Revelation 22:16-21

Revelation chapter 22, reading verses 16 to 21 for our study and our text this evening. I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David and the bright and the bright and morning star and the spirit and the bride say come let him that heareth say come let him that is a thirst come whosoever will let him take of the water of life freely for i testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book if any man shall add unto these things God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy God shall take away his part out of the book of life out of the holy city and from the things which are written in this book. he which testif these things saith surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so come Lord Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. May God bless to us the reading of His Holy and Sacred Word Word. this evening. We come to our very last study on the book of Revelation. As we look at this final chapter, and we have studied it for the last couple weeks, the first part of the chapter you recall, chapter 22 verses 1 to 5, is a continuation of the description of the New Jerusalem from chapter 21. And we’ve talked about the river of life in verse 1, the tree of life in verse 2, the removal of the curse in verse 3, the throne of God and of the lamb also in verse 3. The sign of recognition that his name is upon our foreheads and his sign of approval that we get to see God’s face, verse 4, and then the reign of the saints forever and ever in verse 5. The second part of this chapter is the affirmation of God’s Word. It’s taken up in verses 6 through 10. These sayings are faithful and true, we find out in verses 6 and 7. These sayings refer to the entire prophecy of this book. We have a reminder here of the command also to worship God alone. No angelic worship is to be permitted. And the command in verse 10, not to seal the book, for we should expect an immediate fulfillment of this book in the days of John. God’s solemn admonition is found. in verses 11 to 15. Every man is going to be judged according to his works verses 11 and 12. This is soon to be an immediate reality for John’s generation. Those who are obedient to Christ’s commands enjoy the blessings of the new creation, verses 13 to 15. But we find here that all the rest are excluded from the blessings that are mentioned in this book and may not enter into the glorious city. And that brings us today to our final study which has to do with the final blessing and curses that are related to this book. Let’s look at the final blessing here in verses 16 and 17. I, Jesus, have sent mine angel, to testify under you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David and the bright and morning star. In the spirit and the bride say come, let him that heareth say come, and let him that is a thirst come, and whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely. The I Jesus here in this verse 16 stands in contrast to the I John of verse 8. The great things of this book, the prophecies, the promises, the judgments that are all mentioned in this book, do not rest for their acceptance on the words of a mere man, John, or the words of a holy angel who sometimes has spoken also in this book. Jesus is the faithful and the true witness, and ultimately everything that’s recorded in this book is guaranteed by the Lord Jesus Christ himself. That’s what we see mentioned here in this section of Scripture. Jesus assures you. that he is the one who is testifying in this book, whether it comes by John or whether it comes by the angel, ultimately it comes from Christ. And he is testifying with regard to all these things for the benefit of the churches. Specifically, of course, to the seven churches of Asia Minor that are mentioned in chapters 2 and 3, but ultimately for all. the churches of Christ. Christ speaks here, we’re told as the root and the offspring of David. He is the promised seed of David in the Davidic covenant, and he is the messianic king of his people. It is the tremendous weight of his authority that is the messianic king of his people. It is the is here given to establish the authenticity then of the book and the message. In addition, Christ assumes the title here of the bright and the morning star. Christ is the great light bearer for his people. We read in 2 Peter 119, something similar. We have also a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto you do well that you take heed as a light that shineth in a dark place, unto the day dawn, and the day star rise in your hearts. 2 Peter 1.19. The night of persecution, the night of suffering, that time of difficulty for the people of God will pass. And then the last star, the morning star, arises proclaiming the dawn of a new day. Here we have the idea of an eternal dawn, where we’re going to enter into the eternal state in these last chapters of the book of Revelation. All the tears, all the tears, all the sorrow, will be wiped away. There shall be no more death, no more crying, no more pain to endure, as we saw in Revelation 21 and verse 4. An eternal dawn proclaims an eternal day of rest for the children of God, an unending eternal state that we now enjoy. This is what Jesus care and tease for his people, and we as the people of God. you look forward to this great blessing. When we look at verse 17, we see that the Lord Jesus Christ has just said that he has sent his angel to testify of these things unto us in the churches. But here