May 2007 Newsletter


"Anticipation"  

By: Gene Scantlin

TO ANTICIPATE is to look forward to something. My family and I have had the privilege of going on some exciting vacations. Niagara Falls, Washington D.C., the Grand Canyon, etc. It was with anticipation that we made plans for these trips. As we read articles and saw pictures of these places it brought even more anticipation. We would look at maps and plan the most direct route to get there. It was exciting to be able to see places we had only heard about or seen pictures of, but it was also exciting to plan these trips. On some occasions we began planning the next trip on our way home. Anticipation - excitement about a few days vacation.

Whether we realize it or not, we are making plans for another trip. A trip, I think we often take for granted. We can intentionally make plans for this trip, or be lackadaisical and unconcerned, thereby making plans. I believe we all anticipate the destination of this trip. Just in case you haven't figured it out that destination is heaven. In order to get there we must make plans. Just like a vacation, we can't get there if we just wander aimlessly. We need to begin now to make and follow plans by reading the map "THE BIBLE". Unlike a vacation we don't know when this trip will occur. 32 students at Virginia Tech took this trip recently, totally unexpected, with or without proper planning and preparation. As we plan for this trip we need only one map "THE BIBLE". In it we have all we need to know about how to get there and some glimpses of what it will be like. To get there Jesus calls us as He did His apostles when He says "follow Me" Matthew 4:19. In John 14:1-4 Jesus says He is preparing a place for us and in verse 6 He says "I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."

In Revelation we read some glimpses of what heaven will be like. In Revelation 4:2-8; At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian. A rainbow, resembling an emerald, encircled the throne. Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. Before the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God. Also before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.

In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come." And in Revelation 21:1-22:6, "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.

He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."

He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars – their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death."

One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, "Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb." And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. One the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls. The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia in length, and as wide and high as it is long. He measured its wall and it was 144 cubits thick, by man's measurement, which the angel was using. The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold , as pure as glass. The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of pure gold, like transparent glass.

I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. Nothing impure will ever inter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever. The angel said to me, "These words are trustworthy and true. The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place." WOW! What a place. We anticipate seeing the things of this world with excitement. We even "awe" over them, but what about heaven? Do you, with excitement, anticipate – look forward to getting there? Are you making plans, by studying and following the map (THE BIBLE)? Jesus said He is the only way to get there, we must be obedient to Him and His word.