Revelation 22:1-21 (Preparing to Meet the King)

Introduction

I want you to think with me today about Worldly Walter and Wanda. I’ve chosen these names because none of the regular attenders here are named Walter or Wanda. So, if you are a visitor today and your name is Walter or Wanda, then please don’t think I’ve intended to single you out.

But if your name is Walter or Wanda… then you might consider this a sign of God’s intentional providence in your life this morning.

Walter and Wanda are regular, everyday kind of folks.

· They keep their house, they mow their grass, and they are (by all accounts) good members of their community.

· They shop local (when they can), they work honest jobs, they enjoy family get-togethers, and they have good relationships with most of their friends.

· They’ve raised their kids to do right, to work hard, and to take responsibility for their own lives.

· They try to live basically good lives themselves… they’ve been married a while, no serious scandals or incidents, and they celebrate along with others in their community when the hometown sports teams do well.

Worldly Walter and Wanda also think of themselves as Christians.

· They were both baptized when they were younger.

· They were members of a church for years, and they still “hold their membership” at one of the local churches (whatever that means), even though they haven’t attended in quite a long time.

· Wanda often posts sentimental Christian stuff on social media, and Walter likes politically conservative conversations… and they sometimes even argue with strangers online about some doctrine or ethic.

But they both live for and think only of this life.

· Every night, when Walter and Wanda go to bed, they both fully expect that they will most certainly wake up right there tomorrow morning.

· They believe in heaven, but they also think very little about it.

· They ignore or downplay… maybe they even reject some of the features the Bible describes of the life to come.

· They worry about, they attend to, and they long for those things that are valued by this world and by the non-Christians around them.

Worldly Walter and Wanda think of themselves as Christians, but their lives and their thoughts… their hopes and aspirations… their values and daily habits are very… worldly.

Friends, Revelation 22 has a message that is meant to shock and to motivate people like Worldly Walter and Wanda.

If we’re honest with ourselves, many of us can probably relate to at least some of what I’ve described here, and God means to confront us this morning in our indifference… to confront us in our laziness… to confront us in our lack of discipline and urgency… in a word, our worldliness.

Specifically, our passage today reminds us that the last day will come sooner than you think, that this life (the time we have today and each day) is for preparing to meet Christ, and that the only way to prepare to meet Christ is by keeping His words and turning away from our sin.

May God help us… may He challenge us and preserve us today.

Scripture Reading

Revelation 22:1–21 (ESV)

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.

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.

6 And he said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true. And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place.”

7 “And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”

8 I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me, 9 but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book.

Worship God.”

10 And he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. 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.”

12 “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. 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.

15 Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

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.”

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, 19 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.

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.

Main Idea:

Christ will soon return, bringing both blessing and cursing; therefore, we ought to keep His words and turn away from sin in our preparation to meet Him.

Sermon

1. Back in the Garden (v1-5)

These first five verses are a sort of summary and conclusion to all that we studied last week (in Rev. 21). Only here, the imagery is not a people-city (a great and holy city, built by God, and made up of those who fear and love Him from both Testaments). No, the imagery in our passage today (at least in these first five verses) is a new and improved garden.

The first “garden” was “planted” by God in Genesis 2 (Gen. 2:8), and “out of Eden” sprang “a river” that “watered the garden” and “flowed around the whole land” (Gen. 2:10-11). God “put the man whom he had formed” in that garden (Gen. 2:8), and God made “every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food” to grow out of the ground there (Gen. 2:9).

But two “trees” were particularly special – (1) the “tree of life” and (2) the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Ge. 2:9).

1. The “tree of life” was somehow (Genesis doesn’t explain)… it was somehow the source of life for Adam and Eve… it was a tree that produced fruit which they could eat and go on living forever (Gen. 3:22).

2. The “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” was the opposite. To eat of this tree (God said) would immediately result in death (Gen. 2:17).

And of course (most of us know the story), our first parents did eat of that forbidden tree. God’s word had been repeatedly obeyed at creation (even by those things that did not yet exist), but Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s word, listening instead to a false and deceptive word from the mouth of that satanic snake. And when they did, they were “sent… out from the garden,” and God placed a fiery angel with a “flaming sword” to “guard the way to the tree of life” (Gen. 3:23-24).

