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A Prayer about the Day When There’s No More Chaos and Evil

     Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. Rev. 21:1

Heavenly Father, meditating through this one verse stokes the fires in the furnace of my gratitude. It’s like a zip file of glory. First of all, of all the sounds with which you’ve sonically blessed your creation, sea-waves crashing upon the shoreline is right up there at the top of my list of favorites. There’s just something so awe-ing, centering and settling about that sound. Thank you for the plethora of sights and sounds, aromas and tastes that you’ve given us, none of which are to be taken for granted.

I also praise you today for the great hope of cosmic renewal. Creation matters to you much more than it does to us, and we’re tempted to worship it, rather than you, at times. Even as you’re presently redeeming your big family from every nation, so you’re restoring the world in which you placed us. As surely as the waters cover the sea, so the knowledge of your glory will cover the entire earth one Day (Hab. 2:14). The “passing away” of the first heaven and the first earth doesn’t speak of its replacement but of its restoration, about which I shout a very loud “Hallelujah!”

I smile really, really big when I try to imagine the glorified beaches of the new heaven and new earth. I can hardly wait for the day when I get to hear “every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying: ‘To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!'” (Rev. 5:13).

Indeed, Father, John’s vision is not about a “beach-less” future but about a “sea-less” one—an eternity and world completely free of all chaos and evil. No more sea beasts, only beauty; no more angry leviathan, only dancing dolphin; no more tempest, only the triumph of the Lamb! No more broken hearts or broken families; no more poverty or greed; no more unloved orphans or people sold as slaves; no more inequities or injustices of any kind; no more wars among nations, in our churches, marriages or hearts. That day cannot happen one day too soon.

Father, may John’s vision of the new heaven and new earth compel us to engage, not retreat, from our culture and community. Fill us with missional hope and free us for gospel-servanthood as we wait expectantly for that Day. As the season of Lent takes us closer to Holy Week, please give us fresh conviction and direction about where you would have us invest our hearts and holdings in the things that matter most to you. So very Amen we pray, in the name of our resurrected and reigning King, Jesus.

 


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