Exploring some Bible images

TODAY’S SPECIAL: Revelation 21:22-22:5

TO CHEW ON: “The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light.” Revelation 21:23

One of a poet’s tools to enrich and thicken a piece of writing is to plant within it allusions to past works of great literature and art. In that department, John’s vision of the New Jerusalem here is a visual poem that has those of us who love the Bible and its images in a tizzy of making connections. Here are a few, made with just three images from this passage:

LIGHT - Revelation 21:23,24; 22:5

• Light is the first thing God created - Genesis 1:3.

• God led Israel through their wilderness wanderings with a cloud that lit up at night - Exodus 13:2122.

• Light shone from Moses’ face after he had been with God - Exodus 34:29-35.

• Lights accompanied the announcement of Jesus’ birth - Matthew 2:1,2; Luke 2:9.

• Jesus declared Himself the light of the world - John 8:12.

• Light shone brilliantly at His transfiguration - Matthew 17:2.

• The light was snuffed out at His death - Mark 15:33.

NO MORE EVIL - Revelation 21:27; 22:3.

• The “curse” (Revelation 22:3) was first pronounced in Genesis 3:14-19.

• The giving of the Ten Commandments that help us understand God’s standard of right and wrong - Exodus 20:1-17.

• The rules of washing and purification that accompanied the Jewish sacrificial system (found throughout its descriptions, e.g. Numbers 8:6,7,15,21).

• Christ’s higher-than-the-law standard of right and wrong - Matthew 5,6,7.

• Christ’s blood shed to wash away and cleanse the stain of our sin - 1 John 1:7.

WATER - Revelation 22:1,2

• The river of life-giving water in Ezekiel’s vision - Ezekiel 47:1-12 (this vision also has a temple and healing trees in it).

• Jesus promised the Samaritan woman living water - John 4:13,14.

• Jesus invited all to come to Him to drink and themselves become sources of living water - John 7:37,38.

I'm sure you could find more connections to the items I've chosen and we could choose more items and continue to make connections. The Bible has many references to the temple, gates, nations, healing, the Lamb’s Book of Life, the Tree of Life. (Maybe you'd like to work on those!)

These connections are what make the Bible such a rich and exciting book. They leave me in awe and wonder and praise—what depth, what a consistent message flowing through 66 books despite a variety of writers, what a Master Author!


PRAYER: Dear Jesus, thank You for Your amazing Word, presented to us through so many writers. Help me to hear what You are saying—today about light, purity, living water—and apply these things to my life. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Tabernacle thoughts

Inage: Noel_Bauza / pixabay.com

TODAY’S SPECIAL: Revelation 21:1-21

TO CHEW ON: “And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, ‘Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them and they shall be His people, God Himself will be with them and be their God.’” Revelation 21:3


Portable homes range from pup tents that weigh ounces to grand motorized coaches that are all but castles on wheels. However, even the grandest doesn’t compare to the tabernacle (skene – tent) of God, shown to John in his Revelation vision.

Throughout the Bible the tabernacle signifies God’s dwelling place. He gave Moses instructions on how to make the first physical tabernacle on Mount Sinai – an elaborate tent made with specific materials and completely dis-assemblable. The Israelites carried it with them during their 40 years of wandering in the desert, putting it up at each extended stop. God’s glory hovered over it and so possessed the Holy of Holies, no unsanctioned person could go into it and remain alive.

When Solomon built the temple, the physical portable tabernacle was retired. But Bible writers continue to refer to it:

• David talks about being hidden in God’s tabernacle in the time of trouble (Psalm 27:5).

• The writer to the Hebrews explains how Christ’s sacrifice on the cross brought an end to the need for the High Priest’s yearly visit into the most sacred Holy of Holies. No longer did he need to go into that room of the tabernacle (or temple) with a blood sacrifice to atone for sins. (Hebrews 9:6-15)

• God spreads his tabernacle over the saints who come out of the tribulation in Revelation 7:15.

• The beast blasphemes it in Revelation 13:6.

• And in Reveation 15:5 “the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened.”

