Prophetic Prospective Daily Devotional

Then Abram removed his tent, and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the Lord.

The key verse for our devotional reading for today is a record of the establishment of the first Jewish city by the “father” of the Jewish people, Abraham. Hebron is the oldest Jewish community in the world dating back some 4,000 years ago. Abraham is setting claim on the city that today has around 800 Jewish people living there.

In a future reading, Genesis 23, we’ll see how Abraham purchased his burial site in Hebron. He paid cash money for the site and when he was buried there, along with his son and grandson, Hebron became the second most sacred piece of real estate in the universe for the Jewish people, second only to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

Abram, the Gentile name for the man who would be known as Abraham, Abram was a very wealthy man, verse 2, “very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold”. This reference to the silver and gold of Abraham has an interesting connection to Bible Prophecy.

Silver and gold are mentioned in Ezekiel 38:13 as the “spoil” that may be the “hook”, Ezekiel 38:4, that will bring the enemies of Israel into the land of the Jewish State to try and destroy Israel and wipe the Jewish people off the Earth. It would be interesting to know where the gold and silver of Abraham may be today.

Genesis 13:5-13 is the record of Abraham dividing the land that God gave him with his nephew Lot. The land was actually too small and could not accommodate them that they might live together.

Abraham was so gracious that he offered Lot the choice of the “promised land”, the exact location that he wanted before Abraham would take his portion. Notice that Lot choose the area that was most pleasant to his sight, the land that looked like the Garden of Eden, verse 10.

Let me remind you that you cannot go by “what looks good”, the area Lot wanted was Sodom and Gomorrah, a location that the Lord would destroy because of the sin of “sodomy”.

The promise of the “land” that God would make to the Jewish people is a “forever promise” of a “forever land” and the result of a promise that the Lord cannot break. This promise is in the Abrahamic Covenant that God made with Abraham, and passed on to all Jews after him.

As you read all 18 verses of Genesis 13 you can recognize the “foundations” being laid for Bible Prophecy, in the last days, to be fulfilled. All of Bible Prophecy has its foundations in the book of “beginnings”, the book of Genesis.

PRAYER THOUGHT: Help me Lord to remember that the time of your return is quickly approaching and each passing day is a day closer to your shout to have all Christians join you in the heavens. Thank you for the foundations laid for Bible Prophecy in the book of Genesis and please help me to realize how close it may well be that you will shout for us to join You in the heavens.

And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

The extended reading for the devotionals today is what the Bible calls the “Abrahamic Covenant”. This is an “unconditional covenant” that the Lord gave to the Jewish people through the “father” of the Jewish people, Abraham.

This is the first of four covenants that God gave to the Jewish people over the years, promises that God made to His “chosen people”, the Jews. Genesis 12 and 15 are the passages in God’s Word that explain God will make the family of Abraham, through Isaac and Jacob, the Jewish people, a nation.

Now remember, you can have a group of people wanting to be a nation. They may well have elected their leadership and even have a “constitution”, but that does not make them a “nation”, they must also have a “piece of real estate” in order to be a nation among the people of this world.

Please notice verse 7, the Lord appears unto Abraham and tells him that the Jewish people will indeed receive “real estate”. This act by God prompted Abraham to build an altar unto the Lord in thanksgiving for this gift. This is the “Abrahamic Covenant”, the promise of God to the Jews that they will be a “nation” among the other nations of the world.

The Lord expands on this “promised land” in Genesis 15, which is the re-statement of the “covenant”. In Deuteronomy 30, the “Land Covenant”, once again the Lord promises the “children of Israel” that their “forever nation” will have a piece of real estate. The land promised will actually be ten times the amount of land they have today in their little state.

The “Abrahamic Covenant” is key to the end of days scenario found in Bible prophecy and how the plan of God for the Jewish people will be played out in the future. This is an “un-conditional” covenant, one that God can not abrogate.

This covenant is the tangible evidence that the Lord has not finished with the Jews and that He has a great plan for Israel in the last days. The fact that the Lord has kept this promise to the Jews, and will keep it until it is fulfilled, is also evidence that the Lord will be true to His Word about salvation for everyone that comes to Him.

One final thought before we leave this passage and our daily devotional. Verse 3 sets up the Biblical principle, which says that those who bless the Jewish people, God will bless. Of course, the opposite is also true, those who “curse” the Jews, God will curse.

