Revelation 22
Notes
Transcript
The King is Coming
Good morning my brothers and sisters!
Here we are, the last Sunday of the month of November. Wow!
Christmas will be here before you know it. And starting next week, we will begin looking at the Scriptures that focus around the coming of Christ into the world as we prepare to celebrate Christmas.
But today, we look at the last chapter of the book of Revelation, and I hope you have enjoyed these messages. I hope they have encouraged you along the way.
This last chapter we could refer to as the King is Coming…Jesus has finished the work the Father gave Him to do and we are home with our God and the Lamb.
So lets begin with this thought today...
1. The River of Life...
Water is always one item associated with life. We are dependent upon it, we cannot live without water physically. And we could say the same spiritually.
And water in Scripture always symbolizes eternal life. And this is what we see here. The river is called just that the river of life… lets look at verses 1 and 2.
1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 through the middle of the street of the city; also, 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.
Now opening the text, remember what is being talked about here is really the continuation of Chapter 21.
John says the angel of God, showed him a river, the water of life. Now this is special and what do we see here.
First off, this river, it is clearly beautiful my friends, it is said to be bright as crystal, water that is clear and breath taking… You know around this world I have seen rivers, and lakes, and lagoons that were just amazing to sea.
And every time I am reminded that this water is the creation of almighty God. He spoke and it came into existence.
And here the river is said to flow from the throne of God and the Lamb. You know as this country was being discovered and established, men explored areas, the traced rivers to their origin points, their goal was to hope to understand all they could about these new areas.
Wow…Here, we see clearly the headwaters of this river is the Throne… that is just amazing.
And it flows right down the center of the street of that city. And it doesn’t divide the city, no the water unites it and gives life to it …
You know if you go back to the book of Genesis chapter 2, we find there was a river that began and flowed through the garden of Eden. This river then broke out into 4 major rivers across the land, the Pishon, the Gihon, the Tigris and Euphrates.
Each river brought life to the land it flowed through and this was the design of God. Water gives life...
And to us the water of life was given, it being spiritual water, living water it was given to each of us… water that quiches a thirst that only God can satisfy… living water from the river of God.
But secondly today my friends, we are allowed to see the Tree of Life...
2. The Tree of Life
Trees are spectacular, wouldn’t you agree with me. They begin from these small seeds and they sprout and extend their branches toward the heavens and they grow...
They grow large and tall and they do so much for us, they exchange our carbon dioxide that we exhale and i turn exchange it for oxygen.
They provide us shade in the heat of the summer, on the hottest of days, for a person to walk under its canopy we find a cool area, with the temperature being several degrees cooler.
Many of the trees provide us with fruit and nuts that add a little extra for our lives.
And look at the tree in verse 2, Rev 22:2
2 through the middle of the street of the city; also, 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.
John tells us that on either side of the river, was the tree of life… one tree on each side of the river of life.
The tree of life grew there in that city and here is what is wonderful, it also produced 12 types of fruit each month.
And the fruit is for us to eat if we so want too. Listen if the Bible says it produces fruit, i think it is real fruit for us to eat if we want, to enjoy if we want.
In heaven, I don’t think we have to eat, but it is there for us.
Listen when you look at the New Testament Scriptures, we find that Jesus ate with his disciples after the resurrection.
He certainly wasn’t dependent upon food but he did eat..
And in the Old Testament, the angels and Pre-incarnate Christ ate with Abraham at his tent by the Oaks of Mamre.
So the tree bears its fruit and this fruit, blesses those who enjoy what is given.
Remember, again in the garden of Eden there was the tree of life (Genesis 2). It was there for Adam and Eve to enjoy.
That tree is there for all… and think of the fruit… apples, oranges, plums, apricots, bananas, maybe even a pawpaw, we do not know, but we will enjoy its fruit.
And the leaves of this tree are for the healing of the nations, what does that mean? The nations are given life, all of God’s people are given life.
Adam and Eve in the garden were meant to live for ever, they could have enjoyed the fruit ot that tree, but when cast out of the garden they were prevented from enjoying eternal life.
Here, we know death was cast into hell. Death was destroyed and because of the tree, the nations are healed. All the people will enjoy life.
