The Story that Never Ends - Revelation 22:6-21

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.” “And behold, 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. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me, 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.” And he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy.” “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for 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 that they may enter the city by the gates. Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. “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.” 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. 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 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. He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.

I don’t know about you, but I LOVE getting to the end of a good book.

I think it’s actually because I don’t love reading that much… and so when I actually FINISH a book, I feel a great sense of accomplishment...

YES! I actually did it!

In fact, sometimes I’ll rush the last few pages because I’m just so antsy to get done.

But then there’s kind of this feeling like, “OK, now what? I just devoted all this time to finishing this book… and feels great… but now what???”

Today we have our Bibles open to the last chapter in the Bible… but that feeling of patting yourself on the back… or that feeling of “now what?” is not exactly what I want for you today.

We’ve been in this sermon series going through the whole storyline of the Bible… we started all the way back in with the creation of the world...

And for sure we have NOT taken the deep dive… we’ve been speed reading… getting the sense of how the whole story works together.

And our goal the whole way through has been to find our place in God’s unfolding story of salvation through Jesus Christ.

Each part of God’s story shapes our story and helps us understand God’s purposes for us...

How God created us to reflect his glory

We were created for his story… we don’t fit him into our story…

So today we come to the last chapter in his story… a chapter that is still in our future… and as we do, we are going to find that this is a unique type of story… this is a story that does not have an end.

Now there could be a temptation to be lulled into complacency with that thought... “Well, the story never ends anyway, so I guess I can put some important things off until tomorrow...”

But that’s not how God’s story works… the fact that this story lasts for eternity does the exact opposite of lulling us into complacency…

Because it is how we

How we view our stories NOW determines how we will spend the rest of eternity.

But the story of God continues on into eternity.

Is my story about ME or anyone else… or is it about HIM.

How we view our lives in this part of our of our story before we die or Jesus returns… how we view our stories NOW determines how we will spend the rest of eternity.

Because

Either we will spend eternity with God in the New Heavens and the New Earth that are TOTALLY about him.

Or we will spend eternity cast off from God in the lake of fire…

And the determining factor is: Do I believe that Jesus is the Christ… the Savior and Lord over all the universe…

Not just intellectually… Do I believe that in such a way that I lose my life to find it in him?

Do I believe it in such a way that I see my life story as all about HIM?

NONE of us know how long we have to recognize that.... and so there is

The last chapter of this story is one that gets us thinking both urgently… about what needs to happen right here an now...

and eternally… about what will happen forevermore.

Revelation.. much like the rest of the story... teaches us how to live with an eternal mindset.

Here’s the impression I hope this leaves with you today:

Big Idea: Jesus is coming soon: live with urgency for the story never ends.

Your Bibles are open to the book of Revelation…

It was written by the Apostle John near the end of his life when he was exiled on the Island of Patmos… [show map]

And that’s because of it’s nature as apocalyptic literature…

It’s the last book of the Bible written… much later than most of the New Testament… the year was probably around AD 95 or 96…

And John is the only Apostle who hasn’t been martyred… the only one of his twelve friends who walked with Jesus who is left… but God still had work for him to do… even in prison.

John had spent a lot of life establishing churches in in Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey)… and now they were going through some intense opposition...

But

It uses signs and symbols to describe things that are and will be.

And it was originally written to circulate among 7 churches in Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey) who were undergoing intense opposition...

And the debate comes in when it comes to determining the extent to which we should take those sg

They were persecuted by Rome from the outside... they were lured by false teachers from within… and they were enticed by their own sinful hearts...

John had a personal investment in these churches… he had worked personally among them… he loved them as his own children...

He had written at least three letters to people and churches within this network… three books of your Bible are letters from him…

One book in your Bible is an account of Jesus’ life that rounds out the other 3 accounts… the Gospel of John… and again these churches were his original audience.

And so there he is… exiled on this little tiny island… so close to these struggling churches that he loves so much… yet so far from them too...

And the Lord gives him this vision of literally apocalyptic proportions.

He sees the risen Jesus himself in all of his fearsome glory… and Jesus tells him in , “Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this.” (, ESV)

That’s the outline of the book… the things John has seen (that’s the vision of the risen Christ in the first chapter of the book)… the things that are (that’s Christ’s letters to the seven churches in chapters 2-3) and the things that are to take place after this (that’s the rest of the book from 4-22).

