Glory Light

And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. (Revelation 21:23-25)

John chooses his words carefully when describing the light source of this most epic city. He specifically says it’s the light of God’s glory. We’ve seen this before throughout Scripture: Moses on Mount Sinai, the Angel’s announcement to the shepherds, Jesus’ transfiguration, and Paul on the road to Damascus. The light for New Jerusalem will be a few orders of magnitude greater and apparently, permanent!

If we look more closely at recorded encounters with the light, we see it envelops or shines around people. Light doesn’t usually shine all around us; rather, it shines at us from a source. It seems like “glory light” works differently. If we believe God is omnipresent and, indeed, God is light, then light emanates from everywhere at once. Which means this light won’t cast shadows.

God’s light also changes us, like Moses was changed on Mount Sinai. His face shone after seeing his time with God, so much so that he wore a veil for a time. Imagine how brightly we will shine with perfect bodies. We are already called children of light. Indeed, our faith will be made sight. We shall shine the Lord’s light as well!

I personally don’t feel like I am any great light in the world these days. I actually often feel weary of all the battles we find ourselves in, sometimes brought on by our own follies. I long to be whole! I long for my new country, for my new city. I long for perfection and to behold unspoiled things. I long to love without the lingering specter of death promising loss of various descriptions. I long to worship full-heartedly, abandoning myself only to find myself completely in him. I long to know my Father and to do great things with him.

If I can achieve anything in these devotions, let it be to stir in you an eager anticipation for life eternal with Christ, our transcendent King and very best friend.

Jonathan Duncan
EFCC Member

by Jonathan Duncan

Too Good for Words

And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God - Revelation 21:10

John’s vision of this new, holy city that unfolds in the following verses of Revelation 21 is quite literally beyond imagination! His description is radiant, massive, dazzling with light, precious stones, and streets of gold. He sees angels measuring translucent walls using golden measuring rods, twelve pearly gates and twelve bejeweled foundations each with a familiar name emblazoned on them, and measurements that are nothing short of astronomical. Clearly, John is seeing something that defies explanation, so he finds the best analogies that he can come up with in order to give us an image of this incredible vision.

However, whenever I read passages like this, I get caught up in the details, and I run the risk of focusing on the trees but missing the forest.

In his masterpiece, Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis addresses this problem of interpreting Biblical imagery with his characteristic wit and poignancy. He says:

"There is no need to be worried by facetious people who try to make the Christian hope of ‘Heaven’ ridiculous by saying they do not want 'to spend eternity playing harps'. The answer to such people is that if they can't understand books written for grown-ups, they should not talk about them. All the scriptural imagery (harps, crowns, gold, etc.) is, of course, a merely symbolic attempt to express the inexpressible. Musical instruments are mentioned because for many people (not all) music is the thing known in the present life which most strongly suggests ecstasy and infinity. Crowns are mentioned to suggest the fact that those who are united with God in eternity share His splendor, power, and joy. Gold is mentioned to suggest the timelessness of Heaven (gold does not rust) and the preciousness of it. People who take these symbols literally might as well think that when Christ told us to be like doves, He meant that we were to lay eggs."

So rather than asking the kinds of questions John never meant to answer, “How wide are the walls?” or “How will we breathe in a city that towers into deep space?,” the better questions might be, “What kind of God builds a home like this?” or “If this is the best John’s words could describe, how much better will the real thing be?” Remember, interpreting these images symbolically does not make them less true; it allows them to be true in the way John intended.

When the words of Scripture stretch the limits of our language, then maybe there is a problem with our language, not a problem with Scripture. It is not that heaven is unclear, but that heaven is too good for words!

Josh Rose
Family Pastor

by Josh Rose

Big House

Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.” And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God… He also measured its wall, 144 cubits by human measurement, which is also an angel's measurement.
Revelation 21:9-10,17

When I was growing up, most of my knowledge of heaven and new creation came from the 1993 CCM classic, “Big House.” This song describes the Father’s house as a place with many rooms, lots of food, and a yard big enough to play football. I can’t tell you if we’ll actually be playing football in new creation, but Audio Adrenaline did correctly state that the Father’s house is massive.

This passage tells us that the wall of the holy city is 144 cubits. Even more fascinating to me is the fact that John specifically writes that this is by both human and angel measurement. A cubit would be roughly the length from your elbow to your fingertips, so I’d argue that even all humans don’t share that exact measurement. Yet, we’re told here that the measurement is the same.

If I were to guess, I’d say that John is likely trying to tell us something more than just the measurement itself. This specific angel is said to have one of the seven bowls. He has a unique purpose and task. In the same way, humans made in God’s own image, have unique roles and tasks. This measurement is also 144, which is 12x12. In the Old Testament as well as the New, numbers were often symbolic or they conveyed a larger meaning. John is telling us something about new creation and ourselves.

