Revelation 22:6-21

If you are able - would you stand for the reading of God’s Word. Today we are in in Revelation 22:6-21, concluding our study of the book of Revelation. Let me read this for us.

Revelation 22:6–21 CSB

Then he said to me, “These words are faithful and true. The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place.” “Look, I am coming soon! Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.” I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. When I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had shown them to me. But he said to me, “Don’t do that! I am a fellow servant with you, your brothers the prophets, and those who keep the words of this book. Worship God!” Then he said to me, “Don’t seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, because the time is near. Let the unrighteous go on in unrighteousness; let the filthy still be filthy; let the righteous go on in righteousness; let the holy still be holy.” “Look, I am coming soon, and my reward is with me to repay each person according to his work. 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 the city by the gates. Outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to attest these things to you for the churches. I am the root and descendant of David, the bright morning star.” Both the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” Let anyone who hears, say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come. Let the one who desires take the water of life freely. 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 that are written in this book. And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share of the tree of life and the holy city, which are written about in this book. He who testifies about these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen! Come, Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with everyone. Amen.

Pray with me. SLIDE

It’s always a bit weird to get to this point - where after over a year of study we get to the end of a book. In some ways I am so excited and ready to be done with this and on to the next. At the same time, I’m just so grateful to God for how he has moved and encouraged us through Revelation - it has been such a nurturing study for me, and I hope for you. I am grateful also, to you. Enduring Revelation for a year! You have been so gracious to me, and I really deeply pray that Christ has been magnified in your hearts and minds.

And at the same time, I stand here a bit overwhelmed! How are we to end this study? How can we fully sum up this work and end is well?

I believe we end well when we are filled with expectant hope.

So as we work through this passage and finalize our study on Revelation - would Christ be glorified, magnified, and would we continually ascribe him praise - for our King is coming soon.

Let’s look through this passage together, This whole section really is a so what of the book - the final words as it were of this Pastoral Prophetic Epistle. Starting in Revelation 22:6-7

Revelation 22:6–7 CSB

Then he said to me, “These words are faithful and true. The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place.” “Look, I am coming soon! Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”

An angel speaks to John - these words are full of Faith - they are faithful, dependable, and true, correct, accurate.

This phrase was used before from God - just reminding John and thus us the listener that God is faithful and true, his word is faithful and true - and therefore if we want to be faithful and true - we ought to do what he says to do.

In other words - off all the voices in the world, the one we should seek the most - is the word of God. Through Scripture, yes, through prayer, through community, through listening.

We in our day have more voices competing for our attention than ever before! We need to be intentional to pursue the voice that spoke the cosmos into existence. That spoke light into darkness. That turned our flesh into a heart of stone. We need the words of the one who is faithful and true.

This one is, in this verse, the God of the spirits of the prophets. Which is an interesting phrase. Some manuscripts have it as “God of the holy prophets.”

We are reminded here - that prophecy is the word of God coming through a human instrument. God is the originator of that word. And so as the verse continues - the angelic voice - is like an authors signature - “Yes John wrote this letter - but as it’s prophecy - it’s actually God speaking through him.”

The angel was sent to show his servant what must soon take place.

What must soon take place.

Revelation starts this way: revelation 1:1 says that God gave to show his servants what must soon take place.

John then writes the whole series of letters to the churches, including the following visions - and the idea is that this must take place soon - because Jesus is coming soon!

This word soon is important and it speaks first and foremost to the concept of imminence. At hand. Any moment. Rapidly.

It has led some to believe that Revelation actually was written before 70ad, and was first an foremost a book written about the fall of Jerusalem and then of Rome, they call this preterism, and it exists both as a partial preterism, and full preterism.

I think, think that the soon means we need to always live, and be at a state of preparedness.

And I don’t mean like prepper preparedness - that is my critique of how a lot of popular-level readings of Revelation go: they say that: this is really scary, therefore we ought to be afraid, and store food and ammo, and fuels scarcity, hatred, anxiety - not the fruit of the spirit. That’s not the preparation that Jesus is calling us to.

No he’s calling us to live as faithful followers of Jesus. To flee sin and Follow the lamb. To live as if Jesus is real.

So don’t “wait” to follow him. Don’t make excuses for sin, don’t compromise, because the time is now, the kingdom is at hand, and he is coming again soon.

