1. "Words matter. Words are part of us being the image of God. It's how we can reveal the truth about ourselves to others. It's how we can understand the truth about somebody else. God has revealed Himself in words."

2. "We must always distinguish the one who delivers the message from the one who sent it."

3. "Every day, every hour, the only solvent to sin's stains is our Savior's shed blood. Nothing else will wash us. Nothing else will make us clean. This is our only way to the tree of life."

4. "Someday the last person who ever will be converted will come to Christ. And then the day of opportunity will be done. And the number of the elect filled and the heavenly city full."

5. "If you're a Christian and you're not a member of a faithful Bible preaching church, let me encourage you to join one precisely in order to help you persevere till the end."

6. "Has God given you the gift of children and now you love that gift more than you love the One who gave them to you?"

7. "If you are living your life to add up on this side of the ledger of death, you will have a miserable Christian life. Because you will be living a life that is completely sensible to those people who have no idea about God and His mercy in Christ."

8. "If you think you have found some kind of middle way, a neutral area, a way to sort of thread the needle that most people just are too crass to understand, a way to be acceptable to God and to this world, you are living in a very dangerous spiritual mirage and it will end."

9. "We don't want the wedding to last forever, do we? At some point we want to finally be married. We want to be the wife of the Lamb. We want to be with Christ. We don't want Christ's purposes never to be consummated."

10. "If you're trying to live in a way that others will not make fun of you for being a Christian, you will never live as a Christian."

Observation Questions

1. In Revelation 22:6, what does the angel declare about the words of this book, and who does he say sent the angel to show these things to God's servants?

2. According to verses 8-9, what did John do after hearing and seeing these visions, and how did the angel respond to his action?

3. What command does the angel give John in verse 10 regarding the prophecy of this book, and what reason is provided for this command?

4. In verse 13, what three pairs of titles does Jesus use to describe Himself?

5. According to verses 14-15, who is blessed and granted access to the tree of life and the city, and who remains outside?

6. In verse 17, who issues the invitation to "Come," and what is offered to those who are thirsty and willing?

Interpretation Questions

1. Why is it significant that the angel in verse 9 refuses John's worship and calls himself a "fellow servant" alongside the prophets, especially in a book where Jesus accepts titles that belong only to God (verse 13)?

2. How does Jesus calling Himself both "the root and offspring of David" (verse 16) reveal something essential about His identity that distinguishes Him from any created being?

3. What does the stern warning in verses 18-19 about adding to or taking away from this book teach us about God's view of His revealed Word and the seriousness with which we should approach Scripture?

4. The passage repeatedly emphasizes that Jesus is "coming soon" (verses 7, 12, 20), yet nearly two thousand years have passed. Based on the sermon's explanation, what does "soon" communicate about Christ's readiness and the nature of His return?

5. How does the dual portrayal of Jesus as both universal Judge who rewards "according to what he has done" (verse 12) and as the Savior who offers the "free gift of the water of life" (verse 17) shape our understanding of the gospel message?

Application Questions

1. The sermon emphasized that Christians should be people who give themselves to studying God's Word. What specific, practical step could you take this week to prioritize time in Scripture—similar to the friend who arrives early at work to read the Bible before his day begins?

2. Verse 17 calls those who hear to say "Come" and invite others to receive the free gift of the water of life. Who is one person in your life who needs to hear this invitation, and what would it look like for you to share this good news with them this week?

3. The sermon asked honestly whether we can pray "Come, Lord Jesus" or whether attachments to jobs, relationships, or plans make us reluctant for Christ to return. What specific thing in your life might you be holding onto more tightly than your hope in Christ's return, and how can you begin to loosen that grip?

4. According to the sermon, if we truly desire Christ's return, there will be evidence in how we live—even appearing "crazy" to a watching world. In what area of your life (your speech, your finances, your priorities) might you be "hedging your bets" rather than living in light of Christ's coming?

5. The passage describes those who "wash their robes" as having access to the tree of life. Since the sermon explained this refers to trusting in Christ's blood shed for our sins, how does remembering daily that your only hope is Christ's righteousness (not your own reformation) change how you approach your failures and temptations this week?

Additional Bible Reading

1. 2 Peter 3:1-18 — This chapter directly addresses the question of why Christ's return seems delayed and calls believers to holy living while waiting for the day of the Lord.

