Sunday 15th December
Read Revelation 21:6-8
“He said to me: ‘It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. 7 Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. 8 But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practise magic arts, the idolaters and all liars – they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulphur. This is the second death.’” (NIVUK)
What a strange list of sinners. Why is their condemnation announced at the end of such a gloriously hopeful passage? Couldn’t John have simply finished with those majestic words of hope?
But the ‘victorious’ that he describes are not victorious because of miraculous acts of mercy and good works, nor from exorcising demons and slaying sin. They are victorious because they persevere in faithfulness until the end. Resting in His grace to do so. Life is not all roses but sticking with Jesus will ultimately be rewarded. They will inherit.
Those who are cowardly, who shrink back from the challenge of following Jesus and persevering to the end, who always put themselves first, or something other than God Himself, will not be rewarded. Justice demands that when all things are renewed, that which refused to be renovated is separated. Some see hints of annihilation in these words, and the sensitive souls amongst us would lean that way, but I am not sure we can read quite that much into these words. At the very least, when John is reflecting on the New Jerusalem he sees no place for those who remain steadfastly glued to anything but God.
The holiness without which no one will see the Lord must be present to inherit.