So verse 7 Christ says: “Look I am coming soon - blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”

That means this work was written for us to keep - or obey. So often in Revelation is used just as speculation fuel - but it’s so pastoral in nature - it’s Jesus leading and shepherding his people who are feeling temptation and fatigue to not give up and not give in.

Obey what Christ tells us!

We debate so much about Revelation - and there is room for so much disagreement - but what we CAN’T miss is that it was written to real people who needed to hear from God. And it wasn’t just about something that would take place thousands of years in the future. It was written to give people vision of Jesus and the courage to obey and to overcome.

John continues verses 8-9

Revelation 22:8–9 CSB

I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. When I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had shown them to me. But he said to me, “Don’t do that! I am a fellow servant with you, your brothers the prophets, and those who keep the words of this book. Worship God!”

John identifies himself again to his readers - and even confesses, that it was so great that he almost worshipped the angel! But the angel revealed - “Don’t do that! I am a fellow servant with you! and the prophets! and all those who keep the words of this book.”

That means - if we keep the words of this book we are working with the angels. We get to be co-laborers with the believers, and spiritual powers who are working with the King of the Universe. What a cool reality!

And because of that - and because of the words in this work - we ought to worship God.

Which isn’t just singing songs - that’s what we default too, right? We have our worship time, where we sing, then our sermon, then our communion, then life. No - Jesus is calling us to have our WHOLE lives be worship - that’s Romans 12:1-2, offering our whole lives as a living sacrifice to God being transformed my the the renewing of our minds - this is our true and proper worship.

Our whole lives need to be in recognition, in honor of, and for the glory of our God, Father Son and Spirit.

When you wake, do it to the glory of God, when you eat, to the glory of God, when you sleep, when you play, when you work, in everything we do - let us do it in the presence of God for his glory. Worship God!

When we start viewing our whole lives as worship rather than just Sunday mornings - I think that’s when we seen real life change. That’s when we offer God our whole lives. Let’s worship God - with our whole lives, with all our sisters and brothers, and even the heavenly host. Let’s obey the words of the Revelation by overcoming and being faithful.

Let’s read on, verse 10 - 11

Revelation 22:10–11 CSB

Then he said to me, “Don’t seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, because the time is near. Let the unrighteous go on in unrighteousness; let the filthy still be filthy; let the righteous go on in righteousness; let the holy still be holy.”

The angel continues here - and says to not seal up the words of prophecy. This is distinct, for in Daniel - Daniel WAS told to seal up the words of the prophecy - here it’s not to be sealed - because its soon and already playing out. And then ironically the angel says - so let the unrighteous go on in unrightesouness, let the filthy be filthy, let the right do right, and the holy be holy.

This isn’t giving permission for the wrongdoers to continue on - this is likely referring back to the rest of the book where we see the hard hearts of the unrepentant. Where in the judgements - even the heaviest of judgements - some still refuse to repent. What this is likely communicating - again to the Christian is this - don’t worry about their behavior. You, preach the Gospel, live the gospel - God is the one who calls and saves - not you. You be faithful.

It’s not condoning anything - it’s saying don’t get bent out of shape. It’s saying that we ought to continue on and persevere. Because the time is near!

Now the speaker seems to shift from an angel to Christ himself - look at verses 12-16

Revelation 22:12–16 CSB

“Look, I am coming soon, and my reward is with me to repay each person according to his work. 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 the city by the gates. Outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to attest these things to you for the churches. I am the root and descendant of David, the bright morning star.”

First thing that should stand out to us about this is how thoroughly Christologically Divine it is. Jesus being the judge? Jewish thinkers had the concept of God being the judge - but Jesus is God - he is the judge. Woah. He is the alpha and omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. Jesus is God.

And this should fill us with great admiration and joy - because Jesus came as a human. He lived without sin. He endured this broken world. He then suffered, bled, and died for our sins. He then rose again for us and his glory. Jesus being God is proof that God is long-suffering and compassionate. Jesus is the proof that God is quick to forgive.

Praise Jesus Christ our lord and God!

He says that those whose robes are washed are blessed because they get the tree of life and live in new Jerusalem - how do we wash our robes? In the blood of the lamb! We confess our sins, we ocnfess that Jesus is Lord - and we follow after him. And then he who knew no sin, became sin, so that we can become the righteousness of God! We are welcomed because of the blood of the lamb that makes us clean.

