Revelation 22:6-13 Soon!

Revelation 22:6-13 (Evangelical Heritage Version)

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

7“And look: I am coming soon! Blessed is the one who holds on to the words of the prophecy of this book.”

8I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. When I heard and saw them, I bowed down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed me these things. 9But he said to me, “Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and also with those who hold on to the words of this book. Worship God!”

10The angel also said to me:

Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, because the time is near.

11Let the one who is unjust continue to be unjust.

Let the one who is filthy continue to be filthy.

Let the one who is just continue to do what is just.

Let the one who is holy continue to be holy.

12Look, I am coming soon and my reward is with me, to repay each one according to what he has done. 13I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.

Soon!

I.

How many times had Jesus said more or less the same thing to his disciples while he was with them on this earth? It hadn't been said in precisely these words, but the implication always was that Jesus would return at the last day “soon.”

One of the many times Jesus said it himself was the last verse of today’s Gospel: “You also be ready, because the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you are not expecting him” (Luke 12:40, EHV). As the passage of time goes, it wasn’t really that long until the day the disciples were standing with their necks craned as they looked up into the sky. Two angels stood beside them and said: “Men of Galilee, why are you standing here looking up into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11, EHV). It wouldn’t be surprising if the disciples sincerely believed that Jesus was going to descend out of the clouds again before they would die.

So it was that the disciples had taken Jesus’ Great Commission seriously. They would have anyway, but they had an urgency. When, exactly, was he going to descend from the clouds again? How long did they have to make this most important message known to as many people as they could reach?

So it was that they went out. From time to time, those preaching the message couldn’t get to one area or another, but that didn’t stop them from going to as many places as they could. As they went, they watched for Jesus’ return. Just as he had instructed them in today’s Gospel, they had been ready at any moment.

But now, they were all gone; all except one. John was the last of them left alive, and he was in exile on the island of Patmos, waiting to die, unable to go out with the message of the gospel beyond just a few other people who were on that island with him. And he, in his vision of Revelation, gets to see and hear Jesus speaking: “And look: I am coming soon! Blessed is the one who holds on to the words of the prophecy of this book” (Revelation 22:7, EHV).

These words of prophecy are important. Hold on to them. Listen to them. Pay attention. As Jesus told all the disciples years earlier, “Be ready.” Be ready, because Jesus is coming soon. But John was now an old man. “Soon.” How soon is soon?

On the screen you will see a list of dates: 400 AD, 500 AD, 1000 AD, 1260 AD. Those are some of the early ones. Here are some dates from the last 200 years or so: 1844 AD, 1914 AD, 1988 AD, 1999-2000 AD, 2011 AD, 2012 AD, 2017 AD, 2021 AD, 2026 AD.

Can you guess what all these dates have in common? Various people throughout the centuries predicted the end of the world on those dates. Some are secular predictions, but most of them were predictions that people made who believed Jesus would return during those years. Some were even very specific about a particular day in the year. So far, of course, they have all been wrong. Jesus has not yet returned. The last listing is for this coming year. I guess we’ll see.

By the way, AD stands for Anno Dominum, the year of our Lord. These days, secular people don’t like the idea that all of history is dated around Jesus, so they have changed BC (Before Christ) to BCE (Before the Common Era), and AD (Anno Dominum, the Year of our Lord), to CE (Common Era) so they don’t have to reference Jesus anymore.

II.

“I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. When I heard and saw them, I bowed down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed me these things. 9But he said to me, ‘Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and also with those who hold on to the words of this book. Worship God!’” (Revelation 22:8-9, EHV).

So overcome with emotion was John at what he had heard and seen from Jesus that he was ready to fall down in worship before the angel. “Don’t do i1!” the angel says. Angels are the same as people in that they are among those who are to hold on to God’s message of prophecy. Worship God, not angels, the angel says.

“The angel also said to me: Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, because the time is near. 11Let the one who is unjust continue to be unjust. Let the one who is filthy continue to be filthy. Let the one who is just continue to do what is just. Let the one who is holy continue to be holy” (Revelation 22:10-11, EHV). Jesus is coming soon; the time is near. It is essential not to seal up these words of prophecy because everyone needs to have access to the truth.

Unbelievers need to hear the truth. He is coming soon. While they still live, unbelievers still have a time of grace; but soon it will end. Those who refuse to listen to the truth will eventually be filled with regret. They will have condemned themselves to be unjust and filthy.

Believers are on the opposite end of the spectrum. As Jesus told his first disciples, we are to always be ready. As he told John in this reading, he will be coming soon.

Believers know what Jesus has done and take comfort in the forgiveness he has won. It is essential for believers to continue to do what is just, and to continue to be holy while we wait for Jesus to come soon.

Being a Christian doesn’t mean sitting in your recliner waiting for Jesus to come soon. Being a Christian doesn’t mean forgetting that the devil continues to attack you, wanting you to throw away your faith and slip back into sin.

Continue to be holy. Continue to be just. Jesus is coming soon. Hold on to these words of prophecy.

III.

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End” (Revelation 22:13, EHV). Not only did Jesus exist before time and the world began, he is also the beginning and ending of God’s plan of salvation.

The current Church Year ends today; next week a new church year begins. As it is in every Church Year, the focus will be on God’s plan of salvation. We will hear how God made his promises to his people as soon as sin entered the world. He reiterated those promises and expanded on the details of his promises as the centuries wore on. At long last, the promises took shape in Emmanuel, the Son of God and the Son of Man, the God-man who did everything necessary to win our salvation. He lived as we could not live—perfect in every way. Though God cannot die, and though God is three persons in One and cannot be separated, God abandoned God so that Jesus would suffer the horrors of hell itself as he hung on the cross, paying for the sins of every human being. Jesus did it all. He was—and is—the beginning and the end of God’s plan of salvation, the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last.

That’s important to know. Whether it’s a few hours, or a few days, or a few decades, your life will end—soon. When your last hour comes, remember Jesus’ words to the thief hanging next to him on the cross: “Amen I tell you: Today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43, EHV). When it is your time to pass out of this vale of tears, you won’t be waiting any longer. It won’t be “soon” any longer, it will be right then—that very today.

IV.

“Look, I am coming soon and my reward is with me, to repay each one according to what he has done” (Revelation 22:12, EHV). Jesus isn’t changing the message of the gospel. Eternal life is free—it is a gift of God given by Jesus’ perfect life and innocent death, carried out for all people. “Each according to what he has done” reminds us of the time Jesus spoke about himself, the King, separating the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25:31-46. He spoke of the righteous doing things for him, and the unrighteous as not doing anything for him. In other words, he spoke of fruits of faith; believers naturally show their faith in their words and actions.

“The angel also said to me: Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, because the time is near” (Revelation 22:10, EHV). Jesus, the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End, lived his life and died his death so that many would be able to learn the truth about salvation, believe in him, and be saved.

Back when the disciples craned their necks looking up into the clouds to get a last glimpse of Jesus, the angels had told them, “He’ll come back, just as you have seen him go.” For the rest of their lives there was an urgency. The disciples knew he would come back “soon.”

Don’t seal up these words of prophecy. Don’t keep them to yourself. Share them. The greatest opportunity to show your fruits of faith is to share the truth of what Jesus has done with others. Jesus said: “No one knows when that day and hour will be, not the angels of heaven, not even the Son, but only the Father” (Matthew 24:36, EHV). But it will be soon. As Jesus said in today’s Gospel: “Be ready, because the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you are not expecting him” (Luke 12:40, EHV).

Share the news. Share that he is coming, he is coming soon. Amen.