God is making all things new.

上帝正更新一切。

He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Revelation 21:5

坐宝座的说：“看哪！我将一切都更新了。”-启示录21章5节

Gazing out my open study window, I hear birds chirping and hear and see the wind gently blowing in the trees. Bales of hay dot my neighbor’s newly mowed field, and large, white cumulus clouds stand out in contrast to the brilliant blue sky.

在我书房的窗外，有鸟儿鸣唱，风也徐徐吹过树梢。一堆堆成捆的干草散落在邻居新开垦的田间，白色的积云与湛蓝的天空，相映成趣。

I’m enjoying a little bit of paradise—except for the almost incessant noise of the traffic that runs past our property and the slight ache in my back. I use the word paradise lightly because though our world was once completely good, it no longer is. When humanity sinned, we were expelled from the garden of Eden and the ground was “cursed” (see Gen. 3). Since then the Earth and everything in it has been in “bondage to decay.” Suffering, disease, and our deaths are all a result of humankind’s fall into sin (Rom. 8:18–23).

住在这里，除了屋后川流不息的车声，以及我的背部略感疼痛外，我完全沉醉在这天堂一角。我用天堂这个词语其实有点轻率，因为我们所处的世界虽然过去确实是十全十美，但如今已经被破坏。人类犯罪之后，就被上帝逐出了伊甸园，地也受到“咒诅”（参见创世记3章） 。从那时起，地球及其中所有的一切，都注定要败坏。痛苦、疾病及死亡，都是人类堕落犯罪所带来的后果（罗马书8章18-23节）。

Yet God is making everything new. One day His dwelling place will be among His people in a renewed and restored creation—“a new heaven and a new earth”—where “there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (Rev. 21:1–4). Until that day we can enjoy the bright splashes and sometimes wide expanses of breathtaking beauty we see around us in this world, which is just a small foretaste of the “paradise” that will be.

然而，上帝正在更新这一切。有一天，上帝的居所将要在祂的子民当中，在更新和修复的“新天新地”里“不再有死亡，也不再有悲哀、哭号、疼痛，因为以前的事都过去了”（启示录21章1-4节） 。在那日来临前，我们仍然可以欣赏周遭惊鸿一瞥的美景，或眺望雄伟壮丽的山河，预尝“天堂”的滋味。

Dear Lord, thank You that in this world

 that can seem ugly with sin and decay 

You allow us to see glimpses of beauty.

亲爱的主，感谢祢！
在这因罪恶而衰败丑陋的世界中，
祢仍然让我们能窥见天国的美丽。

Romans 8:18-23New International Version (NIV)

Present Suffering and Future Glory

18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that[a] the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.

22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.

罗马书 8:18-23Chinese Union Version Modern Punctuation (Simplified) (CUVMPS)

得赎的盼望

18 我想，现在的苦楚若比起将来要显于我们的荣耀，就不足介意了。 19 受造之物切望等候神的众子显出来。 20 因为受造之物服在虚空之下，不是自己愿意，乃是因那叫他如此的； 21 但受造之物仍然指望脱离败坏的辖制，得享[a]神儿女自由的荣耀。22 我们知道，一切受造之物一同叹息、劳苦，直到如今。 23 不但如此，就是我们这有圣灵初结果子的，也是自己心里叹息，等候得着儿子的名分，乃是我们的身体得赎。

整理：于姊妹