As twelve is a number of completeness, I’d suggest that this is showing us that new creation is perfectly complete. This also tells us that we will be perfectly complete. Angels are glorified heavenly beings and fellow servants of God. This kind of equality that John is describing reinforces the fact that we too, will exist in glorified human bodies.

I pray that this promise of perfect completion in new creation would rest in your heart today.

Kassie Lowe
Young Adults Lead

by Kassie Lowe

Pure Light Prophecy Perfection

Revelation 21 describes an amazing city that God creates as a dwelling place with His chosen people. John sees a vision of the New Jerusalem coming down from a new heaven onto the new earth.

One amazing feature of this new city is the foundations of its outer wall. “The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel. The first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst” – Revelation 21:19.

I’m not really into jewels, but I do take longer to look at them than most of my family members when we are at the mineral and rock section of the Del Mar Fair or at rock museums. One thing that is unique and inspirational about the selections God makes in choosing these particular jewels is that they are all anisotropic. Isotropic means “having the same value when measured in different ways.” Anisotropic means having a different value when measured in different ways. The jewels God uses in building the foundation of the wall respond anisotropically when shown with light. Investigators have sliced very thin sections and shown double-polarized light through them. The result is that each of these jewels shines forth with a cacophony of colors when shown with pure light. Jewels that are isotropic: diamonds, rubies, and garnets, turn dark when shown with pure light. The foundations of the New Jerusalem’s wall will shine with amazing beauty as God’s pure light fills the place.

Pastor David Pawson, who explains this phenomenon in this YouTube video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFMrQUjp-Aw , believes that this feature of the new city gives evidence that the Bible is supernatural because this anisotropic feature of these gems was only recently discovered. “To me, that one thing alone would prove that the Bible was inspired by God because nobody could have known this. They didn’t know it until our generation, but there it is.” – David Pawson

Meditate today on the future home God is preparing for us, and walk in his light.

Dr. John Riley
Junior High Pastor

by John Riley

Searching For Home

A few years ago, I read a book entitled Searching for Home by Craig Barnes. In it, he made the provocative point, “The ache for home is the ache for God.” That idea came back to me as I was reading Revelation 21. Most of us carry a quiet ache for home. Not just a roof over our head or a house in a certain zip code, but a place where we’re known, where we don’t have to perform, where we can finally relax. We long for a place where we can just be - it seems that’s what we mean by home. In fact, one of the best compliments you can pay a person is to say that they “made the house a home” - because we all know there is a difference.

Revelation 21 is about that innate longing for home. John records his vision by writing,

9 Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.” (Revelation 21:9)

So we initially expect to see a bride. Maybe even the bride of Christ. However, when John looks, that’s not what he sees.

10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God. (Revelation 21:10)

He’s told he’s going to see a bride, but then he sees a city. He sees his eternal home. At first, that feels a little confusing. But the longer you sit with it, the more beautiful it becomes.

What makes a city what it is? The people. Their shared life. Their stories overlap. Their lives tangled together over time. And in the same way, what makes a home a home isn’t the walls, it’s who’s there with you. One of the distinctives of the new Jerusalem is that it’s a place, that it’s not a collection of individuals in proximity; it’s people connected in community.

This vision tells us something important about where the story is headed. God’s future isn’t just you and Jesus. It’s you, Jesus, and a community of people who are fully healed, fully connected, finally at peace. The bride speaks of intimacy. Being chosen. Being loved. The city speaks to community. Belonging. Shared life. It’s both. Deeply personal and beautifully collective.

And honestly, that hits a nerve for me. We live in a world where people are more mobile than ever and more lonely than ever. We move often. We stay guarded. We keep relationships light because deep connection feels risky or exhausting. Even in church, it’s possible to sit in a room full of people and still feel unknown.

But God’s picture of the future says: this won’t always be true.

New Creation is a place big enough to hold millions without losing intimacy. There’s room for you, and there’s a purpose for you. You won’t disappear into the crowd, and you won’t have to protect yourself anymore. Love becomes shared life. Intimacy grows into community. Covenant turns into culture.

And here’s the invitation for today: if this is where we’re headed, then this is what God is forming in us now. Every step toward vulnerability, every act of forgiveness, every risk of showing up for others is a step closer to home.

You’re not just waiting for eternity. Eternity is shaping you and teaching you how to be at home right now, today.

Pastor Ryan Paulson

by Ryan Paulson

Complex Identity

In Revelation 21:5-8, from His throne, the Almighty tells John to write down these words specifically.

“It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”

I hold the opinion that these verses are God describing himself, telling us who he is. The second sentence starts with “I am,” and I think the rest of the selection elaborates on it.

He starts with his timelessness to bring his separateness from humanity into sharp focus. He is the beginning and the end! Simply put, He is utterly HOLY. Profoundly set apart, yet He will elevate the needy to Himself… for free! His grace brings the needy into his very family, calling us his children. The idea that the most holy would adopt the most unholy is a paradox for the ages. We therefore conclude that He is generosity itself.

