And there will be no curse there anymore, and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His servants will serve Him.  Rev. 22:3.
 
    Why will God's people willingly serve Him for an eternity?  Because, so to speak, He first served them.  Their service will arise out of the delight and joy they have found in the marvelous sacrifice of the Lamb.
 
    Socially isolated individuals often complain that they have received "the short end of the stick."  They feel that the people in their lives have done bad things to them.  We tend to remember most either the very good things that happen to us (the long end of the stick) or the very bad things (the short end of the stick).  The beauty of service is that it extends to other people "the long end of the stick."  Service, therefore, has a powerful impact on the lives of others.
 
    Jim Park was reminded of the great power of service when he showed up at the Manila International Airport to take a flight to Guam.  He had checked his baggage in and decided to visit the bathroom (they call it the "CR" or "comfort room" in the Philippines).  As he entered, one of the attendants (there to assist people as if it were the bathroom of a high-class hotel) greeted him.
 
    When they glanced at each other, each felt as if they had seen the other before.  All of a sudden the attendant blurted out that he had met Jim two months earlier on a return trip from Bangkok.  He had remembered that Jim was a missionary who had given him a nice tip as a reward for assistance.
 
    Now, attendants see literally thousands of people every month.  To remember one particular person in detail after a period of two months is an amazing thing.  Quite astonished for a moment, Jim then remembered that after getting off the previous flight he had also visited the CR.  The attendant had been kind enough to help Jim with some carry-on bags even though Jim had told him that he did not have any money to give him.  Jim thanked him as he left and said he would be back to give him something after he got his checked luggage.
 
    Several minutes later he returned and handed the attendant the 100 pesos (about $2) he had in his possession at the time.  Apparently Jim's faithfulness to his word and the generous tip were so memorable that he still remembered the missionary a couple months later.  Needless to say, on this return visit the attendant once again gave enthusiastic service.  But this time he passed the tip on to a friend working with him.  That meant three people were very happy.
 
Lord, today I will meet many people.  Help me to prepare for the service of eternity by giving each one the "long end of the stick."

  In the middle of [the city's] main street, and on each side of the river, was a tree of life bearing twelve fruits, which were produced month by month, and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.  Rev. 22:2.
 
    I am told that the following story is true, but even if it is only a parable, it touched my heart with a glimpse of what the healing of the nations is all about.  On the eastern shore of Maryland the gentle waters run in and out of the land like fingers.  The Canadian geese know this place, as do the white swans and the ducks that ride the waves of Chesapeake Bay as they skim their way into harbor.  In the autumn they come home by the thousands for the winter.  The swans move toward the shores in a stately glide, their tall heads proud and unafraid.  An indifference, almost a disdain, exists between the swans and the geese.
 
    Once or twice each year snow and sleet move into the area.  When this happens and a river is narrow or shallow enough, a freeze turns the water into ice.  It was on such a morning that a woman looked out of her window as the snow laced the rim of the river's shore in white.  For a moment she stood quietly, looking at the picture that the night's storm had painted.  Suddenly she spotted a goose in the river, very still, its wings folded tight to its sides, its feet frozen to the ice.
 
    Then she saw a line of swans in the dark skies.  As the woman watched, the lead bird swung to the right, then the white string of birds became a white circle.  It floated from the top of the sky downward.  At last, as easy as feathers coming to earth, the circle landed on the ice.  As the swans surrounded the frozen goose, she feared that those large swan bills might peck out what life the goose still had left.  Instead, those bills began to work on the ice.  After some time a narrow margin of ice instead of the entire creek now rimmed the bird.  The goose's head lifted.  Its body pulled.  Then the goose was free and standing on the ice.
 
    Then, as if he had cried "I cannot fly," four of the swans approached again.  Their powerful beaks scraped the goose's wings from top to bottom and nibbled up its body, chipping off and melting the ice held in the feathers.  Slowly, as if testing them, the goose spread its wings as far as they would go, brought them together, accordion-like, and spread them again.  With the goose out of danger, the swans resumed their eastward journey--in perfect formation.  Behind them, rising with incredible speed and joy, the goose swept into the sky.  He followed them, flapping double time, until he caught up and joined the end of the line.  The woman watched until they were out of sight, tears running down her cheeks.
 
Lord, help me reach out in healing love today to those who are different from me.

  In the middle of [the city's] main street, and on each side of the river, was a tree of life bearing twelve fruits, which were produced month by month, and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. Rev. 22:2.
 
