The core message of this passage is the promise of Jesus Christ to come again!  Verse 7 Behold I am coming soon.  Verse 12 Behold I am coming soon.  Verse 20 Surely I am coming soon.  Our Christian hope depends on this promise!  If Christ is NOT coming back, then he is virtually irrelevant! If he IS coming back, nothing else really matters BUT him!  If Jesus is coming back, the MAIN thing in life is to know him and be ready for his return!  

If you believe this promise, then you have your life’s purpose.  Your dreams, your goals, your priorities will all revolve around His coming. This promise will drive your faithfulness, your service, your ambition to be pleasing to the Lord.  

The promise of his coming compels us to be overcomers! “Overcome and you will eat from the tree of life. Overcome and you will not be harmed by the second death which is the lake of fire. Overcome and I will give you authority over the nations. Overcome and I will write the name of the City of My God upon you. Overcome and I will grant you the right to sit with me on my throne.”  We overcome because Jesus is coming back! And these blessings will be ours when he comes!

Jesus said, “I am coming, soon!” and that is the source of unshakable joy, and eager expectation for us.  Paul said, “We eagerly wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ!” Peter said, “Set your hope completely on the grace to be given you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.  Titus 2:13 “We are filled with hope, as we wait for the glorious return of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.” CEV  Why are all our hopes and dreams so focused on his return? Because...

When Christ comes everything will be restored, all creation is healed, all injustices are made right. All our sufferings are turned to glory. Our bodies and minds are resurrected. Our faithfulness and good works are rewarded way out of proportion! There are no more battles with sin and evil. We are changed into the perfect likeness of Jesus!     

And so we long for him!!  We long for our pain and tears to be gone. We long for glory.  We long to be with him. The cry of our hearts is “Come Lord Jesus!” Paul said, “There will be crown for me, and for all who LOVE His appearing.” 2 Tim 4:8

How reassuring this promise must have been to John! He heard these words as he suffered for his faith, exiled as a prisoner to the isle of Patmos, isolated from other believers.  How precious the promise of his coming is to us! Especially when we suffer, when life on earth hurts, when we feel we are NOT at home in this world. 

*First: We are given 3 witnesses to the truthfulness of Revelation and all that is in it. The first witness is the angel. Verse 6 The ANGEL said to John, “These words are trustworthy and true.” “It is the Lord God who has send me, HIS ANGEL to show you what is going to happen!” I am God’s angel messenger!  Everything I have shown you and told you is directly from God. 

The second witness is JOHN. Verse 8 “I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things.” This is not something I heard from someone else.  I personally heard and saw everything recorded in this book.

The third witness is JESUS CHRIST: Verse 16 “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches.”  This is MY angel. I sent him.  This book is MY message for the churches!  

These three witnesses testify that everything in this wild book of Revelation is trustworthy and true!  The Beast will rise to power. There will be a global hatred and persecution of Christians.  But also...

Babylon will be destroyed. The seven bowls of God’s wrath will be poured out.  The Rider on the white horse will come.  Christ will strike down the nations. We will celebrate the wedding supper of the Lamb.  Satan will be thrown into the lake of fire. We will live in a new City on a new earth.  We will see it’s glory and will never be sad again!  God will come to dwell with us.  

*BECAUSE this is all true, the person who takes the message of Revelation to heart is blessed.  Verse 7 “Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.” Why? Because THAT person will be spared the wrath of God!  And that person will share in unspeakable rewards and blessing Jesus promised.

*Next: The angel reminds John that worship is reserved for God alone!  In verse 8 John confesses that he made the mistake of falling his face at the feet of the angel. And he was immediately corrected!  The angel said, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers the prophets and will all those who keep the words of this book.”  Worship God, not me! 

Ultimately only God should impress us, overwhelm us, and capture our hearts.  We don’t worship money or football or houses or success. We don’t worship our kids, or angels or famous pastors or theologians. We worship ONLY God!  

Wouldn’t that be something if every time you put something or somebody above the Lord, that thing or person would speak audibly to you, and say, “You must not worship me! Worship God!”  And actually the Holy Spirit does tell us that, if we listen to him.  He says that is becoming to big to you, to important to you!  Worship God only!!

*Next: We are not to ignore these words about Christ's return and the end times! Verse 10 “And he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book”.  Or “don’t keep these things a secret”.  These things are to be read, taught and proclaimed.  ALL of them!  Proclaim the message of judgment and of hope!  Preach the lake of fire and the New Jerusalem.  Teach Satan’s war on the saints and the future blessedness of the saints. Don’t be silent about a single part of this truth!  We live in a day when so many pastors are silent about so much of God’s Word! 

*Next: The time of Christ’s coming and the events of the end are closer than people think.  Verse 10 says, “The time is near.” Three times Jesus said, “I am coming soon”. This raises an obvious question. 2,000 years have passed.  So in what sense is Jesus coming soon?  The clearest biblical answer to this is from Peter.  “But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.  But the day of the Lord WILL come and it will come like a thief.”   2 Peter 3:8,9  

In God’s perspective “the time is near”. In light of all time past and all time to come Jesus is coming soon!  In God’s prophetic timetable, the coming of Christ is the next big event!  It is imminent!  On just the next page!!  

One of the hardest things about getting young people to start saving for retirement is that seems SO far away.  When you  are young, you can’t even imagine getting old!  But an older wiser person will come along and say, life goes SO fast. That day will be here before you know it!  And when you turn 65 or 70 I guarantee you are going to say wow that came so soon!  When Christ appears I think we will say, “Wow, human history was so short.”  He came soon!