2. 1 Corinthians 15:12-28 — Paul explains the resurrection and Christ's coming victory over death, supporting the sermon's emphasis that our hope extends beyond this life.

3. Hebrews 1:1-4 — This passage declares that God has spoken finally and definitively through His Son, reinforcing the sermon's teaching about Christ as the ultimate revelation of God.

4. Deuteronomy 4:1-8 — Moses warns Israel not to add to or subtract from God's commands, providing the Old Testament parallel to Revelation's warning about altering Scripture.

5. Titus 2:11-14 — Paul describes Christians as those who wait for the "blessed hope" of Christ's appearing, connecting directly to the sermon's call to long for and live in light of His return.

Sermon Main Topics

I. Questions About How the World Will End

II. Revelation Teaches Us the Truth

III. Revelation Teaches Us About Christ

IV. Revelation Teaches Us About His Return

V. The Christian's Desire for Christ's Soon Return

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Detailed Sermon Outline

When will the world end? And how will it happen?

Deliberately or by accident or error?

By selfish consumption of impersonal processes or by impersonal processes rather affected by our choices? In sudden collapse or slow extinction? Will it be weapons, chemical or biological, pandemic plagues, meteorological changes, or the impact of a random asteroid? Will it be murder or manslaughter?

Every age has its own answer. Ecological disaster, the experts say today. Nuclear war, the experts say, 20 years ago. In the cold lifelessness of a post-solar world, say scientists, as the sun's hydrogen is exhausted and a red giant is formed and our planet is incinerated before the sun collapses into a white dwarf, cold and dark, to await the rest of uninhabited history.

An emerging of all being, says the Hindu, In an alien invasion from outer space, says the science fiction writer. In a medical victory over death, says the optimist. In a post-Homo sapiens world, say the evolutionists. In overpopulation, mass starvation, and species extinction, says the pessimistic anthropologist.

It never Will says, well, I guess, either the optimist or the pessimist, depending on your perspective.

What does the Bible teach? The book that more people than any other book in history have viewed as the very words of our Creator. What does it have to say about this?

It actually has quite a bit to say about this in the Old Testament prophets and in the New Testament letters supremely in the teaching of Jesus Christ. Since this spring we've been studying through the book of Revelation, the last book in the Bible. And what we've found is not really so much new information about the end as presentations of it, invisions God gave to John which summarize what God has already revealed about it. Michael Wilcock has called this book of Revelation a sacrament of the imagination. Like Baptism and the Lord's Supper, this book summarizes the Bible's teaching in pictures and images and visions.

In this case, about the end of the world in a most remarkable and memorable way. Human revenge fades into God's justice. Sinners like ourselves finally find either judgment or redemption. Promises that God made ages ago are at last fulfilled. Hopes we've deferred, worries we've fought, joys we've anticipated, suspicions we've had, tears we've shed, ambitions we've nourished, love we've cherished, all this and so much more.

It finally ends in the realities that we've seen presented here in the visions of this book of Revelation. So let's turn to the last book in the Bible. Take your Bible. You'll be helped to pay attention if you find a Bible, open it up, open the back cover, find that last book. If you're not used to using the Bible, let me simply tell you it's not the table of weights and measures.

Turn to the last page or two of the text. Revelation chapter 22, that's the large number, and we're looking at verses 6 to the end. That's the small numbers after the large chapter numbers. Revelation chapter 22 verse 6.

The angel said to me, '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. I am coming soon. Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy in this book. I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things.

And when I had heard and seen them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been showing them to me. But he said to me, Do not do it. I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers the prophets and all of all who keep the words of this book. Worship God.

Then He told me, 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. Behold, I am coming soon.

My reward is with me and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. 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. Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches.

I am the root and offspring of David and the bright morning star. 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. 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. He who testifies to these things says, Yes, I am coming soon. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people.

Amen.

Now reading even this portion reminds us that Revelation was written as a letter to the churches. You can tell by the way it ends there down in verse 21. We could call this book 4th John if we wanted to. Look at verse 16. The youe here is plural.

Jesus turns, as it were, to the camera to speak directly to the churches having this read and telling them that this testimony is for them. He says it is for the churches. Brothers and sisters, I think He is looking at us this morning. And through the words of this book He's telling us that this book is for all the countless, thousands of other congregations He intended this for, yes, and all the millions of other Christians He intended this for in other countries and other ages, yes, but He also means it for us here now, together, this morning.

