Revelation 22 • Jesus Soon
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Transcript
(This transcript was prepared using software tools and has not been reviewed for complete accuracy.)
So, we come to the end of our Through the Bible in a Year series. Can you even think back a year ago how different the world, our nation, and the future we're facing? And yet the Lord who is the same yesterday, today, and forever, who knew the end from the beginning, already knew, and was preparing for whatever we must face. And He tells us more of that in Revelation chapter 22. We begin way back, way, way back in Genesis chapter 1, now Revelation 22. If you have any trouble finding it, you won't have any trouble finding it.
Very last chapter of the very last book. As we've done in previous weeks, let me ask that you keep your Bibles open as we follow through the passage and see what God is teaching us about things to come that give us hope and strength for today.
If you were God, which is a strange way to start a sermon, but if you were God, how would you end the matter?
If you had collected authors inspiring them to write over a course of a millennium and a half in dozens of nations, dozens of personalities, compiling the biblical record to communicate to God's people that ultimately in our Bibles there would be something like 1,200 chapters,
30,000 words, how would you conclude it all?
We recognize that there's been lots documented, wars, famines, plagues, pilgrims, kingdoms
and a returning.
All are documented in history or prophecy so that we will understand what our God intends. It's been an amazing record as God says that He created a world, a world that was corrupted by our sin and redeemed by His Son who is coming again, creation, fall, redemption,
consummation. The story unfolds over thousands of years. If you were going to say your last words after all, what would you say? What would be your final words?
These are God's final words. Revelation 22 verse 21, "The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all."
Amen.
That's the end. That's the culmination. That's the climax. I'll say it again, the grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. When God is summing it up, when it takes all the messages of all the chapters and all the verses and all the events and all the messaging, what He ends up saying is the grace of the Lord Jesus be with all.
Amen.
And of course at the end of our journey we want to say, well, let's make sure we understand that grace. What's its content? What is that grace that everything has been poured into communicating? And the wonderful thing is recognizing how God makes sure we can't miss the message.
Whenever the ancient people wanted to say something with emphasis, they would double it, as Jesus would say, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, you must be born again.
Truly, truly. Hear me?" That's the important thing. And when something was so important and so vast that you couldn't even capture it in words, they would repeat it three times to say this is something beyond words itself
as when the angels would say of God, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty and the whole earth is full of His glory." So when we get to the last chapter of the Bible and the Lord is wanting to tell us, what is the grace of the Lord Jesus that is to be with you all? He actually performs a triple-triple telling us three things, three times over, a triple promise, a triple warning, and a triple welcome so that we cannot miss the grace that He means to communicate to us. The triple promise first comes with an image to introduce it, so we will see how this promise flows out of everything that has been said prior, the very first verse of Revelation 22. "Then the angel showed me the river of water of life, brightest crystal flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city.
And on either side of the river, the tree of life, with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month, the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it and His servants will worship Him." This is actually river number three.
River number two appeared about midway in the Bible in the prophecy of Ezekiel.
Ezekiel saw a river of life flowing from the temple of the Old Testament where sacrifices were made in order to provide atonement for God's people. And when Ezekiel sees the vision of the river flowing out of the temple where sacrifices are made, he says it starts as a trickle.
And then as he follows the river a little bit further, it gets ankle deep. And then he goes a bit further and it gets knee deep. Then he goes further down the river, it gets waist deep. Then he goes further out and he cannot touch the bottom anymore. And the river that flows out of the temple flows into the nations with such life-giving blessing that it cannot be fathomed anymore. It is a river of life for the nations that flows from the temple of God.
But we see here that that river of life is in the heavenly city, but something is not in the heavenly city.
There is no more temple.
Why?
Because the sacrificing is all done. Jesus has accomplished all of that. Instead the Lamb sacrificed once for all sits upon the throne. And so John the Apostle tells us he still sees the river of life, but it flows from the throne of the Lamb and planted beside the river. And growing is the tree of life, which takes us all the way back to the first of the rivers, way back in the book of Genesis. Do you remember what we were told that there was another river of life? And that river of life flowed out of Eden. And the river flowed out of Eden to water the garden and became four rivers to water the nations from which the promised one of God would come to bless all people. There was a river flowing out of the love and the compassion and the power of God. And it flowed out of Eden into the rivers of the nations that would ultimately be key
from the coming of Jesus.