The things that are to take place after this give the churches a picture of how God is going to have his way in the final days… during a time called the tribulation…

It’s a time during which God will fulfill his promise to Israel by restoring a faithful remnant…

It’s a time during which the evil of the cosmic enemy (Satan) is going to be even worse than they are experiencing right now...

And it’s a time when God is going to have the ultimate victory because the Son of God is in complete control of how the whole story unfolds.

And so as we come to 22:6, John is now giving the conclusion to the letter… what do we do with all of this that John has seen and written down? Here’s what he says...

Here’s what he says...

Read -22

You’ll notice in what I just read, we see a dialogue between John, the angel who is showing the most recent visions, and Jesus Christ himself...

Jesus talks four different times and reveals himself in four different ways. And he keeps repeating this phrase, “I am coming soon.”

The emphasis is on soon.

To churches who are dealing with persecution and hardship… in the scope of eternity, Jesus is coming SOON.

To churches who are dealing with sin and false teachers… in the scope of eternity, Jesus is coming SOON.

To churches who are apathetic and need a fire lit under them...

Jesus is coming soon: live with urgency for the story never ends.

We are infinitely closer now to the return of Jesus Christ than they were. We are most certainly in the last of the last days...

And so we must take these words all the more seriously...

Today I want us to see:

Four Ways Christ's Return Must Shape our Story

It’s NOT so that we could worry about the apocolypse happening and become preppers..

It’s NOT so that we could try to figure out the times and seasons...

The prophecy about the end times and the return of Christ is given so that we could live with URGENCY for the story that never ends.

Four Ways Christ's Return Must Shape our Story

1) Jesus is coming as the Faithful Witness: guard his testimony with your life (22:6-11)

“And he [that’s one of the angels] 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.” [then there is a change in speaker in verse 7… clearly Jesus by what he says] “And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”” (, ESV)

Explain: John has just seen all of these visions… some of them are almost unbelievable… and to be honest, it’s just left him emotionally and physically wrecked.

As you read though Revelation, you almost start to feel sorry for John as he has to carry the emotional burden of seeing all the horrors that will unfold in the last days… all at once… and all first hand...

but then again, he gets to see some pretty AWESOME stuff too... like the new heavens and the new earth...

And a glimpse into the victory God is working out.

But this stuff is so extraordinary, John has to wonder if anyone will believe him. In fact, its so extraordinary, he may even be tempted to doubt what he saw himself.

And so the angel wants him to know that this is TRUE…

This wasn’t a hallucination from some bad fish he ate in prison… this is TRUE.

What he has seen is as true and reliable as the one who revealed it to him… Jesus Christ himself.

But MOST of it he has been told to write down for the sake of the churches.

For the sake of the people of God in the present age.

John is a witness of everything that he saw… but the ultimate faithful witness is Jesus Christ.

Verses 6-7 are written in such a way as to remind us of the first three verses of the book:

“The revelation of Jesus Christ, [this book is not primarily JOHN revealing… but JESUS revealing the things that are to come…] which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He[JESUS] made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. 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.” (, ESV)

John is a witness to what he has seen… but Jesus is the ULTIMATE witness that bears testimony. He is the giver of this revelation.

And in 22:7, that witness speaks personally- “And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.” (, ESV)

The coming one is the faithful witness… and we are called to KEEP this book.

He’s talking specifically about this book of Revelation… all that John has seen… all that is… and all that will take place after this.

We are to KEEP it.. the word means to guard… to preserve… to obey… Guard his testimony with your life.

God didn’t tell us about the things that are to come so that we could shrug our shoulders and walk away saying, “Well, that didn’t make any sense…” or avoid reading it in the first place...

He didn’t reveal himself through John so that we could spend all kinds of time trying to figure out what the symbols are… or publish really nice charts about how it’s all going to unfold…

He didn’t reveal himself so that we could worry about the apocalypse happening and become preppers… or so we could figure out the exact timing of his coming and sit out on some mountainside with tinfoil hats…

God gave us his testimony about his near return so that we would KEEP it… OBEY it… GUARD it… through a faithful, enduring walk with him.