The Abrahamic Covenant is absolute evidence that the Lord is not finished with the Jewish people. He has a plan that will be carried out by the Lord and His “chosen people”. In fact, everything that is happening in our world today is evidence that God’s plan is about to get underway.

The Abrahamic Covenant must, and will be fulfilled, seemingly in the very near future. However, before that happens the Rapture will happen. The Rapture could happen at any moment, even today. Keep looking up.

PRAYER THOUGHT: Thank you Lord for your faithfulness to keep all of your promises, as evidenced by the fact you have and will keep the promises found in the Abrahamic Covenant. This assures me that your promise of eternal life for us as Christians will also be fulfilled. 

And from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

Our key verse for today’s devotional is the last verse in our extended reading and reveals what the Lord did to a rebellious people that had followed a “man” instead of God. This was the action of the one who had brought judgment upon the whole earth and all of mankind with the worldwide flood.

So quickly we forget, not only you and me, but even the people in Noah’s day and the days of Noah’s great grandson, Nimrod. Remember, Nimrod had become a “king”, Genesis 10:10, by going against the direct command from God to be fruitful, multiply and re-people the earth, Genesis 9:1.

Nimrod, who became a “mighty one on the earth” had led the people of the world, at that time, against the command of God and went to Babylon and built a great “city”, verse 4 of our devotional reading for today. This action sets the stage for an end times scenario found in Revelation 18 to be fulfilled.

Interestingly, the way this was to be played out was because of all peoples on the earth speaking only one language, verse 1. Therefore, God’s move to come to the earth and to “confuse” the language of the people, was His way of having His will accomplished as all the people in Babylon were not able to understand each others speech, verse 7.

The result of the Lord confusing the language of the people with many different languages was, as seen in verse 8, “the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth”. Thus they stopped building the city of Babylon.

The lesson I learned from this account of history is that when the Lord tells us what to do we must do it, or the Lord will do it with you and me. It’s a hard lesson to learn but one that will continue to be brought to our attention as often as need be so that we can learn.

A number of truths can be learned from this passage of scripture, including the one just mentioned above. Also the scripture gives us the background for better understanding how “Babylon” mentioned in Revelation 18 will be the focus of the world at that time in history, the end times.

Let me remind you that the last thing Jesus does before He comes back to earth is destroy the city of Babylon, Revelation 16:17 and following. Then Jesus steps down on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, Zechariah 14:4. With the focus on “Babylon”, modern day Iraq, in our day we can understand how close the Lord’s return really is today.

PRAYER THOUGHT: Thank you Lord for your Word that has been written so that I might under stand the Bible passages pertaining to Your soon return. Help me to live everyday as if that could be the day of our Lord’ return.

These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations: and by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood.

Our key verse for today’s devotional is the overview of the entire chapter of Genesis that reveals how “nations” came into existence some 4,500 years ago. As you read through this chapter, should you not want to read every verse please read the following: verses 1-6, 20-21 and 31-32.

By reading the verses mentioned above you will notice that each of the sons of Noah had a family that they taught a new language and then went to a location on the earth to establish a “nation”. This is the beginning of “nations” in our world.

Remember, God told Noah in Genesis 9:1 to be fruitful, multiply and to “re-people” the earth after the flood. In obedience to God’s directive Noah and his three sons, Shem, Ham and Jepheth moved forward to follow God’s plan for all of humankind.

Please notice the great grandson of Noah, the son of Cush, Nimrod defied God’s command to fill the post-flood world with people, Genesis 11:4, and went to the “plains of Shinar” to build a “great city” called Babylon. In fact, Babylon was the beginning of “Nimrod’s kingdom”, Genesis 10:10.

This information has great significance as it relates to Bible Prophecy. The city of Babylon, founded by Nimrod as a “one world government” with a “one world leader” is the prototype for the end of times scenario that is found in Revelation 18.

This Revelation passage is where we learn of the “one world government” headed up by the Antichrist in the last three and one half years of the Tribulation. Babylon has a very interesting history that is recorded in the Bible with the name “Babylon” used over 250 times in the scriptures.

Before we finish the study of Genesis 10, I want you to notice, what is found in the first 10 verses of Genesis 10. Several sons of Jepheth were named Magog, Gomer, Meshech, Tubal and Togarmah.

