And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. – Revelation 21:5-7 (ESV)
We continue memorizing the beautiful verses of Revelation 21:3-7, the end of the old story and the beginning of the new story. As Advent and these verses remind us, we wait for Jesus’ return when he will bring new heavens and new earth. We finish this 3-part series with the wealth of verses 5-7.
Very few verses capture the story of the Scriptures as succinctly as God does in verse 5. The Creator and King of the cosmos is making all things new. This is good news from all angles. Our bodies grow old and frail. Our hearts are always wearied by our sin. We ache for nothing more than our full salvation and redemption, to live eternally in very physical, very glorious bodies. God is making that promise to us. It began with the resurrection of Jesus and will find its completion in the new heavens and new earth. There are some truths and visions that God in his wisdom tells the writers to hide away. This isn’t one of them. Write these words down, John. Make sure everyone hears them in the age to come, because lies will continue to fill the earth. But these words are trustworthy and true.
Jesus then sets his seal upon it. Like his cry from the cross, he declares it is done. He has the authority to make such a statement. He is the Alpha and Omega, the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. It’s a visual cue to proclaiming he is the beginning and the end of this grand story. The idea is that you will not find anywhere in creation, the Scripture, or the histories of humans that he is not the preeminent one over all of it. What does it take to approach this preeminent one called Jesus? Thirst. He says that all who are thirsty may come to him and he will freely give them the water of life. Come with your pockets empty and drink your fill; there is no payment required because full payment has been made with his own shed blood.
Here at the end of Revelation, we are reminded that John is sharing all of this book with persecuted churches. Jesus did not call these churches to rise up in arms against the persecution. He called them to conquer their enemies by laying down their lives as he did. Once again, the kingdom of Jesus is upside down. You win by losing? You conquer by surrendering? Yes, Jesus declares that this is the way we conquer; we let his love rule our hearts instead of our sin and selfishness. When we do, we receive a royal heritage. The King of the universe declares us his royal sons and daughters, who will reign with Christ as co-heirs for all eternity.
As this season of Advent and Christmas ends and the new year dawns before us, may we keep this holy longing in our hearts for our King to come again to dwell with us, to wipe away every tear and end every sorrow, to quench our thirst, to give us victory over sin and death. Write down these faithful and true words on your heart – he is making all things new.