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5 daily readings · Kent Keller

But What About Eternity? What Happens When We Die - Revelation 21:1-5

Revelation 21:1-5

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

Monday · Monday, June 29, 2026

A Defeated Enemy

"The last enemy to be destroyed is death."

1 Corinthians 15:26 · ESV

Death feels final. It walks into our families and our friendships and seems to win every time — the world death rate, as the old joke goes, holds steady at 100%. Kent named death for what it is: an enemy. He doesn't hate it because he's morbid; he hates it because it costs us the people we love. But here is the gospel — death is a defeated enemy. When Jesus rose, he took its power into himself and broke it forever. It still stings, but it will not get the last word. One day it passes away entirely: no more death, no more mourning, no more pain.

Reflect

Where has death — or the fear of it — been speaking loudest in your life, and what changes if it's already a defeated enemy?

Pray

Father, I bring you the losses I'm still carrying and the fear of the losses to come. Thank you that in Christ, death is a defeated enemy that does not get the last word. Let the resurrection steady me today. In Jesus' name, amen.

Read Acts 15

Tuesday · Tuesday, June 30, 2026

Everybody Lives Forever

"And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,"

Hebrews 9:27 · ESV

“Everybody lives forever,” Kent said. “The only issue is one of location.” At our last breath we step into eternity and stand before the One who made us. That's sobering — until you remember the cross. The bad news (we've all fallen short and face judgment) is exactly what makes the good news so good: God's salvation is freely offered in Christ to everyone who will receive it. You don't earn it. Confess your sin, ask for his mercy, receive the payment Jesus already made — and your forever is settled.

Reflect

If everybody lives forever and the only question is location, have you settled yours — and who in your life still needs to hear that it's free?

Pray

Lord Jesus, I can't earn my way to you, and I don't have to. I confess my sin and I receive the payment you made on the cross. Thank you that my eternity is settled in you. Amen.

Read Acts 16

Wednesday · Wednesday, July 1, 2026

A Way Station

"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more."

Revelation 21:1 · ESV

Here's something you don't hear often: heaven, as wonderful as it is, is not our final destination. It's the layover, not the home. Kent borrowed Randy Alcorn's picture — you don't say ‘I'm going to Dallas,’ you say ‘I'm going to L.A., with a stop in Dallas.’ The present heaven is real and good, but God has promised something more: a new heaven and a new earth, where he comes down to dwell with his people forever. We're not floating off to clouds and harps — we're headed home to a renewed creation.

Reflect

How would today look different if you really believed your final destination is a renewed creation where God lives with his people?

Pray

Father, lift my eyes past the layover to the home you've promised — a new heaven and a new earth where you dwell with us. Let that hope shape how I live today. Amen.

Read Acts 17

Thursday · Thursday, July 2, 2026

Perfected, Not Rejected

"that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God."

Romans 8:21 · ESV

God's plan isn't to scrap this world and start over somewhere else — it's to perfect what he made. The earth you love, the most beautiful places you've ever seen, will be there in the new creation, more glorious than you remember. Even the groaning creation, Paul says, is waiting eagerly for the day it's set free. What our first parents ruined in the fall, God restores in the end. Nothing good is finally lost.

Reflect

What's one beautiful thing in this world you grieve losing — and how does ‘perfected, not rejected’ change the way you hold it?

Pray

Maker of heaven and earth, thank you that you are not done with your creation — you're redeeming it. Give me eyes to see the new world coming and to steward this one well until then. Amen.

Read Acts 18

Friday · Friday, July 3, 2026

Every Tear Wiped Away

"He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away."

Revelation 21:4 · ESV

Kent preached this one with his friend Dan in view — a man he grew up with, who died just two weeks before the sermon. For everyone carrying grief, or sensing their own day is near, this is the promise to hold: God himself will wipe away every tear. Not numb it, not explain it away — wipe it away, with his own hand. Death, mourning, crying, pain — all of it among the ‘former things’ that pass away. So we grieve, but not as those without hope.

Reflect

Who do you know that's grieving right now — and what would it look like to carry the hope of Revelation 21:4 to them this week?

Pray

Father, you keep every tear, and one day you'll wipe them all away with your own hand. Comfort everyone grieving today, and hold our hope steady until that morning. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. Amen.

Read Acts 19
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