And planted by that river was a tree of life. And if you ate of the tree of life, you would have life for as long as you had the fruit provided from the river to the tree for God's people.
What's the problem?
There was a curse. Way back in the beginning we learned that the tree of life was denied to God's people when they took from the tree the knowledge of good and evil and broke the commandment and the law of God no longer were they allowed to partake of the tree of life. The world and humanity became accursed.
And now suddenly we see at the end of God's redemptive plan we have another river flowing from the throne of the Lamb who has made sacrifice for everybody. The sins of the world of those who believe in Jesus have been made right before God. And what happens? Look, look, there's the tree of life again. And it has fruit from the 12 nations that were part of Israel as God is fulfilling His covenant and allows the people of the world to partake of the fruit that was made for Israel from the river of life that God intended to bless us. It's the wonderful message that at the end of time we've returned to Eden.
The Bible as it were comes full circle and it comes back to the time at which there was no more curse. And God is saying to His people, even as now we live in this fallen world in which there is death and disease and pain and stress and difficulty in relationships, there will be a world where there will be no more death or pain or fears or crying again. Because not only is the Lamb seated upon the throne, but the river of life flows out into the nations and the tree of life of which we may partake is made available to us. If that's what you recognize, that's the future out there. A world without the curse, a world without cancer or ALS, without diabetes or division among God's people, without hatred and stress and anxiety, that's the world to come.
What do you say?
Oh Lord, come quickly. Oh Lord, come.
And the blessing of Revelation 22 is He says three times in the triple promise that the river of life is providing for us that He shall surely come. Verse 7, "And behold, I am coming soon."
Verse 12, "Behold, I am coming soon." Verse 20, "He who testifies to these things says, surely I am coming soon." Amen. We can say amen to that. Jesus is coming soon. Amen?
Amen. Jesus is coming soon. He says it three times. How could you miss that?
But of course the reason we question it is we recognize it's been a while since He said that.
And we look back and we say, is that really accurate? And we forget there was a long history that led up to Jesus saying, "I am coming soon." The eons and the millennia prior to this time that were leading up to this stage in redemptive history because the last days defined in the Bible are the period from resurrection until His coming again. And that means we are in the last days. And knowing that, Jesus says through His apostle, "I am coming soon." And when we recognize that, we begin to know if He's coming soon, I need to be ready.
Our obedience, our comfort, our faithfulness, our courage come from understanding. The world in which we live, the brokenness that we experience is not the final chapter. The final chapter is Christ is coming and He's coming soon. And we can't really be faithful if we don't believe that.
The theologians call it the doctrine of the imminent appearing of Christ, that ultimately we are strengthened, made ready for the day's challenges, made ready to be loyal to Christ if we actually believe He could come at any moment.
That it's not just some far off, somewhere, some time, but Christ is coming soon. And as a consequence, we are to be prepared for His coming. Now I know we will question some of us who are well-schooled. Well, is it really true that Christ could be coming soon because there are some things that are supposed to happen before He comes, things like wars and rumors of wars? Doesn't the Bible say that there would be floods and earthquakes? Doesn't the Bible say there would be a darkening sky with the moon, excuse me, with the sun appearing to be blood red before the great and awful day of the Lord? Well, yeah, the Bible does say those things.
So let's just check off the list.
Any wars and rumors of wars that you know about?
China, North Korea, Russia, Afghanistan, Syria, wars, and rumors of wars.
And what about earthquakes and floods? Just since January of this present year, such have occurred in China, Japan, that foreign nation known as Idaho, California, Mexico, India, Chile, all this year, a darkening,
sky and the sun looking like blood, almost as though there had been this dust cloud that had come from the Sahara and worked itself across the ocean all the way to North America so that the sunsets of the Midwest in recent days have appeared blood red.
And what about plagues that are worldwide? Let me think now, has that happened? There are plagues there.
I am not saying I know the day and the hour.
In fact, we are told in the Bible that we are wrong to try to identify the day and the hour, but we are also wrong to think God could not culminate His purposes today in this moment, in this hour, in this day, that we are required to believe that from God's perspective all that is necessary for the coming of Christ has already been fulfilled. Will He do it now in our time by these signs that I have cited? I do not know. What I do know is God would be perfectly just and right to fulfill His prophecy right now. And we are not properly prepared as the people of God if we do not believe in the imminent appearing of Jesus and therefore asking ourselves, "Am I ready this day? Is my family ready this day? Are my neighbors ready this day?" Because Christ has fulfilled everything necessary already that He must accomplish to warrant His return. If that is so, then we must be the people who say, "God, when He speaks to us in the crises and the problems of this world is not saying to Christians, time to retreat, time to back up, time to be worried and just settle in. He is instead of saying that, He is saying to us by the crises of the moment, it is time to come to attention.
