Be Patient While You Wait

Revelation 22

Be Patient While You Wait

Intro:

Read Verses:

Main Idea: As we close the Book of Revelation, John wants each of us to be encouraged and forewarned

I. Keep the Vision (1-5)

Verses 1-5 are really a wrap up of or could be attached to chapter 21. But its placement here is John wrapping up the previous section and also the transition to conclude the entire book.

John gives us this vision of the Throne of God, with the crystal clear River of Life flowing out from it, and the tree of life standing on either side of the river. Imagine the colors of vibrant green leaves and the reddish brown trunk against the clear bluish hue of the river. All of it is illuminated by the light emanating all around from God.

And this is what we have to look forward to. No more tears, no more pain, and with His name on us, which is probably figurative, but it is a reminder that we belong to Him. and not just belong to him but we are all God’s priests. In Exodus 28:36-38, Aaron was instructed to have a medallion with the engraving Holy to the Lord on it and it was attached to a turban so it hung on his forehead. “The high priest represented Israel and was consecrated to God so that he could enter into God’s presence in the Holy of Holies to offer propitiatory sacrifices on Israel’s behalf, in order to make the people acceptable before God and so that they would not incur His wrath.”

All of his Children are Holy to the Lord.

There will no longer be a curse and there will be no more darkness. We are free from fear of the dark. We are free from death.

Jesus’ death and our names being already entered into the book of Life guarantee this.

And even though this is all in the future, we have something to look forward to. A tool sports psychologists use is to have an athlete imagine them winning the championship or an Olympic medal. They picture it in their mind and then they use that to keep themselves going when they get up at 4 AM to run 20 miles or light weights.

When I studied for Promotion I used the next Rank stripe as my book mark.

In his book Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, one of the habits is to begin with the end in mind. Where do you want to go? Once you see that then you work backward and plan the route.

John gives us the vision of the End. But that is really the beginning. and we must keep this glorious vision of the peaceful scene at the end while we wait through the our lives

And so to get there we must keep watch as we go.

II. Keep Watch (6-11)

The Angel or perhaps Jesus tells John that these words, all of the things that he has seen and written down that they are trustworthy and true.

This statement links back to Daniel 2 and revelation and Daniel are primarily about the establishment of God’s kingdom throughout the earth and the judgment of evil world kingdoms.

And we are called the servants which is a link to those who have his name on their foreheads. John keeps reinforcing the idea that Christians are from all nations, creeds and tongues, but we all serve the One King. We are all citizens of His Kingdom. For the 1st century Christians, this is similar to what Rome wanted to do. But they were more interested in everyone swearing allegiance to Caesar. But the Caesars were very different and they were not gods.

For our time today, it seems people want us to be divided instead of united. And Jesus said a house divided cannot stand.

But the time is close when Jesus is returning and so events are shaping up and getting us down to the track toward this end. We are not sure exactly, but the train looks like it is speeding up but we won’t really be sure until it all happens.

Because as verse 11 says, let the evil doer still do evil and the righteous still do right. So the word is going to do what it wants and we as Christians know what we must do. Our faith provides and produces the fruit of Jesus.

So we must be watchful of the signs and properly verify that they are the real thing.

In order to do that we must stay thirsty for the water of Life

III. Keep Thirsty (12-17)

Verse 12 may be one of the most direct and hardest sayings in the book. At least it sums up God’s position, “I am bringing my recompense with me to repay each one for what he has done.”

We must stay thirsty to want to be Holy. We should want to drink the water that satisfies completely. And want nothing else.

Our new lives should make us focus on God and his goodness and grace and love. Like the song says, There ain’t nothing Like the real thing. Holiness is what gets you on the inside.

The outsiders are the ones who are not righteous. They are the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murders and idolaters. the ones who choose to ignore God’s voice and obey Satan’s.

When Jesus says he is coming quickly, as in the NASB and King James Version. Which may indicate that this is not a time stamp like the word choice of soon seems to be like the ESV or CSB. The Greek word Tachy conveys the idea that the coming will be swift and unexpected. This gets us past the idea that Jesus hasn’t returned yet, and so stretches or warps the definition of soon.

Now sometimes, when I tell my wife I will be home soon, sometimes it was not as soon as she thought. Especially because at one place we were stationed, we had a foosball table no we had tournaments or very fierce games at the end of our shifts. And so soon normally meant I’m leaving and I’ll be home in 15 minutes, but sometimes it would be an hour.

Jesus identifies himself as the root and decedent of David which establishes his right to rule Israel from the earthly standpoint. As well as his heavenly right because he is God.

And we have a right to the water of life without cost or price to us. Jesus paid for our water. We just have to fill up our cup every day.

The way we stay thirsty and make sure every generation until Jesus returns understands what is going to happen is by keeping the word.

IV. Keep the Word (18-21)

Here the angel or Jesus warns John to not add to this book. It is understood that this book refers to Revelation and not the whole Bible since it didn’t really exist just yet.

But we are blessed to hear and keep these words and those who do not hear and obey will be cursed and face the wrath of God.

This is a link to Deuteronomy before the Israelites went into the promised land. They were given choices and warnings about Becoming God’s people or not.

This is like adding or subtracting to the Constitution because you want to exploit a loophole. If you twist the bill of rights you get a convoluted idea of what the founding fathers intended.

It is the same thing; except it’s God’s law. If you pick and choose the ones you want to follow, you are breaking them all. And you become a god thinking you know better and you compromise and justify your actions. And you endanger your standing because there is a difference between sinning because we are human and willfully and consistently sinning. Because once we have had the good life, we should not want to go back to the old life. Do you lose your salvation? No, but if you continue to sin especially in the same area, it may be evidence you are not saved at all. But I am not making a judgment. That is between you and God. And the good news I want to tell you that if you are breathing, you have time to repent and change your ways. Romans 10 :10 says confess with your mouth

Application

If you tell people we just finished Revelation and they asked you to sum up the Book in a few words, what can we say?

1) God Is Ruling from His throne—For the first century audience living in and under the Roman empire, it would be easy to think God is punishing Christians. And throughout Time, this same answer can be given to the question of who is in charge. The second question is how long oh lord or when are the ones who practice evil or do evil against God’ people going to get the payback or the justice.

2) God Delivers His Justice—Satan, the Antichrist and the false prophet get sent to the lake of fire. They are eternally punished. The people who have given themselves over to their message will be with them. God’s people end up by God’s side, Made whole by the Lord, worshipping God and being surrounded by His Light.

3) God Restores All Things—We tend to think that heaven is the place we end up, but according to Revelation, The new heaven and new earth are one. They are joined. We will be living on Earth, but in the presence of God. In a sense God brings heaven here. The perfectness, the holiness. Your body will be perfect in every way. Relationships will be peaceful, there is no more war, no more lions chasing gazelles, or bears eating salmon.

Conclusion

In the meantime, We trust God that he is still ruling, that He will deliver Justice and know that if you give your life to God. If you are talking to the person about revelation, you can tell them You do not have to wait for the new heaven and new earth to get a new life.

You can have one today. Repent of your sins, Let God rule over your life. Because the good news is that Jesus died for your sins to make you holy so you can live with God.

And this can happen today. Jesus already paid the price.

So We wait for the beginning of forever, but your repentance is the first step.