BITS and PIECES
A random collection of news and views compiled by Frank McClelland for the Toronto Free Presbyterian Church.
224th Edition – January 5, 2025
HAVE A HAPPY NEW YEAR
Everyone in the world must eat daily just to stay alive. And it is good to develop disciplined eating habits. To do so improves the chances of better health.
Likewise, Christians must feed every day on the essential spiritual nutrients of the word of God to ensure that they “grow in grace” [II Peter 3:18]. Daily reading of the Bible ought not to be a haphazard affair, but a daily disciplined practice.
To help its people, the church has produced a very attractive 2025 daily Bible reading guide. Get one and use it every day.
It is amazing how using such a program will often turn up the right verse at the right day to meet some particular spiritual need.
CONTRAST GENESIS WITH REVELATION
If you are using a daily Bible reading calendar you will find over New Year’s a focus on both Genesis and Revelation. Genesis is where we start the New Year’s reading, and Revelation is our last of the old year. This is an opportune time to look at the contrast between the two books under the title of Creation and Re-creation.
In Genesis God created the heaven and earth. In Revelation God describes the new heaven and earth [Revelation 21;1].
In Genesis the luminaries are called into being – the sun, moon and stars. In Revelation we are told that the city has “no need of the sun, neither of the moon” [21:23].
In Genesis paradise in Eden is lost. In Revelation it is regained through Christ.
In Genesis the cunning and deceit of the devil is described [3:1]. In Revelation he is destroyed forever in hell. [20:10].
In Genesis sinful man is seen fleeing from God [3:8]. In Revelation God dwells with redeemed men and women. [21:3].
In Genesis we are shown the “Tree of life” with an angelic guard keeping it from man. In Revelation the saved have “right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city” [22:14]. What a blessing the heavenly city will be [Revelation 21:4].
NO MORE SEA?
One of the blessings of life is the opportunity to visit the beach and enjoy the sea. Yet Revelation tells us that in the new earth there will be “no more sea” [21:1]. This seems like a detriment. Why should it be?
Sea is a BARRIER between nations. There will be no such barriers in heaven.
Sea is a SEPARATOR dividing people from people. In eternity there will be unity.
Sea pictures SINNERS. “The wicked are like the troubled sea” [Isaiah 57;20]. There will be no sin in the new earth! [Revelation 21:27].
The sea is RESTLESS. One day it is calm, the next it is boisterous. Eternity will be supremely peaceful. [Hebrews 4:9].
The sea pictures DEATH. It cannot naturally sustain human life. If it were not for the use of man-made conveyances we would not live long on the sea. It has already swallowed many dead [Revelation 20:13]. On this earth there is much death, but on the new earth none. The undertakers will be unemployed!
The BEAST rose out of the sea [Rev. 13:1]. He will not rise out of hell [Revelation 20:10].
Hence the sea is not something we shall greatly miss. The Lord has so many wonders to show us in eternity that will far surpass the sea’s present attraction.
VOYAGE TO THE SUN
The sun has been much in the news recently as scientists have sent up a probe that got within three million miles of the sun’s surface. This is an amazing feat. They say it will help them understand the sun’s origin. They could have saved themselves a lot of time, effort and money by reading that it was God who made the sun “the greater light to rule the day” [Genesis 1:16].
The sun is an amazing example of the creative genius and power of God. With normal combustion it would burn out in 1500 years, but it continues to heat the earth for thousands of years without apparent diminution. The sun will continue its vital work until the God who made it decrees that the heavenly city, “hath no need of the sun” [Revelation 21:23] “for the glory of God” will “lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.”
Next time we plan to write about Jesus, the “Sun of righteousness.” [Malachi 4:1].