These are the names of the nations that form a coalition of nations in Ezekiel 38 to go against Israel in the last days. More on that when we come in our devotions to Ezekiel 38.

Please also notice Genesis 10:6, where we find the names of sons of Ham: Cush, Mizraim and Phut. Cush is modern-day Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan. Mizraim is Egypt and Phut is Libya.

These are today all “Arab nations” and the record of the Bible indicates that it will be over 250 years before Abraham will come on the scene. It is even longer than that before Ishmael will be born. Let the record indicate that Abraham and Ishmael did not “father the Arab world”.

Though Genesis 10 is another genealogy it has some very important information that will help us understand Bible Prophecy when we get to those passages of scripture. Let me just say that when we do study Bible Prophecy passages we’ll see that what is happening today is evidence that the last days scenario in scripture will be fulfilled, seemingly in the very near future. Bible Prophecy will be fulfilled.


PRAYER THOUGHT: Thank you Lord for the background needed to understand the last days events that seem to be coming to pass today. Because I have that information I realize that Jesus could come today. Help me to live in light of that reality. 

And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years.

Our key verse for today’s devotional tells the story of the entire chapter, Genesis 9. Chapter nine is “Noah after the flood”, as you go through the first twelve chapters of Genesis. The chapter opens with God speaking to Noah, after the flood, telling him and his three sons, and their wives, to be “fruitful and re-people the Earth”.

The last two verses of Genesis 9, verse 28 and 29, tell us that after the flood Noah lived 350 years, making his total life 950 years long. This means that Noah was still alive when Abraham was born in Ur of the Chaldees. I’m sure that these two very important personalities of Bible history met and spent time talking about before and after the flood.

I say that I’m sure, however, I do not have Biblical proof. We will see in Genesis 10 and 11 that Nimrod built a “great city”, Babylon, within miles of Ur. It is logical that Abraham would have wanted to talk with one of eight souls that lived on both sides of the flood.

The command that God gave Noah, to “be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth”, was how the Lord planned to fill the earth with people and to establish the nations of the world, which we’ll look at when we come to Genesis 10.

Genesis 9:6 is the passage that records the establishment of “human government”. You will recognize “capital punishment” in verse 6, which is the highest function of all of human government. God brought “human government” into existence for the purpose of directing all of humankind through history.

There is much more that you will learn from your reading of Genesis 9 for our devotional today, please read the entire chapter. As you read the last two verses you notice that Noah lived after the flood for 350 years and I would suggest that he lived with his great grandson Nimrod in Babylon.

When we get to Genesis 10 and 11 we’ll see this to be the case. What is interesting to me is that Matthew 24:37 says, “as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the time of the coming of Jesus, back to earth”. In the days of Noah, after the flood, the focus of the world was Babylon, in modern-day Iraq.

Thus, in the days of the coming of the Lord the world will be focused on Babylon, modern-day Iraq, Revelation 18. I’ll spend time developing this when we come to our devotional time in Revelation 18. Suffice to say, we are at that time in history when the world will be relying on the activities of Babylon.

To the above I want to add that before all of the prophecies found in the Bible are fulfilled the Rapture will take place and those of us who are saved will go to join Jesus in the heavens.

I realize that the current events of our present time seem to be telling us that God’s prophetic scenario found in the Bible will all be fulfilled in the near future. Remember, the Rapture could happen at any moment, even today.

PRAYER THOUGHT: Thank you for the fact that the Rapture will happen, and that it could happen at any moment. Help me Lord to live in light of this truth in my daily walk.

But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

As we come to our devotions for today I have selected three chapters of Genesis, six, seven and eight. These are the chapters that give us the details of the “flood”, the worldwide flood that took place on this Earth 4,500 years ago.

I know that three chapters of the Bible are more than the average devotional, which most people read for a day. May I suggest that you sometime in the near future try to take the time to read all of Genesis 6, 7 and 8, it will be a blessing to you.

I will now bring to your attention several of the important elements of this record of God’s judgment on this Earth through the waters that completely covered the Earth and destroyed all living creatures on the Earth with the exception of eight souls, Noah, his three sons and their four wives.

Genesis 6:9 reveals that “Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.” The idea that Noah was “perfect” does not mean that he never sinned, instead it means that he had no “evil angelic blood strain in him”. We know that because Genesis 5 is a genealogy from Adam to Noah and there are no “angels” listed in the genealogy.