    The phrase at the end of this text has always fascinated me.  If the New Jerusalem is part of a perfect world, what need is there of healing?  Sickness and death are a thing of the past by this time (Rev. 21:4).  So physical healing must not be what is in view here.  The text says that the healing is not for individuals, but for "the nations."  Often based on the Hebrew term goyim, the word refers to both foreign nations and Gentiles.
 
    It has been suggested that the "healing" of Revelation 22:2 deals with national and linguistic barriers.  People of all nations, tribes, and languages inhabit the New Jerusalem.  The leaves of the tree of life represent overcoming the hurts and the barriers that keep people apart.  The goal is the elimination of all mental and emotional barriers between Jew and Gentile, slave and free, male and female, and the bringing together of the saved into one united family in Christ Jesus (Gal. 3:28; Rev. 21:24-26).
 
    In recent years the world has seen a foretaste of this in South Africa.  Eugene de Kock is a White South African who served for many years as the commander of state-sanctioned apartheid death squads.  He is serving a 212-year sentence in a Pretoria prison for crimes against humanity.  A Black female psychologist, Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela, interviewed de Kock for a total of 46 hours.  For her safety, guards kept him chained to a chair bolted to the floor, and her chair was on wheels so she could roll to safety if he lunged at her.
 
    de Kock. however did not behave like the monster she expected.  Instead, he asked permission to meet with the widows of several Black policemen, men whose executions he had arranged.  He wanted to apologize to them privately.  To the surprise of both de Kock and Gobodo-Madikizela, one of the widows confessed, "I was profoundly touched by him."  To their even greater surprise, all the widows "instinctively" forgave him.
 
    Did such a man deserve forgiveness?  There is more to it than that.  Forgiveness is something that seems able to transcend cruel reality and racial and cultural hatred to reach down to the heart and make things right even though it may seem impossible.  And the amazing thing is that, more than absolving the one forgiven, forgiveness seems to heal the one who forgives.  The White man's pain so moved the Black psychologist that at one point, oblivious to her own safety, she reached out and touched his shaking hand.  The gesture startled them both.  The healing of the nations had begun.
 
Lord, I pray that the healing of the nations might begin in my heart today.  Strengthen me to extend Your forgiveness to all within my reach.

And [the angel] showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb.  Rev. 22:1.
 
    The Kaufmann family got to experience a little bit of heaven on earth.  They wanted a simple summer weekend cottage by their favorite stream called Bear Run, some 70 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  Edgar J. Kauffmann owned a department store in Pittsburgh during the Great Depression of the 1930s.  For many years Bear Run had provided a rustic place of the Kaufmann family and their employees to get away from the city and spend time embraced in quiet nature.  The family in particular enjoyed picnicking beside a 20-foot waterfall that sang its tireless song throughout the beautiful wooded area.
 
    To build a unique weekend home beside this waterfall, Edgar Kaufmann engaged the noted, but mostly unemployed, 67-year-old architect Frank Lloyd Wright from Wisconsin.  What he got instead was a masterpiece, aptly named "Fallingwater."
 
    It seems that Wright was always long on vision but short on money and execution.  After several months of delay Kaufmann informed Wright that he would be driving from Milwaukee to the architect's studio in order to see plans for the house.  Wright's apprentices afterward noted that the client's imminent arrival did not seem to bother their noted teacher at all.  With topological map in hand, he made some preliminary sketches and warmly greeted Kaufmann.
 
    After Wright explained how the house would be cantilevered overt he waterfall, the very pragmatic Kaufmann remarked, "I thought that you would place the house near the waterfall, not over it."  To this Mr. Wright replied, "E.J., I want you to live with the waterfall, not just look at it.  I want it to become an integral part of your lives."
 
    An integral part indeed.  The house, with its strong horizontal lines, juts out from the rock outcropping and comes to rest directly over the falling water.  Whereas the visual effect of a house stretched over a descending stream is most dramatic, the sound of the water naturally and continually reverberating through the home is a wonder to hear.
 
    Fallingwater is considered great architecture because it is not just a cabin by a stream.  The sound and sight of the living stream transforms the entire structure.  Likewise, the Master Architect wants to transform our lives with the living water of His Word.  Like Fallingwater we can choose to structure our lives so that the Word is our constant companion, filling our existence with its sights and sounds.  Move next to the Water.  Let it become an integral part of your life.  It will be a foretaste of heaven.
 
Lord, let me be attentive to the living Water You have prepared for me today.  I want my life to be a living reflection of Your ways to all who meet me.