*Next: There is an urgency to get on the right spiritual trajectory!  Verse 11 “Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy.”  At some point your spiritual trajectory will become fixed.  This is not saying God doesn’t want people to repent. He does!  But it is acknowledging that at some point people continue to be what they are, and who they are.  People continue to be controlled by the forces they have given themselves to.  We are either slaves to sin or righteousness. 

JC Ryle said, “True repentance is never too late, but late repentance is seldom true. ..I am afraid in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred... men die just as they have lived”.  Don’t think you are going to start living for Christ some day in the future. Don’t think “I’m on the fence now but some day I am going to get on fire for God!” Today is the day to be filled with Christ, today is the day to follow Christ!  Today is the day to practice righteousness and holiness in your heart and in your home and wherever you are!  If you are entertaining evil and filth in your life, today is the day to repent!  Christ is coming soon!   

*Next: When Jesus comes the righteous will be rewarded and the unrighteous will be punished. Verse 12 Jesus said,  “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done.”  After saying that, Jesus added, “I am the Alpha and Omega the First and Last, the Beginning and the End.”  Jesus was there in the beginning and he will be there to wrap it all up in the end. Jesus Christ is the eternal God and he is coming to bring a just judgment for all people.

Every person who has ever lived is accountable to God.  God sees and knows how each of us live.  Recompense means a just repayment for good for evil.  “God is not mocked, whatever a man sows that he will reap!”.  Those who resist God and his word will suffer consequences for that! Those who love the Lord and keep his word WILL BE rewarded for that! 

Psalm 58:11 “Then Mankind will say, “Surely there is a reward for the righteous; surely there is a God who judges on earth.”    

*Next: Entrance into heaven is a unique privilege reserved only for those who sins are washed away.  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. But outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.” 

Most people talk as if everyone who dies is now in a better place.  That is NOT true!  Wicked people will be kept out of the City, out of heaven.  Verse 15 list types of people who will not be there: 

-Dogs In Middle east culture packs of wild dogs roamed the cities.  They were dirty and dangerous.  People living in the squalor of sin degrade themselves to living like dogs.  They will not be in the New Jerusalem. 

-Sorcerers. Those who deal with spirits, spells, and witchcraft will not be in heaven. 

-The sexually immoral will be excluded from heaven!  There is forgiveness with God for every sexual sin by turning to Christ.  But those who indulge in a lifestyle of sexual immorality without repentance will find themselves on the wrong side of Heaven’s gates!  

What a warning for our generation.  We think SO lightly of sex outside of marriage!  God does not!  Our generation embraces and applauds men having sex men, women with women.  God says, they will NOT inherit the kingdom of God. 

-Murderers.  Those who take another person’s life! There are so many murders taking place today in our culture! Our cities are dangerous!  Without God people’s hatred becomes uncontrolled.   And sadly so many murdered today are the unborn or partially born babies. There is complete forgiveness and cleansing through Jesus Christ for anyone who has had an abortion.  But those who practice murder without repentance, will not be in the New City!!  

-Idolators: People devoted to someone or something other than God, will not have a right to the City.  Believers are those who love God and worship him first and foremost! There is no other kind of believer. If you are not in that state turn your heart to him and love him and worship him, and be devoted to him.  

-Everyone who loves and practices falsehood.  In the eyes of Jesus and the apostles everything God said is true. Everybody who disagrees with God, is loving and practicing falsehood.  Cindy had a conversation with someone who claimed to be a Christian. She brought up things that God said about marriage between a man and a woman.  He said, “Well that’s where God and I have a disagreement.”  Disagreement with God is choosing and loving falsehood.

Verse 14 “Only those who have washed their robes will be there.” The blood of Christ is the only thing that can clean your robes!  His blood washes you when you place faith in Him! Only those who have come to Jesus for this washing will have the right to the tree of life, and the right to enter the City through it’s gates! Ultimately these are the only rights that matter.  

*Next: This revelation of Christ’s return and all the events that surround it must not be tampered with. Verse 18 “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.”

This is a specific warning to scribes, to teachers, and to the church to NOT take away any of the truths, the warnings or the promises of this book of Revelation!  Some may be tempted to tamper with the unusual visions, or the severity of the judgments, or the stunning descriptions of the new earth.  God said, “Don’t you dare change anything!”  

This warning does also apply to ALL of scripture. Many people change God’s word to say what they want it to say, or to take away the parts that rub up against our culture. God said people who do that will forfeit both the tree and the city!

Finally *Our hearts are to leap at the promise of Christ’s coming.  Verse 17 The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.”  The Holy Spirit says “Come”.  And the church, says “Come!”.  The purpose of Revelation is to create a burning love for the return of Jesus. 

Verse 20 “He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” And so we pray:  “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!”  This is the last prayer in the Bible. It has been called the prayer of all prayers, or the prayer to end all prayers.   

 Marshall Seagel said “This prayer is layered with heartache and anticipation, distress and hope, agony and joy.” IE This prayer is born out of a deep longing to be delivered from present heartache and evil, AND a deep longing for the perfect joy of being with Christ in his kingdom.

I wondered this week what would it take to make us pray this prayer from our hearts. I know suffering will, and persecution will.  Often it is pain on this earth that awaken us to the hope of his coming.  Aging and ailing bodies, broken relationships, sad emotions all move us to cry “Come, Lord Jesus.” put an end to our pain and our tears.

Also, the more we grow to hate sin and love righteousness, the more we will long for him to come! As Peter said, we long to be in the new heaven and the new earth where righteousness dwells! 

The more we grow to love Jesus, the more we will love his appearing!  We pray “Come Lord Jesus!”, because we want to be with him!  We long for the marriage supper of the Lamb, for the banquets and celebrations that go on forever!  We want to see His glory! So we say “Amen!  Come! Lord Jesus!”  

21The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.