Revelation

The end is near

Earlier this year we began having movie nights as a family, so I decided that our kids should get the kinds of movies that I grew up with,

which meant we watched the sweet classic movie call Babe, it’s about a pig who does the role of a sheep dog.

And after all the drama of the movie, there’s this beautiful moment at the end with the famer standing beside his pig who had just pulled the perfect score in a sheep dog competition, where the farmer turns to the pig and says, “that’ll do pig, that’ll do.”

Simple words, yet they meant so much to that pig. His task was done, his shepherd was proud of him, there was nothing more this pig needed to do to prove he could do the task of a sheep dog.

I wonder, have you ever spoken these words?

Maybe you’ve finished a marathon, or maybe you’ve completed your project, you stand back and say something like, Yup, all finished, or your might even say it is done!

Well, this morning we have heard God speak these words

We have heard them spoken from his book of Revelation as he spoke them to John, our gospel author who has recieved this final revelation of God for all to know the truth, that God’s work of judgement is done.

A work of judgement that John has experience over the course of 7 visions that have all depicted the same final judgement of sin. And now God says “It is done”

And we might ask ourselves, what future is mine?

To which this passage helps us to understand our future as it teaches us that

God is Trustworthy (v5)

Sin will have an end (6-8)

Life in Christ (9)

Now, I want to alert your eyes to the words of verse 10 in chapter 21. That’s right the verse after our passage that was read, it says: “And he carried me away in the Spirit”

Something easily missed in our reading of Revelation is that John is taken by the Spirit four times throughout the book:

Chapter 1:10 “I was in the Spirit”

Chapter 4:2 “At once I was in the Spirit”

Chapter 17:3 “And he carried me away in the Spirit”

This can be a helpful way for us to group all of the events within the book, into four overarching Vision sequences, or we might say, four experience that each paint a picture of God’s redemptive work.

Which means that our passage this morning concludes the third of John’s in the Spirit experiences. Which covers chapters 17:3 - 21:10. To which we ought to ask, what might be the picture that we are looking?

And the short answer is that this is a picture of God’s total judgement against sin.

And it is very important picture, because sin is what has seperated humanity from God since the Garden of Eden.

Sin cultivates in us a desire to rebel against God by essentially tempting us to worship ourselves.

Which, makes sense why God might give a number of visions for John to witness the devestation that sin will face on account of God’s wrath against it.

Because sin, while seemingly simple, is in fact a very complex issue.

So by using the “in the Spirit” markers, we are able to visualise the one picture of God’s complete judgement against sin.

Which brings us to our passage where we will see that

God is Trustworthy (v5)

Verse 5: “And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

See this verse has two very important claims, claims that if any of us were to make, we would be claiming to be god.

Which we most certainly are not.

I mean we sure are able to make new stuff, There are people who can knit or sew a jumper together, there are people who can cultivate a garden with wide varieties of colourful plants, those who can make computer programs.

But I’d be willing to suggest that there is no one who would claim they can make all things.

I'm, also confident that everyone in here can on occaison can speak some truth.

For instance, I’ve already told three people this morning that “I’m doing good” when in reality I’m pretty ashamed that I shouted at my kids this morning.

So while it’s generally true that I’m doing some good, it would be more true to say, “God is good”

The point is, No one but God can claim to be fully trust worthy with their words, and no one but God is able to make all things.

And so with God’s claim that he will make all things new, and that his words are trustworthy and true, we ougt be be struck by the magnitude of it.

And we ought ask, how does this help me to understand my future?

Well, consider all the brokeness around us, consider the struggles we face in our lives. I mean, I just told you that got upset at my kids this morning and it really was because of some trivial matter like shoes or something.

Take a moment to think about the issues of our lives, the problems and struggles we deal with, take a moment to think about how much these things unsettle us, think about how much we stress, or talk them, or think about them in the quiet hours of the morning.

Cost of living is so high, I don’t have time to what I enjoy, or golly, that guy at work is soo annoying.

