All Saints Day, Wednesday, November 1, 2017
After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every
nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and
before the Lamb. They were clothed in
white robes and held palm branches in their hands. And they were shouting with a great roar, “Salvation
comes from our God who sits on the throne and from the Lamb!” And all the angels were standing around the
throne and around the elders and the four living beings. And they fell before the throne with their
faces to the ground and worshiped God. They
sang, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power
and strength belong to our God forever and ever! Amen.” Then one of the twenty-four elders asked me,
“Who are these who are clothed in white? Where did they come from?” And I said to him, “Sir, you are the one who
knows.” Then he said to me, “These are
the ones who died in the great tribulation. They have washed their robes in the blood of
the Lamb and made them white. “That is
why they stand in front of God’s throne and serve him day and night in his
Temple. And he who sits on the throne will
give them shelter. They will never again
be hungry or thirsty; they will never be scorched by the heat of the sun. For the Lamb on the throne will be their
Shepherd. He will lead them to springs
of life-giving water. And God will wipe
every tear from their eyes.” Revelation
7:9-17(NLT)
Morgan
Freeman may be one of the most recognizable humans on the planet. His roles in modern drama, comedy, and even
as Azeem, the scimitar-wielding Moorish warrior who befriends Kevin Costner in Robin Hood; Prince of Thieves,
make Freeman a beloved institution in American theater.
I
watched an episode last week of his new series The Story of Us[2],
in which Freeman travels the globe looking for answers to life’s most
perturbing questions. This week’s
question was: Can love save the world? Of
course, being a Hollywood icon, Mr. Freeman had to begin with John Lennon and
the Beatles’ All You Need is Love. From there the episode explored various
aspects of loving acts that, added together, could have the result of changing our
culture to make earth a better place to live.
I
wish they had allowed me to do the voice-over at the end of the show. While the credits rolled on the screen, I
would have simply said…uh…guys…by the
way, your question was answered some time ago.
Love DID save the world.
But anyone
who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 1 John 4:8(NLT)
“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his
one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have
eternal life. God sent his Son into the
world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. John 3:16-17(NLT)
For God was in Christ,
reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against
them. And he gave us this wonderful
message of reconciliation. 2 Corinthians
5:19(NLT)
This
is the message of the entire canon of Scripture – God is love, and it is God’s love
that saves.
For You
Today
On
this All Saints day, when we celebrate the entire tribe of humanity and angels
surrounding the throne in Heaven, we’ve already got the answer:
Yes, love can – and HAS – saved the world.
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