“And His Servants Shall Serve Him”
Revelation 22:3-7
“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.".
The Bible is a Book of Hope! So, it should be no wonder that as we come to the last two chapters of the Bible, here in the Book of Revelation, we find the great promises of God concerning the future that is filled with tremendous blessings and hope! As I began doing this chat today, I couldn’t help but think about how we live in sin cursed world that has left us all broken!
The world is full of broken people, broken families, broken communities, broken institutions, broken governments, and even broken churches. Everything and everyone feel the effect of the curse. One of my college professor friends, Dr. Ron Hawkins, put it this way, “We live in a profoundly fallen world, with a profoundly fallen people!”
I know at the moment of my salvation that I received a brand new nature. I became a “new creation in Christ Jesus” and the Holy Spirit of God lives in me! But like Paul said in Romans 7, I also know that “in me, that is in my flesh there dwells no good thing”. I realize and must acknowledge that my heart is still “deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it” (Jeremiah 17:9).
All of this is because of the “curse of sin”. Solomon reminds us that the “wicked walk in darkness and they do not know at what they stumble” (Proverbs 4:19). Yes, we live in a sin cursed world with brokenness all around us. But thank God we have the hope and promise that a time is coming when “there will be no more curse”!
And also, even today, we can be empowered by the indwelling Holy Spirit to be filled with the presence of Jesus Christ and His love, His life and His light in the midst of all this brokenness. When we yield to His control in our lives, we can and will enjoy the fruit of the Spirit and radiate to others, “His love, His joy, His peace, His longsuffering, His kindness, His goodness, His faithfulness, His gentleness and His self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). Paul goes on to tell us how this can happen: “And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.” (Galatians 5:24-26).
Did you also notice that the last part of the verse in Revelation 22:3 says, “And His servants shall serve Him”. This is awesome! We are not going to be sitting around in heaven for eternity on a cloud, playing a harp, singing songs! For sure we will be worshiping and singing, but at the same time we will be serving! I’m not sure, because we are not told, what this totally means, but we will have the privilege of serving the King of kings, no doubt in a variety of ways for eternity.
Today we are to serve and be stewards of “the manifold grace of God” (1 Peter 4:10). Today, we have the wonderful and awesome responsibility to be “ambassadors for Christ” to this broken world around us. We literally stand “in Christ stead and beseech the broken people around us to be reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:18-21). I like what one great pastor said, “We are practicing now for eternity”!
Today, may the Lord help us to quit living selfish, self-centered lives, and by His grace “crucify our flesh with its passions and lust”, so that we might faithfully serve our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as we should! Broken people everywhere desperately need Him!
God bless!