The final chapters of our Bible—God’s Revelation to John—spell out our hope. These promises form the foundation of all we live for, and give us secure confidence for our future.Although hard to understand and interpret in places, we should read Revelation often and deeply. To lose sight of its promise is to lose our perspective and focus, and ultimately our joy.

Making It Right

The Revelation unfolds the thunderous roll of God’s final judgments. It reminds us that things will be set right soon.Those who are sinful and reject God’s gracious offer and Christ’s incredible sacrifice will pay for this rebellion. Every inequity of this world will be decisively and eternally resolved. All that we hate of this present darkness will be judged and removed to its rightful, horrible domain.Those who trust Him will be carried into a glory they have not earned and do not deserve, forever to worship in wonder at God’s stunning grace. Our lives will be as we’ve always dreamed of and more than our wildest imaginations. Forever without end!

The Best Part

But the most glorious part of our future will be nothing less than God Himself.

Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them (Revelation 21:3 NASB).

It is this continual, manifest Presence that creates it all. Eternal light, eternal joy, eternal righteousness all flood from “Him who sits on the throne” (4:9).We will discover that what we have been missing was God. The ache in our hearts we’ve continually felt, the longing for more in life—was all a longing for Him, not His gifts.It will become clear to us that everything on earth that was wrong was the absence of His presence. And every right moment in our earthly life was brought about by His presence.He is the satisfaction of our soul’s heartache. The greatest moments on earth—those glorious seasons of personal or national revival and awakening—were all created when He would rend the heavens and come down.We will see that these moments were to bring us back to sanity . . . to remind us of what’s wrong about earth and what heaven’s rightness is all about . . . to refocus our gaze on Him and Him alone.

Seeking Him Now

God arms us with this revelation not only to give us hope but also to provide direction. Our life’s work must center on one thing: drawing near to Him and bringing others to Him. We must cooperate with the Spirit to bring people to God—not to a building or a program, but to Him.A believer who is awakened by this vision will repent from self-centeredness and self-seeking. He will be a lifelong repenter as he sees every bit of foolishness that exalts man and ignores God. He will walk humbly before his God.When he realizes that God’s presence is the key, he will live the remainder of his days with a passion to experience whatever he can of Him. He will clear the path in any conversation, any environment, so the King of glory can come in.He will be the sane sage among foolish others who realizes that the great need among decaying societies is always God’s manifest presence, and he will live and work for that alone.And the more his eyes are filled with this revelation, the more joy will flood his daily life, for he will know that God has made Himself wondrously accessible now, even though we see through a dark glass.And he will weep with delight at the glorious prospect of our near future when He will be among us and we will forever be with Him.