in verse 17, it becomes the responsibility of the churches to testify of these things to others. In other words, we see here the witness. of the church to the world. And in this great duty that we have as a church, we find that we are assured of the Holy Spirit’s presence with us to grant success in our witness. The coming that is spoken of the Holy Spirit’s presence with us to grant success in our witness. The witness. The coming. that is spoken off here should not be confused with Christ’s second coming or even the judgment coming per se. But I think the coming that is spoken of here when the spirit says come and the bride says come and so forth has to do with the last part. Let him, whosoever will, let him come and take of the water of life freely. So the coming here I think is to Christ. the very one who has just testified. And so the idea here is that we would come to him in faith. Come on to me all ye that labor and heavy laden and I will give you rest is the message of Christ. Now, notice carefully that what we have in this verse of scripture is one, the effectual call of the spirit. and two, the outward call of the church as it proclaims the message. These two together guarantees success to the message. So that we see that along with the bride, the Church of Christ, proclaiming the gospel, and the message to come to Christ for salvation, the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit, is working. Indeed, whosoever will, whosoever desires. Now, we should realize that no one desires who has not been made willing by the Spirit of God, as Psalm 110, verse 3 indicates, let him take of the water of life freely. The scripture tells us in John 64, that no man can come unto me except the Father, which has sent me draw him. The Bible says in John 645, every man, therefore, that have learned of the Father, cometh unto me. And in Philippians, chapter 213, tells us it is, for it is God which worketh in you, both to will and the due of his good pleasure. I had a relative once tell me, well, don’t you believe that whosoever will may come? I said, yes, I certainly do. I said, but you’ve got to back up one more step. How is it that you are made willing to come when men are obstinate and depraved in their sin and will not come unto me to have eternal life, Jesus says. They have to be made willed. They’re made willing by the effectual work of the Spirit. As the gospel is proclaimed, the Spirit’s working and makes them willing. Now, indeed, the Bible talks about taking of the water of life freely. Now, this is a call to come to Christ for grace and salvation. If you want to back up just a page here, the 21-6. Notice what we read here. He that overcometh shall inherit all things. Oh, excuse me, verse 6. And he said unto me, it is done. I am alpha and omega, the beginning. and the end, this is Christ speaking, and I will give unto him that is a thirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. So the coming here is a coming to Christ, who has the water of life that he gives freely. Now, what is this water of life? Well, perhaps the simplest solution to that is to read John Chapter 4, where he meets the woman at the well, the Samaritan woman, you remember? And he says, give me a drink. And as she’s going about it, he says to her, if thou knewest the gift of God and who it is that saith unto thee, give me drink, thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. So he changes the subject somewhat, and goes to the spiritual application here, of a living water that will well within the person, well up in the person unto everlasting life, he says in that chapter, in verses 13 and 14. And I’ll leave you to look at that for yourself in John 4, 13, and 14. But this is what we’re talking about here. Is the salvation that is in Christ. So whoever is made thirsty by God’s grace, by the call of the Spirit, God, working within him, may come and enjoy the salvation of Jesus Christ, and they may come freely. Without money, without prices, Isaiah 551 tells us we can drink of the water. So this is the final blessing of the book. What an appropriate way to end this particular section. And then we have the final curse, verses 18 and 19. Let’s look at that. For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book. If any man shall add under these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book. And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life. and out of the Holy City and from the things which are written in this book. Pretty solemn, isn’t? Jesus, still testifying here, I testify to every man. These are the words of Christ, again, the faithful witness, in a most solemn manner. Jesus declares to every man this message, whether you’re rich or poor, whether you are great or small, whatever character you have, whatever position you hold in society, doesn’t matter. Anyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book must not alter it in any fashion by adding to it or taking away from it. Note that this is really true of all Scripture. man should not dare to tamper with God’s holy word. And it’s an appropriate reminder that’s placed here at the end of the Bible when you think about it that would cover all the Bible. But particularly, he’s focused here on this book, but let’s see it as a seal for the whole Bible. Don’t touch and mess with God’s word. You’re not to add your own ideas to it. your own human tradition to the word of God. To sort of put your thinking on an equal footing with God’s