Daily Scripture
Ephesians 1:12-14
12 We are called to be an honor to God’s glory because we were the first to hope in Christ. 13 You too heard the word of truth in Christ, which is the good news of your salvation. You were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit because you believed in Christ. 14 The Holy Spirit is the down payment on our inheritance, which is applied toward our redemption as God’s own people, resulting in the honor of God’s glory.
Revelation 21:1-5
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the former heaven and the former earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 I heard a loud voice from the throne say, “Look! God’s dwelling is here with humankind. He will dwell with them, and they will be his peoples. God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more. There will be no mourning, crying, or pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” 5 Then the one seated on the throne said, “Look! I’m making all things new.” He also said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
Reflection Questions
Jesus wasn’t with us for just a few first century years. He vowed to be with us every day in the Holy Spirit (cf. John 14:16-18). Ephesians 1:14 used the Greek word arrabon (“down payment”). Scholar William Barclay said, “There are many Greek commercial documents still extant in which the word occurs. A woman sells a cow and receives so many drachmae as arrabōn. Some dancing girls are hired for a public entertainment and are paid so much in advance. Paul is saying the experience of the Holy Spirit which we have in this world is a foretaste of heaven; and it is the guarantee that some day we will enter into full possession of the blessedness of God.”* Revelation’s ending said Jesus made God’s presence with us an eternal reality. As a Christian community we trust that THIS is where history is going: “He will dwell with them, and they will be his peoples. God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
- Jesus told his followers to “go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19), even in the hostile Roman Empire. And they did. Paul wrote that Christians mourn, but not like those “who don’t have any hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13). Ephesians said the best worship, praise, service or caring times the Holy Spirit gives us are God’s “down payment,” signs that full renewal will come. What are some ways you are experiencing the down payment of life in the Spirit? Are you freer and less a slave today than before you met Jesus? How can you join with other Christians to make our community an attractive preview of the eternal love, joy and grace that await us? The exiled apostle John wrote of a vision that promised God’s people a splendid future with God. He invited everyone to choose that future: “Let the one who is thirsty come! Let the one who wishes receive life-giving water as a gift” (Revelation 22:17). Have you said yes to that invitation?
Prayer
O Lord, how I long for that day when “death will be no more. There will be no mourning, crying, or pain.” In the words that end Revelation, I pray “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” Amen.
* William Barclay, The Letters to the Galatians and Ephesians (Revised Edition). Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1976, p. 87.
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Down payment now, full community inheritance to come - Leawood - Church of the Resurrection
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