  [The kings of the earth] will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into her.  Absolutely nothing that defiles will enter into her, neither anyone who practices sacrilege or deceit.  Only those [will enter] whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.  Rev. 21:26, 27.
 
    Three times (Rev. 21:8, 27; 22:15) the book of Revelation lists people who will not attain eternal life.  But will those who receive eternal life really be the fortunate ones?  Would you really want to do exactly what you are doing right now forever?  Is it possible that eternal life could get a bit boring after a while?  A former teacher used to tell the following story.
 
    A fisherman dreamed that he was in heaven.  An angel came up to him and said, "I understand that fishing is your favorite sport.  I have just the place for you."  He then took the fisherman to the best trout stream in all the universe.  Delighted, the fisherman began pulling in some real big ones.
 
    After a year the angel reappeared to find the man happily fishing away, a 10-foot-high pile of large fish on the ground behind him.  The fisherman said, "This has been great.  I love heaven.  How about we go find another stream?"
 
    "This is the best trout stream in the entire universe.  I'm sure you will be disappointed with anything else."
 
    "You're right," the fisher said.  "This is the best!"
 
    He continued fishing for 10 years and by now had a pile of fish 50 feet high behind him.  When the angel returned, the fisherman repeated, "This has been great, but let's see what else there is." 
 
    Again the angel replied, "This is the best there is.  You have the best stream and your favorite hobby.  What else could you want?"  So the man fished for another 90 years, and the fish pile was now more than 300 feet high.  When he finally saw the angel once more, the fisherman pulled his rod out of the water, slammed it to the ground, and said, "I'm sick and tired of this!  It's the same thing again and again.  This isn't heaven--it's hell!"
 
    Smirking wickedly, the angel said, "It took you 100 years to figure it out?"
 
    To live forever is not enough.  An excess of pleasure and wealth will not guarantee that eternal life will retain its flavor.  The joy of eternity will be found in the depth of relationship with God and others and in the work we will do to carry out God's ultimate purpose for us and for the universe.  The good news is that we can begin living the life of heaven now.  To know and obey God will be our science and song throughout eternity.
 
Lord, thank You for this glorious vision of a New Jerusalem.  May this vision keep me focused on the things that truly matter.

And the city has no need of sun or moon in order that they might give it light, for the glory of God has illuminated it, and its lamp is the Lamb.  And the nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it.  And her gates will never ever be shut by day, for there will be no night there.  Rev. 21:23-25.
 
    Sometimes the positives in life are so overwhelming that you can describe them only in negatives.  That's the way it is with the New Jerusalem.  The reality of the New Jerusalem is indescribable.  We learn that it will have no temple, no need of sun or moon, no night, and the gates will never shut.  Its inhabitants will never have to deal with tears, death, mourning, crying or pain (Rev. 21:4).  The first taste of Paradise is an experience check: "Oops, no more death, no more night.  Oops, no more locked doors.  Oops, no more pain.  This place is great!"
 
    It reminds me of November 9, 1989.  At 7:00 p.m. the East German Politburo, responding to weeks of peaceful demonstrations, announced that all citizens could leave East Germany at any crossing "immediately."  After making this announcement they notified Harald Jager, head of passport control at the Berlin Wall's Bornholmer Strasse check-point, that no one was to pass through unless they had the proper documentation.
 
    Having faithfully watched over his border crossing for all of its 28 years of existence, Jager determined to continue doing his duty this evening.  But by 11:00 p.m. things began getting out of control.  A crowd of 20,000 people pressed against the crossing, demanding to be allowed through, but most had not yet been able to secure the proper documents.
 
    The crowd began to chant, "Open the gate!  Open the gate!"  Open the gate!" 
 
    Jager's men looked to him for instructions.  But he had no orders for such a situation.  He didn't know what to do.  The border guards became insistent: "Tell us what to do!"  Jager held the fate of 20,000 people--yes, even a whole country--in his hands.
 
    "What shall I do?" he implored his men.  "Order you to shoot?" Jager knew that the only way he could carry out his orders was through bloodshed.
 
    Shortly after 11:00 p.m. he told his men at the gates, "Open them all!"  By dawn an estimated 100,000 delirious East Germans had slipped past him on their way to a raucous celebration in West Berlin.  Over the next few days revelers from both East and West hammered away at the symbol of Soviet communist oppression and toasted their freedom.  For them the symbol of hoped-for paradise was "Her gates will never ever be shut" again!
 
Lord, I thank You that none of the things that trouble or destroy today will long endure.  Give me patience to wait for Your glorious liberation.

And the nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it.  Rev. 21:24.
 
