Revelation
22:6-11 – The Truth
The angel told John, “These words are trustworthy and true. The Lord, the God of the spirits of the
prophets, sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take
place. Behold, I am coming soon! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the
prophecy in this book.” – Revelation
221:6-7. Here the angel refers to
the entire book of Revelation. He shows
the authenticity of the book and is reinforcing the importance of all that is
in it. Everything John saw will come to
pass. This prophecy is true and we must
believe it. We don’t know when these
things will happen, but we know they will.
We know because Jesus is Faithful and True (Revelation 19:11).
We know that all the Bible is trustworthy and true, because
there are all kinds of evidence. There
are archeological finds; it records incredible accuracy; it was written by over
1500 years ago by over 40 different writers and over 3 different continents. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 tells us, “All Scripture is
God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in
righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good
work.”
“Behold, I am coming soon! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the
prophecy in this book.” – Revelation
22:7 Three times Jesus says He is
coming, Revelation 22:7, 12, 20. He will be coming suddenly and without
warning. There are clearly blessings for
those who obey. Revelation 1:3
tells us we will be blessed when we read the words of this book. “Blessed” implies that there will be great
benefit to those who study and understand this writing. We will be blessed if we “take to heart what
is written”. In other words we should
pay careful attention and be spiritually alert and recognize the end is
near. Then we will be blessed and ready.
John testified that he actually
heard and saw and saw these things. He
didn’t imagine it. It came from the
Lord. John fell down and to worship the
angel who showed him all these things, but the angel responded by saying, “Do not do it! I am a
fellow servant with you and with your brothers the prophets and of all who keep
the words in this book. Worship God!”
– Revelation 22:9
“Do not seal up the
words of the prophecy of this book, because the time is near. Let him who does wrong continue to do wrong; let him who is
vile continue to be vile; let him who does right continue to do right; and let
him who is holy continue to be holy.” – Revelation 22:10-11. Verse
11 seems confusing. It means that people
can do as they choose, but God will not change His plans.
In Daniel 12, Daniel had to close the words of the scroll and seal
them until the time of the end. Now the
Messiah has come and the time is much closer so now John was told to not seal
up the words of the prophecy of this book but to keep everything he saw
open. Nothing is this book is
secret. The Lord wants us to read it and
understand what these things mean. We
know that Jesus will return at any time and the events in Revelation will
happen, but we don’t know when. There
will come a time when it will be too late to repent and change. The person who does wrong will not
change. But for now, we have time to
repent and change.
We are sometimes tempted to
worship things or people in our thoughts words and actions. This is because we live in a corrupt world
and we have a sinful nature. If we’re
spending too much time in things that are not of God, we should stop and take
inventory of our lives. Go to God in
prayer and to our Bible for guidance and strength to recognize and resist these
temptations.
Principle: The Bible is trustworthy and true.
Revelation
22:12-16 – Jesus Is Coming Soon
“Behold, I am coming
soon! My reward is with me, and I will
give to everyone according to what he has done.” – Revelation 22:12. Jesus said
He is coming soon and when He does He will be the judge. He will punish those who have done evil
things and reward those who serve Him. The
reward for believers will be in heaven based on their faithful work here in
this life.
Jesus revealed this about
Himself, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and
the Last, the Beginning and the End.” Revelation 22:13. These
words describe His completeness, timelessness and sovereign authority. Jesus was there before creation and will be
there after the old earth and old heaven has gone. He is one with God. He is God.
Jesus tells us that we must be
holy and ready for His return. He lists
two groups of people; those who have white clean robes and those who do
not. Clean white clothes are believers
who have lived holy lives. We can’t do
that by ourselves. Only the death of
Jesus can we be made holy. His blood has
washed our clothes clean. If you have
accepted Him into your life, you will be accepted in the holy city. The other group are those who don’t accept
Him and will not be able to come into the city – the dogs who practice magic arts, the
sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and
practices falsehood. (Revelation 22:14-15).
“I, Jesus, have sent my
angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and
the bright Morning Star.” - Revelation
22:16. This is the 1st
time “I, Jesus” appears in the Bible.
Principle: We must be holy and ready for Jesus’ return.
Revelation 22:17-21 – Final Invitation
and Warning
“The Spirit and the
bride say, “Come!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ Whoever is thirsty, let
him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.” – Revelation 22:17 This is the final invitation to
salvation. It is an invitation from the
Holy Spirit and the church. They work
together to bring people to Christ. The
Holy Spirit woos us to come to Him. Christ
offers eternal life to those who really want it. It is a free gift from God. You can’t work for or earn it. It comes by faith in the Lord Jesus alone. We all hunger and thirst for God even though
some don’t really know what they are hungering and thirsting for. They are really hungering for peace, joy and
life that lasts forever. Jesus will give
this to everyone who believes.
He gives a final warning that
anyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book and adds anything to
them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. If anyone takes away words, God will take
away from him his share in the tree of life. He will take away your part of the book and tree
of life, the holy city, and the things written in this book. (Revelation
22:18-19)
Believers are called to guard and
protect this book. We are to defend it
from those who deny its relevance, authority, and also those who misinterpret
its meaning. God’s Word is already
perfect as He is perfect. If we add or
take words away from the Bible, we corrupt it.
Then it may cause someone to believe things that are not true.
Jesus gives us His final words
that He is coming soon. John expected
Him to come – “Amen.
Come, Lord Jesus.” – Revelation
22:20b We should have the same
anticipation and attitude, too. We
should live holy lives and be ready for Him.
Principle: Jesus
is coming soon!
Revelation is a
book from God telling us that Christ will return. Everything revealed to John will come to
pass, because God is the author. His
Words are trustworthy and true! “Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see
him.” – Revelation 1:7
Well, we have finished the book
of Revelation. WOW! What a book!
What a description John has given us on Heaven. Heaven is a physical place and a joyful
place. I believe we will recognize our
loved ones and all the saints there. We
will eat together and fellowship together.
In Matthew 8:11 Jesus tells
us, “I say to you that many will come from the east and
the west and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
in the kingdom of heaven.” It
will be heaven because Jesus will be there with us. Hallelujah!
Have a great summer and join me
in the fall for study on “People of the Promise: Exile and Return”. Until then I will be posting throughout the
summer on a variety of subjects so I hope to see you here. Stay firm and stay awake until He comes. – I encourage you to trust in Jesus and pray
for each other.
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