Then we see what He hates, the things He deems to be literally worthy of hell. These are things we will be the opposite of. We will be courageous and bold, we’ll be noble defenders, chaste and true, wholly devoted to God, and entirely trustworthy. To me, this sounds hauntingly familiar; it’s like a collection of all the wonderful, unrealistic ideals I ever daydreamed about as a kid. We will be made new as complete, holy, and pure versions of ourselves. Redeemed!

Our Father hates evil and loves us. We have evil natures and do evil, but He loves us far more. We have been washed by the blood of Christ and claimed by the Spirit. So now, when God rails against hell-worthy attributes that we may presently exhibit, we can rail against our own sin with Him, agreeing that it is indeed hell-bound, all the while knowing we are secure and in no danger. We’ll be made into who we’ve always been meant to be: His children.

Jonathan Duncan
EFCC Member

by Jonathan Duncan

All Things New!

Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away…. “Behold, I am making all things new.” (Revelation 21:1&5)

When we hear the words “new heaven” and “new earth,” it’s easy to imagine a total replacement of the heaven and earth that God created in Genesis 1. Many people assume there will be a cosmic demolition followed by a divine rebuild, but that picture depends on a misunderstanding of the word “new.”

In Revelation 21, the word used for “new” is the Greek word kainos. It doesn’t mean new in time (that would be neos), but new in quality. The idea is one of being renewed, transformed, or made better than it was before. This is a very important distinction!

If God were simply making a neos world, then the one that we live, work, play, and love in today would be disposable. We would have no great reason to care for creation, culture, or even our own bodies if it’s all headed for the burn pile. That version of the story subtly teaches us to disengage, to endure the present while waiting for the big escape of death or Jesus’ return.

But Revelation tells us a very different story.

When Jesus says, “Behold, I am making all things new,” he is not suggesting that everything will be replaced. He is promising us that it will all be redeemed! He doesn’t abandon what is broken; he restores it. Just as Jesus didn’t discard his scarred body after the resurrection, Jesus has no intention of throwing away his creation. Just like his body was raised in glory, so too will the heavens and the earth. He will heal it, make it better, and make it new.

Notice the tense: “I am making all things new.” Not “I will someday make things new.” God’s work of renewal has already begun, and the evidence of that is the new creation that each of you has become (see 2 Corinthians 5:17). The future of creation is not destruction, but resurrection.

This means that the world we live in now matters. The work you do, the relationships you nurture, and the care you show for people and places will not be wasted. These are not temporary distractions while we wait for heaven. They are seeds of the kingdom that Jesus inaugurated.

The hope of Revelation 21 is not that God will rescue us from the world, but that he will come to dwell with us in it. Heaven doesn’t replace earth; it renews it.

And if that is where the story is going, then how we live now becomes an act of hope. Every small act of faithfulness becomes a quiet declaration: God is not done yet. He is making all things new.

Josh Rose
Family Pastor

by Josh Rose

When ‘The Cave’ Is No More

In my opinion, one of the most provocative images crafted by a philosopher is Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. It’s my favorite portion of text to teach high schoolers because it completely shatters the world they think they know. But it also invites the wonder-filled and the bright-eyed, those hungry for more, to dream of an existence that surpasses the best they’ve imagined.

In his image, Plato begins by showing us prisoners bound in a cave. This cave is all the prisoners have ever known, and all they can see in front of them are shadows of distorted physical objects and creatures, never getting to see the source of the shadows themselves, let alone anything outside. These shadows are the prisoners’ whole world–a sad, pitiful, and miserable existence (though, of course, they have no idea just how miserable because they’ve never known anything else).

One day, a prisoner is released and dragged out of the Cave. The man who released him tries to show him the source of the shadows, eventually forcing him into the sunlight and the glorious outdoors. At first, the prisoner is in agony from being exposed to the sun’s light, but as his eyes adjust, he is increasingly blown away by the world unfolding before him. Until he was able to see it with his own eyes, he never could have imagined how beautiful the world could be, nor anticipate the extent to which the goodness of it would take his breath away.

Sometimes I ask my students to imagine a world without sin, evil and wickedness. What if everyone were perfect in their loving and their goodness and never acted selfishly? What if there were no more suffering or hardship or struggle or death?

Inevitably, the students struggle with this thought project. Even if they manage to do so, the result is a pretty boring picture. But this doesn’t surprise me one bit. Why?

Because none of us has ever ‘left the Cave.’

The best things we can possibly imagine are still mere shadows compared with the love, freedom, fulfillment, peace, beauty and goodness that lie in wait for us when the shackles of death are removed from this world and we get to see the gloriously restored and renewed creation as it was always meant to be.

Isn’t it delightful to consider that we can’t even fathom how glorious the new heaven and new earth will be? Any expectations I can have about it will be shattered in the best way possible. I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to have my breath taken away.

Ashley Carr
Teacher

by Ashley Carr