The Final Invitation
Notes
Transcript
6 Then he said to me, “These words are faithful and true.” And the Lord God of the holy prophets sent His angel to show His servants the things which must shortly take place.
7 “Behold, I am coming quickly! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”
8 Now I, John, saw and heard these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who showed me these things.
9 Then he said to me, “See that you do not do that. For I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren the prophets, and of those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.” 10 And he said to me, “Do not seal the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand. 11 He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him be filthy still; he who is righteous, let him be righteous still; he who is holy, let him be holy still.”
12 “And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.”
14 Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. 15 But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie.
16 “I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star.”
17 And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.
18 For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.
20 He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming quickly.”
Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
21 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
Study these words in terms of your entire life, your aspiration, your lifestyle, your priorities, short term goals and relationship with God.
Final Invitation:
A Declaration.
A Promise.
A Certification.
A Declaration
6 Then he said to me, “These words are faithful and true.” And the Lord God of the holy prophets sent His angel to show His servants the things which must shortly take place.
Faithful and true
Faithful - appears 86 times in the New Testament
the word Pistos which means reliable and trustworthy
True - Greek Alethinos
Genuine, Authentic, real
God is reliable. God is trustworthy.
God is Real. God is Authentic.
These are not cunningly devised fables. Conspiracy Theorists. Atheists views.
Book of Revelation may seem wild to people.. it is not fiction!
But behind this Book of Prophecy is the Author, who is reliable and trustworthy and true and we can find confidence on His grand purpose why He gave this book to us.
This is true of the whole Bible for that matter. “A love letter” - you didn’t love the letter, you love the person who wrote that letter. The One who wrote the letter has your best interest in mind.
And the Lord God of the holy prophets ..
quickly take place - quickly, means as soon as these events pass, everything written here will happen in rapid succession.
There is an imminence, Jesus can come anytime, that is why I believe in a pre-tribulation rapture ---
Why the long wait? --- Fabulous display of God’s grace.
9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
The events of the tribulation will happen quickly and predictably, but what we do not know is when Jesus returns for the church through the rapture.
2. A Promise.
7 “Behold, I am coming quickly! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”
There are two promises here, the Lord’s return and a promised blessedness to those who keep the prophecy of the book.
Blessed - is simply to be happy
Keep - is to watch over, to keep in custody, to observe and to give heed to.
Doing all these, in keeping the words and the doctrines from the Book of Revelation increases our capacity for happiness.
Live constantly in the light of Jesus
Being a witness
Not bogged down by materialism and this world in light of our coming permanent home - the eternal city.
Enduring the trials of this life.
IN retrospect, think of the earth shattering events in the book that God will overcome and the challenges you face in your life as a child of His.
After all the terrible things that will happen, the rise of the Antichrist, the tribulation, the judgements and all of that is the reality that GOD REMAINS ON THE THRONE and HE WINS IN THE END.
Judgement is not for us.
8 Now I, John, saw and heard these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who showed me these things.
Angel declines:
9 Then he said to me, “See that you do not do that. For I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren the prophets, and of those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.”
talk about true worship… only God deserves true worship..
This unwarranted worship also happened in Revelation 19:10.
10 And I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “See that you do not do that! I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”
This can be a troublesome tendency
“The message of God’s Word is designed to focus us on the Lord and to enhance our worship of Him, but, if we are not careful we can lose sight of this in our excitement and appreciation of the Word and get our eyes on the messenger. When this happens we can, if we are not careful, become guilty of the carnal divisiveness of the Corinthians”
The danger of loving or adoring the messenger rather than the Lord.
10 And he said to me, “Do not seal the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand.
Do not seal - The word for seal is to close or to keep secret.. Evangelistic, do not conceal these words.. let these words be made known. For the time is at hand..
11 He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him be filthy still; he who is righteous, let him be righteous still; he who is holy, let him be holy still.”
This is not to be misinterpreted as Gods desire for these people to be condemned — but that since this book is evangelistic and to be heard,, there will be many who will choose to reject this book.
The promised Return and Reward:
12 “And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work.
Salvation is totally by grace, but rewards, though also by grace, are dependent on our works as we have responded to God’s grace. Part of our rewards will be the responsibilities to be given to us in God’s coming Kingdom.
The Lord is coming quickly - the imminence, at anytime… the rapture, He is coming with a reward..
And this all points to the eternal King, the Lord Jesus Christ..
13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.”
He is the beginning, in John and Colossians:
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.
10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.
3. A Certification.
16 “I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star.”
This is like a certification: “I Jesus”
Jesus is the center. He is the essence of our existence. Christ is the star.
So Jesus, as the morning star, heralds and assures us of the conclusion of this night season and the coming of a new day which will begin by His return for the church at the rapture to be followed by the glories of the millennium and then the eternal state at the end of the Tribulation. For Israel, Christ is seen as “the Sun of righteousness”
The Invitation
17 And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.
Period of Grace
Come” is a present imperative, used perhaps like an aoristic present meaning, “come today.” It is an invitation for men to come to Christ. It reminds us of the concept of Isaiah 55:6 “Seek the Lord while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near,” Psalm 32:6 “Therefore, let everyone who is godly pray to You in a time when You may be found,” and 2 Corinthians 6:2b “… behold, now is ‘the acceptable time,’ behold, now is ‘the day of salvation.’” This expresses the responsibility of believers to invite men to Christ and of the responsibility and need of those invited to respond.
Then we read, “let the one who hears.” This refers to any person who really hears the message of this book. The effect of this hearing should be a desire to reach others for Christ. So they also say “come.”
The final clauses of the verse refers to anyone who wants the life which our Lord seeks to offer. The invitation to come and take is an urgent command for the day will arrive when it is too late. Now is a day of grace, but a day of judgment is imminent and impending. Though multitudes can and will come to Christ during the Tribulation, it will still be a day when receiving Jesus Christ and being a believer will be the most difficult in man’s history.
No altar call - but anyone who wants to take up Jesus on His offer…
A Warning
18 For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.
20 He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming quickly.”
Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
21 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
Let us all say: Come Lord Jesus!
Let us all say: Maranatha!
Let us each draw near to our glorious Savior, who is the One revealed in such dramatic ways in this wonderful book, the book of Revelation.. that we may shine His light.. experience His power on our lives, represent Him faithfully as His witnesses and ambassadors here on earth.
And all the while, with all excitement may we be praying and anticipating with John, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”