It is time to recognize this may be the day of the Lord. And as a consequence of that, it is the wrong time to despair. It is the wrong time to desist from worship or lessen our labors.
We refuse to lay aside prayer. We refuse to say that because the world is difficult, we will no longer witness, that we will not be a part of what God is doing. We say the trials of the world are screaming at us, "This is game day!" And we have been called into the battle for the sake of the Lord. If in fact all of these events are the beginning of the end of times, do you recognize that what has just happened is that Satan has played his hand.
And as Satan has played his hand, God's people are now required to say, "Even so, come quickly. Lord Jesus, and I ask you to come, I pray for you to come, and I plead that you would give me the strength and the willingness to work for Christ's purposes should this be the day of the Lord."
By such belief, we perceive that no problem surpasses the reality that our divine coach has put us on the field. It is game day. It is the fourth quarter. And we are not put on the bench. We are put into the game.
And for that reason, we say, "He is coming, and because He is coming, we must prepare. He is coming.
He is coming. He is coming soon."
And when you hear that promise, you recognize that the God of all truth to be true to His purposes must not merely speak of the promise, but if He is loving, He must warn people of the consequences of that promise being fulfilled. Because with the triple promise, "I am coming soon," is a triple warning as well. Verses 8 and 9, "I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things.
And when I heard them, I fell down to worship the feet of the angel who showed them to me. But he said to me, "You must not do that. I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers and the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book, worship God."
If in fact Christ, the Lord Jesus, is coming soon, there is only one who is worthy of worship. It is not me, it is not you, it is not even the angels who are the messengers of God. It is Christ alone. There is a warning, no other worship will satisfy or do. Only the worship of Christ our Lord, even the angel says, "Do not worship me, but worship the one whose message I bring. No God but God, no one, nothing else is deserving of worship." And we are cautioned even as believers in a world where so much vies for our loyalty and claims that it will be our solution to the difficulties of the moment. No one, nothing deserves worship other than God.
We do not place our hope in a president, a political party, a spouse, a pastor, a job, a school. If we have begun to worship any of those as though they will correct all of our problems, ours is misplaced worship. And perhaps as believing people, we do not recognize how easy it is to fall into the worship that any person could actually be the solution to our problems or the one who would usher in the purposes of God. No God but God. I think how easy it is to think too highly of a dear pastor or a Christian leader as though the church of Jesus Christ or the future of our families depends upon that person.
Jesus will build His church.
God will fulfill His purposes. There's no God but God. We depend upon Him alone. God will preserve His will and He will promote His purposes with or without the person of a particular moment. I think of the example of the navigators, that wonderful expansive ministry for college students and military people. And it began under the amazing leadership of Dawson Trotman, this gifted, charismatic communicator who died too young in a boating accident.
And the one who followed him was named Lorne Sanne. And he was not charismatic. He was not a great speaker. But he was just kind of Mr. Steady. And the great albatross that he wore about his neck during the early years of his ministry with the navigators was the constant comment about Lorne Sanne.
He is no Dawson.
But it was under the ministry of Lorne Sanne that the navigators grew and expanded to the worldwide ministry that is ministered to tens of thousands for the name of Jesus Christ. No God but God. Yet He will perform His purposes for people who are faithful to His will. We do not point to the messenger. We point to Him to whom the message points. That is what God calls us to do. We are warned against any other worship. We are also warned against any other way to prepare for the day of Christ appearing. John records the next words of the angelic messenger, verses 10 and 11. And he said to me, "Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near." That is, do not keep people from hearing the words of this book. There is not another way.
We should read therefore verse 11 as the angel's incredulity that we would not be understanding what these times require of us. Let the evildoers still do evil and the filthy still be filthy and the righteous still do right and the holy still be holy.
Behold I am coming soon. Bringing my recompense with me says Jesus to repay each one for what He has done. The lost must be reached.