But here in our passage this morning, John sees “the river of the water of life” (Rev. 22:1), and he sees “the tree of life” growing so big that it “yields… twelve kinds of fruit” and grows “on either side of the river” (v2). And John says that “the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in” the reconstructed garden-city, and that God’s or the Lamb’s “servants” will be there too, “worshiping him” (v3).

This is a restoration of what was lost in Genesis 3, only better! God is reunited with man (both in the temple-city description of Rev. 21 and here in the new and improved garden of Rev. 22). And sinners are welcome to worship before God’s throne (and to enjoy God’s presence), because the Lamb has died as their sacrifice. He (the Lamb) has made sinners into saints – they are the ones who bear “his name… on their foreheads” (v4). And “they will see his face” (v4).

Oh, brothers and sisters, do you believe that’s true?

· Do you believe that those who love and trust in Christ will one day see Him face to face?

· Do you believe that there is coming for us a glorious reunion with our God and with all others who are eagerly looking forward to that day?

· Do you believe that the quintessential blessing of the Bible will be your actual experience?

o “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace” (Num. 6:24-26).

· If you do believe that, then what sort of people ought we to be as we prepare to meet our King, our Savior, our Lord and our sacrificial Lamb?

This has been the implied question throughout the entire book of Revelation. It was the explicit command for the first three chapters, and we shall see (in the rest of our passage this morning) many of the same phrases, the same pronouncements of blessing, the same warnings of God’s curse, and the same urgency that we saw and read in Revelation 1-3.

As a matter of fact, we not only get to see all of this repetition from the beginning of the book, but we also get to see a picture of what not to do… and this too is a repetition of what we’ve seen and read before.

Let’s look now to v6-7 and v12-15, and let’s notice how it bookends Revelation 1, emphasizing urgency and proclaiming a “blessing” on those who “keep the words… of this book” (v7) and those who “wash their robes” (v14).

2. Urgency and Blessing (v6-7 and 12-15)

Our passage this morning is full of exhortations or commands or imperatives. For so many chapters, the book of Revelation has been mostly descriptions, and we’ve had to consider what command might be implied by what we’re reading. The commands have been sparse and scattered here and there, but today we have a whole bunch of them… some as obvious commands (e.g., “let the one who is thirsty come” [v17]), some as warnings (e.g., “I warn everyone who hears the words… of this book,” “don’t add or take away from it” [v18]), and some of the commands appear as blessings.

In fact, we see two specific “blessings” in our passage here (v7 and v14), and they are before and after what we might think of as a good example of what not to do. Strangely, John had to be reprimanded yet again for “worshiping” something or someone other than the one true God – namely the angel or messenger who is showing and telling him about these visions.

It's not exactly clear to me whether John is saying that it happened twice or if he’s repeating his error and the angel’s correction in order to emphasize it, but either way the point is emphasis.

We will get to John’s reprimand and the likely meaning and implication of it in just a moment, but for now, let’s consider these two blessings.

The first statement or promise of “blessing” is for those “who keep the words of the prophecy of this book” (Rev. 22:7). And it seems that Jesus Himself is the speaker for this blessing.

The second is related, but different, and I think Jesus is the speaker in v14 as well. There, He says, “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” (v14).

Now, if you try to parse out who is talking throughout this passage, you are probably going to have some trouble (at least I have trouble doing it). This chapter of Revelation reminds me a lot of the third chapter of John’s Gospel. There John recorded a conversation between Jesus and a man named Nicodemus, a man who wanted to understand better what Jesus was teaching. John chapter 3 begins with that conversation, but it turns into a bunch of theological statements about the need for spiritual life, the wickedness of humanity, the love of God, and the purpose for which Christ came into the world.

Both in John 3 and in Revelation 22, it is not easy to know who is saying what. In John 3, we might ask, “Is it Jesus talking or has John begun to narrate?” And here in our passage, we might ask, “Is the angel talking to John? Is Jesus talking over the angel? Is Jesus telling the angel to speak on His behalf? Or is John narrating – as an Apostle, speaking/writing the authoritative words himself?”