In our reading today, a heavenly voice declares to John that God’s tabernacle is with men. Then John sees an indescribably beautiful city – the New Jerusalem – also called His bride, descending from heaven. It’s an incredible sight to picture and even more incredible to think that we will someday be a part of such an event!

Until then, though, God has a far humbler tabernacle. Us. You and me. Though the exact word “tabernacle” isn’t used, we are plainly told in 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 and 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 that we are God’s dwelling place. What an honor, privilege and responsibility!

PRAYER: Dear God, please help me to begin to grasp the significance of being Your dwelling place on earth. Help me to live accordingly. Amen.

MORE: Michael Card sings “The New Jerusalem”




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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Do your 8-12-year-olds have daily devotions? Point them to Bible Drive-Thru.

Divine Favor

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Isaiah 60:1-22

 TO CHEW ON: "For behold darkness shall cover the earth,
And deep darkness the people;
But the Lord will arise over you,
And His glory will be seen upon you." Isaiah 60:2

On first reading this morning,  Isaiah 60:1-22 took my breath away. What is this? When is this?

My Bible's notes explain, cryptically, "While these glowing prophetic promises of restoration would bring hope to Israel in captivity, the fullest unfolding is messianic and eschatological" - Nathaneal M. Van Cleave, New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 944.

["Eschatology: the branch of Christian theology that studies 'end things' whether the end of an individual life, the end of an age, the end of the world, and the nature of the Kingdom of God" - Dictionary definition.]

So yes, that makes sense. This prophecy foresees not only a time in Israel's history near to the prophet's lifetime, but also predicts end-time events concerning Israel and Jerusalem.

For me personally, though, this passage is a full-color illustration of what God's favor looks like at any time. (In fact, in her book of Scripture prayers Praying with Fire, Barbara Billette quotes freely from Isaiah 60 in her prayer for favor.)

According to Isaiah 60, God's favor:

• Brings light - Isaiah 60:1,19,20.

• Causes His glory to be seen upon the favored - Isaiah 60:2.

• Is a magnetic attraction - Isaiah 60:3.

• Unites and reunites families - Isaiah 60:4.

• Attracts wealth - Isaiah 60:5-9,11,16,17.

• Advances peace and security - Isaiah 60:10-12, 14, 18

• Exalts and builds up what is worthy of God's glory - "My sanctuary" and "The city of the Lord / Zion of the Holy One of Israel" (Jerusalem) - Isaiah 60:13,14.

• Brings joy - Isaiah 60:20.

• Comes with unlikely reversal: "A little one shall become a thousand, / And a small one a strong nation" - Isaiah 60:22.

What's the point of all this favor? To benefit the individual or nation favored? No. It's all to serve God's glory: "That I may be glorified" - Isaiah 60:21.

As we enter the new year, I don't think we're one bit out of line to pray for the favor shown in Isaiah 60 to be on our lives. But to always do so with one and only one motive—to advance the glory of the all-good, fair, all-seeing, just, loving One, the LORD in whom is not an atom of evil.

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for this vivid picture of Your favor. May I so live in the coming year that Your glory and favor rests on me. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Unveiling of the Bride-City

The New Jerusalem - Artist unknown

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Revelation 21:1-21

TO CHEW ON: "Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband… 'Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb's wife."  Revelation 21:2,9

What an interesting comparison—likening a city to a bride.

Bride Imagery is used in other places in the Bible.

• Already way back in Isaiah we have Jerusalem referred to as a bride - Isaiah 52:1.
• And Paul often refers to believers in bride terms:

• He urges Christians in Rome to leave their old loyalty to law-keeping and "be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead" - Romans 7:4.

• He exhorts the Christians in Corinth to be faithful to Christ as a bride would be faithful to her husband sexually - 1 Corinthians 6:15.

• He also challenges the Corinthian Christians to loyalty and purity as if they were a chaste virgin whom he (Paul) anticipates presenting to Christ - 2 Corinthians 11:2.

• He talks plainly to the church in Ephesus about their ideal intimacy with Christ using words that remind us of the marriage covenant: "For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones" - Ephesians 5:30 (compare Genesis 2:24; Mark 10:8 and Ephesians 3:31). In fact in Ephesians 5:32, Paul spells it out: "This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church."

