“Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there)” (Revelation 21:25).
Dear Heavenly Father we give You thanks that there is a day coming when there will be no need to shut the gates to our properties, because the night of sin will be no more. We thank You for this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Once I overheard a conversation between two young ladies, one was coming home from school for the summer, and was excitedly sharing with her friend, what someone at college had told her, that in her community people slept with their doors unlocked!
That was unbelievable news for this young lady, because just behind her, the windows to her parent’s home were covered with iron bars, and plans were being made to put iron gates on the front and back doors of their home as well!
Perhaps there was a time when doors could be left unlocked; but I wonder if there is any community, in today’s society, where those conditions still exist. Scripture speaks about “men’s hearts failing them for fear, for the things that are coming upon the earth” (Luke 21:26). And it is not only because the powers of heaven will be shaken. The powers on earth are also being shaken!
The conditions that exist have had people living in an unending season of fear. The “wars and rumors of war,” are not only between nations, but within families, and among friends. “For darkness [has] covered the earth, and deep darkness the people” (Isaiah 60:2a). And the cries go up to the Throne of God, and lingers before the Mercy Seat, How much longer Lord? How much more?
It seems that when COVID-19 fell upon planet earth, the devil’s intention was to wipe out humanity! But “Mercy said ‘No!’ For in Isaiah’s vision, darkness is not the the last thing the prophet was told to write about. Immediately following, comes the rest of the story, “But the Lord will arise over you, And His glory will be seen upon you” (2b).
Evil and darkness are not the last words in the story, and God is the One who will have the last word!
There are still souls who have not yet heard the story of the God who became Man to save the world from total destruction! There are still places in our world where the light of the everlasting gospel has not dispelled the deep darkness. But praise God, it won’t be long, when the last soul will have his or her opportunity to be reached by God’s “lamp” of truth, and the “light” of His salvation!
The Lord declared that, “The Gentiles shall come to your light, And kings to the brightness of your rising” (v. 3). Yes, my friends, this was always God’s eternal plan, that the Good News of, Salvation by grace through faith in Christ, would have benefited the entire world. Israel of old did not do what was expected of them, but God’s new Israel, made up of both Jews and Gentiles, still have an opportunity to reach the lost of the world with the gospel of salvation.
And when that happens, then shall come to pass the words of our verse for today, “ “Its gates (of the New Jerusalem) shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there).”
There is more to this story. The conversation will continue.