-God's word through human agent

There is blessing promised to those who keep the prophecy of this book.

So what does that look like? I hope you are asking that question when you read v. 7… HOW?!?!

Well, in order to keep it, we first of all have to read it. We can’t keep something we’ve never read.

If you are following along in our reading plan this week, you are going to get to read MUCH of the book of Revelation… I would URGE You to do that so that you know what you are called to keep!

Read the whole thing if you want… I listened to a recorded reading of the whole thing this past week...

But reading it is not the same as keeping it… keeping it is to allow it to change your life. Guarding what is true by conforming your life to it.

So how do we do THAT with a prophecy that is so hard to understand? [Show Chart]

I put a chart in your notes that I created after reflecting on this some this week… It’s not an exhaustive chart by any means, but I hope this stirs your reflection this week a little bit toward actually KEEPING the words of this prophecy… I don’t want to go through the whole thing right now, but just for example…

In , we read Christ’s letters to the seven churches...

When you read the letters to the churches… and you hear the

And the point in reading those letters is NOT just so that you would know that Laodiciea was a Lukewarm, apathetic church… or so that you could show off your Bible knowledge that you heard one time about hot and cold springs around that city...

It’s not so you could show off your knowledge about hot and cold springs around that city...

It’s not so that you could figure out how that description lines up with some section of church history… that’s what some people try to do… but it’s so clear… there was a literal church in Laodicea at the time of John that was dealing with apathy… and that church is an example to all churches of all times of what to watch out for.

The point of the letters to the churches is so that we would hear what the Spirit says to ALL churches and make sure that WE are FAITHFUL and FIGHTING the enemy until the end…

We should be asking, “Do any of these descriptions sound like OUR church?” And then act accordingly.

I preached a series a number of years ago called, When Jesus Comes to Church, based on those first three chapters… we can get you those resources if you need.

Jesus makes all these promises in that section, “To the one who conquers… to the one who conquers...”

He wants us to conquer by remaining a faithful church until the end.

Another example that will come up in your reading plan this week: In , we read about the heavenly throneroom...

And the point isn’t so that we would know all the names of the stones that are on the throne… or try to figure out who the 24 elders are…

but rather that we would be impressed above all things with the one who sits on the throne in the center of it all…

Notice how everyone and everything is set up to focus on Jesus… he’s the fulfillment of the whole story!

One more example: In , we read about the tribulation period… and all the horrors that are going to come upon the earth...

And the point isn’t to figure out when and what all the exact symbols are… it’s not to figure out who the beast is…

And it’s not to say, “Whew, glad we won’t be here for that! We’ll be raptured!”

It’s not to fear the apocalypse and become preppers… or sit out on some mountainside with tinfoil hats waiting for this return...

The point is to say, “God is going to fully and finally deal with sin because he is in TOTAL control… the enemy WILL NOT win…

and therefore I must be pure before this holy God… and I can trust that he will conquer his foes EVEN TODAY.”

I could keep going, but I think you can see the point: each section of the prophecy KEPT… GUARDED… when we submit to its intended effect upon our lives.

Yes, it’s about the future, but it’s supposed to change our lives today.

We are to guard this testimony… this revelation… this prophecy… with our lives… because the faithful witness is coming soon!

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

Now even as Christ makes this statement, there are two immediate challenges to keeping the prophecy that come up right away in the next verses: misplaced worship and spiritual stubbornness.

Now even as Christ makes this statement, there are two challenges to keeping the prophecy that come up right away in the next verses: misplaced worship and spiritual stubbornness.

These are problems that run throughout the Revelation and show up here briefly:

First misplaced worship - “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

Like, “John! What are you doing bud!”

Even after all that he has seen… even after all that he has experienced… he is still tempted to look at this fearsome angel and worship.

And this was a temptation throughout the Revelation...

In the letters, there is idolatry in some of the churches that Jesus calls out… we know this was an active problem in the church...

In the tribulation, we are shown the temptation to worship the beast…

Just three chapters earlier, John tried to worship ANOTHER angel because of how awesome the vision was…

So the angel QUICKLY rebukes him and corrects him ...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.”” ()

-Regardless of the outcome in the people around us. Urgency.