Then read this verse again:

“he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true”

God is making all things new. Not he will make, not he has made, rather he is actively making all things new.

See our issues, our problems, our trivial matters, they are not lost on God, they are not forgotten. Rather they are constantly in a state of being made new. Which is another way of saying God is actively redeeming his creation.

He is a redeemer, which should help us to see that all of our issues and problems are redeemable.

The God who sits upon the throne is making all things new, redeeming my issues, redeeming me, redeeming this world and everything in it.

Like our sheep farmer with a pig, God is actively beside us, renewing us and guiding us, towards our future, towards the day that he will say “That’ll do pig, that’ll do”

Which brings us to our next point,

Sin will have an end (6-8)

For then God goes on to say in verses 6-8,

“It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. 7 The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. 8 But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

God declares “it is done”

Meaning, as John experiences the final vision of the final judgement to come, God declares that he has finished his work of Judgement. Or another way to see that, is he has finished his redemptive work.

God is currently redeeming the world, and when God decides that is finished he will announce that it is done. At which point the world and every thing in it will be made new.

Then God qualifies that. He explains a little more about what it means to have finished.

God delcares that he is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the End which is really to say that he is the all powerfull, eternal God of everything that we know. There is nothing that God is not God over. And there has never been a time when God did not exist.

Aphla and Omega is the first and last letter of the Greek alphabet. Its use is expressing the comprehensive soveriegnty of God.

And it is in the context of God’s almighty power, God declares his grace to the thirsty.

Verse 6 is a testament to the truth that God is a God of Grace, and his grace is abundant. It’s never ending, and best of all it’s free! Meaning God’s grace doesn’t require anything of you to make payment of it. This grace is not earn’t.

God does not want your gold, or your trophies, he doesn’t want your piety or your great moral life. Rather God offers this grace freely, and he simply gives it to those who thirst.

Now we ought to deal with the realityof who we are, meaning that the fact of the matter is that we are all thirsty. All of us, everyone in this room, everyone in this city, in the world, we all thirst for life.

We are all seeking some sort of meaning to it all, some sort of reason for living, some form of hope for tomorrow. As I asked in the beginning, what is my future?

Some seek to gain life by building an empire, some seek meaning and life in raising a family, many seek life in self gratifying ways.

And I want to press into the sadness of this reality. Because too many people believe they have found the life giving water that they were seeking when in actual fact, what they have found is salt water.

Which means that Salt water, unlike the life giving water that God gives, Salt water dries the mind, it distorts the truth, until it finally claims the life.

And it’s salt water that people turn to because it’s immediate, it makes us feel good now, it makes us think we have found meaning, think we have hope for our future.

So when we look at this list of groups that have a future of burning in the fire we will notice they all share a common element. They all encompass the opposite of trusting God. They all express the trusting of oneself.

The cowardly, faithless, and detestable well in John’s day he is speaking to those who have turned from God in the face of persecution. Turned from God because they would sooner preserve themselves than preserve the truth. Meaning, a faithless person is someone who does not trust that God’s word is true, nor do they trust that God is able to make all things new.

And similar with the murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters and all liars.

It’s all the same issue, to embrace the behaviour that God repeatedly outlines throughout his word revealed in scripture as sinful behaviour is really to say, God I trust my own judgement of what is good for me.

And it doesn’t matter what sin it is, if that is your source of life and meaning, then you are sadly drinking salt water. Salt water that is widely and easily available. Salt water that will only result in one outcome, the second death.

And that’s the reality of this picture of judgement that God is painting for John, painting for us.

Sin is like drink salt water, and the love of sin will, without a doubt lead you to a terribly horrifying end.

But that’s not the point of this passage!!

Far from it!

The point is, that God is saying, come to him for the water that gives life.

God’s is a God of grace.

And we have to challenge ourselves on that point.

Is your future dependant upon the grace of God? His life giving water?

Because the fact is we all need his water for life, we all need to quench our thirst by recieving God’s grace.

