“There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him; they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads” (Revelation 22:3-4).

The mark of the beast and the mark of Jesus are both mentioned.  Is this a literal mark, or is it telling us about who, or should I say, to whom we belong?  Are you a child of the rebellion or a child of the Heavenly Father?  It will show in your demeanor.  It will be in your countenance.  It will be on your forehead for all to see.  This is why the Lord told us to let our light shine forth so that others would see what we do and give thanks to our heavenly Father.

Lord, in this crazy, mixed-up world, I am often befuddled when I think there are so many options.  There are truly only two.  Either I follow the way of the world or else I follow You.  Help me to follow You first, last, and always.  Guide me through the morass of this age to be made whole in Your goodness and mercy.  Let the words of my mouth speak of Your grace and mercy.  Direct my feet to walk the path You have set before me.

Holy Spirit, Your word to me is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.  Grant me clarity of thought and mind to humbly walk through this age such that Your name is clear upon me for all to see.  I have been marked with Your cross, sealed by the Holy Spirit in the promise of my baptism, and enabled to walk in this age by faith.  Guide me, Lord, to live all of the days You grant me in order to remain faithful so that I may live with You forever in the age to come.  Amen.

“On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations” (Revelation 22:2b).

One month for each of the fruits.  Twelve is a biblical number for completion.  All who are to be included, from every tribe, tongue, and nation are represented.  Each has their turn.  There are no greater and lesser, only those who are in the Lord.  Yes, there are different tasks, but equality in respect for all who are in the Lord.  Each of us has an equal opportunity to learn how to be faithful.

Lord, I am who I am and You have given the gifts You have given so that I might learn how to serve You and my neighbor.  Guide me so that when the opportunity arises, I am prepared to do my part.  Teach me to respect all people so that, whether they are rich and powerful, or digging ditches, I treat them equally with  respect.  You know all that needs to happen within me.  Let be done what needs to be done so that I may become like You.

Lord Jesus, we all need healing.  Let your healing touch come upon my life.  Let your healing touch flow through me to others.  Guide me in the upward way along the path You set before me.  Teach me respect for others.  Teach me to love my neighbor without consideration of their station in life, nor with any consideration of recompense.  Thank You, Lord, for the salvation You give by grace.  In faith, lead me all the days of my life.  Amen.

And he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street” (Revelation 22:1-2a).

These are word pictures where John is describing as best he can what he sees.  How does one describe what one sees when they do not fully understand?  Much of Scripture tells us about things as they will be in eternity.  Are we even able to begin to comprehend eternity?  God has written eternity in our heart and we long for our true home.  We will not find the way on our own, for Jesus is the One who must lead us.

Jesus spoke several times about the living water.  There was the tree of life in the middle of the Garden of Eden.  The source of life is the One who created and sustains it.  What He gives is pure, holy, and satisfying.  He is the source.  For all things and through all things, our Lord is the source.  How simple that is to say, and how difficult it is, to build the whole of your life on this one, central, and eternal point.  Make the Lord your source for everything.

God provides for the just and the unjust alike.  We know there are both kinds, but we do not know who is whom.  All we have are suspicions because we do not know another’s heart.  Live as one who drinks from the well of God’s provision and no longer drink the polluted water of this world’s lies.  Lord, You are with me always, as You said.  Lead me in the life You give, my Lord and Savior, Jesus, and help me to live now and forever in and through You.  Amen.

“In the daytime (for there will be no night there) its gates will never be closed; and they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it; and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life” (Revelation 21:25-27).

In the Lord, there is safety.  This world is not safe.  What the Lord is creating is a people who are true to His word, faithful, and trustworthy.  The contrast between what will be and what is, is hard to fathom.  We have become so used to duplicity, unfaithfulness, and self-seeking that we often think it the normal way of things.  See the difference and ask what kind of world you desire to live in.  Choose the way of the Lord and work toward living as life shall be lived in the holy city.

Lord, I understand this is not works righteousness.  I cannot earn the right to be with You in heaven.  Yet by Your gift of faith, You will create in me Your likeness to be fit for heaven.  Help me to shift my attitude so that I live into the life that is being described here.  Guide my heart and mind to become all these things from the inside out.  Crucify what is wicked so that Your likeness can be resurrected in me.

Lord Jesus, there is much work that needs to be done.  First, by Your grace, please write my name in Your book.  Then, help me to spend all the years You give me preparing for what is to come.  Guide me in Your goodness so that I may learn how to be faithful.  Lead me by Your example to know how to work diligently in every circumstance.  Through all that comes, help me to complete the journey of faith that You have set before me.  Amen.

“The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it” (Revelation 21:24).

Imagine a world where there is no more competition for who can outdo whom.  Imagine a world where there is no longer any war, famine, pestilence, or poverty.  The Lord will establish godly ethics and the faithful who dwell with Him will practice the truth at all times.  Why wait until then?  Begin learning the Lord’s law and live in the light of His revelation now.

Lord, You gave the Ten Commandments and the Israelites saw the light flashing on the mountaintop as You gave them to Moses.  You have called for us to begin there.  We cannot keep the commandments, but You have called for this to be the beginning place.  Help me to go deeper as I meditate upon Your law; for You have summarized the law and prophets for us.  Lead me in Your goodness to be consistent in my behaviors, thoughts, and deeds.

Lord, You who are overhauling my soul, guide me in the narrow way of becoming a person with Your ethical system embedded in my soul.  Continue to root out those sinful inclinations that are deep within me.  Guide me now and always to live the standard You established in the beginning.  May I be found dwelling in and with You now and forever.  Amen.

“And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illuminated it, and its lamp is the Lamb” (Revelation 21:23).

