Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“And the one who was seated on the throne said, ‘See, I am making all things new.’”
NL Daily Devotion for Sunday, August 31, 2025
by Dr. Kimberly Leetch, Clergy Stuff
Main Idea: In this vision there is a promise of renewal, rather than re-creation.
This vision of Revelation makes a profound promise—not that God will make new things, but that all things that God has already made will be made new. It is a promise not of destruction, but of renewal. God does not intend, as God did with Noah, to destroy and rebuild, but to take the beauty and potential of the things God has already created, and restore them to the perfection and beauty that was always intended.
Here at the end of Revelation, God reiterates God’s promise, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.” There is nothing outside the confines set by God. All things are things of God, and God claims all things.
In this vision of renewal and restoration we see once again the Tree of Life that has been absent the stories since Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of Eden. They had been given access to the Tree of Life, but access had been revoked when they ate of the Tree of Knowledge. Their banishment was in fact a gift—had they eaten of the Tree of Life with the stain of the knowledge of good and evil, their eternity would be marred forever. No, God will wait until the day that their knowledge of good and evil will be rewritten and all people will be restored to the glory that God intended upon creation. At that time people will be given access once again to the Tree of Life, and its very leaves will be the agents of healing for the nations. The divisions wrought when the nations were scattered will be erased, and the nations will be one under God.
In this promise there is an acknowledgment that we are not there yet. We do still live with death, mourning, crying, and pain. We still live divided from others. We still live in darkness. But all of these can be endured because we know none of these has the last word. The promise of eternal healing and light is to be ours one day. And the reality of God’s all-encompassing beginning and end is ours now.
Years ago, I was working exhausting hours with no end in sight. I had no money and very few hours reserved for a vacation. I had a good friend offer to pay for a vacation yet to be planned. They said it’s because the unpleasantness of the thankless hours can be more easily endured when there is something beautiful to look forward to. They were right. From the moment I began envisioning the vacation, every difficult working hour became less of a burden.
God’s vision of a renewal that heals nations, wipes tears, destroys death, and enlightens every waking moment can make the unbearable pains of this world more palatable.