What a blessing to enjoy all that the Father has prepared for us there in that city my friends...
But now lets move forward, and look at more of this chapter by discovering this topic.
We are given a perfect life.
3. The Perfect Life...
Today, people are guilty, even us at times thinking I wish I had this or that....
We look, observe someone’s life and we look at that and think, wow.. their life is perfect, I would like some of that… their home, their opportunity, their wealth… we think that is the perfect life...
My friends, apart from Jesus no one can have life, a good and perfect life.
Let me reveal this from our text.... VV3-5
3 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. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
The earth was cursed because of Adam’s sin, that you can look at in Genesis 3.
Adam’s sin brought thrones and thistles upon the land, sickness, sorrow and death all because of sins curse.
But friends, no more! No more! There are no longer any such woes here in this new heaven and new earth. Remember chapter 21, verse 4.
4 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.”
This new world, this new city has the Lord God almighty and the Lamb in it and we will worship Him.
Remember the word worship, it means to ascribe worth to God. He is worth our worship, our devotion, our sacrifices and gifts.
And here my friends is the most magnificent part of this perfect life I think, not only do we have eternal life, but verse 4 says we will see his face.
In the past, no one could see God and live because o our sin, but here we are redeemed, we are like him because of our new life in Christ and we can stand in his presence and see his face..
Wow… and His name will reside on our foreheads. I love it!
Why will his name be placed upon our foreheads? My friends, we belong to Jesus… Not just in that city and kingdom… but that is even today...
Remember the witness of Scripture… I Cor 6:19-20
19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
We are His my friends, we are his children, his people, the people who have been redeemed by the blood of the lamb.
And today we must be careful my friends.... This ownership must be reflected in our lives. What does this mean, how does this apply.
Our talk… is our talk governed by our God? We cannot talk like we used too… we cannot talk like the world.
Our actions, deeds, are they such that reflect the truth and love of God.
The ownership of God in our lives has to be , must be reflected in our everyday lives. what we say and do at every given moment.
Here is what is sad my friends, I see a lot of people who claim to be the church, and they act like, live like, talk like, and so forth like the world and that should not be...
We are given a perfect life, prepare for it.
Now just one last thought today my friends, are you ready.
4. Jesus is Coming Soon...
The early church lived with the expectation they must do these things well because His return would be at the right time.
Look at verse 7 Rev 22:7
7 “And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”
Here is the problem when we think about the Lord’s return. The word soon here is not referring to the idea necessarily of quickly, it is the word “tachei” in the Greek, it is the basis where we get the word tachometer.
The tachometer in a car measures the speed of the revolutions of a engine.
The idea here means the Lord is coming speedily, when the events of the end times begin to unfold, they will unfold very quickly.
We talk about the events happening around us today, we see so many things taking place in our world. Is the end time unraveling?
We think so at times, but we cannot say for certain. But we are to keep looking up, living and following Jesus because he may be here quicker than we think....
And there is a promise attached here… “...Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”
This is important, Revelation is the only book in the Bible that has a special blessing attached to it for those who read it and obey it.
Robert Jeffress, the pastor of 1st Baptist Dallas says that God didn’t give us Revelation or any book of the Bible to just increase our knowledge. No, He gave us the Bible to increase our obedience to him.
The person who reads this book and heeds the Lord’s words is the one who receives the blessing.
Now John in verses 8-9 started to worship the Angel an he is rebuked and told not to do these things, Listen to what the angels says “… for I am a fellow servant with your brothers and prophets and with those who keep the words of this book, worship God!!”
God is the only one we are to worship, no one else.
And John is told not to seal up these words, in verse 10. These words are for the world.. the time is near.
What did it mean when John was told the time was near? Remember like we have talked about before, the word for time isn’t “chronos,” like in a physical time frame.
It is the word ‘kairos” which referes to a season or era. In other words the season or era for Christ’s return in near. We are living I believe in the last period of time before the rapture of the church.
This is the church age, God set aside the time of the Jews, (that doesn’t mean that they cannot be saved during this time, no) but God has allowed the gospel come to the Gentiles, those who are not Jewish that we might believe.
To be the church age means this is the last period of time, before he does refer.
So it tells us it could be at any moment, at any time.. Thus we should live and be ready for his coming.