The Lord is the light that shines in the darkness of this age.  When all darkness is gone because of the fulness of Christ, He shall illumine us with His eternal presence.  These things are too great for us to now understand.  He, through whom all things have their being, will shine as He truly is.  What the disciples saw on the mount during the transfiguration will be the eternal reality of our existence.

Lord, I can barely begin to imagine these things, but Your word is true.  Help me to live in the light of Your presence now, even if my eyes are dim and my faith is weak.  You have promised that You are always with me; it is most certainly true.  You said it and so it is.  Lead me now and always in Your light.  May the words spoken over me in the promise of my baptism be true: that my light would shine and others see my good works and glorify the Father in heaven.

Creator of my soul, minister to me so that I can minister to others.  You have come and the light of Your life shines on, in, and through all who believe.  Guide me, Lord Jesus, in the way of everlasting life so that I may reflect Your light through all that I say and do.  You know what is needed, so help me to live in such a way that what the Father desires is accomplished.  Lead me this day, Lord, so that I may be a beacon of light in this dark world.  Amen.

“I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple” (Revelation 21:22).

“Be Ye holy, even as God is Holy.”  This is not an impossible ideal, but what Christ will accomplish in you.  When He told us to be perfect as the Father is perfect, He was telling us what He would accomplish through our salvation.  No longer will holy be something over there, but the reality of who we are in a living and sanctified relationship with the Lord.  We will tabernacle together, abiding one in the other for eternity.

I am barely able to comprehend these things, Lord.  Rather than focusing on just a part of this, help me to take seriously the reality that You will make me perfect, this is, complete.  Although I may not fully understand what this means, I can begin with the morality You teach in the Ten Commandments.  I haven’t perfected that yet.  Whatever direction is needed toward this goal You  provide by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Lord Jesus, You must be the One who authors and finishes my faith.  Not only do I not know where to begin, I do not even know the steps along the way.  There are places I think are fine and they are not.  There are things I am working on which are only distractions from what needs to be done.  Teach me to tabernacle with You Lord and then lead me in the direction I need to go.  Help me to become more like You each day.  Amen.

“And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; each one of the gates was a single pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass” (Revelation 21:21).

A pearl is made from an irritating grain of sand.  That which is common and annoying from which something beautiful is made.  The irritating sinner becomes a beautiful child of God.  Made like pure gold, like transparent glass.  Something unimaginable.  Something pure, yet clearly visible with nothing hidden.  Something that cannot tarnish.  God is up to something beyond our ability to comprehend in this age.

Who knows but that all the things we call creation in this world are not mere pointers to the next?  The Lord has purpose for all things.  You who are tarnished, dirty, and who hide your secrets will be made into someone new.  There is nothing hidden that will not be revealed.  You will become holy even as the Lord is holy.  These are some of the promises the Lord gives us in the hope of the Gospel.

Savior, I am unable to fathom what You are saying.  On the one hand, I want it to be true.  On the other, I do not believe it to be so.  Create in me a new and clean heart that can believe these things.  You know all that is needed.  Lead me today by Your word to be equipped with what is needed to walk into this kind of life.  Guide me, Lord, now and forever so that I may walk by faith knowing that You will make of me what You will.  Help me to always trust You.  Amen.

“The foundation stones of the city wall were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation stone was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, chalcedony; the fourth, emerald; the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, topaz; the tenth, chrysoprase; the eleventh, jacinth; the twelfth, amethyst” (Revelation 21:19-20).

How precious are you to the Lord?  You are more precious than all of the precious stones He has created.  He has placed His image in you.  He has decorated you with grace and mercy.  He has included in you all the promises of the tribes of Israel and the of the apostles.  He has set before you eternity and desires that you join Him.  You are a precious one for whom our Lord died to grant you grace for salvation.

Lord, I see the many beautiful things in this world and wonder where I fit in.  I see how our culture is constantly fighting over this thing we imagine as beauty.  Yet, here You say that each one of us is more beautiful that all the beautiful things upon the earth.  How sad that we have gotten it so wrong.  Indeed, we do need saving.  Lift us up, Lord, so that we may see things as they are and not as we have seen them through the haze of sin and death.

Lord Jesus, You came so that all who believe could have life eternal with You.  Everyone is precious in Your sight.  Help me to see this.  Help me to see beyond my reflection when I look in a mirror.  I too belong to You.  In Your grace and mercy, give me eyes to see so that I may see in others the hope You have for them.  Lead me to consider others as precious in Your sight.  Guide me in Your grace and mercy all the days of my life.  Amen.

“The material of the wall was jasper; and the city was pure gold, like clear glass” (Revelation 21:18).

Beautiful, pure, costly, and clear is how it is made.  Is that not the goal of our new creation?  In this new life, is not the Lord creating us to have these attributes?  Meditate and ponder upon what the Lord is doing.  Be guided by His goodness and mercy and realize that He is up to more than You know.  We will have new heavenly bodies that do not wear out but remain pure and holy.

Lord, I can take in the concept, but I really am unable to comprehend these things.  You have used these word pictures to share a glimpse of things to come.  I imagine they are for our encouragement.  Guide me, Lord, so that I do not stumble over the desire to know all things, but continue to live by faith, trusting that You will continue to have all things in Your hands.

Lord Jesus, throughout the ages, people have struggled with how You could be fully man and at the same time, fully God.  I too, struggle with such things.  I struggle with this daily life and all the paradoxes that come into it.  Help me to walk through every struggle trusting that You have come to lead the way through this age in preparation for what is to come.  Help me to live this day, looking to You, so that I may be better prepared for the eternal life You have purchased for us from the cross.  Amen.