Outside are those who have given into idolatry and sin, who have not been faithful. Most on this list are familiar - but dogs is a new addition that’s interesting. Scholars I read note that dogs were often considered a symbol of both the spiritual and sexually impure. And I don’t know if you’ve visited cities in run down places where there are wild dogs and a bunch of strays. They get dirty, mangy, and mean. That’s the image - those who are playing in the alleys digging for scraps and biting at those who want to help.

And Again I will highlight the last one - everyone who loves and practices falsehood. For our culture in the midwest so-called Christian culture - we live in a lot of falsehood. We tend to be so busy we can’t even tell what’s true about ourselves - and we assume the worst in everyone else, and we are rarely honest with ourselves or others because we don’t want to be rude or offend anyone - we just wanna judge them behind their backs. Friends - again, let’s repent of our falsehood.

Jesus than says that he is the root and descendant of david, this is cool because it’s a combination of two OT messianic expectations. Jesus comes from the line of David - yes, but he also is the source, the root of the david line. Before David was he was - right? So good - and the bright morning star!

So there is also a past - the root of david, a present tense, the descendant of David, and future expectation - the bright morning star. Hope of the new day. What a beautiful hope - the new day dawning.

Verse 17

Revelation 22:17 CSB

Both the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” Let anyone who hears, say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come. Let the one who desires take the water of life freely.

This is an interesting verse - as we see the Spirit and the bride (or the church) saying COME! with an exhortation that everyone who hears also told to come. then it says let the one who is thirsty come and the one who desires to take the water of life.

The question is to whom are the spriit and bride speaking to? Are they speaking to others to come to Christ?

OR are they hearing Jesus and then crying out to Christ to come? Then inviting others to come to Christ.

Both can be said to fit context - as later on in Verse 20 we will read “Come, Lord Jesus!”

There should be, in our hearts, a both and here. We SHOULD long for and desire Christ to come. Lord haste the day when my faith shall be sight!

AND a desire to tell everyone to come to Christ who came to free and forgive! and notice the cost of the water of life here - freely.

Next a warning, verse 18-19

Revelation 22:18–19 CSB

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 that are written in this book. And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share of the tree of life and the holy city, which are written about in this book.

These kinds of warning at the end of prophetic works were not uncommon at all. The idea is we shouldn’t mess around with what God has said! Don’t add to it, and don’t take away from it!

Now some have tried to apply this verse as a way to say not to add to the whole cannon of Scripture - but contextually this is about the book of Revelation. When Revelation was finished, they did not have bound books with all the books of the bible - remember they were scrolls, and the bible is better consider a library than an individual book. Right? 66 books written by about 40 different authors over 1600 years, across three continents and in three different languages.

The churches had the old testament scrolls - what they called the law, the writings, and the prophets, and then they had these new writings written by the apostles and they were copied and circulated.

This warning specifically is about adding to Revelation. Though in concept - anytime someone wants to ADD words to God’s mouth - or to REMOVE words from his words - that’s bad and it the recipe for trouble.

We need to hear the word of God - not try and get around them - not try and just theologize them away - but to hear God’s word and obey them in faith.

Last two verses 20-21

Revelation 22:20–21 CSB

He who testifies about these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen! Come, Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with everyone. Amen.

Jesus confirms that he is coming soon - and John shouts with him - YES COME LORD JESUS.

And we remember that through it all, Jesus is with us. Amen.

And THAT is the book of Revelation.Slide

We did it y’all. We worked through the whole book of Revelation!

Now, as we look back on this chapter, and the whole work, once again, let’s ask our question:

So What?

Just to pick on Trevor, can we all ask that question together?

Let’s ask our question:

So What?

Revelation was written to reveal christ so that our lives would be transformed. So that we would overcome. Not that we would speculate about the end times - but that we would be faithful and conquer through them as we follow the Lamb wherever he goes, and ultimately into New Jerusalem.

So as we look back over the whole book - here are some summaries of what Revleation teaches. These are adapted from Tim Dwyer, Craig Keener, GK Beale, and myself.

Revelation wants to persuade believers in Asia Minor (the 7 churches) to be “conquerors” - even if means they lose their lives.