work. In Christ’s testimony here. Otherwise, God shall add unto you, he says. The plagues are that are in this book. Boy, who would want to be under the outpouring of divine wrath that we have studied in this book? And yet that’s what God says here. Christ is saying. and according to verse 19, one must not take away from the prophecy of this book. Oh, there might be a temptation to eliminate those things which we find most difficult or disturbing to accept, maybe smooth over the rough places in the book so that it’s more suitable to us. But God says if you do that, he shall take away. you are part out of the book of life. Now, we have to be careful when we come to this passage of Scripture. Since the book of life is based upon God’s eternal decree of election and reprobation, we saw that in 138, 178, 2015, we put that all together. We have the idea of some people’s name not being written in the Book of Life from the be foundation of the world. Others are included. This cannot literally occur. It’s thought as if God has an eraser in which your name is written in the Book of Life and then it’s taken out of the Book of Life. You know, when I was growing up, I was in an Armenian church, we used to sing this song Whosoever Will. And we’re There’s another one. There’s a new name written down in glory. Both of those have the idea of when I come to salvation, my names are written in the book of life. Well, the truth of the matter is, no, your name is written in the book of life before you come to salvation. The reason why you come to salvation is because your name is truly written in the book of life. If our names could be removed from the book of life, literally, that’s an indication that God doesn’t really know for sure who is his elect. that you’re in a state of flux. How would you ever know? He’s not sure either, if that would be the case. You could somehow lose your status. However, those who claim to be believers in Christ, and so supposedly have their names written in the Book of Life may ultimately prove to be hypocrites. These false professors from a human viewpoint now, not from the divine viewpoint because God knows who his people are and who they are not. And Jesus said he wouldn’t lose any of those people that were given to him by the Father. But from a human point of view, it may appear for a period of time that your name is written in the Book of Life. You may seem to be one of the elect. The scripture would tell you make sure of your calling an election. But if you would abandon the true faith, if you would go against God and alter his word, as he says here in this passage of scripture, then you prove yourself to be an ungodly person whose name was actually never in the Book of Wife. My point is this, such hypocrites shall never enter into the new creation and enjoy the happiness that’s mentioned in this book. And if you take away from the things that are written on this book, God shall take away from the blessings that are written in this book. In other words, the blessings promised to overcomers who are faithful to Christ, the glories of heaven, all the prosperity of the people of God, the rest of heaven, and so forth. All that will be taken away. You will not have it. So here are the final blessings and the curse of this book. Then we come fifthly, and lastly here, to a word of assurance and benediction in the last two verses. Let’s look at verses 20 and 21. He which testifies these things saith surely, I come quickly. Amen. Even so come, Lord Jesus, the grace. of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. The word of assurance is given in verse 20. Christ, the faithful and true witnesses, for the third time here, promises, I come quickly. Verse 7 of this chapter, verse 12 of this chapter, verse 20 of this chapter. This is emphasized so that the people of God would be assured of Christ acting quickly and not delaying. Now, we have touched on this last week, and we spent the time on this last week. This is a judgment coming. This is not the second coming to Christ. We showed last week how there were delays before Christ would come again, according to New Testament scriptures. Matthew 24 and 25 talks about. about these delays. Second Thessalonians chapter 2. He tells us not to think that this time of great apostasy is at hand. There’s going to be a period of time that’s going to go past. So we should realize there is a difference between a judgment coming that’s mentioned in this book. If you read chapters 2 and 3, several times Christ says, I’m going to to come and judge the churches. I’ll come and take your candlestick away, or I’ll come and do this or that or the other. I’ll judge Jezebel, the wicked one, and so forth. We’re speaking about events here of the immediate future. Things which must shortly be done, according to verse 6 of this chapter. These words were addressed to the seven churches, as we already saw earlier in this section of scripture. It had to be something that they were promised, in particular, and though they must shortly come to pass. Any true reverence for the scripture demands that we take Christ’s words here regarding time seriously. I realize there were those who would like to stretch this out for 2,000 years. But we shouldn’t play with the language. When Jesus says he’s coming quickly, shortly, soon, and so forth, doesn’t allow for such ideas. A quick judgment, however, of apostate Israel is coming, and a quick relief for the people of God will come so that they’re