may already experience the beginning of the end. The everlasting gospel has brought us the only comfort available today. Right now nothing but the good news of Jesus Christ can still our sorrow. At this moment no one and no thing can give meaning to life but Christ alone. Yet this is only the beginning of the end.

The end means that we are fully comforted. In the end God will be fully revealed as our Comforter. He is certainly here today, but we cannot fully enjoy him yet. Somewhere we are still hurting. Every day we still sin. Our joy is still transitory and our happiness is not yet full.

But the end is coming. God will "wipe every tear" from our eyes. There are so many tears that only God can count them. There are hospitals full of people in physical pain. There are mental hospitals full of people who live with pain that can be even worse, pain that drives you out of your mind. And then there is spiritual sorrow that is beyond the reach of the most loving hand.

In the end, God will wipe away all tears.

The Christian religion does not picture a future of forgetfulness and nothingness, which pagans invented—and still accept—as the best ending of our tragedy. But the Bible does reveal that we will forget all the pain we suffered. There will be a legitimate forgetting. In one moment our tears will be wiped away. Our entrance into glory will so much outweigh all that we suffered and lacked that all traces of our sorrow will be forgotten in the joy to be revealed.

Once, Jesus pictured God as a father embracing his runaway son in an unforgettable welcome of salvation. But the gospel ends with a picture of God, like a mother, wiping away our tears. The journey was so long. We became so tired. We hurt all over.

And then, finally, we came home.

REFLECTIONS

Reflect on the wonderful homecoming that God will one day give you, and give thanks.


Andrew Kuyvenhoven's Daylight, a modern devotional classic, was originally published by Paideia Press in 1977. This updated edition is copyright 2009 by Faith Alive Christian Resources. You can order a copy of this revised version of the book directly from the publisher.

A man of many accomplishments, Andrew Kuyvenhoven is probably best known for his contributions to Today (formerly The Family Altar), a widely-used monthly devotional booklet associated with the Back to God Hour. Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations for this updated edition of Daylight are from the Holy Bible: Today's New International Version copyright 2001, 2005 by the International Bible Society.

 

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