Why We Should Have Hope

Revelation 21:3–4 See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.

Summary: After finishing our study of Revelation, I am left not with fear, but with a deep and steady hope rooted in God’s nearness and healing love

Dear Friends,

Last week we finished our study of Revelation, and I have been sitting with a deep sense of hope ever since. Not the shallow kind of hope that avoids hard truths, but the sturdy kind that can look suffering in the eye and still believe in God’s future.

Revelation is often misunderstood as a book about destruction, fear, or escape from the world. But when we read it carefully, we discover something very different. The story does not end with humanity fleeing creation or God abandoning it. It ends with God moving closer. Heaven does not pull us away from earth. Heaven comes down. God chooses nearness.

The final vision of Revelation is not about flames or endings, but about healing. Tears are wiped away. Pain is named and then undone. What has been broken is restored. What has been wounded is tended with care. God does not make all new things by throwing the old away. God makes all things new by healing what is already here.

That matters for how we live now. If God’s future is one of restoration, then our present calling is not fear or withdrawal. It is faithfulness. It is choosing love over despair. It is practicing repair in a world that often feels fractured. Revelation invites us to imagine a future where justice, mercy, and belonging are not ideals but realities.

This vision reminds me that Christian hope is not about waiting for rescue. It is about learning to live as people shaped by God’s promised future. When we comfort the grieving, seek justice, welcome the stranger, and care for creation, we are not just doing good deeds. We are participating in the life God promises.

Revelation ends with God dwelling among us. Not far away. Not someday only. But near. That is the hope I carry forward with me, and it is the hope I pray will carry you through whatever this week holds.

In hope,

Pastor Anny+

Prayer for the Week: God of healing and hope, draw near to us this week. Shape our lives by your promise of restoration and teach us to live as people of your coming wholeness.