• These Bible bride metaphors often refer, as well, to getting ready and being prepared. We see this in John's writings:

• "… the marriage of the Lamb has come and His wife has made herself ready" - Revelation 19:7.

• "… the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down… prepared as a bride adorned for her husband" - Revelation 2:20 (our verse for today).

Which takes us back to John's vision, of which my Bible's study notes explain:
"The holy city is the bride of Christ, the church as well as the abode of the saints" - Earl Wesley Morey, New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 1845.

The vision of this bride-city is rich with symbolism. We might interpret:*

• The gates to it, located on all sides, to mean that it's open to all peoples (Revelation 21:12,13).

• The "twelve tribes" and "twelve apostles" to mean that it incorporates both Old and New Testaments (Revelation 21:12,14).

• The "twelve foundations" as a reference to the "household of God" that Paul talks about, which is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ as the cornerstone (Revelation 21:14; Ephesians 2:20).

• The cube shape of the city as a symbol of its perfection (Revelation 21:15-17).

• The precious materials used in the city as symbols of its value, beauty, and glory (Revelation 21:18-21).  (*Morey's study notes used in the above.)

Doesn't reading this wondrous description of the New Jerusalem Bride of Christ (of which we're a part) make you want to stay loyal to Jesus and not get involved with anyone else? Doesn't it also make you want to prepare yourself for the day of this amazing unveiling?


PRAYER: Dear God, in the midst of my mundane, often disappointing, sometimes hostile-to-Christianity life on earth, help me to keep my sites on the real and glorious future You have for Your church and for me as part of it. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

A prophecy to fuel hope

"Who are these who fly like a cloud
And like doves to their roosts?"
- Isaiah 60:8

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Isaiah 60:1-22

TO CHEW ON: "The Gentiles shall come to your light

And kings to the brightness of your rising." - Isaiah 60:3

We see in Isaiah's prophecy the prediction of the wise men who came from the east (we'll read the account from Matthew tomorrow in two days from now when we commemorate Epiphany). The "your" in the verse speaks of Zion, the City of the Lord (Isaiah 60:14).

This passage is crammed with other things that distinguish Zion as a special place.

• She attracts the wealth of nations (Isaiah 60:5-10) where only the best of gold, silver and bronze is collected (Isaiah 60:17).

• She is a welcoming, bustling place (Isaiah 60:11).

• She will rule over her former detractors and persecutors and they will bring her homage (Isaiah 60:14).

• Her fortunes, once bad, have turned around (Isaiah 60:15-16).

• She is no longer a city of violence and poverty but of salvation and praise (Isaiah 60:18).

And it's all because of Zion's main attraction—the Lord God. He is her inhabitants' everlasting light and glory (Isaiah 60:19-20). Days of sadness are over for her citizens. Her insignificant people have became great to bring God glory (Isaiah 60:21-22).

We recognize layers of prediction here. The kings who came to worship baby Jesus fulfilled it in part. But the complete fulfillment of all of these predictions is still ahead. For example when we read:

"The sun shall no longer be your light by day,

Nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you;

But the Lord will be to you an everlasting light,

And your God your glory" - Isaiah 60:19

we can't help but think of still-unrealized prediction from Revelation 22:

"There shall be no night there. 

They need no lamp nor light of the sun, 

for the Lord God gives them light" - Revelation 22:5.

So what does this prophecy have to do with us today? For me it resonates in two ways.

1. It helps expand my view and imaginings of God. As I read this passage I see His greatness and power, His magnetism, and His raw force for good.

2. It fuels my hope as I witness by faith the eventual triumph of good over evil, light over darkness, joy over sadness.


PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for mind-expanding passages like Isaiah 60 that picture Zion as the seat of Your rule and home of Your people. Help me to nurture hope and expectation through Bible prophecy. Amen.

MORE: "The Prophets" by Michael Card

No More!