Listen, if we are going to guard the testimony with our lives, we must worship God and God alone.

The word he uses for worship means to bow down as an act of allegiance (DBL Greek)

We are no

That is the central theme of Revelation… that NO ONE is worthy of our allegiance except for the Lord!

We cannot worship other servants of Christ in the church… we cannot worship angelic spirits… we cannot worship powerful figures… ONLY GOD.

He is creator… everything else is creation (more on this later).

We are no

The second challenge to keeping the testimony comes in verse 10 - “And he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy.”” (, ESV)

The second challenge is spiritual stubbornness.

In the letters to the churches, there is a constant refrain: he who has an ear let him hear.

In other words, don’t be spiritually stubborn. Don’t let these words go in one ear and out the other. Allow them to have their intended effect.

And when we are faced with spiritual stubbornness… sometimes we are tempted to just be like, “Well, they don’t want to hear it anyway… I guess I’ll just keep it to myself...

Then throughout the tribulation, we see this intense polarization between those who harden their hearts against the Lord and those who pursue faithfulness and righteousness even unto death.

Sometimes we don’t even know when we are being spiritually stubborn… and this prophecy has been revealed to separate those who TRULY trust Jesus and those who do not.

And when we are faced with spiritual stubbornness in the people around us… sometimes we are tempted to just be like, “Well, they don’t want to hear it anyway… I guess I’ll just keep it to myself...

They don’t want to hear it… I don’t want to share it…

But part of keeping this prophecy is making it known and allowing the chips to fall where they may.

In v. 10-11, the Angel is saying, “The prophecy has been laid out. Let it be known (do not seal it) so that people can clearly see which side they are on.

If they want to keep on doing evil and being filthy, let them. But don’t let them go unwarned about where that leads.

Let them have the opportunity to see Christ’s righteousness and holiness and pursue it…

If you read this book and you love Jesus, you will have a burning desire to live more for him.

And if you don’t have that desire after reading this book… and you are like, “Yeah, I don’t need to worry about that purity and holiness stuff… I got my ticket stamped for heaven...”

If you can read the prophecy of Revelation and not seek the purity of Jesus in your life, then you are spiritually stubborn and there is no help for you.

Then you will bring upon yourself the very words of judgment that are found here.

The Revelation does NOT paint a picture of easy-believism where I say a prayer and sing country songs about Jesus and go to heaven when I die...

The Revelation paints a picture of costly faith… those who endure to the end by grace through faith... and who receive the BLESSING of the presence of God whom they loved so much.

This is summed up well in the warning that comes from Christ in verse 12 - “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”” (, ESV)

Here’s the second way Christ’s return shapes our story…

2) Jesus is coming as the Final Judge: seek purity through his sacrifice (22:12-15)

Explain: Jesus says it three different ways… I’m the alpha and the omega (that’s the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet)… the first and the last… the beginning and the end.

This takes us all the way back to … in the beginning God.

God always was, always is, always will be.

We said in the first sermon in this series that the central distinction in the whole story is that God is Creator and everything else is creation.

Everything is nothing without God.

And therefore he gets the final say on all things.

He owns the copyright to all his creation, including your life.

But we remember that in our sin, mankind tried to infringe upon that copyright… we tried to be like God without God.

We defiled his creation and our works left us guilty before God.

Our works flow from the sinful nature of our hearts from the moment we can make a choice, and so we earn God’s wrath....

Adam and Eve were banished from the garden… separated from the Tree of Life.... and so mankind has been since that day...

describes God’s judgment of the wicked according to their works this way:

Separated from God’s sustaining source of life for all eternity…

He must either pay your sin upon your own head or upon the head of a substitute.

Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. ( ESV)

Our sin leaves us without hope and without God…

THAT is finality… not in the sense that they die and they are no more...

We desperately need to be made pure so that we can be restored to the Kingdom relationship God created for us… God’s people… in God’s place… experiencing God’s rule and blessing...

It’s not that

but in the sense that there is no turning around from that kind of judgment…

So God established a way… first through a series of covenants with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob… and then with his people Israel… and later with their King David.... to return people to proper fellowship with God… those who would draw near to him by faith.

The story of your life goes on forever… either in the new heavens and new earth… or in eternal conscious torment in the lake of fire.

