Comfort Scared People
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. – Revelation 21:1
When we hear the book of Revelation, we think of two things: funerals and the end of the world. Both terrify most people so much that they’d rather not hear from the book at all. Even though we read Revelation at funerals because of its word of hope for this life and the next, and even though the picture of the end of all things comes with constant assurance of God’s love and power at work, we can only think of Revelation as where we find monsters and terror.
The book of Revelation is a letter written to a handful of early churches facing complacency, persecution, and conflict. The whole purpose of the book is to remind these first readers that God walks with them through these trials and that even death cannot separate them from God’s love. It’s not meant to scare people. It’s meant to comfort scared people.
As we hear it today, it offers incredible comfort and peace in the midst of chaos. However, it also tells some hard truths. In this one verse from Revelation 21, we hear the promise that God brings a new heaven and a new earth. But notice that it doesn’t come without the first heaven and first earth passing away. In other words, a new, beautiful, God-breathed thing does not come into being without a previous beloved thing going away.
It can be hard to remember that in times of change. The anxiety and disorientation of transition leaves us wanting to hold on even tighter to what we were and what we knew. There’s no reason not to treasure and celebrate what God has done and who we have been. But sometimes, holding onto that too tightly means missing or denying what God does now and leads us to in the future.
Revelation reminds us that grief, loss, and even death are not the end. The first things pass away, but the God of resurrection makes all things new. Today, I give thanks for the witness of Revelation and the reminder that while all things may change, God’s promises endure.
Let us pray:
God of new life, we face the anxiety of change and the grief of loss. Make all things new as you have promised. Show us the Spirit’s work among us. Hold us as we leave behind what must pass away and walk confidently into the future you promise. Amen.