Revelation
Ready for
his return Revelation
22.12-21
There
is a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a
time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time
to be silent and a time to speak, a time for war and a time for peace.
But one day the time for all those things will be
over. The clock of history will stop ticking. The Director will walk on to the
stage and the show will be over
And then the Lord Jesus will return and he will
make everything new
The Book of Revelation ends as it begins with the
promise that Jesus Christ will return, not this time as a baby, but as a
reigning king
In verse 12 he says: "Behold, I am coming
soon!
To the suffering Christians who first heard these
words it was great news. Their suffering would one day be over; their faith
would be vindicated. To a suffering, struggling, broken, war torn, world, like
ours, it is the best news there could ever be. Jesus is coming back to reign,
to renew the world, to abolish death, and mourning and pain, and to wipe every
tear from our eyes:
"Behold, says Jesus, I am coming soon!
And that brings us to our first point
In view of his return, be ready
We need to realise there will be a final reckoning:
12
"Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to
everyone according to what he has done.
How we live now will make a difference to how we live
then. We aren’t saved by what we do, but what we do, our deeds and actions last
week, this week, next year, are the fruit or the outworking of our faith. Those
who live for Jesus now, who serve for Jesus now, who suffer, or give up things
for Jesus now, will be rewarded in the life of the world to come
Last week we were introduced to a novel concept,
courtesy of the BBC: ‘Football Heaven.’ The papers have been full of it all
week. According to the Daily Mail George Best has already been signed up
by Heaven’s 1st XI. And the Football Heaven correspondent of the Daily
Telegraph concurs, assuring his readers ‘Now (George) is up there, aloft
kicking a ball about with Danny Blanchflower, Bobby Moore and the rest of them.
He was no saint but the angels will welcome him.’
Now it is certain that many sinners will be
welcomed by angels in the life of the world to come, but according to the
Bible, not every sinner will be, but only those who have been washed clean of
their sins:
14
"Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the
right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city.
This verse is a reference back to Revelation 7
where God’s people are portrayed as having washed their robes in the blood of
the lamb. In other words they have put their faith in the death of Jesus in
their place. And they have received his forgiveness
We need to be sure that we have washed our robes,
that we have turned to Christ and believed in him, because Revelation solemnly
warns us that not everyone will be welcomed into God’s new world:
Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic
arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves
and practices falsehood. (verse 15)
Now
is the time to respond to Jesus invitation, he is coming soon, we need to be
ready:
Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever
wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life. (verse 17)
Salvation, eternal life is a free gift, but like
any gift it must be received. Make sure you have received it, and are therefore
ready to meet him when he comes.
Secondly:
In view of his return, be faithful
Because Jesus has spoken in this book, because he
has endorsed its message, because the events promised in it have his personal
guarantee, it is very important that his people take its message seriously and
are faithful to it:
I warn
everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds
anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And
if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from
him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in
this book. (Verses 18-19)
These words apply in the first instance to the book
of Revelation itself, but of course what is said here is true of the whole
Bible as well.
There are two ways we can undermine the authority
of God’s word: addition or subtraction. Here we are warned neither to add
anything to this book nor to take anything away
No, so far as God’s word is concerned let us
instead believe the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth
Thirdly:
In view of his return, be expectant
Revelation ends on a note of eager expectation:
The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And
let him who hears say, "Come!". (Verse 17)
Both the Holy Spirit of God and the church of God
agree: their prayer is the same: Come! And in verse 20 Jesus himself speaks
again, reiterating and underlining his promise to return:
He who
testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming soon."
And the
church responds:
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. (verse 20)
In the early church the every communion service
concluded with the words ‘Come Lord Jesus.’ It was the final prayer in their
act of worship each week that Jesus would return. Perhaps it’s a prayer that
should be more on the lips of 21st Century Christian: Come Lord
Jesus
Mick was telling me the other day of the sermon that
was preached at his confirmation. The Bishop said there was something he did
every morning. He would go to the window in his bedroom, open the curtains,
look out and say ‘Today could be the day.’
Today could be the day that Jesus returns. So
let us be ready and prepared to meet him, let us live each day knowing that
today could be the day
That’s a challenging though but the concluding words of
the book, and our Bible as it has come down to us, remind us of our total
dependence on the grace of the Lord life both now in the future
The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people. Amen. (verse 21)
We shouldn’t be afraid of the day of his coming; it is
not something to fear, but to prepare for and eagerly to await. As Graham
Kendrick says of the day when Jesus returns: it’s going to be such a good day, make it soon’
And Revelation 22.20 says
He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I
am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. (verse 20)
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
Life in the
world to come Revelation
21.1-8, 22-27
Like all
the best stories, the storyline of the Bible has a beginning, a middle, and an
end. Sometimes you need to focus on the beginning) but at other times its good
to look towards the end
The
book of Revelation is like the wardrobe in the Narnia stories. It gives
us a window into the future.
