Beyond the Weekend: Saved
Your Past, Present, and Future Rescue
The word "saved" gets used a lot in church. But what does it really mean to be saved?
In this series, we look at how salvation works. It's not just something that happened to us in the past. It's something God is doing in us right now, and something he will finish one day.
"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9).
New Heaven & New Earth
Read: Revelation 21:1 | Listen: Revelation 21
Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. Revelation 21:1
While in exile for spreading the good news of Jesus, John is given a vision of the end of days: a glimpse of the full effect of salvation on a redeemed world. He sees a new heaven crash down to earth. As heaven and earth collide, the last remnant of sin fades away. All that has been broken is made whole. No more death, crying, or pain. No more sin. It's Eden restored, with God dwelling among his people once more. The world is as beautiful as it is today, but even better. To believers reading this, the hope of a new heaven encourages them to hold fast to their faith. Though Rome's power may destroy them, it can't stop God's rescue plan. Everything will be restored—even their bodies!
As modern-day believers, we often impose our modern understanding of the world onto the ancient text of Scripture, so we can carry a warped view of heaven, picturing angel wings, floating clouds, and cartoons where everyone looks bored. But Scripture offers a vastly different picture: a physical world where we will have physical bodies, to hike, explore, and enjoy fellowship and community. We won't drift through eternity in the sky. We'll live in it, fully alive in bodies made new. And it's not just what will be there—it's who. Jesus, our resurrected Savior, will be with us. With bodies like his, we will see him face to face.
TODAY: Take five minutes to journal about what life in the new heaven and earth will be like: everything good and beautiful present, everything wrong and broken gone.