And those covenants were ultimately fulfilled in Jesus Christ…

Our only hope is that God would write our name in the book of life according to the work of his Son by his own grace.

who lived the righteous and holy life that we can not and would not live…

who shed his blood, dying in our place for our sin…

And who rose again, declaring victory over Satan, sin and death...

And through him, the offer of salvation extended to people from every tribe and nation and language… even to us...

He is the only way we can become pure before God and be restored as God’s people in God’s place experiencing God’s rule and blessing.

This is what he’s saying in Verse 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.

Verse 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.

We wash our robes by coming to faith in Jesus Christ as the only Savior and Lord… the author of our new story in him…

We can see this clearly in Revelation 7... there is a multitude before the throne from every nation… from all tribes and peoples and languages… standing before the throne and before the Lamb… who are wearing white robes… garments that represent purity and righteousness so that they can stand before the holiness of God...

And it is told to John that they washed their robes white in the blood of the Lamb.

That’s how you get a washed robe: you admit, “My works defile me… the final judge is coming to repay... and the only way I can be made clean is through the sacrifice of Jesus!”

It is when we wear the righteousness of Christ as our own that we can come to eat again of the tree of life.

Where we can have eternal life with him.

Now when you trust Jesus Christ as your Savior to make you righteous before God, it will always begin to show up in the way you live.

They trusted his sacrifice in their place for their sins and received his righteousness both spiritually and practically.

If we have trusted Jesus Christ as our Savior to make us righteous before God, it will always begin to show up in righteous living.

He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins AND to CLEANSE us from all unrighteousness...

And so if there is not a growing moral purity… a hatred of sin and a pursuit of holiness… then it demonstrates that you are still outside… cut off…

Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.” (, ESV)

This is just a sampling of those works that are entirely inconsistent with the purifying work of Christ in our lives...

You can’t indulge in the works of death and while claiming access to the giver of life.

And if you see these things in your life, you need to URGENTLY seek purity through Christ’s sacrifice.

You need to return to him again and cast yourself wholeheartedly before him and say, “I need you to conquer my sin and make me clean! I can’t do it on my own, but YOU CAN! I believe that eternity with you is better than indulging my sin in this moment. Have your way in me… you are the coming Lord!”

Don’t wait… cry out to him to save you from your sin! Jesus is coming SOON!!! He’s bringing payment… judgment for our sins…

Now it’s into this announcement of judgment that he sends out his invitation of hope:

“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.” 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.” (, ESV)

Here’s the third way Christ’s return must shape our story:

3) Jesus is coming as the Fulfillment of Promise - invite others to know truly know him. (22:16-19)

Explain: So this whole revelation… this whole prophecy.... once again is for the churches. “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things FOR THE CHURCHES.”

Jesus wants the churches to know who he is... that HE is the fulfillment of the promise… the descendent of David… and the Bright Morning Star… the one whom they’ve been looking for through this long, dark night…

He is the offspring promised to Eve who would crush the head of the serpent...

He is the star that was promised to come out of Jacob… the scepter who was to come through the line of Judah… (Numbers 24)

He is the Son who will sit on David’s throne forever…

And when Jesus reveals himself to the church, it becomes the church’s responsibility to send out the invitation: COME!

The Spirit and the Bride say “Come.” This is a picture of the witness of the gospel going out through the church who is empowered by the Holy Spirit like we talked about a few weeks ago.

I’ve heard fro MANY of you that the Spirit was working in your hearts when we looked at the book of Acts together a few weeks ago… have you taken hold of his power to be a witness for Jesus?

That’s what he’s talking about here… the church gathers… hears the word about who Jesus is… and then acts upon it by inviting others in...

Notice what he says after the Spirit and the Bride say come.... he says, “Let the one who hears say ‘Come.’”

This is a reference to the letters in chapters 2-3…there’s this repeated refrain there: “He who has an ear let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

He’s reminding us again…if we have heard about Jesus, we need to act upon what we have heard.

We must invite others to come and see what the Lord has done!

He’s reminding you again… take hold of the power of the Spirit as a WITNESS for Christ… make the invitation - COME!

And the invitation is made to any who will receive it… next he describes the recipients:

And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.