Genesis 6, verses 1 to 4, indicates that human women had sexual relations with evil angels, “sons of God” Genesis 6:2 and 4. The Devil did this to contaminate the “human race” so that the “Messiah” couldn't come from a “pure line” from Eve to the Messiah, as foretold in Genesis 3:15.

Thus, we have the reason for the Flood, which was to rid the world of all contaminated souls and protect the eight that were not contaminated, leaving a pure line for someone to bring forth the Messiah.

Noah preached for 120 years, Genesis 6:3, about the coming judgment of the flood and only had seven “believers”, his three sons and the four wives. It was Noah’s responsibility to preach, not to get the results, which was God’s responsibility.

The Lord protected the eight souls and all the animals that Noah brought into the ark for just over a year at which time the ark landed on dry land. Noah, his family and all the animals then came off the ark onto “dry land”

I want you to notice one more of the many great truths that can be found in these three chapters in Genesis. One of the many answers to the false world phenomena of so-called “global warming” can be found in Genesis 8:20-22. It is refuted with God’s statement to “Noah that while the Earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.”

The record of the “flood” in Genesis 6-8 is key to understanding the entire Bible, and especially the prophetic passages in God’s Word. Remember Matthew 24:37 where it quotes Jesus as saying, “As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the coming of the Lord.

Even so come Lord Jesus, and please do it soon. What a day today would be for the Rapture to take place. Even so come Lord Jesus.

PRAYER THOUGHT: Thank you Lord for the record of a judgment that will never happen again, there will be no more worldwide floods, thank you Lord. However, there will be terrible judgment to come during the Tribulation period. Thank you for providing the way, salvation, for all to miss the coming judgment.

And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.

I am asking you to read the entire fifth chapter of Genesis because of what the chapter reveals to the reader. You may be saying, he wants us to read a chapter in the scripture that is a “genealogy” which in the first place is very difficult to read and what could we possibly learn from a genealogy.

That question is a good one but the answer is that you can learn much from your reading of this particular genealogy, as well as most genealogies. This is the second genealogy in Genesis with the first brought out in some of the fourth chapter.

This genealogy is from Adam, at the time of Creation, all the way to Noah, just before the “flood”. There are many truths that can be learned from a study of Genesis 5, for one that men do die. The passage repeats over and over again that so-and-so lived so many years and he died.

This is the case except for one man, Enoch, verses 18 to 24. Enoch is only one of two men that have lived on this Earth and have never died. Enoch is one and the other is Elijah, 2 Kings 2:1-11. This has great significance in the end of times.

Revelation 11:3-12 tells us of “two witnesses” that will preach for the first three and one half years of the Tribulation period. They will be headquartered in the city of Jerusalem on the Temple Mount and will have results, the salvation of many that hear the “gospel of the kingdom” and come to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour.

I believe the “two witnesses” are Elijah and Enoch, the only two men that have never died and must do so because of Hebrews 9:27. After their three and one half years of ministry they will be killed and then raised from the dead and called into the heavens by Jesus.

Another fact you can glean from this passage is how long it was from Creation until the “flood”. If you add up the numbers you will see that it was 1,656 years from Adam to Noah and the time of the flood. This number helps us to see that from Creation till today is in the area of 6,000 years, a number that comes from adding to the 1656 the 4,500 years since the flood until today.

Some one has said that in six days the Lord created the heavens and earth and all that is in them, then He rested the seventh. It’s been six thousand years since creation and the 1,000-year Kingdom Period will make seventh thousand-year period.

There is nothing in scripture about this, however, with the events of our day looking like the events describe in Bible Prophecy it does seem that we are quickly approaching the time for the Rapture to take place when Jesus calls to join Him in the heavens. Maybe that will happen today, keep looking up.      

PRAYER THOUGHT: Thank you Lord for what we can learn from all of scripture, even genealogies. Help me to continue to study all of scripture as I await Your shout for me to join You in the heavens, may it be today.

Then began men to call upon the name of the Lord.

For further study - Genesis 4:1-26

The extended reading for today's devotional is the entire fourth chapter of Genesis, which begins with a murder and ends with men calling on the name of the Lord. This chapter is a record of the relationship between two brothers and their God, and how each of them will worship that God.

Both brothers brought their offering to the Lord, Cain brought the "fruit of the ground", verse 3, and Abel brought of "the firstlings of his flock", verse 4, a "blood offering". This that Abel brought to the Lord caused the "Lord to respect Abel for the offering".

