The End???
The Revelation of Jesus Christ Series • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 45:55
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“Everything will be ok in the end. If it’s not, it’s not the end.” Well… we have come to the end of our study of this amazing book of Revelation.
33 sermons ago this study began, as we recognized and set the focus of our study…
set forth in Revelation 1:1 “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John,”
“Apocalypse Jesus Christ” = making Him known, revealing Him in a magnificent way! What an amazing study it has been of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
In Revelation 1:19 we were given to us from Christ Himself what John was to write tot us about…
“Therefore write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after these things. we were given
“Seen” the magnificent vision of Christ Himself in Chapter 1
“Are” as we looked at the letters to the seven churches
“Will take place” the events of prophecy concerning the tribulation, return of Christ and eternity
This has been an amazing journey through Revelation…
Jesus Himself conveys His heart and passion to His bride the Church in seven love notes:
He pleads for us to keep our first love strong
Stand in the midst of persecution
Guard and Protect heresy and immorality
That we guard ourselves from becoming lukewarm in our faith
We observed multiple interludes where we beheld scenes of heaven and The Lamb… Jesus Christ in power and splendor!!!
It was He and HE ALONE!… who was “WORTHY” to open the seals of the scroll
Each of the Seven Seals revealed His justice across the earth and mankind
The seventh seal opened up the Seven Trumpet Judgements as we saw His focused judgments
The final trumpet heralded the coming of the Seven Bowls of Wrath witch poured out in rapid succession Christ final wrath on the earth and mankind’s SIN & EVIL
The judgments REVEALED the Holiness and Righteousness of our Savior…
Because of WHO He is… He must deal with Sin and Evil!
We observed Him keep true to His Word… RETURNING as He said / He takes the VICTORY / We see Him REIGN for 1000 years / and observed His righteous JUDGMENT / following this we were given a glimpse of what ETERNITY will be like with Him!
The closing words today in Revelation 22:6-21 reveal His heart for those who would read and hear these words...And create a challenge for us as we apply these words of Christ...
And he said to me, “These words are faithful and true”; and the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent His angel to show to His bond-servants the things which must soon take place. “And behold, I am coming quickly. Blessed is he who heeds the words of the prophecy of this book.” I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed me these things. But he said to me, “Do not do that. I am a fellow servant of yours and of your brethren the prophets and of those who heed the words of this book. Worship God.” And he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. “Let the one who does wrong, still do wrong; and the one who is filthy, still be filthy; and let the one who is righteous, still practice righteousness; and the one who is holy, still keep himself holy.” “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done. “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying. “I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you 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.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost. I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book. He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming quickly.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.
Affirmation
Affirmation
The angel that has been giving the tour of heaven now turns to John and affirms that these words are true…
There is a message here that ALL the amazing things stated, seen, read about are true
These WORDS that God has given us MEAN WHAT THEY SAY!
This statement almost echo the opening verses of this book!
You and I are read these WORDS and understand them, we are able to do this as we read them and we can be confident they are “faithful and true” words of Christ
As the angel confirms these things to John and we consider the “Words” in this book… Jesus Christ breaks in!
I Am Coming!
I Am Coming!
Jesus will interject His comments four times in these closing verses… out of those four He states three times “I am coming quickly”
I know 2000 years does not feel quick… but in light of eternity it really is just a vapor
The Greek here however stresses “quickly” as urgency or suddenness not time frame
Peter wrote that He is patient in His return as well
Jesus Christ desires NONE perish
At any time Christ may return… ARE YOU READY?… Are those around you READY?
Not only does Christ stress the URGENCY of His Return… There is a reiteration to HEED what He is saying in this book!
Heed / DO! what He has instructed to the churches
Read about His judgments and learn about His plan… loving our enemies Trusting Him to deal with them in His time and way
Declare His Word and Truth to those around us… we too should desire none perish!
Read concerning ETERNITY and realize this life is sooo brief and the hardships are worth going through for His glory and sake… trusting in His rewards and blessings to come
Imagine ALL John has seen, heard, written down… for a moment he gets confused...
Worship God!
Worship God!
John is caught up in all he is experiencing and worships this angel! He is quickly corrected that ALL worship is to be directed to God and God Alone!
Just a few observations here before moving on:
Notice the gentle redirect… too many Christians are harsh with one another, looking for opportunity to scold, crush, attack… INSTEAD OF: speaking with grace and mercy and directing back to the Lord, helping direct proper focus
One other CAUTION: be careful how high you place individuals in your life, it can become a form of worship, idolization, do not follow man… follow God!
The angel does not belabor the point, he stirs John to share these words...
The Angel’s Caution
The Angel’s Caution
In contrast to what Daniel was instructed to do… John is cautioned DO NOT seal up these words…
They are to be shared! declared as a herald of truth…
This message is for ALL people…
These words are to be read, heard, studied, and applied to the believer’s life and made known to the lost world!
DO NOT set them aside, ignore them, or forget them!
there is almost a sarcasm or satire in the angels message of continuing to “DO” sin...
It is a caution and warning in light of ALL Revelation has revealed…
One person paraphrased it this way: “You wrong-doers, go ahead and keep doing wrong. Just see what happens. And all unclean sinners, keep rolling in the mud. Just ignore God’s offer of cleansing. You’ve seen what’s in store for you. As for you righteous and holy saints, keep practicing righteousness, keep being holy—and you’ll get your reward in due time.”
Jesus once again breaks in…
The Word!
The Word!
I love the designation Jesus gives Himself here… “the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end” the first and last letters of the alphabet!
With the alphabet He communicates to us ALL we need to know of Him, ALL we need for this life, ALL He is and what He has done and will do!
HE ALONE is the source for ALL TRUTH!
The Word became flesh so we may be redeemed from our sin, wash our robes in His blood
“The Root of David” … Jesus offers His seal on this book and its prophecy! “I AM”
Verse 17 is one of joy and jubilation!!!
COME!
COME!
I want you to imagine the PASSION and EXCITMENT Christ says these words…
The Holy Spirit and the bride are calling for the Bridegroom… Come!
The ones who hear these words cry out… Come!
Think of it, the LOST who realize the life Jesus offers and has paid for, receive Him and cry out… Come!
After reading, hearing these words, understanding what is declared here… we have this deep desire for the Lord Jesus Christ to COME!!!!
John as he closes this book offers to his readers a WARNING…
WARNING!
WARNING!
The warning that we read in verses 18-19 should give one pause. The Deceiver is at work always to twist God’s Word!
Moses when he delivers God’s law to Israel gives this warning
Agur in Proverbs as he writes words of wisdom warns of “adding or subtracting” to God’s Words
As we read this book of Revelation we do so not looking to subtract things that are uncomfortable or that we don’t like or understand
We don’t add our thoughts to the text… to make it say what we desire
We read them, listen to them in the way God has given them to us… in a literal grammatical, historical approach.
As your pastor I take this very seriously. I now close with these thoughts…
THE END?
THE END?
We come to the end of our study… but please note:
Revelation is NOT the end
This book marks the beginning of truly living…
Our eternal life BEGINS at the very moment we trust Christ as Savior…
UNTIL THEN… we are living in the state of eternal death due to sin.
THE LAMB of God came, to seek and to save those lost in sin. We have seen a magnificent revealing of THE LAMB in this study, one that should compel sinners to “COME” to the ONE who paid for sin.
John closes this book, and ultimately all scripture with these words in Revelation 22:20-21
He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming quickly.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.