Remember - Revelation wasn’t written to us - but it was for us. It was written to real believers who saw believers dying and compromising. And they were tempted to give in! But instead of giving in - we are called to be faithful. Tim Dwyer says it this way: “The Christian faith is not something that fits into a life spent pursing pleasure; rather it should drive our whole lives.”

Over come the world by being faithful to Christ. Even if it costs - for the benefit is more than worth it.

2. Revelation wants it’s readers and hearers not to worship the beasts, to participate in the imperial cult, or to tolerate false teachers within the church.

We ought to ask the question - what ways is our faith being shaped by things around us without us realizing it.

Is our faith more informed by the bible and prayer, or by political pundits?

Who do we belong to? How are we told to define the faith? What are teh desires of our heart? is it money? saftey? power? pleasure? inluence?

When teachers, and thinkers use money, influence, power, and fear to motivate - we need to take a serious step back and reflect on scripture. For Satan is prowling like a roaring lion to devour us.

So we should not participate in the corrupt systems of the world, and we should not tolerate false teachers within the church.

we need to aware of the idolatry of economic entanglements, and pluralism and quote unquote tolerance.

In the words of Dwyer: we need to ask more questions, care more, demand more, and be more discerning than we have been. We must study our Bibles like the Bereans in Acts.

We should KEEP more potential pastors from the ministry if they have a weak grasp of theology. We should rid pastors from pulpits who are not faithful to Christ and do not devout themselves to the word and to prayer.

We need to raise the bar. We need to become allergic to false teaching, and not tolerate it.

We can be gracious to everyone - but we really need to hate idolatry and lying. We need to raise the bar in the church, especially for the leaders! But for us all - we need to pursue Christ!

Which leads to

3. Revelation preaches holiness and faithfulness.

Walk in the white. Wash your robes in the blood of the lamb. In Revelation 22 alone there are 4 calls to holiness! There is no hiding from the burning eyes of Christ! We need to repent. Where in our lives are we unfaithful to christ and playing with sin and muck and mire and grime?

We need to do a lot less struggling with sin, and much more fleeing from sin, confessing sin, and slaying sin at the cross. Like its not a joke!

We don’t want to become legalistic - but we need to be realistic! There things that are wrong and we shouldn’t do! So stop trying to justify it, and follow Christ!

Is Jesus enough for you? What a heavy question - but that’s what he’s telling us to do. To have Jesus be more than enough - to listen to him, follow him, be satisfied by him and in him, and therefore we will inherit all the new creation with him.

which happens:

4. Revelation shows that God redeems people through plagues/hardships.

God rarely rescues people from the hardship - but through the hardship. Through the suffering, through the pain. One scholar said it this way: “Salvation through suffering” is the rule, not the exception. This is just liket he old testament - where the Israelites in egypt were saved “through” the plagues.

Friend - we are out of egypt - no longer slaves - but we are still walking in the wilderness. We aren’t in the promised land yet - not till Jesus arrives again.

Which leads to the final point I want to end with on this study.

5. Revelation teaches that Jesus is coming imminently- and that should fill us with joy and hope.

The book begins and ends with the idea that JEsus is coming soon.

So we need to stop making excuses - change your life. Repent and follow Christ.

And ask - does the idea of Christ coming again fill you with Joy or terror?

And why?

We should LONG for the day JEsus returns - which means we should live constantly ready!

And it means we need to tell everyone about him.

If we think of this - and we have great fear, we need to get curious about that: Why? Is it because of our friends who don’t know Christ? That is noble and a few encouragements: go tell them about Christ today. and second, we can rest that Jesus will not let any who would repent in faith perish. Jesus knows ALL who will receive him and he will get his lost sheep. Trust in him.

So if you want him to wait before returning because of the lost - well that means we need to get to work! but also to trust in him.

But others is because we are living in fear rather than faith.

We don’t want Christ to come - because then the truth will be revealed. Friend - it’s better to repent now, to confess all your sin NOW and be forgiven then to have everything laid bare at the end and be suprised. But that means that we need to lay down our pride and actually trust Christ’s forgivenss.

Do you?

Have you confessed to Christ? Do you long for and know his forgiveness?

Why wait?

That is why we celebrate communion.

We proclaim the lords death until he comes again. We remember that in Christ- he endured our suffering, and poured out his blood for the forgiveness of sins. We can rejoice around the table. Forgiven, welcomed, and longing for him to come again

transition to communion