12 Days of Christmas: December 30

And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth swill bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever. Rev 21.22—22.5

Abundant Life

By Sulmane Maigadi

Every Christian longs for the time when the whole earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. This is what we see in this passage. In the new heavens and new earth, every section of creation will be immersed in God’s glorious light because the whole earth will be his temple. The anxiety of night and the longing it represents will disappear and all the nations will walk by the light of the Lamb.

And where God’s fullness is manifested, we see burgeoning, productive and gratifying Life happening around us and in us. This Life is untouched by sin because, by the atoning sacrifice of the Lamb, our names are written in his book. We find purpose in our work. The labor of our hands become glories that we bring before the presence of God. Creation responds to us and to the presence of God, yielding fruit, healing hurts, and providing nourishment. This Life culminates in the worship of God and the Lamb. We will forever see the face of our Lord, intimately and permanently connected to him. We will flourish under his gaze and everything that plagues us now will be a distant memory.

How we long for this to come to pass right now! We yearn for the fullness of God as we live in the “not yet.” But, because Christ lives in us today, we can let the reality of God’s gratifying Life break into the ordinary. We are invitations to the world to receive the life of Christ so that their names may be written in the Book of Life. Not only that, our lives are also proclamations that Jesus has come to perfect all things and that the night will be soon be over. Let us live in light of this hope: that one day, God will saturate the universe and we’ll be in the middle of it!

A Collect

Almighty and everlasting God, whose will it is to restore all things in thy well-beloved Son, the King of kings and Lord of lords: Mercifully grant that the peoples of the earth, divided and enslaved by sin, may be freed and brought together under his most gracious rule; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.