Behold the Gold

And the twelve gates are twelve pearls, each of the gates is a single pearl, and the street of the city is pure gold, transparent as glass. ~ Revelation 21.21

With the season of fall comes the beautiful colors of the leaves. The reds, russets, yellows, browns and golds that I see are heralding in the end of the warm weather season and remind me that colder weather is just around the corner. Outside my window, I watch the changes in the ravine from the dense, dark greens to the changes of these warm palette colors our Heavenly Father paints for me to enjoy as the year slowly begins to wind down. The otherwise brown and green floor of the ravine have turned into a beautiful golden carpet that, when the sun hits it just right, invites the child in me to return to treasured memories of my youth when my brothers and I would rake the leaves into piles and jump into them, laughing and giggling until the pile was so spread out, we had to rake it up again to start all over.

Gold has been highly valued for centuries by all people. The more we have, the higher our financial status within the community we live in. In sports, winning the gold medal shows that an athlete is the best in his field. This metal is still highly valued, sought after, and even guarded against theft by armed guards.

In Revelation, John paints us a picture of what heaven looks like. It is so hard to imagine gold so pure that it is transparent, but knowing the beauty of crystal when light hits it helps us to imagine a gold-ish hue of crystal so beautiful that it takes our breath away! We will never know the reality of this beauty here on earth, but oh, what a foretaste to our imagination of what awaits us when God finally calls us home!

When we leave this world, our hope is that we will be found worthy of entering this great city called heaven. It is the highest reward we can ever attain, although it comes with a price. We must leave this world to gain it. Our ability to enter into this city one day was paid for by the blood of Jesus Christ, who has given us that wonderful bridge that crosses the great divide between this life and eternal life with our Heavenly Father. We all hope that, by living our lives for Christ, we will one day “behold the gold” upon our entry into this great city to worship God face to face. Until that day, we must guard our hearts and souls from the selfish desires of our earthly life and instead invest heavily in service as a thank offering to God with whatever gifts He has blessed us with to help grow His kingdom in the hearts of others while we are still here.

Prayer

Lord,

We know that we can never “earn” a place in heaven, as the price has already been paid for by Your Son, Jesus Christ. May we instead remember to serve You with a grateful heart, guarding ourselves against the evil desires of this world, so that we can help bring others to worship You as well and one day all gather in Your city of purest gold. Amen.

~ Wendy Miller