Through
Revelation you get to know how things will turn out in the end and that is
particularly important when the going gets tough. John’s great vision, which is
described in Revelation, was given to Christians who were suffering for their
faith. It encourages them to keep on believing; keep on trusting, to believe
God is in charge and he will bring all things to a triumphant and magnificent
conclusion.
This
book should encourage us too to look to God’s future with confidence. It should
help us to put into perspective the trials and tribulations of this life
And now
we come to the glorious conclusion not only of the Bible, but also of this
present world
Then
I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth
had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. (Verse 1)
John
sees a whole new world, a wonderful replacement for the damaged, polluted, war
ravaged, fallen, and broken world that we live in.
There
is no longer any sea. Why? Because in Revelation (see 4.6), the sea symbolises the distance between a holy God and
a sinful humanity. In this new world that separation is gone forever
In this
new world, are a new people: God’s people, his church:
I
saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,
prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. (Verse 2)
The
holy city, the new Jerusalem is the church, the people of God. It comes down
from heaven, indicating that the church is God’s creation and God’s initiative.
He called it into being, he purchased it with his blood, he guards it by His
Spirit, he now brings it to its final earthly home.
The
church comes down from heaven but it lives on earth. We often talk as if we are
going to live in heaven forever. But the Bible doesn’t teach that: rather it
teaches that we are going to live on a renewed earth
Banish
from your minds cartoon pictures people in long white gowns floating on clouds
dreamily plucking at harps for centuries on end. And embrace the Bible’s
picture of a whole new physical world, a world like this but better
At any
wedding there is a special moment when the groom looks round and for the first
time sees his bride beautifully dressed for her big day. In the same way the
church, God’s people, is his bride and she too is beautifully dressed. All her
sins have been washed away and the church, the people of God, is new, and
radiant, and holy
There
was a fashion for Christians to wear t-shirts emblazoned with the slogan
‘please be patient with me God is not finished with me yet.’ It made a good
point. Think of yourself, think of the church, not what you are now, not what
the church is now, but what you will be on that day when the Holy City, the
new Jerusalem, comes down out of heaven
from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband
With
all this comes:
And
I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is
with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself
will be with them and be their God. (Verse 3)
As it
was at the beginning so it will be at end. As the Lord walked in the garden of
Eden with Adam & Eve so once more he
will dwell on the earth with his people, he will live with them says
Revelation. All rebellion, all sin, will have gone: They will be his people,
and God himself will be with them and be their God
And
religious buildings of all kinds will be redundant
I
did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb
are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for
the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. (Verses
22-23)
In the
Old Testament the temple was the building that symbolised the presence of God.
But now there is no need of any such building because the Lord himself is
present, personally, in the midst of the people
And
with his presence comes a whole new world order:
He
will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning
or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." He who was seated on the throne said,
"I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down,
for these words are trustworthy and true."
(Verses 4-5)
Everything
that has disfigured and spoilt this life: death, mourning and pain will be
banished from God’s new world. And in a lovely picture of the tender love of
God we are told that He will wipe every tear from the eye of the suffering
people of God.
A
further sign of the radical change that has come over the world comes in verse
25:
On
no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. (Verse 25)
In the
ancient world the city gates were closed at night to keep out marauders and to
keep the occupants of the city safe. In the Bible the night is often symbolic
of danger, of evil. But in God’s new world, the gates are never shut and it is
never dark
There
are no burglar alarms, no locks or bolts on doors, no PIN codes, no need to
worry about child protection. The whole world has become a place of safety and
security, because the old order of things has passed away
And
with the new world, the new people, the new spiritual reality, and the new
world order comes:
A
new announcement of an old message
Jesus
speaks
He
said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and
the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the
spring of the water of life. (Verse 6)
‘It is
done’ All God’s purposes have been accomplished. All God’s promises have been
fulfilled. The great act of redemption and re-creation has been completed.
To
him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the
water of life
That
invitation has gone out into the world for 2,000 years. Whenever this book is
read this invitation is proclaimed. The living Lord Jesus makes it again this
morning to everyone who has not yet responded
It is a
drink without cost, because he has paid for it.
It is a
drink from the water of life because it is do with eternal life
It is
available to everyone who knows their need of it – ie who is thirsty
Have
you responded? Have you come to the reigning Lord who has done everything for
your salvation and now calls you to come to receive it? If you haven’t may I
urge you to respond to his call without delay
And
its important because verse 8 speaks of a sober reality
But the
cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those
who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars--their place will be in
the fiery lake of burning sulphur. This is the second death." (Verse 8)
We hear
a great deal about inclusion and being inclusive. God’s new world is inclusive
of everyone who will come and drink of the spring of the water of life. But it
is not inclusive of those who refuse to do so, who persist in unbelief,
idolatry and sin
Anyone
may come into God’s new world, but you must come - by faith.
We
conclude with the words of Jesus
He
said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and
the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring
of the water of life. (Verse 6)