Tue Mar 3

Listen up, little ones

Listen for the words life and death.

Reading

Revelation 21:1-8—Eternal Life or Eternal Death?

Optional Reading

Psalm 9

Keys for kids

• God saves His people.
• The saved will face wonder and delight in heaven forever.
• The unbeliever will face horror in hell forever.

Questions

1. What is the wonder of heaven?
2. What is the horror of hell?
3. How can you go to heaven instead of hell?

Notes

(See Saturday for authors.)

David speaks in Psalm 9 of both the eternal destruction of the wicked and the salvation of His people. John also speaks of these in our passage today.

For the believer, the wonder and delight are, as Hamilton puts it, that we look forward to a new heaven and new earth where we will live in God’s presence, experiencing his mercy, satisfied by his pleasures, aware of his justice forever.

For that wonderful news, we do well to thank the Lord with all our heart and declare His wonderful works (Ps 9:1-2).

But we also must soberly keep in mind that Psalm 9, as well as the whole of the Bible, speaks of God’s interim and eternal judgment of the wicked. As Brooks notes, there is always the other side of the coin [of God’s grace]. The second death (everlasting desolation and anguish and the dreadful experience of the wrath of God without end) is all that awaits those who reject the gracious invitation ‘to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life’.

So, with David and John, and with God in all the Bible, we proclaim the glorious good news of salvation by faith in Jesus Christ and the horrible bad news of eternal hell for all who refuse to repent and believe.

Swedish Method questions

Praise

Psalm 9b, 65d

Prayer

1. Thank God for your salvation in Christ Jesus.
2. Give thanks for something from last Lord’s Day’s sermons.
3. Pray for a member of our church, for your family, and for a non-Christian friend/family member.