“Heaven and earth will pass away but my words will not pass away.”
– Luke 21:33
This comes at the end of a chapter where Jesus is talking about the future. He’s talking about wars, persecution, and challenges coming for everyone who is a follower of Jesus. Talking about how we need to be ready for the day when he returns. And in Luke 21:33, Jesus says, “Heaven and earth will pass away.” In other words, everything we see around us is temporary, but my words will not pass away. The words of Jesus are not temporary. The words of Jesus are eternal.
Heaven and earth will pass away, but the Word of God will stand forever. Let’s bank our lives on that which lasts forever.
Compelled to Read the Word of God
So just let this verse encourage you today. Let this verse challenge you today. Compel you today to open up the Bible and to read the word of God, knowing that what you have in front of you lasts forever. That the Word of God is eternal. To quote from Isaiah 40, “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of God stands forever.” Jesus is saying the same thing here, “Heaven and earth will pass away but my words will not pass away.”
So memorize God’s Word. Hide it in your heart. Study God’s Word. Meditate on God’s Word. Read God’s Word. Soak it in. Obey God’s Word. When we do God’s Word, when we obey what God has said, we are banking our lives on that which is eternal. On that which lasts forever. Don’t live according to the ideas, philosophies of this world that will pass away. Live according to the word of God that will never pass away.
Luke 21:33 Praises God for His Word
Oh God, we praise you for your Word. We praise you for the gift that it is to us. For the revelation of yourself we find in it for instruction and commands that you give us for our good. Help us to see your Word as good in every way. As eternally good as that which we need as a rock to build our lives on. God, we thank you for your Word. We love your word. We pray you’d help us to hide it deep in our hearts. To hunger for it more than our daily food. To feast on it as our daily bread. God, to meditate upon it. To read it, study it, understand it and obey it.
God help us not just to be hearers of the Word but to be doers of the Word. And to know that in your Word and in obedience to it, we are living our lives for what matters forever. And God, we pray. As we pray for different unreached people groups every day, God, we pray that you would use us to make your Word known among people who have never heard it.
Luke 21:33 Prays for God’s Word to Reach All Nations
Oh God, we pray for the Mirasi people of Pakistan. 2 million of them, almost all of them Muslims. Indication that a few hundred people have identified themselves as followers of Jesus in this people group. God, please, please strengthen those few hundred believers to stand upon your Word we pray. To believe in, to trust in your Word and to proclaim your Word among other Mirasi people in Pakistan. God, we pray for the spread of your Word among the Mirasi of Pakistan.
We pray for the spread of your Word through our lives. Among our coworkers and friends, and neighbors and family members here. God, we pray that your Word, which will never ever pass away, would spread through our mouths and our lives. Oh God, please make us a people in our individual lives, our families, our churches, who bank everything on your Word. Who, love your Word. Hunger for it, and read it, and study it, and memorize it and proclaim it. And build our lives on hearing it and doing it, knowing that heaven and earth will pass away but your words will never pass away. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder and Chairman of Radical, an organization that helps people follow Jesus and make him known in their neighborhood and all nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, and Don’t Hold Back.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