The only thing you need in order to receive the gift of salvation is an awareness of your absolute desperation apart from Christ.

Jesus needs nothing. Jesus wants our nothingness.

Now in our invitation, we must be careful not to water down the message.

The message is NOT, “God is a God of ‘love’ which means he doesn’t care about sin and everyone will get into heaven.”

It’s NOT, “Just pray a prayer… say you are a Christian… and get your ticket stamped for heaven.

The message is, “God loves you so much… and he hates sin so much… that he sent his only son to SHED HIS BLOOD for sin so that he could wash his people clean and set them apart for himself. God will have the final victory over Satan, sin, and death… join his side by turning from your sin and embracing him in faith… or be separated from him for eternity.

Do you hear the difference between those two things? We must be careful not to water down or change the message. To do so would be fatal to our OWN souls because it would demonstrate a misplaced faith in a false gospel…

I believe that’s why verses 18-19 come next:

“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 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.” (, ESV)

There is grave danger in both adding to and subtracting from this book.

To add or subtract to this book is to add or subtract to the gospel itself… because through and through, this revelation tells the final victory of Jesus Christ over all who oppose him.

When you ADD to this prophecy… when you start inserting all sorts of stuff that’s NOT really there… trying to figure out what every symbol means… who the beast is, what the locusts are… you will miss the point of the revelation… you will miss it’s gospel focus to come and trust the risen Jesus with your life.

And when you add to it some other explanation and get focused on who all the symbols are and get distracted by all sorts of stuff that’s NOT there...

And if we subtract from this book the full force of judgment that it describes… we will miss an essential part of the gospel it presents…

Adding or subtracting from THIS book proves that we don’t really understand the gospel message… And we have no share in eternal life.

And we have no share in eternal life.

As believers, we must both believe, and proclaim the invitation of Christ to come… the gospel message that gives us access to his holy presence for all eternity.

We can know… we can stake our lives upon… the truth of this book.

Verse 21 - “He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.” (, ESV)

Here’s the final way that the coming of Jesus must shape our lives today:

4) Jesus is coming as the Future Hope - long for his coming. (22:20-21)

This is the third time Jesus has repeated this in these verses: I am coming soon...

The other times he introduced it with the word “Behold!” (Pay attention!!!)

This time he says, “Surely,” or “you can stake your life on it.”

And that draws this response from his people: “AMEN! [Let it be so!] COME!!! You are Lord! We are waiting!

Understand this… our future hope is not streets of gold or a mansion with many rooms or jewels or anything else… the hope of heaven is the King who is coming.

Of the New Heavens and Earth, he says, “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.” (, ESV)

That is the heart of the whole story… God’s people… in God’s place… experiencing God’s rule and blessing.

And of the New Jerusalem he says… “And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.” (, ESV)

Jesus is the hope of heaven. He is the one whom we will be worshiping for all eternity… which means he must be the one we are longing for today.

If you don’t like following Jesus today, you will hate being with him forever. And you will have no place there.

As we do our work here on earth… as we enjoy our families… as we enjoy times of rest… as we serve our neighbors... we should always have one eye on eternity… because the story never ends…

I know there have been times in my life when I’ve wanted Jesus to hold off his coming until I was able to accomplish something...

I hope Jesus doesn’t come until… I get my drivers’ license… graduate high school… graduate college… get married… have children… you name it…

I was proving that I did not understand the urgency of Christ’s coming… nor did I understand it’s beauty.

It is better than driving… better than any major accomplishment… better than the intimacy of marriage… better than kids…

‘Come Lord Jesus!”

You may have heard the cheesy statement, “Home is where the heart is..” it was probably cross-stitched and hung on your grandma’s wall…

Well, if your home is heaven, then your heart is set on Christ.

And if your heart is NOT set on Christ, then heaven is not your home.

Jesus is coming SOON… you can be sure of it.

And you can rest on his grace to get you ready for that day.

Will his return be a hopeful event for you? It can only be so as you experience the last words of the Bible: the grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.

He is the only one who can rescue us and give us true hope.

He is the faithful witness… the final judge… the fulfillment of promise and the hope of heaven…

He is the centerpiece of the whole story and he is coming again to be in his place with his people ruling and reigning over them in perfect blessing…

Related Media

Related Sermons