This is a letter to the churches, including this church. Instructing us on the end of the world and on our lives right now in the light of His coming. Revelation teaches us the truth about Christ and about His return. That's my outline this morning. It's three points.

Revelation teaches us the truth, point one, about Christ, point two, And about His return, point three, very simple. Revelation teaches us the truth about Christ and about His return. That's what we'll think about. And I pray that as we do, you will be instructed and encouraged. And I pray that if you don't know Christ, you will be saved from His judgment on you for your sins.

I pray that Christians will be strengthened in our perseverance and groan in our love for God.

So let's begin, shall we? This book of Revelation teaches us, number one, the truth.

We see again the typical concern that we've seen throughout this book of Revelation, indeed we see throughout the Bible, for that which is true. Look again at verse 6.

The angel said to me, 'These words are trustworthy and true. The Lord God, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent His angel to show His servants the things that must soon take place. Throughout this book we have seen a concern on the part of the messengers of the vision to John that he understand that these visions are from God and John's concern then to faithfully represent these visions to us. We're to understand them as totally reliable and accurate. Of course, this is consistent with who God has revealed Himself to be.

The reigning Christ we see even back in chapter 3 names Himself as the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness. If you look back just in chapter 19 in the passage we studied a couple of weeks ago, you see there that He calls Himself in verse 11, Faithful and True. This is who He is. This is how He will communicate. It's also no surprise that if Christianity cares so much about standards of truth that we'll see that reflected in the Bible and in this book of Revelation.

Do you notice in verse 8 that John one more time adds his own personal testimony? He says, I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. These words were being written down by the very one who had heard these messages and saw these visions. John was himself an eyewitness. John, like his Master, is concerned with truth.

And this makes sense. The whole reason Christ gave these visions to John was to reveal these truths to the churches. I mean, look at the command in verse 10.

Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book because the time is near. Now why would the heavenly messenger need to instruct John not to seal up the words of the prophecy of this book? Because if you look at prophecies in the Old Testament, if you look back at Isaiah, you look back at Daniel, you'll find that sometimes God would reveal things to these prophets, presumably for their own encouragement, that He would then instruct them not to reveal to others because it wasn't time for it.

Now that's not so surprising, is it? Every parent, every wife and husband, every employee can understand that there are times to have certain discussions and there are times not to have those discussions. Well, John is being told here that now is finally the time to reveal those things. That's why they've been shown to him. Now is no longer a time for sealing things up and so God has revealed himself.

In these sentences. Now, sometimes people devalue words and statements today. They think that propositions are poor excuses for really personally and intimately relating to other people. For such people, religion is really about immediate, subjective, religious feelings and not words or confessions or churches or actions. But the God of the Bible has shown Himself to be a God of truth.

He concerns Himself with truth. He reveals Himself to us by of words in Scripture. One way to think of how vital our words are to our ability to known and to be known in relationship, in the relationships we have with each other and with God, is really, I think, to consider our dogs. Okay? Many people have dogs.

It's a common thing. Many people feel that their dog is their best friend. They'll say, My dog never criticizes me. You know, my dog understands me. My dog always appears happy to see me.

I know how to relate to my dog. Really, I don't think what you're saying saying about words is really that true because I have a wonderful, one of my best relationships really with my dog.

Well, I'll tell you honestly, I've always had dogs. We've got two dogs. I like my dogs. But I'll tell you this, if I go home today and Esme comes up to me smiling, ready to lick my hand, and then looks up and says, so how was church? That's going to change my relationship with my dog.

Friends, words matter.

Words are part of us being the image of God. It's how we can reveal the truth about ourselves to others. It's how we can understand the truth about somebody else. God has revealed Himself in words. Words count.

That's why Christians care about speech. That's why Christians care about freedom of speech because we follow Jesus Christ who taught in John 14 that He is the truth. That's why we want to be known as those who are credible and reliable and faithful and truthful at work or by our parents or by our spouses or by our children and friends. That's why we Christians want to give ourselves to studying God's Word to learn all we can about Him and about who we are in Christ and how we should live. That's why we're concerned to teach our children.