At the same time the Lord did not respect Cain for his offering. The lesson here is that the offering must be a "blood offering" for the Lord to honor it, an event that speaks to the future for all offerings that will be unto the Lord.

This "sacrifice" of an animal, Abel's offering unto the Lord, is the "prototype" of the "sacrificial system" to come, as will be explained in the book of Leviticus. The sacrificial system is that which looks to the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, the sacrifice that makes those of us who receive what Jesus did for us on the cross Christians, saved people.

Please notice verses 25 and 26, the record of the birth of "Seth" the third son of Adam and Eve, as recorded in the Bible. I believe that there were many other sons and daughters born to Adam and Eve that are not mentioned in the text. Notice what happened in the days of Seth, "men began to call upon the name of the Lord", verse 26.

How shall they call unless they hear and how shall they hear unless a man goes to proclaim, Romans 10. Seth learned the lesson of his brother Abel about the "blood offering" and began to teach that to the people on the Earth at that time.

These events recorded in Genesis 4 lay the ground work for Jesus Christ to come to this world for the purpose of fulfilling that first prophecy in Genesis 3:15 as a "substitute" to take your place and my place when one is to be offered for the sins of all men, and women. Interestingly, the name "Seth" actually means "substitute".

It is in these first chapters of the Bible, in Genesis, that all the groundwork is laid out for the rest of the Bible and all truths that will be taught and explained. Actually, these first twelve chapters of Genesis are the basis for all of Bible Prophecy. We'll see this to be the case as we continue through Genesis.

PRAYER THOUGHT: Thank you Lord for laying out the foundation for not only all of Bible Prophecy, but the entire Bible and its content. Help me to study and understand all of your Word, especially Bible Prophecy.

And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

The extended reading for today’s devotional is the account of the “fall of Man”. Some time after the sixth day of Creation the Angel Lucifer exercised his freewill and rebelled against God. During the time between Genesis 1:31 and Genesis 3:1 part of our extended devotional reading for today, he shows up as a “serpent”.

Known as the Devil, or Satan, there in the Garden of Eden, he is in the form of a “serpent”. He misquotes God, puts doubt in the mind of Eve and proceeds to manipulate both Eve and Adam for the purpose of causing them to go against the Lord and do what He had told them not to do, eat of the “Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil”.

There are consequences for sin, verses 16-19, God told Adam and Eve, "For in the day that thou eatest thereof [the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil], thou shalt surely die," Genesis 2:17. However, at this time of the first “sin”, a “promise” was made in the form of a “prophecy”, a Saviour would be “provided”.

This is the very first prophecy of a coming “Messiah” - a Saviour for all mankind. This same prophecy also looks for Satan - the great Adversary - to come, but to meet his defeat by the power of the Messiah. Scripture teaches that Jesus Christ fulfilled every prophecy written of the coming of the Messiah. This fact then makes Him the fulfillment of this stated prophecy.

Jesus Christ, our Saviour, not only defeats Satan in the end, but strengthens us to stand against our Adversary on a daily basis, Ephesians 6:10-13. The Lord will also call us to meet Him in the "air" at the Rapture, which could happen today.

PRAYER THOUGHT: Thank you Lord for the “prophecy” of a coming Saviour, the “promise” that He would take care of my sin problem and the “provision” of that Saviour. 

And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.

As we continue our study of the book of Genesis, in this devotional, and in particular the first twelve chapters of the book, we are made aware that all the truth found in all sixty-six books of the Bible have their "beginning", their foundation, in the book of Genesis.

The first chapter is the record of "Creation" when Jesus in six, twenty-four hour days, created the heavens, the earth and all that is in them. Genesis 2 is a further explanation of some of the events and special effects of Creation.

Verses 1-3 reveal to us that after Jesus Christ, the member of the "Godhead" who created all things, Colossians 1:16, after the six days of Creation He rested on the seventh day. By the way, it was a twenty-four hour day that He rested, the same as the "day" He told the Jews to spend in rest, Exodus 20:11.

The atmosphere at Creation was like the tropics where there was a "mist", verse 6, that watered the earth since it had never rained, verse 5, and it would not rain until the time of the flood.

