So also, you have sorrow now, but I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. – John 16:22
When you are going through a difficult season, sometimes comfort comes in the realization that all things pass, both the good times and, thankfully, the bad. Christ brought comfort to His followers, grieving His anticipated departure, by reminding them they would see each other again, and it would not be a transient joy!
Many believers miss the core reason for future joy… resurrection! Yes, to be absent from the body is to be present with Christ, but the completeness of that joy is found in the knowledge that one day God will dwell together with His people on a physical Earth, sinless, and without suffering, in a culture governed by Christ. New, perfect bodies and a new, perfect Earth are not just a wish on a bad day! It is God’s active plan for His people in eternity.
Revelation 21 and 22 provide a glimpse of eating, drinking, working, playing, discovering, inventing, worshiping, and traveling in a redeemed world full of wonder without any of the bad “stuff” you encounter today. And all of it hinges on your physical resurrection. Jesus came to Earth as a human, suffered, died, and rose again so you could get the idea! If you are in Christ, then life on Earth with God is your future and eternal joy is on your horizon. Let that thought encourage you.
Pray for God’s people in America to discover their full identity and future in Christ. Ask that those serving the nation in leadership who have not discovered the knowledge of God’s plan for eternity would hear and believe, incorporating God’s truth into their decisions, work, and life.
Today’s Verse: John 16:22
So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.
All Scripture quotations and audio are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Recommended for further reading: John 11:21-27
21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” 23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24 Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” 27 She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”
All Scripture quotations and audio are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