I was speaking to a friend this week who told me about his simple practice. God has been very good to him lately and has given him this particular situation. Situation in life that he had prayed for in this... even this particular office. And so he determined simply that every day he would honor God by never spending a day in that office without first going in, getting there early in order to read Scripture.

He uses the machine through the Bible in a Year reading plan and then to spend time reflecting and praying. Doesn't he have to get there early in order to do that? He does.

Isn't that inconvenient sometimes? I'm sure it is. But he does intend to honor God in that commitment to give himself to studying God's Word for himself. We are people in that sense of the book because our God reveals himself through the book. For any of you who have ever noticed the connection there is between your spending time in God's Word and you're relying on it, you're growing in faith, even in your trust of His plans for you, even in your desire for His return.

That's why we have long, serious expositions of God's Word here. Our congregation understands that words matter. We care that God means to reveal Himself in His Word to those who will read it.

And study it and we mean to be those people. That's why there are these very sharp words here about the accuracy of the book of Revelation. Did you notice that? Verses 18 and 19, they kind of stick out. 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. Could God be any more serious? Do not add or take away, he says. Consider the seriousness of what we are being told about the nature of Scripture here. Now, of course, this is primarily a reference to the book of Revelation.

John didn't know of something called the New Testament, okay? He didn't know he was writing the 27th book in the New Testament. He certainly didn't know he was writing anything that was at the end of a collection of books, as if you can now look back and look at all 66 books.

So we don't believe that the order of the books in our printed Bibles is inspired. In fact, when these were first being written, you didn't even have books. It was a new technology. It was the Internet, not yet discovered, right? So people just had individual scrolls.

No, so John didn't pen these words with all 66 books of the Bible in mind. He penned these words in reference to the book of Revelation.

Now in that sense, it's very much like Moses' warning. To the children of Israel before he died. Back in Deuteronomy chapter 4, Moses says, Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the Lord your God that I give you. So the words of this book are special words. God revealed Himself through the prophets, just like He mentioned in our passage up in verse 6.

Supremely, God has revealed Himself in the eternal Son of God taking on flesh, the Word of God coming to live among us. You remember the great opening of Hebrews? In the New Testament. In the past, God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways. But in these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the universe.

The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His being.

So John here in Revelation 22:18 and 19 is being instructed Himself about the seriousness, and He's instructing us about the seriousness of our in any way attempting to alter this self-revelation of God because words matter. Now, although I think it's evident, as I've just argued, that verses 18 and 19 refer to the book of Revelation rather than the whole Bible considered as a single book, The conclusions that people draw from applying this verse wrongly to the Bible as a whole, their conclusions are true. So I want to be very careful and talk about that. We should never attempt to add or subtract from what God has revealed about Himself anywhere in His Word. Okay?

So we are now going to drop into a theological lecture to instruct you on a topic I almost Christians never have place to talk about an expositional preaching and that is the canon of the Bible. Here we go. Theologians use this word canon from the Greek word meaning rule or standard, literally reed, a reed that would be used as a rule or standard. These books, these 66 books and no others are the rule for us as Christians. So the canon of books that makes up the Bible is closed.

In the sense that it is complete. And this has always been important for Christians to understand. John in fact wrote 1 John in order to help Christians discern what teaching they should accept as true teaching, Orthodox, Apostolic, part of the teaching that's true and which they should reject. You can look at 1 John 4 later to see an example of that. So the point of canon is that this is the measuring stick by which we Christians then are to evaluate everything else.

Now of course we have to realize that we wouldn't know this God if He had not revealed Himself to us. Nothing in His act of creating us obliged Him to reveal Himself to us as He has. But He has revealed Himself in the history of Israel and supremely through Jesus Christ. And if God has revealed Himself by His Word, His Word will certainly be protected and passed on and recognized by His people. So this is the pattern of God in the Bible.

God first will inspire that something is going to happen, words that will tell about something that's coming, and then He will act in history, and then He will inspire explanations of what He did in history. That's His pattern. You see it in all the great acts of God. You see it in the Exodus. You see it in the reign of David.

You see it in the exile, and you see it supremely in the ministry of Jesus Christ. So the Old Testament was recognized before the time of Christ. Christ put his stamp of approval on it. The Lord Jesus, along with the rest of the New Testament authors, and for that matter, the first century Jews from various groups, all treated the Old Testament as the Word of God and all agreed on the extent of the Old Testament canon, what books were in it, the law, the prophets, the writings, and which is the same set of books we have today that you have in your hands in your Bible. Okay, this pattern of God revealing Himself through inspired words around His mighty acts in history, as we see in the Old Testament, is also what we see in the New regarding Jesus and His own ministry.

