More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
Read between
February 21 - March 25, 2018
When I speak of hope, I mean the confident anticipation that goodness is coming.
What we ache for is redemption;
A life without faith has no meaning; a life without love isn’t worth living; a life without hope is a dark cavern from which you cannot escape.
your heart only thrives in one habitat, and that safe place is called the kingdom of God.
But Jesus is clearly not talking about heaven here—he is talking about the re-creation of all things, including the earth we love.
Notice also that God promises to make current things new—as opposed to making all new things.
The Flood cleansed the earth, renewed it.
The Greek word used here for “restore” is another stunning word: apokatastasis, which in both biblical and secular usage meant to put something back in its original condition.
Annihilation is not nearly as impressive as redemption.
your future is “the restoration of all things,” real things, the restoration of everything you love.
a banquet of aged wine— the best of meats and the finest of wines.
Christ’s first drink since the farewell discourse. Also, meat!
The most striking thing about the post-resurrection activities of Jesus is that they were so remarkably ordinary:
God is trying to do two things with the promise in the earth and in our hearts: he is trying to woo us into hopeful expectation, and he is attempting to lift our gaze to the horizon so we might live for the real thing that is coming.
you give the part of your soul that is meant for God to lesser things, they will break your heart because they cannot possibly come through for you in the ways God can.
Deeper still lie our ultimate hopes, our life-and-death hopes. I would suggest that the only things that belong in the category of ultimate hopes are the things that will destroy your heart and soul if they are not fulfilled.
When our casual hopes are suddenly in question, they elicit worry, but nothing more. Precious hopes in question can usher in fear and anxiety. Ultimate hopes that suddenly seem uncertain shake the soul to its core.
There is only the kingdom, friends. Everything else will slip through your fingers, no matter how strong your grasp.
But when you raise the white flag, when you finally accept the truth that you will lose everything one way or another, utterly, irrevocably—then the Restoration is news beyond your wildest dreams.
nothing is lost.
When the kingdom comes, my dear, heartbroken friend, nothing that was precious to you in this life will be lost. No memory, no event, none of your story or theirs, nothing is lost. How could it be lost? It is all held safe in the heart of the infinite God, who encompasses all things. Held safe outside of time in the treasuries of the kingdom, which transcends yet honors all time. This will all be given back to you at the Restoration, just as surely as your sons will come back to you. Nothing is lost.