No matter who is talking at any point in this chapter, we can know that the words recorded are the words of God (i.e., the words of Christ). What is recorded as Scripture is God-breathed (2 Tim. 3:16), and in this sense, all of the words of Scripture are divine words – they are God’s words; they are Christ’s words.

But in order for us to make sense of what we’re reading here, we have to try to attribute some of these words to John, some to the angel or messenger, and some to Jesus.

· Obviously, John is the one who is saying “the angel showed me…” (v1), and “I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things” (v8).

· It’s also pretty obvious that the angel is the one speaking when he tells John, “I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers” (v9).

· But there are several places where Jesus seems to insert His own voice into the dialogue.

o It’s easy to see it in v16, where we read, “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches.”

o But other places, Jesus’s words jump right into the mix; and this is where we see those two promises of blessing (v7, 12-14).

You may not agree with my conclusions about who’s talking where, but I’m going to parse it out in the way I understand it.

And remember what I said earlier about the repetition… it gets really rich here… Rev. 22 is repeating and alluding to a lot of stuff we read in Rev. 1.

For example, John wrote (in v6) that the angel “said… ‘These words are trustworthy and true. And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place” (Rev. 22:6).

This certainly brings us back to Revelation 21, where John told us that this particular angel was one of those “who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues” (Rev. 21:9). But this language also throws us all the way back to the first chapter of Revelation, where John told us at the outset what this whole book is about – it is “the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him [i.e., Jesus] to show his servants the things that must soon take place” (Rev. 1:1). John said that Jesus “made it known” to him by “sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Rev. 1:1-2).

So, what we have here is something of a bookend – it signals the closing of the book of Revelation by referring back to and even using the same language as the beginning of the book.

But why is this important?

Well, it’s important because (when we understand that Rev. 22 is the conclusion of what began in Rev. 1) we are better able to see and to understand the emphasis of these imperatives or commands… and we are better able to see that these commands are intended to be the main takeaways of the whole book.

What is Revelation all about?

Is it primarily intended to give us a roadmap or timeline for the winding down of all human history? Is it primarily about the key players on the world stage during the very last of the “last days”?

No! Revelation is primarily intended to be a comfort and a motivation for Christians to persevere in faithfulness (or to “conquer”). In other words, God gave Christians the book of Revelation so that they might prepare to meet the risen and glorified Christ upon His return… and to do so for at least two good reasons:

1. Because Jesus is “coming soon” (v7).

2. And because there is a “blessing” upon the “one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book” (v7).

And these are repeated in v12-14:

1. Jesus says (in v12), “behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done.”

2. And (in v14), “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;” as opposed to those who remain “outside” (v15).

Thus, we have here an emphatic sense of urgency… and we also have tandem commands in the form of “blessings.”

And these are identical to the urgency and command-blessings we saw in Rev. 1. John said, “Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near” (Rev. 1:3).

Friends, this is what Revelation is all about!

Q: What are Christians to think of the coming of Christ?

A: They are to think of it as imminent, soon, almost here.

Q: And what are Christians to do in order to prepare for this fast-approaching day when Christ shall break open the sky and bring forth His final judgment along with His ultimate rewards?

A: They are to “keep” Christ’s “words” (v7) and “wash their robes” (v14). In other words, Christians are to keep or observe or obey or believe the words of Christ… and they are to wash themselves from the stain of sin – not in the sense of earning God’s forgiveness, but in the sense of living holy lives.

Friends, we are not capable of washing our robes in the sense of making ourselves righteous before God. We are sinners. We have sinned, we still love sin, and we still do sin.

The only way any of us will be washed from our sin is by trusting in Jesus (who is the Lamb of God)… the one who died in the place of sinners (taking their sin upon Himself)… and the one who gives us His righteousness (which He earned by living obediently under God’s law as a real human man).

If you find yourself striving to live a life that is “good enough” to please God, then get with a Christian friend to talk about what it means that Christ takes away our sin and gives us His righteousness when we simply trust Him for it.