So if you read through John chapters 14 and 15 and 16, you'll see Jesus, the all-sufficient, final, exclusive covenant mediator between God and man, Jesus Himself commissioned the apostles and their circle and promised His Spirit to to them to provide the authoritative interpretation and application of what he was doing in coming to redeem us. So these books of the New Testament are the books then that teach us about Jesus Christ. The entire storyline of the Scripture really is leading us to Christ. Christ is the final revelation of God. He is the Word of God.

The entire New Testament then is simply the unpacking of who Jesus is.

The end of the ages dawned in Him and He is what the Old Testament has been pointing to. And the canon of the New Testament is centered in Jesus Christ. So Christ fulfilled the Old Testament promises of a new covenant, a new exodus, even a new creation. The only event we await now is Christ's return, as the book of Revelation has been teaching us. There need be no new revelation since there will not be any new revelatory events.

That's why Hebrews 1:2 says that God has spoken to us in the last days by His Son.

So Jesus Christ is the definitive and final revelation. That's why Jude and Jude 3 can refer to the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. It's interesting that even during the time that these books were being written, the New Testament writers seemed to have an understanding that these books were being added to the canon of Scripture, to the existing, in essence, Old Testament canon. So Peter, for example, in 2 Peter 3:16 refers to Paul's letters as Scripture, 2 Peter 3:16.

Paul includes Luke's Gospel as Scripture when he writes in 1 Timothy 5:18, For the Scripture says, the worker deserves his wages. That's a quotation from no place in the Old Testament. It's a quotation from Luke's Gospel, 1 Timothy 5:18.

So, how did we get then these exact books comprising the New Testament canon? Short answer, God in His providence. Gave them to us. These are the earliest texts available that bear witness to the historical Jesus. If you want to know the truth about Jesus, you've got to go to these books.

A good case can be made that each of these texts in the New Testament has a close connection with one or more of the apostles and they in turn with Jesus himself. So if you want to know who Jesus was and what he did, this is what you have to go to. And any book that claims to tell you about Jesus, like some Gnostic gospel from the third century that Newsweek will discover every Easter or Christmas, those books that publishers make money off of us from, those books have to square with these books, not these books with those. These are the original historical sources. This is why we see in Acts chapter 1 when Judas hangs himself and the apostles need to replace him with another witness to Christ, you see in Acts Acts 1:21, they say, It is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from John's baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us, for one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection.

So friends, that's why nothing written subsequently to the living memory of the circle of Christ's original disciples can lay claim to that same closeness with the historical Jesus. That's why the churches have always held these books to be authoritative. So speaking theologically, how I would summarize that is to say the Holy Spirit led the churches to accept these 27 books. Long before any festal letter in 367 A.D. or some council in the fourth century listed them out, the Holy Spirit had done the work of leading them to recognize these. So over the decades as they became known, they were universally accepted by churches, whereas others were not.

So in the second and third century, church fathers referenced the unique authority of Jesus and his authorized apostles as the very Word of God. But they never claimed that authority for themselves even when they thought the things they were writing were true. So for example, when Jerome put together the translation of the Bible into Latin, the Vulgate, in the early fifth century, he noted in his memo to the monks, that the Apocrypha was helpful historical material, but not on the same level with the rest of Scripture. So very early on there was a recognition of Scripture as a bounded set, limited, which did not extend beyond the boundaries of the Old and New Testaments. So friends, you see what I'm saying.

The authority of these books then depended on no council to confer it, rather the churches recognized them as being God's own work. The Holy Spirit has made these books the covenant, the testament, the canon, the rule to establish and nurture and guide his church. So these books are the books that reveal and establish and regulate our relationship with God through Christ. And they have been from the beginning. You cannot speak about Christianity apart from these books.

These books define what Christianity is, sort of like a contract. That's why if we were to now amend this canon, this set of books in any way, we would be breaking, even attempting to revoke the covenant and seeking to establish a new one. Brothers and sisters, finally I think we have to say that Scripture is self-authenticating. You read these books and you know that it is God who is speaking. The Bible is the Word of God.