    A popular joke tells about a heaven that perpetuates the old prejudices of earth.  According to the joke, a Baptist heaven has lots of water and everyone dunks everyone else into it.  In the Pentecostal heaven everyone raises their hands in the air, dances around, and falls over.  There is Catholic heaven and Methodist heaven and so on.  The joke is funny because in our heart of hearts we somehow know that God will abolish such distinctions in heaven.  In the New Jerusalem people of every background will live together and will have learned the joyous acceptance that is in Jesus.
 
    In the waning days of apartheid in South Africa, a White pastor drove home from church after an evening meeting.  Halfway home on a four-lane highway he rode over hundreds of nails, experienced the consequences, and pulled to a stop.  Seconds later two men came out of the darkness and attacked the car with crowbars, trying to force their way into the car.  They managed to open one door and slashed the pastor's wife.  The whole time, White members of his congregation rode past on their way home.  An old Zulu man who arrived in a beat-up, rusted old truck finally saved the pastor and his wife.
 
    It is interesting how our definition of an outcast changes from generation to generation.  The parable of the good Samaritan does not trouble us as long as we don't meet any Samaritans!  But if Jesus were to retell the story today, how would He bring it home to us?  Would the assaulted man be ignored by a televangelist and then the pastor of a megachurch?  Would the Samaritan be replaced by a homosexual or an Islamic terrorist?  The prejudice-free future of our text challenges us to take the principle and apply it to whatever circumstance we meet.  We tend to be blinded, however, to our own version of the "outcast."  The North Dakotan may be appalled by a White New Yorker's prejudice against Blacks, while holding similar prejudices against Native Americans.  The New Yorker's attitude toward "yokels" from North Dakota may well be the reverse.
 
    Even in the church we draw differences between people on the basis of how they interpret certain details of our doctrines, how they look when when they come to church, where they live, or whether or not they clap their hands after a stirring musical performance.  The gospel calls us to anticipate the glories of the New Jerusalem in the way that we treat people today.  Jesus accepts us in spite of our own peculiarities and continues to work with us to recreate us in His likeness.  The best way to learn the love of Jesus is to treat others the way He has done us.  That principle is at the heart of the life of heaven.
 
Lord, open my eyes to the hidden prejudices that govern the way I treat others.

  And the city has no need of sun or moon in order that they give it light, for the glory of God has illuminated it, and its lamp is the Lamb.   Rev. 21:23.
 
    Where I live in Michigan, "lake effect" weather tends to produce gray skies as often as not.  You see, Lake Michigan is about 300 miles long and more than 50 miles wide.  It is large enough to create its own weather!  On otherwise sunny days the prevailing wind picks up moisture over the lake and produces a seamless, gray cloud cover over the landscape to the east.  I live in that "landscape."  The first winter I spent in southwest Michigan we saw the sun only 12 days from September 1 to April 1.  I didn't say that we had 12 sunny days, but that we "saw" the sun (sometimes only for a few minutes) on only 12 days out of more than 200!
 
    While things have been a bit brighter in recent years (could global warming be a good thing in some places?), the sky is still a lot grayer in this part of the world than many other places.  So when the sun breaks out and the sky is bright blue, Michiganders tends rejoice more than most people would.  Light, frankly, is a most glorious substance, especially when you don't get enough of it.  It is no wonder that when the Bible speaks of light in the context of God, it uses the word "glory."
 
    The very last reference in the Bible to the glory of God occurs in our text for today.  The word "glory" has a number of meanings in the Bible.  But when we narrow the focus to manifestations of God, glory designates something quite different than "beauty, ornament, pride, or boasting."
 
    In the Lord's Prayer Jesus says, "Thine is the...glory" (Matt. 6:13, KJV).  Glory is not an accidental feature of God's character, but an essential quality.  But such glory is much more than just a radiant brightness.  Exodus 34:6, 7, defines the glory of God as His character.  God is "slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.  Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished." (NIV).  The glory of God expresses the fullness of His character, including both justice and mercy.  That character clearly manifested itself in the words and the actions of Jesus (John 17:1-5).
 
    In practical terms the place where we see the glory of God today is in His Word.  It is the Bible that opens up the character of God to us in Jesus Christ.  Other claims to glory may distract us, but we find the true glory in Jesus Christ through His Word.  In the Word, God allows us to experience His glory, a foretaste of our experience in the New Jerusalem.  There, what we have taken hold of here by faith will be visible to our sight.
 
Lord, I want to know more and more.  Fill my mind and heart with the glory of Your character today.

