My granddaughters are currently very excited as they look ahead to a birthday and Christmas. They have been promised certain things (balloons, cake, presents, parties) and they talk about these things eagerly and with the confident assurance that comes from knowing they are loved and that their parents and grandparents only make promises they are realistically capable of fulfilling. There is anticipation, expectation and great excitement as each day brings them another day closer to the fulfilment of these promises.
The book of Revelation is a reminder to God’s people that certain promises of God remain in the future, but they are even more assured than those made by fallible people to children at this time of year! In the midst of tribulation, trials, martyrdom and many things we struggle to understand in this book, we meet those who have come out of the great tribulation and who have been made clean through the blood of the Lamb. (Rev 7:14) We see them serving before the throne of God and have the solemn assurance that ‘never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst; the sun will not beat down on them, nor any scorching heat.’ (Rev 7:15-16, see also Is 49:10) Once more, John’s vision includes ‘the Lamb at the centre of the throne’, a Lamb who is also, paradoxically, a Shepherd (see Ps 23, John 10:14). There is the promise of living water (see also John 7:37-38) and the assurance that ‘God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’ (Rev 7:17, see also Is 25:8, Rev 21:4). All these promises may well be in the future (and we certainly don’t know when they will be fulfilled), but we can be held up and sustained by them.
Peter talks of God’s ‘very great and precious promises.’ (2 Pet 1:4) Paul reminds us that ‘no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.’ (2 Cor 1:20) We are sustained and carried through present difficulties and trials by the hope that is to come of eternal life and bliss. Paul says, ‘I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.’ (Rom 8:18) The writer to the Hebrews reminds us how people persevered through faith and will be rewarded ultimately; these promises keep our spirits up and our hopes alive, no matter how difficult present circumstances may be. I’m confident my grandchildren will enjoy a birthday and Christmas again this year, but I am even more confident that one day there will be a new heaven and a new earth and God’s people will dwell in peace with their God, with no more death, mourning, crying or pain to spoil the picture. My confidence is not based on optimism or my own abilities but on the faithfulness of God: ‘he who promised is faithful.’ (Heb 10:23)
