Daily devotion – Heaven
Rev 21:8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
John writes these words as he closes out his vision of the new Heaven and the new earth – with a witness and a warning.
The witness is that nothing sinful or vile will ever be found in God’s new creation. Heaven will be inhabited only by believers, and hell will be inhabited only by the unsaved. At the same time, John’s words are a warning to the reader.
For those who read these words, the warning is there, and there is still time before it is too late!
We can basically divide the people listed in verse 8 into three groups, even though they are all unsaved sinners.
1. Those who are cowardly – these are the people who are too afraid or too ashamed to confess Jesus Christ as their Lord.
2. The unbelievers – these people are simply unwilling to believe they are sinners going to hell, or that they need Jesus Christ as their saviour. They are unconvinced, and therefore, they are unconverted unbelievers.
3. The abominable – no these are not ‘snowmen’. They are further identified as “murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and habitual liars.” These are people who love sin, darkness much more than the light and therefore refuse to repent – Jhn 3:19 “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
These types of sins are fairly self-explanatory, although I would again point out that ‘sorcerers’ comes from the Greek word pharmakeia, from which we get our English word pharmacy and pharmaceutical.
So, it includes both the occult and drug use.
Our longing for Heaven has a very important and positive role in our current living, as it keeps our focus on our future which is drawing closer and closer each day.
It keeps us strong in our trials knowing that there is an end to them, that they are temporary and light in comparison with our future hope and glory in Heaven.
It gives us the strength to endure and to encourage.
This world is not our home.
We are citizens of Heaven!