September 01 2022

Today, Thursday September 01

Today is a New Day

Revelation 22:1-7

“And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever. Then he said to me, "These words are faithful and true." And the Lord God of the holy prophets sent His angel to show His servants the things which must shortly take place. "Behold, I am coming quickly! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book."

This morning as I began to do this chat, I couldn’t help but think about how today is the first day of a brand-new month! Our God is so awesome, and loves us and wants us to enjoy Him and His creation that He is continuously giving us something new. We are prone to wander, prone to sin, prone to fail and mess up. Because of the curse of sin, we have broken lives and broken relationships. Each day can bring more disappointments and things that hurt and discourage us!

But when we wake up every morning, we have a new day before us. Every seven days we have the first day of a new week. Every thirty days we have the first day of a new month and every three-hundred and sixty-five days we have the first day of a new year! Today, is the first day of the rest of your life! God loves to give us new opportunities to begin afresh and enjoy life as only He can give it to us!

And for some reason for me, especially during my teenage years, my favorite month was September. It meant a new fresh start for a brand-new school year. New friends, new opportunities, and new challenges. So here we are on the first day of September getting ready to study the last chapter of the Bible, Revelation 22!

Over six years ago, as pastor of Rainbow Forest, I decided to close out our ministry by starting in Genesis and studying through the whole Bible, chapter by chapter. Now finally, we are in the last chapter of the Bible on this first day of a new month!

The Bible begins in Genesis with a new creation! A new universe, a new heaven, a new earth, new people, new animals, new everything! A new garden that God Himself would come down each day and walk in with His friends, Adam and Eve. But in Genesis 3, sin entered the picture and a curse and corruption take place and that fellowship with God is broken.

Everything in the Bible between Genesis 3 and these last two chapters of Revelation is the story of the effects of the curse and corruption of sin and the brokenness of mankind. But through it all, and even before it all, God had a plan of redemption and reconciliation! You see the story of God’s love and desire to forgive and redeem mankind threaded through the pages of the Bible, as He gives us a people, Israel, who give us the Bible, who give us a Messiah, the Christ. Jesus Christ, Who alone can pay the price for sin and make atonement for us through His blood, His death and resurrection!

Now when we come to the last chapter of the Bible, it is interesting to notice all the similarities between the first two chapters of Genesis and the description of the new heaven and the new earth, and the great and holy City of Jerusalem. We will look at them over the next few days!

Today, is a new day, a new month, and a time for new beginnings! Three times in this last chapter, Jesus says, “I am coming quickly”! Which means, “I am coming soon!” Today, could be that day! Amen!

God bless!