The righteous must not sit smug and sheltered back in their righteousness as though there is nothing to... I'm holy. I'm fine. No. The filthy cannot be allowed to remain in their filth. The sinful not to hear the message of salvation. You cannot seal up the words of the book in such a way that those who must hear do not hear. It's not even the righteous right who have been saved by the blood of the Lamb, who have washed their robes in what He has provided by His sacrifice to say, "No sacrifice from me now." No. There is the tremendous understanding that we are called even as we have been saved to get others ready for what we ourselves will face in the great day of the coming of our Lord who comes soon. And for that reason we must be prepared for no other word. We are warned against any other worship. We are warned against any other way. And finally we are warned against any other word. Verse 18, "I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book, if anyone adds to them, God will add to Him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away His share in the tree of life and in the holy city which are described in this book." What has this book said? What has it said from the very beginning? There is life in the Lamb and there is life in no other. There is no other words to say. We must make sure that our nation, that our world understands that you are not your Creator. You are not your Redeemer, but the Creator has provided a Redeemer and we must turn to Him. He is the way out, no other name, under heaven, given among men whereby you must be saved.
In our day, in our era, no truth is less popular or less politic than to say Jesus is the only way.
You recognize that and I do. There is no truth less offensive than to say, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." No man comes to the Father, but by Me says the Lord Jesus. And we follow Him and we believe that what He has said is true. You recognize in this day and age either extreme is socially acceptable at any party you go to.
I believe that all religions are basically the same or I believe all religions are basically false.
The one position that is not tolerated is Jesus is the way.
That one position which Jesus took so much time to say so carefully, "I am the way, the truth, the life." No one comes to the Father, but by Me. There is no statement in the Bible that is more arrogant and less tolerant unless it's true.
If it is true that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, then there is nothing more compassionate
or caring than to point to that door and say, "There is the door.
There is the way to life. There is the one who can save you from your sin. He can take you to a world where there is no more curse, where there's no more disease, no death, no pain, no fears, no crying again. There's the door."
And when we say that, it is the mercy of God on display and the people who are willing to say it. And that is why over and over again in this passage you recognize that what Jesus is doing is He is pointing out the beauty of the Lamb so that He will say to us, to our families and to our neighbors, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
"Come, come to Me," says Jesus.
And even as you would gather in a unique setting at a unique time in this church, I would say to you, "Come, come to the Savior.
Those who ultimately are safe are those who have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb." It's a horrible image. Until you recognize what it is saying is that we are covered in the identity of Christ. And because we are covered in the identity of Christ, Paul the Apostle said, "We are hidden in Him." Our sin placed away, our sin washed away, and we are made right by faith in the provision of the Lamb. And the Lamb says, "Come," He doesn't say, "I sacrifice so much for you. I'm only going to help those who are qualified, those who sacrifice for you." He says none of that.
He says instead, "I will welcome you regardless of who you are, what you have done." Immediately after the threefold promise and the threefold warning, there is a threefold welcome for those who would heed the warning and come to the Lamb. Verses 16 and 17, a wondrous invitation. "I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches.
I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star, the spirit and the bride say, "Come." Let the one who hears say, "Come." And let the one who is thirsty, "Come."
Let the one who desires take the water of life without price.
Jesus declares first why He sent the messenger to John. He says, "Tell them I am the descendant of David. I am the one long prophesied who would be of the line of David, who would have a universal and eternal kingdom, and I have come.
Now tell them to come to Me." And as He does that, He says they can come even if they're thirsty. They're still in the wilderness. They're still struggling, but the one who is thirsty can come.
Let the one who desires take the water of life without price.
Are you thirsty?
Some satisfaction desiring something. "Come.
Drink of the waters of the river of life provided from the throne of the Lamb. Come. But Lord, I don't qualify. I can't pay you off with enough of my doing and my accomplishing and my merit." There's not a price.
He paid it all and is suffering upon the cross, and He says that. So having made this wondrous invitation, "Come as you are. If you're thirsty, come. If you can't pay, come. If you can't make it up to me, come."
The invitation is so wondrous that it must at least be couched in a warning for those who know its beauty but will not come.
Because the Savior is loving, He warns of the consequence of not coming. People hear warnings as somehow just threat of an evil one. But listen, the way we parent our own children, because we love them. We warn them of consequences, of difficulty if they do not follow a path that's good and right for them. And so there is warning here again, verse 18, "I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book. If anyone adds to them, God will add to Him the plagues described in this book. If anyone takes away from the words of this book, of this prophecy, God will take away a share of the tree of life and in the holy city which are described in this book." You can't add or subtract. You can't pick and choose your way through the Bible. There is a message that has been one consistent golden thread through the hole, and it is you are sinners in need of a Savior. You caused the corruption of this world and your humanity, but God has sent His Son to redeem. You are not your Redeemer, but God has sent Him, and He is welcoming you. And He is saying, "Come, there is a river of life for those who are thirsty, and there are arms to receive no matter what you're like and what you've gone through. There is one for you who welcomes you with arms open wide." The wide invitation back to verse 17.