"... New Jerusalem ... prepared as a bride..." Rev. 21:2

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Revelation 21:1-7

TO CHEW ON: "'And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.'" Revelation 21:4


Our reading today is so rich, it's hard to pick out one idea on which to focus. But the "no more"s listed here have their hands up and are waving wildly, so let's take a minute to ponder them and a few more found in Revelation. These are things that will have no place, that are no more in the "new heaven and a new earth" that God has prepared.

No more sea - Revelation 21:1

Hmm, interesting. But I love the sea—from a place of safety, of course, when on land looking at its beauty and appreciating its place in the water cycle. Of course the sea is also the source of much heartache, taking the lives of sailors, sweeping coastal communities away in its storm surges and tsunamis. In God's wisdom our new home, that 'holy city," will have no more sea.

No sorrow. No crying - Revelation 21:4

"Sorrow" and "crying" stand in for a host of experiences and emotions from disappointment to devastation, having hurt feelings to experiencing the pain of abuse and separation. All the things that would make us sorrowful and cause us to cry will someday be NO MORE!

No pain - Revelation 21:4

No more physical pain that makes us grit our teeth to go on, or confines us to beds or wheelchairs. There will be no more psychological and emotional pain either—that pain that drives people to depression or to seek the bitterest of relief in addictions or obsessions.

No curse - Revelation 22:3.

What curse? The curse spoken of in Genesis 3:17-19, of obstacle-filled yet necessary work that seems so pointless when it leads, in the end, to us joining the ground we spent our whole lives tilling.

No night - Revelation 22:5

No dark to stumble around in, a cover for evil. Perhaps no more need to sleep.

No death - Revelation 21:4

No more untimely separations from those we love.

What a future to contemplate!

PRAYER: Dear God, it's hard to even imagine a future without things like sorrow, pain, crying, obstacles, death. I love Your guarantee: "I make all things new." Help me to remember this when events in my life cause me to become disheartened and weary, even distraught and panicked. Amen.

MORE: No More Night sung by David Phelps

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New King James Version (NKJV) Used with permission. The Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Tabernacle thoughts

TODAY’S SPECIAL: Revelation 21:1-21

TO CHEW ON: “And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, ‘Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them and they shall be His people, God Himself will be with them and be their God.’” Revelation 21:3

Portable homes range from pup tents that weigh ounces to grand motorized coaches that are all but castles on wheels. However, even the grandest doesn’t compare to the tabernacle (skene – tent) of God, shown to John in his Revelation vision.

Throughout the Bible the tabernacle signifies God’s dwelling place. He gave Moses instructions on how to make the first physical tabernacle on Mount Sinai – an elaborate tent made with specific materials and completely dis-assemblable. The Israelites carried it with them during their 40 years of wandering in the desert, putting it up at each stop. God’s glory hovered over it and so possessed the Holy of Holies, no unsanctioned person could go into it and remain alive.

When Solomon built the temple, the physical portable tabernacle was retired. But Bible writers continue to refer to it:

• David talks about being hidden in God’s tabernacle in the time of trouble (Psalm 27:5).

• The writer to the Hebrews explains how Christ’s sacrifice on the cross brought an end to the need for the High Priest’s yearly foray into the Holy of Holies. No longer did he need to go into that room of the tabernacle (or temple) with a blood sacrifice to atone for sins. (Hebrews 9:6-15)

• God spreads his tabernacle over the saints who come out of the tribulation in Revelation 7:15.

• The beast blasphemes it in Revelation 13:6.

• And in Revelation 15:5 “the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened.”

In our reading today, a heavenly voice declares to John that God’s tabernacle is with men. Then John sees an indescribably beautiful city – the New Jerusalem – also called His bride, descending from heaven. It’s an amazing sight to picture and it's even more incredible to think that we will someday be a part of such an event!

Until then, though, God has a far humbler tabernacle. Us. You and me. Though the exact word “tabernacle” isn’t used, we are plainly told in 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 and 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 that we are God’s dwelling place. What an honor, privilege and responsibility!

PRAYER: Dear God, please help me to begin to grasp the significance of being Your dwelling place on earth. Help me to live accordingly. Amen.

MORE: Michael Card sings “The New Jerusalem”

Do your 8-12-year-olds have daily devotions? Point them to Bible Drive-Thru.

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The Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. - Used with permission.