So Come and drink from the water of life, come just as you are and through drinking the water of life you will be redeemed.

Redeemed, because that is what God achieved as he sacrificed of himself upon the cross. To die for our sins.

You see, if we were to attempt a painting of all that John has seen in this “spirit” exerperience, I believe that the only picture that would make sense of it all. would be a picture of an empty cross.

For this is truly the weight and burden that Jesus Christ bore when he was strung up on the cross to die for our sins.

Everything that has been used to describe the magnitude and depravity of sin that was carried by Jesus on the cross. Has been given that we would know that cost of our sin, the cost of drinking from the salt water.

Because it is our sin that he held. Our self-trust, our love of sin.

Jesus bore it, and he took the punishment! You might ask what punishment exactly did he take?

He took All of it.

He faced the full wrath of God as he died upon the cross.

And that is what makes this book just so incredible,

Jesus faced the wrath of God, and overcame it, he conquered, and returned to life.

So hear the call of God’s word, come to Jesus and recieve God’s life giving water. Maybe you’re hearing this invitation for the first time, or the 50th, please hear God’s words, “To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment”

Only in Christ, is there a future that results in life. Anything thing else is salt water. Jesus is the only way.

And take comfort, Christian brothers and sisters that our ongoing struggle against sin, against self-trust, is being made new.

Because we need to understand that we do not yet live perfect sinless lives, therefore we must continually turn to Jesus, repeatedly time and time again turn to Jesus when we sin, when we sip from the tempting easily available salty water

For God will one day soon declare that it is done, and we like a little pig will look up to our shepherd with beeming joy, feel the emence comfort of those words “that’ll do pig, that’ll do”

And so to bring us to our last point, we take heart in the final verse of this third “in the spirit” experience of John

Where God’s future for his people is a loving relationship that he describes with the image of marraige. the futrue for God’s people is the Bride of Christ.

Enjoy life in Christ (9)

Verse 9 Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.

The angel who whisked John in the Spirit at the beginning of Chapter 17, is soon going to whisk him away again to witness the final picture, the final experience, which is that of heaven in it’s glory.

But before we are taken there, John is given something to get excited about. The Angel says I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.

A bride that he has been speak of repetitively as he describes the church today as his Bride being made pure.

The future for those who thirst and drink from the water of life, is to be made pure, to live a life with Christ, together forever.

Such is the amazing assurance of God’s redeeming work. God has for himself a pure bride.

A bride that in reality is all of us, the bride of Christ is essentially all of those who seek the forgiveness of their sins through faith in Jesus. That is those who thirst and drink from the life giving water.

For the future does not end on judgement day for God’s people.

Rather the future is life in Christ, life as his bride, as one who conquers through the power and strength of Christ our king.

And so we wait.

We wait until this day arrives. Like a a bride on the morning of her wedding, we wait with full anticipation of what is to come, we wait.

I don’t know if you’ve picked this up already but I’m not all that good at waiting,

Airports are possibly the most stressful places to be for me, I feel trapped helplessly waiting at the mercy of that boarding now sign. Or when the electrician says “I’ll be over soon” waiting is not what I do well at.

So if you, like me, don’t overly enjoying the waiting aspect, the good news is that we aren’t supposed to wait for this future by just sitting around twidling our thumbs.

This passage from John, and infact this entire book is a call to Worship God, as we witness to the world the grace and mercy that he has displayed in the life, death and ressurection of Jesus.

We are to Worship, witness and wait

which looks like, well.. this. It looks like a gathering of all kinds of people from all walks of life, getting together on a Sunday to sing songs of praise to Jesus, hear from God’s word and speak to God in prayer among other things too.

It looks like gathering together during the week,

It looks like reading and praying through the word of God everyday,

It looks like a life that consistently relies on the life giving water that is only found through faith in Jesus, looking forward to the day our shepherd stares down at us to say

“that’ll do pig, that’ll do”

Let’s pray