  And I did not see a temple in her, for the Lord God Almighty is her temple, and also the Lamb.  And the city has no need of sun or moon in order that they might give light, for the glory of God has illuminated it and its lamp is the Lamb.  Rev. 21:22, 23.
 
    What will it be like when we meet Jesus (the Lamb) in the Holy City?  What thoughts will run through our minds?  What will we feel?  I suspect, if we have a true picture of what He went through for us, that a deep well of gratitude will burst forth in our heart and will swell more and more throughout eternity.  We can only begin to sense it now, but we can at least make a start.
 
    Imagine that on a hot July day you have to work in the fields all day long, 14 hours of hard labor.  I know that you cannot withstand a day like that, so at the last minute I step forward and take your place.  You stay home and think all day about my experience: the hot sun, the flies, the backbreaking work, the sore muscles, the aches and pains, and the desire just to sit and rest in the shade.  When I return, I tell you how the day went, and you say, "I see.  Thank you friend, for what you did."  But do you really see?  Do you really know what it was like-- how every moment was agonizingly slow, how every step was torture to my feet?
 
    Now just suppose that, instead of staying behind, you had come along with me that day.  Actually watching me labor those 14 hours, you had seen me stooped, barely able to walk, my hands blistered by the hoe, my face burned by the hot sun.  You would watch me stumble and sweat and look for relief, watching the hands on my watch move ever so imperceptibly.  Had you done that, you would truly have begun to understand.  You would not have felt the physical pain, but you would have better grasped just what I endured for you, and the gift that I gave of myself that day would stay with you forever.
 
    So it is with the Crucifixion.  When we think about it, we maybe picture Christ being whipped.  How many times?  Once?  Twice?  With what?  Do you picture His flesh torn?  Do you have any clue how that looks?  Does that crown of thorns rest nicely on His head like a laurel wreath, or is it pressed deep into His flesh, causing rivulets of blood to stream down His face and body?  What about the other beatings He endured?  Scripture tells us that He was virtually unrecognizable (Isa. 52:14).
 
    And all of this was after His only friends had betrayed and abandoned Him.  The song goes, "His eyes were on the crowd that day, but He looked ahead in time.  When He was on the cross, I was on His mind."  When Jesus died that day He died for me.  Once you and I truly understand this, it will be the basis for eternal gratitude.
 
Lord, I look forward to a face-to-face relationship with You.  Until then, I will daily express and live my gratitude to You for what You have done for me.

 The foundations of the wall of the city were decorated with every kind of precious stone.  The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eight beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth green quartz, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst.  The twelve gates were twelve pearls; each gate was made of a single pearl.  The main street of the city was made of pure gold, as transparent as glass.  Rev. 21:19-21.
 
    For me the most unforgettable moment of 1984 occurred during a presidential debate.  The race for the nomination of the Democratic Party was chiefly between Walter Mondale and Gary Hart.  Gary Hart would later become infamous for his dalliances with women other than his wife.  But at the time of this debate he was actually the leading candidate for the nomination.  No one cold have anticipated that the entire nomination would turn on a single phrase.
 
    In the course of the debate, Gary Hart talked about his vision for improving the country.  Walter Mondale responded that his opponent had a lot of things to say, but the really decisive issue was "Where's the beef?"  Was the phrase a ploy to acquire the agriculture vote?  No, his comment was not really about food, although it did recall a hamburger ad on TV.
 
    In the ad a "little old lady" sat at the table of a rival hamburger chain.  Someone placed a hamburger in front of her.  The bun was generous in its proportion, but inside it held only a tiny piece of meat, about the size of a quarter.  In stunned surprise she said with the quivering voice of the aged, "Where's the beef?"  The campaign was a smash success.  All over the country people began quoting the line.  The little old woman became a star overnight at the age of 85.
 
    The message of the advertisement was that claims don't matter when it comes to hamburgers.  What counts is the meal that one actually receives.  By invoking the phrase from the burger commercial, Mondale called his opponent's credibility into question.  With a simple phrase he succeeded in turning his opponent into a national laughingstock even before his marital indiscretions became public knowledge and forever ruined his political career.  Such is the power of allusion to the past.
 
    Our text is largely a recitation of various stones in the foundation of the New Jerusalem.  But they point to something deeper.  The stones of the city's foundation are the same as those on the breastplate of Israel's high priest.  Here, as so often in this book, the vision ties together the whole of God's revelation.  In the Apocalypse of John all the books of the Bible meet and end.  It is like the finale of the biblical symphony.
 
Lord, I want to go deeper and deeper into Your Word every day.