“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore for the former things have passed away…the one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

Reflect

According to Jesus, there are only two possible destinations for a human’s journey through life. What are those two possibilities?

Have you ever heard the sentiment “Life’s about the journey, not the destination”? I get what I think it’s trying to communicate. We should enjoy the journey of life. And I agree, life is a gift from God and He’s given us many good things to enjoy here.

But what about when we reach the end of the road? What about when your journey is over? In that moment, what will matter more to you, how much you enjoyed the trip? Or your eternal destination?

When the Journey comes to an End

As Christians, we understand that the journey is important. How we live the life that God has graciously given to us matters. But we also understand that, ultimately, this journey will come to an end. This life is broken, marred by sin, and ends in death. But, this life is just a blip on the radar compared to eternity.

And while there is truth in that old sentiment it makes it sound like the destination doesn’t even matter, only the journey. That’s like saying that this life is all there is. When we look at life from a biblical worldview, though, we see that this life isn’t all there is. We also see that there are only two possible destinations. And which one you arrive at matters forever.

Conquerors and Overcomers

In today’s passage, the apostle John described the amazing vision that the Spirit shared with him of the new heaven and the new earth. This is the eternal home of God’s people. It is a place where there is no more evil or sadness. Sin and death have been defeated once and for all. John says that heaven is the eternal destination of those who conquer or overcome (v.7).

But who can call themselves conquerors and overcomers? Only those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ for their salvation. In his first letter John wrote: “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 John 5:4-5)

In Revelation 21:27, John elaborated on who will and will not be allowed to enter this glorious eternal home: “But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” The Lamb’s book of life is a record containing the names of everyone who has placed their faith in the Lord and thus, has eternal salvation. Anyone whose name is not found in the book of life will be cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:15).

Where are you headed?

So you see, the destination matters because there are only two possibilities at the end of our journey—eternal life with God or eternal punishment without Him. However, that doesn’t mean the journey is insignificant, for it’s on the journey that we decide our eternal destination. What decision have you made?

Where are you headed?