“I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling of God is with men. He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be with them. And he who sat upon the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new”” (Rev 21:3,5).
What is the future that awaits us if we remain faithful to our Father? The last chapters of Revelation give us the answer: what awaits us is eternal communion with God, the dwelling of the Lord in the midst of His people.
“I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light shall the nations walk; and the kings of the earth shall bring their glory into it, and its gates shall never be shut by day—and there shall be no night there; they shall bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations” (Rev 21:22-26).
As we focus our hearts more and more on eternity and consciously move toward it, all of our strength will be activated to fulfill the mission entrusted to us in this world. At the same time, we will grow in our longing to be with our Father forever, who will wipe away all our tears, where “there shall be no more death, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away” (Rev 21:4).
This is the wonderful future that awaits us and that can give us strength and comfort when earthly burdens seem to crush us. As children of our Father, we must become “heavenly men” (1 Cor 15:49) who have a goal in mind and pursue it, as St. Paul testifies:
“Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil 3:13-14).
Let’s make it happen!