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Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to Your Nightly Scripture, a calming,

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Speaker 1: scripture-centered devotional podcast designed to help you end each day

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Speaker 1: with God's Word in your mind and on your heart.

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Speaker 1: Right after this short word from our sponsors, we'll reflect

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Speaker 1: on tonight's scripture, Revelation Tonight's scripture reflection is written by

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Speaker 1: Sophia Bricker and read by Leah Gerard. Revelation chapter 21

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Speaker 1: Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth.

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Speaker 1: For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away,

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Speaker 1: and there was no longer any sea. I saw the

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Speaker 1: holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven

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Speaker 1: from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.

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Speaker 1: And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Look,

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Speaker 1: God's dwelling place is now among the people, and he

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Speaker 1: will dwell with them. They will be his people, and

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Speaker 1: God himself will be with them and be their God.

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Speaker 1: He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will

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Speaker 1: be no more death or mourning or crying or pain,

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Speaker 1: for the old order of things has passed away. He

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Speaker 1: who is seated on the throne said, I am making

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Speaker 1: everything new. Then he said, Write this down, for these

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Speaker 1: words are trustworthy and true. He said to me, It

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Speaker 1: is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning,

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Speaker 1: and the end. To the thirsty I will give water

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Speaker 1: without cost from the spring of the water of life.

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Speaker 1: Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I

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Speaker 1: will be their God, and they will be my children.

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Speaker 1: But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the

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Speaker 1: sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters, and

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Speaker 1: all liars, they will be consigned to the fiery lake

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Speaker 1: of burning sulfur. This is the second death. One of

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Speaker 1: the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of

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Speaker 1: the seven last plagues came and said to me, Come,

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Speaker 1: I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.

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Speaker 1: And he carried me away in the spirit to a

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Speaker 1: mountain great and high and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem,

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Speaker 1: coming down out of heaven from God. It shone with

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Speaker 1: the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that

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Speaker 1: of a very precious jewel like a jasper, clear as crystal.

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Speaker 1: It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and

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Speaker 1: with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were

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Speaker 1: written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. There

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Speaker 1: were three gates on the east, three on the north,

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Speaker 1: three on the south, and three on the west. The

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Speaker 1: wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them

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Speaker 1: were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

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Speaker 1: The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod

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Speaker 1: of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls.

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Speaker 1: The city was laid out like a square as long

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Speaker 1: as it is wide. He measured the city with the

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Speaker 1: rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia in length

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Speaker 1: and as wide and high as it is long. The

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Speaker 1: angel measured the wall using human measurement and it was

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Speaker 1: 144 cubits thick. The wall was was made of jasper

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Speaker 1: and the city of pure gold as pure as glass.

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Speaker 1: The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every

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Speaker 1: kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the

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Speaker 1: second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx,

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Speaker 1: the sixth ruby, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the

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Speaker 1: ninth topaz, the tenth turquoise the 11th jacenth and the

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Speaker 1: 12th amethyst the 12 gates were 12 pearls each gate

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Speaker 1: made of a single pearl the great street of the

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Speaker 1: city was of gold as pure as transparent glass i

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Speaker 1: did not see a temple in the city because the

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Speaker 1: lord god almighty and the lamb are its temples The

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Speaker 1: city does not need the sun or the moon to

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Speaker 1: shine on it, for the glory of God gives it

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Speaker 1: light and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will

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Speaker 1: walk by its light and the kings of the earth

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Speaker 1: will bring their splendor into it. On no day will

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Speaker 1: its gates ever be shut and there will be no

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Speaker 1: night there. The glory and honor of the nations will

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Speaker 1: be brought into it. Nothing impure will ever enter it,

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Speaker 1: nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful

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Speaker 1: but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's

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Speaker 1: Book of Life. From the beginning, God intended to make

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Speaker 1: His home with humans. He walked with Adam and Eve

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Speaker 1: in the Garden of Eden. After the fall, though, His

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Speaker 1: presence had to be modified, since a holy God cannot

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Speaker 1: live with sinful man. In the tabernacle and temple, He dwelt,

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Speaker 1: living with His people and being their God. And when

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Speaker 1: Jesus came to save the world from the curse of

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Speaker 1: sin and death, he tabernacled among his creation as God

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Speaker 1: with us. See Matthew 1.23 and John 1.14. His death

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Speaker 1: and resurrection brought healing to the brokenness in humanity, bridging

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Speaker 1: the chasm between man and God. In the future, Jesus

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Speaker 1: will return and every promise will be fulfilled. the Lord God, Father, Son,

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Speaker 1: and Holy Spirit will again dwell with humankind. Finally, we

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Speaker 1: will be at home with the one for whom we

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Speaker 1: were made. As the prophet Ezekiel wrote in Ezekiel 48-35,

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Speaker 1: the eternal city will be known as the Lord is there.

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Speaker 1: Too often, though, we assume that when we go to

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Speaker 1: the Lord at death, we will abandon the earth forever.

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Speaker 1: Maybe that's why So many of us struggle to think

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Speaker 1: of eternity or to picture what it will be like

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Speaker 1: to walk beside our Savior. We forget the great promises

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Speaker 1: of Scripture. Our Lord came to us, God adding humanity

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Speaker 1: to Himself to redeem humanity so that we could live

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Speaker 1: forever with Him. The original plan was not scrapped. Rather,

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Speaker 1: it was made better, more complete, even restored completely. and

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Speaker 1: made new. The wonder of what it will mean to

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Speaker 1: finally be at home with our Lord is difficult to

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Speaker 1: fully comprehend. However, we can start anticipating its reality even

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Speaker 1: now as we go about our days. What will it

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Speaker 1: be like to eat a meal with God, to take

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Speaker 1: a walk under the trees with Him, to laugh and

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Speaker 1: talk while making art or growing a garden? For in

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Speaker 1: the new heaven and new earth, We will do those

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Speaker 1: things and more. Renew my vision, Lord, for eternity. Scripture

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Speaker 1: contains passages that fill me with wonder, but in my

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Speaker 1: everyday life I struggle to focus on what the future holds.

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Speaker 1: The troubles and ordinary tasks cloud my sight, setting my

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Speaker 1: attention only on the here and now. So I pray, God,

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Speaker 1: that you would increase my anticipation for your return. The

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Speaker 1: Bible describes that as the hope of the believer, and

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Speaker 1: I want it to be mine. May I meditate on

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Speaker 1: the coming day when you will make your home with

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Speaker 1: us in the new creation, wiping away every tear and

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Speaker 1: banishing death forever. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen. How

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Speaker 1: did tonight's scripture speak to you? Share your thoughts in

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Speaker 1: the Your Nightly Scripture Forum discussion.

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Speaker 2: Thank you for listening to Your Nightly Scripture. Tonight's scripture

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Speaker 2: was read from the New International Version by Biblica. All

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Speaker 2: Word of God. Thank you.