But that’s not the kind of “washing” of the “robes” that Jesus is talking about in this passage. Here, He’s talking about the way those who already believe the gospel now give their lives to making war against their ongoing desires for sin… how Christians guard their hearts and minds from heading down sinful paths… how those who love and follow Jesus actually obey His commands to pursue holiness and righteousness in their everyday lives.

Friends, do you want to be prepared to face the “last days” well?

Then “keep the words” of the Lord Jesus Christ! “Observe” what Christ has commanded! “Read” and “hear” the “words” that are given to us by Christ Himself, and aim to live in keeping with them… Believe what the book says is true… Do what the book says to do… Reject what the book says to reject… and hold fast until the end… Don’t give up, for in due time, we shall see our reward.

Now, there’s a sense in which the blessings and warnings of Revelation pertain especially to this book itself. We ought to carefully consider what Christ has particularly said to the seven churches (His words of affirmation, His words of warning, and His words of command).

But this does not mean that we should ignore the rest of Scripture! No, we ought to be careful to hear and keep all that Christ has taught and commanded – this is the explicit charge and goal of Christian discipleship. Just before Jesus ascended to His throne (after His resurrection), Jesus commanded His followers to “make disciples” by “baptizing” new ones into fellowship with existing ones and by “teaching them to obey all that I have commanded” (Matt. 28:18-20).

In our passage this morning, we are being reminded that there is an urgency to do this (Jesus says, “behold, I am coming soon”)… and we are also being reminded that there is a blessing for all those who do it (Jesus says, “Blessed is the one who keeps the words,” and “Blessed are those who wash their robes”).

Friends, are you preparing to meet the One who’s words are trustworthy and true?

· Are you preparing to meet Him by eagerly awaiting His appearing?

· Are you preparing to meet Him by reading and hearing and keeping His words?

· Are you tempted to embrace the thinking and the beliefs and the practices of the worldly people around you?

o If so, how are you actively resisting that temptation?

o Are you reading Scripture?

o Are you praying for God’s help?

o Are you relying on fellow Christians for encouragement and correction?

o Are you helping others to know and to follow Jesus… so that they too might be prepared to meet Him on the last day?

May God help us…

3. Danger and Warning (v8-11 and v16-20)

I noted earlier that John’s reprimand in our passage today was the second time he had to be told “You must not do that!” by the angel talking to him (v9). Barry preached through Rev. 19 some weeks ago, and he said that John’s actions were strange and even ironic.

Here John was, seeing all of these visions about God’s judgment coming upon those who worship the beast and the dragon… John saw several visions of God’s blessing upon those who worship no one and nothing but the true and living God… and John heard multiple warnings and commands against idolatry… and nevertheless, John “fell down to worship at the feet of the angel” TWICE (Rev. 22:8, 19:10). And (twice) the angel rebuked John, saying, “You must not do that!… Worship God” (Rev. 22:9, 19:10).

The only way I can understand the meaning of such a thing is to think that God is providing here a stark example of what not to do. John is the human messenger through whom Christ gave us His final word here, but John is also a “brother and partner” with all other Christians (Rev. 1:9). Thus, he exemplifies for us just how real is the danger of turning toward that which is visible and nearby for a sense of security and stability.

We haven’t ever seen what John saw on the island of Patmos, but when we face tribulation or hardship, when we feel like the world around us is shaking and unstable, and when we see what appears to be no ground beneath our feet… we are prone to reach out and grab hold of whatever seems likely to rescue us… whatever seems likely to protect us… whatever seems likely to give us some place to stand.

The Apostle Peter warned Christians in his own day, “scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, ‘Where is the promise of [Christ’s] coming? …all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation’” (2 Pet. 3:3-4).

And, friends, we are tempted to think the same thing today! …even if we don’t say it out loud.

· We are tempted to think that things will go on as they are.

· We are tempted to think that the best way to survive or get ahead is by playing by the rules of the world…

o manipulating others to advance at our job…

o seeking sexual pleasure outside of marriage because that’s what everyone else does…

o cutting financial corners…

o cheating on homework assignments…

o puffing up our reputation online or in our social circles…

o hoarding our money and our time, spending it all on our own wants and luxuries…

o After all, the Lord may never come; and even if He does, it won’t be for a long time.