Now because I so rarely talk about this, I will even give you footnotes in this sermon. If you want to know more about this, I suggest you look at a book either by Bruce Metzger or F.F. Bruce, Bruce Metzger, late of Princeton, F.F. Bruce, late of Manchester. Both wrote very good books.

Just called the Canon of the Bible on the one hand, the Canon of the New Testament on the other. If you want a more brief treatment, you can certainly look at chapter 3 of Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology where he deals with the Canon of the Old and New Testaments in about 15 pages. Or you could look at the end of Carson and Moo's Introduction to the New Testament. They have a great chapter, their final chapter is on the Canon. Or if you want something even more brief, just take your ESV Study Bible, turn to page 2577 and you can find three brief, helpful articles on the canon.

Well, I hope that all this helps you appreciate God's Word more. Helps you trust His Word, rely on Him more. And one way you do that practically is by giving yourself to read God's Word, to study God's Word. And in doing that, you'll find that you can trust God more as you rely more on His Word. So the book of Revelation is true and trustworthy, and so is the whole Bible.

But we should move on. This book of Revelation teaches us the truth, especially, number two, about Christ.

Did you notice how rich this passage is in telling us about Jesus? A few times here in verses 16 and 20 and 21, he's referred to as Jesus. Verse 16, he even identifies himself by that name, Jesus, I, Jesus.

And then in verses 20 and 21, John calls Him Jesus. I've heard some pious Christians think that it's a mark of impiety for Christians to refer to Jesus as Jesus. We should refer to Him only as Jesus Christ or as our Lord Jesus. Jesus is part of 1970's informality. Well, Jesus, He referred to Himself as Jesus.

I, Jesus.

So I want to be respectful, but I do think there's a point in His revealing Himself using His earthly name from His incarnation. It reminds us of the historicity of this one, that this exalted one that these amazing visions are about in Revelation, this exalted one is also the one who walked the paths of Galilee and Judea, who physically hung on the cross and who was bodily resurrected and ascended into heaven and will return even as he came. You see this rabbi that John knew, remember this one who's writing was a disciple that he followed and listened to and served and saw crucified and saw again resurrected and ascended into heaven. This Jesus was far more than merely a teacher. He was the fulfillment of the prophecies of the Old Testament.

Looking again in verse 16, you see here Jesus calls himself by two other names. Which are rooted in the Old Testament. In Numbers 24 Balaam uttered an oracle which included this line, and a star will come out of Jacob, a scepter will rise out of Israel. Jesus here presents himself as the fulfillment of that prophecy when he calls himself the bright morning star.

Also he calls himself the root and offspring of David. Now how cool is that? Think about it for a minute. He's saying that He is the root of David. That is, David has come out of Him.

He is before David and He is the offspring of David. He is the descendant of David. He is before or after, so that one who in the Bible is the supreme example of a king, David, is the one in whose line Jesus is. And is also the one that David is actually from. Very much like the way Jesus likes to confuse/teach the rabbis about His identity by quoting the Psalm of David, Psalm 110, where David says, the Lord Yahweh said to my Lord.

And then Jesus asked the rabbis, Wait, wait, wait, who is this one whom David, the one from whom the Messiah is to come, whom David calls my Lord. We see here this is the great one who is the second person of the Trinity. Jesus also presents Himself as being fully God here. Look at what He calls Himself there in verse 13. He says, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.

This is what God calls Himself back in Revelation chapter 1. In fact, in the passage we looked at last week, just look over in chapter 21 verse 6. This is what God calls Himself. Now some people try to say that Jesus Christ is a created being, just a very important created one. Maybe the first created one, but a created being.

You'll have that kind of teaching sort of in Mormonism and certainly in Islam and Jehovah's Witnesses. But friends, that's not what the Bible teaches. Now according to the book of Revelation, here Jesus calls Himself by God's own unique titles.

By those things that only God should call Himself. The Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. And this, remember, in a book that is tenaciously monotheistic. This book is based upon the fact that there is only one God. Remember, why is John in exile in the first place?

Because he refused to worship the emperor. He would only worship God.

