PEACE BE STILL... AND THERE WAS A GREAT CALM

 

I've been reflecting on what The Lord shared with me yesterday. For years now when life seems turbulent I have gone back to the picture of me standing on The Rock and watching the sea ebb and flow all around me. At times it has felt like the ease of the tide changing with the waters rising and then receding. At other times it has felt more like a Tsunami determined to wash me overboard. Like a tempest determined to take my eyes off of The Rock and become paralyzed at the size of the waves. Nevertheless, when I remind myself that it is not The Rock upon which I stand that ebbs and flows, but the sea that surrounds me, I find comfort.

There is not a one of us that can't look around and find a turbulent sea close by. There is turbulence at every turn. Waves of hate and hostility are rampant in our land. It appears that we have come to a place on the time line that we are surrounded by those who call good evil and evil good. Our emotions are tossed to and fro with every passing day. We sit wondering are we getting close to the end? Will our country survive another year in the state we find ourselves? How long will the hand of God continue to extend mercy? Maybe the turbulence within your own four walls have you so overwhelmed you don't even have energy to look outside. Will your marriage survive? Will your teenager follow the ways that you have laid out before them, or will they throw it all aside and follow their ever pressing peers? Will the doctors report change the landscape of your life and the life of those you love? Turbulent seas surround us and truth be known they sometimes paralyze us even though we hide it well from others.

This is Not.Our.Home! Revelation Chapter 21 says that we are receiving "a new heaven and a new earth and there will no longer be a sea!" The Holy City, the new Jerusalem will come out of heaven and our God will live with us. Verse 4 says "He will wipe away 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." That sea with its Tsunami size waves will be NO MORE! The harshness of life will end. We will have finally arrived to our true destination.

Our new home is described in verse 19, where we are told that it's foundation is made of 12 different types of stone. From jasper to sapphire and on and on ending with amethyst. Twelve in the bible represents governments. The very foundation of our new home is one of solid rock. A government that will forever stand! Unlike America's, it will never fall, it will never crumble.

There will be 12 gates upon which to enter the heavenly city. Each gate will be made of a "single pearl". Human eyes have never seen a pearl of this magnitude. Or have we? How is a pearl formed and where does it come from? You probably know that they come from the sea. But did you know a pearl begins its life inside an oyster's shell when an "intruder", such as a grain of sand slips in. In order to protect itself from "irritation", it quickly begins to cover the unwanted irritant with a mineral layer. Layers and layers of mother-of-pearl are formed until the irritant is no longer bothersome. So do you get it? We will enter our new home "through gates of pearl" where all of life's unwanted irritations and invasions will have been made beautiful!

Once inside the gates, verse 21 says "The great street of the city was of pure gold, like transparent glass. The streets of gold will lead us to the Throne of our God. "Before the Throne", John tells us "there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal." (Rev. 4:6) Every wave in the sea of our crazy lives will have subsided and will lay perfectly still under our feet, like a placid sea, as we finally behold Him, face to face! We will finally have found our final destination. We will forever be home!

Mark 4:39 Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Peace, be still!" And the wind ceased and there was a great calm.