“There will no longer be any curse”

Revelation 22  (NASB) from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, ² in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. ³ There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him; ⁴ they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. ⁵ And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever.

⁶ And he said to me, “These words are faithful and true”; and the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent His angel to show to His bond-servants the things which must soon take place.

⁷ “And behold, I am coming quickly. Blessed is he who heeds the words of the prophecy of this book.”

⁸ I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed me these things. ⁹ But he *said to me, “Do not do that. I am a fellow servant of yours and of your brethren the prophets and of those who heed the words of this book. Worship God.”

¹⁰ And he *said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. ¹¹ Let the one who does wrong, still do wrong; and the one who is filthy, still be filthy; and let the one who is righteous, still practice righteousness; and the one who is holy, still keep himself holy.”

¹² “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done. ¹³ I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”

¹⁴ Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city. ¹⁵ Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying.

¹⁶ “I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”

¹⁷ The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost.

¹⁸ I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book; ¹⁹ and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and ^[i]from the holy city, which are written in this book.

²⁰ He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming quickly.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

²¹ The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.

“There will no longer be any curse” This really is the entire story of scripture from Genesis to Revelation, the story of Bible is the story of the end of the curse of sin. When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden it says in Genesis 3:14-18:

The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you will go, And dust you will eat
All the days of your life…¹⁶ To the woman He said, “I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth, In pain you will bring forth children;Yet your desire will be for your husband,
And he will rule over you.” ¹⁷ Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life. ¹⁸ “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field;
¹⁹ By the sweat of your face You will eat bread Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.”

The curse of sin and disobedience affected both mankind and all of creation. Romans 6:23 says:  For the wages of sin is death…    

 In Deuteronomy 30:15-20, God gave the nation of Israel the covenant of the law, a way for them to live in the blessings of God as opposed to the curse of sin.

¹⁵ “See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and adversity; ¹⁶ in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that you may live and multiply, and that the Lord your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to possess it. ¹⁷ But if your heart turns away and you will not obey, but are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, ¹⁸ I declare to you today that you shall surely perish. You will not prolong your days in the land where you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess it. ¹⁹ I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, ²⁰ by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him  

Unfortunately, neither the Israelites, or any person can live in obedience to God.  Romans 3:10-12,23 says:  as it is written, “There is none righteous, not even one; ¹¹ There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God; ¹² All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, There is not even one.”… all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

From the beginning, God had a plan, another way to overcome the curse of sin and reconcile man to Himself and restore creation. In Genesis 3, God said to the serpent: I will put enmity
Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.”  John 3:16 says:  “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. The full verse of Romans 6:23 says:  For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Because Jesus Christ came and paid the price for our sin all who are in Christ now can live above the curse of sin. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says: if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.       In Christ we are no longer subject to death, we have eternal life. In this time the world, creation still lies under the curse. That’s why there are difficulties, trials and tribulations, evil and disease. In today’s text we are told that when Christ returns all of creation will be restored to the way God intends.      There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him; ⁴ they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. ⁵ And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them…

We live here in this finite physical realm. We are subject to time. Today we mark the end of the year we call 2015 and tomorrow we begin the year 2016. God is not subject to time in the same way. He is eternal, He says: “ I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”     Though the time of Christ’s return, the time that all of creation will be restored to its original design, is a time in our future, in God’s time, in eternity when Jesus was on the cross He said, “It is finished” (John 19:30) The redemption of sin, the reconciliation to God and the restoration of all things is complete in the heavenly realm.

Until the return of Christ, He says we are to live and pray this way: Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.  He says:  “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done.  I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end…  Yes, I am coming quickly.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.     The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.

Post script:

Thank you to all of you who read “Nuggets”, I hope you have been blessed. It’s hard to believe another year has come to an end. I am amazed by what God has done, adding to my family of readers.  I Know that this has been a very difficult year for some people. I know it has also been a great year filled with blessings for some. One of the greatest blessings we have in Christ is to have an intimate relationship with I Am. I Am is one of my favorite names of our God. Only He, I Am can be all things to all people. He can be comfort and peace for the hurting, healing for the sick, provision for the needy and joy unspeakable for the who rejoice. Our God will meet each one of us exactly where we are and provide exactly what we need.

Just like He did, providing fresh manna for the Israelites, in the wilderness, God will faithfully provide a fresh revelation from His word for each one who will seek it.  That’s my hope and prayer each day as I sit with the Lord and write “Nuggets”, I pray that God through His word and the Holy Spirit will provide fresh revelation to His people who seek it.

As we begin 2016 I hope you will be blessed in God’s word and His revelation for your life. I plan to once again follow the daily readings in the One Year Bible. This is something I have done every year since the late 80’s. One of the amazing things about God’s word, the Bible is that while it is unchanging, Jesus says:  For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished.(Matthew 5:18), God’s word is also living, Hebrews 4:12 says:  For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.   

No matter how often we read God’s word, there is newness, freshness and life for our need every day. I hope you will join me as we journey together in God’s word in 2016.

Blessings to you all in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Dave