Read: Revelation 21:1-6, 22-26
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. (v. 1)
My wedding day was chaotic. It was marked by torrential rain. When the flowers arrived, they were inexplicably the wrong color. My future grandfather-in-law booked into the wrong hotel and was unaccounted for until minutes before the ceremony. And yet the moment the music started, and my bride made her way down the aisle, the chaos and anxiety of everything that came before were forgotten.
We live in a chaotic world. The political upheaval, extreme weather, economic inequality, and global conflicts that define our time are nothing new. There have been worse times in human history. And yet for many, life feels unbearable, and it is hard to imagine it getting better. As Paul writes in Romans 8, “the whole creation has been groaning together” (v. 22). Heaven and earth groan to be together.
A reunion awaits. At the beginning of the Bible, heaven and earth are forced apart by the mismanagement of its stewards. Instead of abandoning his handiwork and firing his helpers, God chose to redeem it all. God has spent the history of the world painstakingly picking up the pieces. He is, even now, making something new. The Bible ends with a promise: A wedding day is coming. Heaven and earth will be reunited. When that day comes, today’s chaos and anxiety will be forgotten. Our faithful Savior and first love will receive us with open arms. Heaven and earth will embrace, together at last!
As you pray, wait, watch, and hope for the renewal and reunion of all things.
Ben Van Arragon is an ordained minister in the Christian Reformed Church in North America. After twenty years of congregational ministry, he now serves his denomination as a pastor wellbeing consultant in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
