December 11th, 2013 Commentary to Henri Nouwen's Daily Meditation

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Daily-Meditation--A-New-Heaven-and-a-New-Earth.html?soid=1011221485028&aid=XlaxKIjz4RU

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Wednesday December 11, 2013
A New Heaven and a New Earth

Long before Jesus was born the prophet Isaiah had a vision of Christ's great unifying work of salvation.  Many years after Jesus died, John, the beloved disciple, had another but similar vision:   He saw a new heaven and a new earth.  All of creation had been transformed, dressed with immortality to be the perfect bride of Christ.  In John's vision the risen Christ speaks from his throne, saying:  "Look, I am making the whole of creation new. ....  Look, here God lives among human beings.  He will make his home among them; they will be his people, and he will be their God, God-with-them.  He will wipe away all tears from their eyes;  there will be no more death, and no more mourning or sadness or pain.  The world of the past has gone"  (Revelation 21:5; 21:3-4).

Both Isaiah and John open our eyes to the all-inclusive nature of Christ's saving work.  

My Commentary:

Just this past Sunday I preached a sermon around Isaiah 11:1-10 & the entire chapter 3 of Matthew at Condell Hospital. I also preached it for my second to last preaching class at Trinity.  What was truly beautiful about both of those passages is how they confront you in thinking of renewal, transformation and our calling to be God’s messengers of Truth—preparing the way…  In particular with this Isaiah passage, think of yourselves and your spiritual formation into the priesthood of all believers.  Is that stump growing New life?  Are you holistically, truthfully and graciously allowing the GRACE of God into your hearts, into your life to transform you?  At the Cross, Jesus said to the two criminals… “Today you will be with me in paradise.”  Paradise in Aramaic meant garden.  Garden in this context meant Eden.  Eden in our context is growing to join Jesus in the Kingdom of God—true righteousness as trees within that Garden.

Basically I believe we are to be a part of that New Heaven and New Earth once we realize the fantastic power of the GRACE of God active in our everyday lives.  Living into the lifestyle of GRACE is spiritually growing that New shoot—transforming into a tree of Life to others—loving God and Neighbor in complete Peace and harmony.

I leave you with Isaiah 11’s beautiful pericope:

Isaiah 11:1-10

¹A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. ²The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. ³His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear; ⁴but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. ⁵Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist, and faithfulness the belt around his loins. ⁶The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. ⁷The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. ⁸The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den. ⁹They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

God Bless Your Wednesdays!

Nicole Collins