not under this terrible persecution, which Jesus said about the Great Tribulation, if it was not shortened, that there would be no elect that would survive it. So it would be a vindication of the saints, and John longs to see this. Amen. Even so come, Lord Jesus. Yes, let’s bring this to a close. The amen means let it be so. John here assess. a sense to Christ’s declaration. He says, in effect, yes, Lord, let it be as speedily as you have promised that you come in judgment and you spare your people. The word of assurance. And then finally, the word of benediction. Now, this shows us that this was an epistle. It was written sort of like Paul’s epistles to the various churches. to the seven churches of Asia Minor mentioned chapter 1 verse 11. But like Paul’s epistles, John letter ends with a pronouncement of a benediction upon those who read or hear the book, the recipients of the book. Grace in Scripture denotes God’s attitude of favor and love for his people. Grace is an unmerited favor that we have been granted. It involves God’s saving work on behalf of his people. That it is called the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ indicates that he is the fountain of this grace. He is the origin of this grace that is given to us. All grace flows through him. Be with you all. Relates not to every person of the world, but to whom the book is addressed. the seven churches to the people of God. I once had a neighbor I was speaking to about the doctrines of grace and Calvinism. And the neighbor lady went to this passage of scripture and said, see, there’s grace for everyone. Be with you all. This grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. And she missed the whole point here that it’s for the churches that this is written. Amen. is let it be so. That what is pronounced as a benediction would fully be enjoyed by God’s people. Now, let me close here with some practical implications from this text of scripture, this whole passage, this whole chapter, as we have studied it in the last three weeks. Versus one to five give us really the fulfillment of the covenant of grace. God has entered into a bond of friendship through Jesus Christ as the mediator with his elect people. And through this covenant, God establishes an intimate fellowship and friendship with his people. The communion of Christ redeemed people with God reaches its fullest expression in the life to come. in this time when we enter into heaven where body and soul is reunited and so forth and we reach the eternal state once we reach the eternal state this is this reaches its fruition we enjoy some of it now but the really the fullest extent of it in the life to come the people of God have access to the river line the tree of life they have their names in the book of life. There is no more curse that there’s eternal fellowship with our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, with the triune God, we might say, actually. You shall worship along with the angels right before the throne of God and you shall see God’s face. You shall be designated his people and you shall reign with Christ forever and for ever. There is a reigning with Christ for a thousand years that mentioned in chapter 20, but that’s not the eternal reign. That’s for a period of time until Satan is loosed again. But we will continue to reign. We’re always going to be reigning with Christ. This is the fulfillment of God’s eternal purpose in Christ before the foundation of the world. The fulfillment of the covenant of grace. The second thing I suggest you from this chapter in verses 8 and 9 is that God regulates all worship. Man left to himself always seems to go astray when it comes to worship. Fallen man is incapable of right worship by himself. As Jesus once declared, to the woman at the well, with regard to the Samaritans in their worship, you worship you know not want. If you don’t know God through Jesus Christ, you are deceived and you end up worshipping man-made gods such as bizarre-looking creatures or the universe itself, the sun and the moon and the stars, or even yourself as a God. This passage indicates that even the godly, as John makes a misstep here, unless they are carefully adhering to God’s prescribed worship, may go terribly astray if we’re not paying attention to what God has prescribed in His Word. Who to worship? How to worship? When to worship, the first part of the Ten Commandments are all laid out for us in Scripture so that it’s never left to our whim or our imagination as to how we’re to worship the Lord God. God regulates worship. The third thing we see is the great theme of the Bible is the glorious person of the Lord Jesus Christ. In verse 13, I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first, and the last. Our Lord Jesus Christ is not only the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, personally, with regard to him being the God man. but he is the alpha alpha and a maggot when you think about it of all scripture. Is he not? All divine revelation ultimately points us to Jesus Christ. All the Bible is a revelation of our blessed Savior from Genesis to Revelation. He is the great alphabet of the entire story. He is the creator. In Genesis 1 for all things were made through him as John. 1-3 indicates to us. He is the seed of the woman in Genesis 315 who is going to crush Satan’s head and here in this book we see his head being crushed, ultimately. He is the promised seat of Abraham in whom all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. So we see the Gentiles being brought in and that is laid out for us also in the book of Revelation. He is the Passover lamb. by which the people of God are spared when God’s death angel visits Egypt. Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us. Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 5. The tabernacle, on the temple, when we look at it, and study the book of Revelation, or book of Hebrews, if you would. The altar, the veil, the propitiation, the atonement sacrifices, all purfigure Christ and His work. He is our high priest. He is our mediator of which Melchizedek, Aaron, and Moses are types. He is the seed of David as the great king of his people and ruler of his people. He is the key subject of all the prophets and the Psalms reveal him in the most intimate manner giving us his very words, his inner thoughts. He is the bridegroom. of the book of the Song of Solomon. The whole New Testament revolves around his first coming, his person and work, his heavenly rule, and then his second coming. Christ is always the Alpha and Omega. He deserves your honor and your love. So the great theme of the Bible is the glorious person of our Lord Jesus Christ. Fourthly, beware of the mutilation of the Holy Scripture by textual critics. Versus 18 to 19, I think are very key verses for us to pay attention to. Many, if not all, very few exceptions, of the modern translations of the Bible are really in violation of these two verses of Scripture. The new versions freely add words and freely take away words from the original languages. At the same time, they pass over words without translating them at all, as if these words never existed. And so what you end up with is you end up with a version of the Bible in which you can’t really teach a plenary verbal inspiration. because the people were that translating a lot of the modern translations don’t believe in it. If they did, they would pay attention to these verses of Scripture and be afraid to touch God’s Scripture. Every word of God is pure. Proverbs 30, verse 5. Not just the thought that he gives. Every word is pure. But textual critics don’t believe so. For they mutilate the Bible in many cases. Let me just take you, let me give you just a very simple example of this and you’ll see what a profound effect that it has. In the sermon of the mount, in Matthew 522, the first part of Jesus says this, but I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. Most of your modern translations leave out the phrase without a cause. Which would indicate to us that if you get angry, then you’re guilty of sin. Now the danger of this is Jesus Christ got angry. We read he was very angry on several occasions. One occasion you remember when he cleansed the temple he made a whip and drove out the money changers and so forth. One time we read about his anger because the hardness of the heart of the scribes and the Pharisees when he would heal someone that was sick and perhaps suffering being bent over or having a demon possession on the Sabbath day and they were angry with him and he was angry with them. where I have such a hard-hearted spirit. Did Jesus sin? Is there not a righteous anger which the people of God are called upon to express, be ye angry and sin not, Ephesians 4. In verse 26 says, can you be angry and not sin? Yes. But not if you take without a cause out of that verse of scripture that I just read from the sermon on the Mount. without a cause, he’s essential then to a proper understanding of Christ’s words in that text. Textual critics remove and they change much of the text found in the majority of existing manuscripts. We believe in the majority text and what they end up doing is they end up corrupting the words of scripture. I remind you of 2nd Corinthians 217 where Paul says for we are not as many which corrupt the word of God but of sincerity but as of God in the sight of God speak we in Christ. There are a lot of people that are corrupting the word of God. We must stand by the truth of God’s God’s word. Let me make a final observation as we close now this study on the Book of Revelation. The Book of Revelation is a bewildering book. Because of the many diverse interpretations that we find, good men have widely differed on their interpretation of the book. I’m not here to say that that’s not the case. It is the case. But if we take the book of Revelation carefully, if we read into what’s to us here. Take into account the time clues seriously. The time is at hand. These things must shortly come to pass. We are therefore, I think, bound to present a partial preterist view of the book. Now, I’ve tried to lay a foundation to guide you in your own study of the book. Even if you differ with me, In your interpretation of the book, I hope that it’s been profitable to you, and it gives you something to think further about. David Clark, in his book on Revelation, made this keen observation, and I think it’s important that we think about this. Any interpretation, therefore, which makes the body of a book unintelligible to those addressed is to be rejected. Bass in his book Back to the Future on Revelation says this. And perhaps it can be said. Any interpretation that outrightly rejects biblical preterism is not able to instruct the reader in the message of the book of Revelation as understood by its original audience. So I leave you with those thoughts as we close tonight. our study here on the book of revelation. Let’s close with