The Spirit, that is the internal witness in us that testifies to Christ's truth in your heart, and the bride, that is the church, the external witness witnessing to the world the truths of God's Lamb. Both the internal, the Spirit, and the external church, what do they say?
They say, "Come, and let the one who hears say, come." If you have ears to hear, and you have said yes to Jesus, you get to say, "Come to more people." You become part of the army. You become part of the mission. You become part of the angel choir singing to those who need it. Come if you've lived a long time in the world, and it just seems like wilderness to you, and the trials and troubles have made you thirsty for something more satisfying. Even if you have wandered far, you are welcome, and let the one who desires take the water of life without price.
I don't have money or merit.
It does not matter.
Jesus paid it all, and He says, "Come."
When I know that, I recognize that what life is calling us to do by the difficulties of the moment, by the stresses it caused in our own home, is to recognize we do not have the final answers.
We live in a world of wilderness, but there's a world to come, and it may happen tomorrow,
the next day, next week, or the next decade, or it may happen today.
And for that reason, we get ready.
Friends of ours last week reported the heavenly passing of a family member.
He had struggled with cancer for years, but he had not struggled with faith.
He simply rejected it.
He said he had no use for that kind of thing. That was his wife's thing.
He was a heart surgeon, and as a result, he felt he could handle pretty much anything, the world throughout him, but the cancer was more than he could handle. You would think that would turn him to faith.
It did not.
But as he was in his hospital bed in his last days, his wife would kneel by his bed three times a day and pray out loud for his salvation.
It wasn't a harangue. It wasn't manipulation. He knew that. He said, despite all, he said, "She is the best wife in the world."
She was such a good wife that when well-meaning Christians would sing cards to him of "God loves you" and "God's comfort," she rejected them. She said, "If it is not about his salvation, it will not help him."
And within the final hours of his dying, he said yes to Jesus.
He knew the implications.
As he lay dying, he said to his wife, "I will not say goodbye to you because I know now I will see you again."
It's the beauty of the promise of God. Now, I'm not going to advise you not to say goodbye to a spouse if you're dying, but I'm going to say we can all claim the truth that for those who have said yes to Jesus, when this world has become totally dissatisfying that we know this, the longest of earthly separations are but a brief, "See you later," in heavenly terms. And that man, like the thief on the cross who said yes to Jesus, was going to be with Christ forever, and we will see him, and he will see us. Is it right that the welcome be so wide that the Savior is ready to receive any who would come? I think of this man. He did not live for heaven, but Jesus lived for him.
He did not pay his dues, but Jesus paid them all.
He did not welcome Jesus for so long, but Jesus will welcome him forever.
And that is the beauty of the wondrous welcome of the Savior of which the Scriptures have testified from the beginning to the end. Jesus is coming soon, and because of that, we recognize the consequences of a great reunion with the people of God, freed of disease, freed of fear, freed of death, freed of stress, and so we say, "Even so, Lord Jesus, come quickly." And this is his response, "I am coming soon. I am coming. I am coming. I am coming soon." Praise God, be ready for that day. He is coming soon. Praise God, seek him, and know he will receive you. His arms are wide. Jesus is coming soon. Amen. Father, so work your will into our hearts, even now in this moment, cause us to rejoice in the reality of an imminent Savior so that we are ready with courage, ready with the word, ready with the love, ready with the hug, whatever is needed to communicate to another heart who he is. And if any hearts here are listening to me have not said yes to Jesus because they are thinking, "I've lived another way so long. I've wandered so far. I can't make it up to him."
I want them to know even by such a meager message as this, Jesus paid it all. When they say yes to Jesus, Jesus says, "Welcome to them." Each of us here says, "I am a sinner in need of a Savior, and I believe Jesus paid the penalty for my sin. I trust him to make a way, and because I trust the way that he provides, this I know.
The one who is coming soon bids me welcome.
Now and forever. Thank you, Jesus, the Savior who is coming soon. Amen.