There is a great depth of knowledge in Genesis 2, but I guess my favorite is the record of Jesus creating the Garden of Eden, verses 8-17. Actually the "Garden" was created on the third day of Creation when the Lord brought forth the grass, the herb yielding seed and trees, Genesis 1:9-13.

It was in the "Garden of Eden" that the Lord created man and woman. The Lord placed man in the "Garden" to dress it and to keep it, verse 15.

In this chapter you will find several points of interest in relation to the "Garden". There were all types of trees in the "Garden", the “Tree of Life” and the “Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil” were only two of the trees. The trees put forth fruit for Adam and Eve to eat, with the exception of the "Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil."

Notice also there is one "river", not four rivers, coming out of the "Garden of Eden", verse 10. One river flowed out of the "Garden" and became four rivers somewhere outside of the "Garden of Eden".

The river flowing out of the "Garden of Eden" was the Gihon, which gave the water for King David to anoint his son Solomon to be king, I Kings 1:33, 38 and 45. By the way, the Gihon's head waters are located underneath the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

The original sight of the "Garden of Eden" is the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The "foundation stone" underneath the Dome of the Rock is, according to Jewish tradition, the place the Lord created man. It was also the site of the Holy of Holies in the Temple.

This has been the belief of the Jewish people for the location of the original sight of the "Garden of Eden", and has been known by the Jews for 5,778 years. In Jewish years, on their calendar, it's 5778. Where Jesus started, as the Creator, He will rule and reign from forever, the "Garden of Eden".

Now maybe you can see why the Moslems want the Temple Mount as their land. However, Bible prophecy says that the Garden of Eden belongs to the Jews, which will be the case in the last days, Isaiah 51:3, Ezekiel 36:35 and Joel 2:3. (See my audio CD series on "Return to Eden".)

All Bible prophecy will be fulfilled, and possibly very soon. The truth be known, the next event in Bible prophecy, the Rapture, could happen at any minute, maybe even today.

PRAYER THOUGHT: Thank you Lord for all truth found in Your Word.

He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so come, Lord Jesus.

These two chapters of Revelation, the last two chapters in Revelation and the Bible, give us a look into “eternity future”. We will see a description of the “new Jerusalem” the eternal habitation for all “believers" in Jesus Christ.

I will not take the space to re-describe the “new Jerusalem”, you can read what John the “Revelator” wrote about the “city of the future”. However, I would love to point out several unique aspects of this eternal home for you and me.

First, it will be hanging in “space” above the “new earth” for eternity. This is concluded by the fact that Ezekiel 37:26 and 28 tell us that the Temple that Jesus builds will be in the “earthly Jerusalem” on the “new earth” forever.

There will be no Temple in the New Jerusalem, chapter 21, verse 22, because God and Jesus are there. The New Jerusalem will be the eternal home for all Christians, with the “Jewish believers” and “Gentile believers” on the New Earth.

By the way, there are no “streets” of gold in the New Jerusalem. Notice the word “street” is not in the plural, the way so many people speak of them or sing about them. In the New Jerusalem there is only one “street”, Revelation 21:21 and 22:2. Therefore, we all live on “main-street” in the New Jerusalem, not on some “back street”.

There will also be a “tree of life” in the New Jerusalem, 22:2, where we will take “fruit” to eat through eternity. I’m not sure exactly what it means when John wrote, “for the healing of the nations”. What I am excited about is that we will “eat” forever.

There is so much more I could share with you from these two chapters. I do hope that you will read both chapters for your devotional today. Let me close with the Lord repeating one phrase three times. That phrase is, “Behold, I come quickly”.

In Revelation 22:7 He adds to the common phrase, “blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book”. That is a description of “how to live”.

In verse 12 John wrote after the statement that He was coming quickly, “and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be”. This is why we live according to the book. This verse also tells us how our “eternal job description” is determined.

The last utterance of the “quick coming” of Jesus is found in verse 20, the next to last verse in the Bible. He has John’s response to the “I come quickly”. John offers a prayer 2,000 years ago that has not yet been answered, “Even, so come Lord Jesus”.

That is my prayer on a daily basis, as I eagerly await His shout for me to join Him in the air at the Rapture. I pray that it is your prayer as well. Remember, John had received all the prophetic passages that will be fulfilled as we lead up to the Second Coming of Jesus, and John’s prayer was for Jesus to come right then. I also want to see Jesus, even so come Lord Jesus.

PRAYER THOUGHT: Even so, come Lord Jesus.