And since we are at this period of time, look at what is said in verse 11.
11 Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy.”
What does the Lord mean with this… The message of Jesus coming to save the world, to forgive the sinner is not enough to motivate sinners to to turn to Jesus.
As such, God has done all he will do… the truth has been told, the message is being shared and if sinners will not come to Christ, He will let me carry that decision all the way to hell.
God wants the world to be saved, he has given them His Son, and if they will not trust the Son, they stand condemned.
The message is enough..
Do you remember the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16… he cried for Abraham to send someone form the dead to his family…
Abraham’s words are sobering, if they will not believe Moses and the prophets, ie God’s word they will not believe even if someone returned from the dead...
Now again in verse 12 Jesus says He is coming soon.. but look at this,
12 “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done.
Jesus will quickly, it will be before we know it, and the recompense is repaying everyone for what he has done…
Recompense is his reward..
Remember we are not saved by works, by what we do… But becasue we are saved we should work, and serve the Lord faithfully.
Friends, how we live, our deeds, our works, our witness, our faithfulness to the word of God. These works are the means by which we are rewarded at the end of days,
Remember 2 Cor 5:10
10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.
Your works, verify your salvation. The Scripture tells us by our fruit we are known…Matthew 7:16.
As a born again child of God we are called to faithfully serve the Lord and others, what we do in and for our Lord is one of our greatest blessings.
Now look with me at verses 13-14 Rev 22:13-14
13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”
14 Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates.
Now there is a difference here, what I read and perhaps if you have a King James sounded different...
Now, the King James says Blessed are they that do his commandments.
Why the difference… I am going to tell you a reason.. and why
But we know the KJV, was translated in 1611, that is when it came about and the Greek text it used was one called Textus Receptus… as the Greek text, a great text, no problem there… but in 1611 the scholars knowledge of all what was being said was limited..
Since 1611 we have found much older Greek texts and many, many more that give us better and more faithful uses of the words and phrases, in particular one that has been called the critical apparatus.
So why is the phrase “ Blessed are those who wash their robes better?”
Blessed are those who do his commandments speaks to the idea of God’s grace isn’t sufficient, it implies we can do something that can add to our Salvation
Our Salvation my friends, is completely the grace of God, He saves us, my only action was coming to my senses and knowing I needed Jesus to be saved, and without him I am going to hell.
Blessed are those who wash their robes, I came to Jesus, he did the work and he cleansed me, washed me with his blood and I am clean.
At the end of the day, God desires mankind to be saved...
Looka t verse 16 Rev 22:16
16 “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.”
Jesus as we saw at the opening of the book, Jesus sent his angel to proclaim these things to John and the churches.
Jesus says I am the root…He is the root and descendant of David
He is both David’s son or descendant and David’s Lord and He is the bright and morning star, This is the ruler whom Balaam foresaw arising from Israel to conquer the nations in (Num 24:17).
Now lets look at verses 17-18 Rev 22:17-18
17 The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And 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.
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,
Verse 17 is an invitation, the church (bride) and the Holy Spirit extend an invitation for all to come and take the water of life freely, the water is the salvation that Jesus offers to all who would but say yes to him.
Then there is a special warning…verse 18.. When people try to add books, like the mornons or others who say they have some special truth.
Or what about those who seek to take away form God’s word.. like those who says its not a real heaven or earth, or that the devil isn’t real of that the Lord’s return will not be personal
Jesus warns us not to do it. He has given it and its all true
And what about those who predict the time of our Lord’s return, this has happened a lot over the yearsie..JW’s.
But listen to Jesus own words about the time of his return, about the timing of it
32 “But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
We must be careful my friends, this is as strong a warning as we will ever receive, becareful with all that God has given you.
Verses 20-21 is the benediction..
20 He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!
21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.
Here my friends, in these many weeks we have walked through the Book of Revelation, it is a fabulous study but much that we cannot pinpoint as to day or time of the Lord’s return.
But what we can say is this… do your best to be faithful until we see Jesus coming. That means live every day for Him, and not yourself.
Christmas is a good time to start, for we are centering on His entrance. Worship him well as you celebrate his coming into the world.
jesus was obedient to the Father, we can be obedient as well.
Lets pray