Friends, we must not do that! We must not think like that!

Jesus says here, “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things” (v16). And even now “The [Holy] Spirit” is calling upon Christ to “Come” (v17), and “the Bride” or the Church (i.e., all true Christians everywhere) are saying, “Come,” Lord Jesus (v17).

He could return at any moment!

No less than five times in this last chapter of the Bible we read of the nearness of the coming of Christ…

· The angel says that all this “must soon take place” (v6).

· The angel says, “the time is near” (v10).

· Christ Himself says, “Behold” (v7), “Behold” (v12), and “Surely” (v20), “I am coming soon.”

Therefore, we ought to recognize the danger… we ought to recognize just how easily we might (just like John) turn toward worshipping something or someone who seems nearer or closer to us than Christ seems to be at the moment.

We ought to heed the warning we see here in our passage today. Look at it with me in v18-20.

Jesus says, “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 this 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” (v18-19).

In other words, those who do not keep the words of this book, those who do not prepare themselves to meet the risen and glorified Christ, they will fall under God’s judgment, and they will be excluded from God’s blessings.

Friends, do you ever wonder why there are warning passages like this in the Bible? …passages that are written to people who think of themselves as Christians… people who have been baptized and who are members of a local church… people who are convinced that they are on their way to the holy city?

Why does the Bible warn apparently Christian people that they too may find themselves outside the city gates? Why does the Bible warn professing believers that they too may be cut off from God’s blessings?

Is it because Christians can somehow lose their salvation? Can those who are beloved of God sin enough or fail enough or disobey enough to make God withdraw His love from them?

No. If any of us are loved of God today, we may be assured that we will always be loved of God. His love for us did not begin because of our righteousness, and it will not end because of our sin.

But there are some (maybe many?) who think they are Christians but turn out not to be in the end. There are those who call themselves Christians, they get baptized, they join a church, they may even give their time and effort to do Christian stuff for a while… but at some point, they lower the flag of Christianity from the mast of their ship, and they raise the flag of piracy.

· They realize that Jesus commands them to do something they are simply unwilling to do.

o They hear the words of Scripture, but they do not keep them.

· They read in the Bible that something is off-limits, but they really want it, so they reject Christ’s lordship, and they claim to be their own master.

o They hear the words of Scripture, but they do not wash their robes.

Many of us have friends or family members who once seemed to be Christians, but their lives today are no different than any unbeliever around them. Friends, we are not helping them one bit by assuring them that they will be “all good” when Christ returns.

If we truly love those nominal Christians around us – those who claim to be Christians but “in name only,” those who think of themselves as Christians but who do not keep the words of Christ, those who want us to call them Christians but they do not want to wash their robes in preparation to meet the King – if we truly love them, then we will warn them as Christ Himself does here.

Jesus does say, “Let the one who is thirsty come, and let the one who desires take the water of life without price” (v17), but Jesus also proclaims a prophetic woe upon those who “add” or “take away” from “the words” of this “book” (v18-19)… they will have God’s curse and not God’s blessing.

Friends, Christ will soon return, bringing both blessing and cursing; so, we ought to keep His words and turn away from sin in our preparation to meet Him… and we ought to be lovingly honest with our friends and family who are in danger of the very warning Jesus gives us in Revelation 22.

4. Eager Hope (v21)

We’ve come now to these final words of the last book of the whole Bible. And what we see here is the Christian’s right response.

John was our good example of what not to do in v8, but here is a great example of exactly how we ought to think and speak and act after having read and heard the words of this book.

If we are not now turning from our sin and clinging to Christ as our only hope in this life and the next, then we ought to begin doing that right now.

If we are repenting and believing in Christ, then we ought to join our voices with the prophet John’s today… and we ought to say, “Come, Lord Jesus!” (v20).

And if we are saying that with our mouths, we ought to make it a regular thought in our minds… that the King of glory may return at any moment… And if that’s true… if Christ will soon return, bringing both blessing and cursing… then what sort of people ought we to be?

The text seems clear this morning: we ought to keep His words and turn away from sin in our preparation to meet Him.

And for all who do, “The grace of the Lord Jesus be with [you] all. Amen” (v21).