Here in our passage in verses 8 and 9, for the second time in the book, overwhelmed, I think, at what he had seen, John fell down to worship this heaven-sent messenger. But this same messenger rebukes him. Look at verse 9, But he said to me, Don't do it. I'm a fellow servant with you and with your brothers, the prophets, and of all who keep the words of this book. Worship God.

So, friends, once again, John ironically exemplifies the very opposite of the kind of faithfulness he's exhorting us to in this book. The very faithfulness he's been exiled for. He worships someone other than God. So John's sin in this matter becomes the occasion for an angelic exhortation to worship God, meaning worship God alone.

John illustrates for his first readers that if we're not to worship a heavenly angel, we are certainly not to worship an earthly ruler. Friends, consider the greatness of the task of bringing God's words. It's interesting to me here that this angel calls the prophets a fellow servant with him. Prophets are ranked with angels. And yet, neither are to be worshiped, neither angels nor prophets.

We must always distinguish the one who delivers the message from the one who sent it.

Jesus also presents Himself as the coming Judge of the world. Look there in verse 12.

He says, I will give to everyone He's the universal Judge, just what He taught in His earthly ministry in Matthew 16, For the Son of Man is going to come in His Father's glory with His angels, and then He will reward each person according to what he has done. And yet throughout this passage we see that Christ is not only the universal Judge, but He is also the Savior. So there is in this chapter invitation after invitation to come to believe the gospel yourself and to share this gospel with others. Look there at verse 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.

That reference there to washing your robes reminds me of the description back in chapter 7, verse 14 about those whose robes were washed in the blood of the Lamb. And that's rich imagery that has in it what we Christians believe is the whole point of Christianity. Basically, if you're here and you're not a Christian, here is the summary of Christianity. God made you. You're a sinner.

That means you do what you want rather than what He wants. And because of that, because God is really good, He's going to judge you. He will judge you on this final day. And He will judge you forever for your sins against Him, an infinite God. And He's right to do that.

Your only hope is not reforming your life. Which, by the way, I think is what every other religion tells you. If you're of another religion, you want to take me up on that afterwards, I'll be at that door. I'd love to talk to you about it. I think we're the only ones who teach that reforming yourself won't work.

Christianity alone tells us that there is someone to save us from our sins. So is there reformation involved? Yes, the Holy Spirit will come in us and our lives will change. We'll repent of our sins. The crucial fact is we are trusting in Christ for his obedience to God, His righteousness to be accounted to us.

Christ suffered on the cross as a substitute, bearing God's wrath for you if you will repent of your sins and trust in Him. He bore God's wrath for the sins of all of us that would ever do that. And He calls us now to trust in Him alone. That's the good news. He is our Savior.

Friends, every day, every hour, the only solvent to sin's stains is our Savior's shed blood. Nothing else will wash us. Nothing else will make us clean. This is our only way to the tree of life. So through Christ we're invited in verse 17 to come and to take.

Look again at verses 16 and 17. It's really a little summary of the whole Bible.

Verses 16 and 17, 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. 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. Friends, Jesus says to the thirsty, Come, come for this free gift of life. Are you among the thirsty today? Have you come here, not just with a passing physical thirst that you're going to satisfy in a little bit, but know with a thirst you haven't ever found out how to satisfy? If you are thirsty like that, look up.

Look at what God has done in Jesus. Look at the Savior that He provides for you. Look to Christ. Every service here is intended at this church to be a meditation on Jesus Christ, on who He is and what He has done. It is a structured time of meditation.

Now we would encourage you to read the Bible for yourself, confirm these things, study the Gospels. We would happily do that with you here. You'll find at the door on the way out, there'll be staff members. Just speak to one of us. We would happily arrange to do six short studies with you through the Gospel of Mark if that would be useful for you.

Reflecting on this invitation here in verses 16 and 17, the Scottish minister in the 19th century, Robert Murray M'Cheyne, wrote to a friend, I must not weary you one word more. Look at Revelation 22:17. Sweet, sweet words. Whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely. The last invitation in the Bible and the freest.

Christ's parting word to a world of sinners. Anyone that pleases may take the glorious way of salvation. Can you refuse it? Dear friend, be persuaded by a fellow worm. Not to put off another moment.

My Christian brothers and sisters, you see here in verse 17 that you are also exhorted to share this news with others. He says here, Let him who hears, that's you, you're hearing, let him who hears say, Come. You're exhorted here, you're being given a charge. To tell others and to invite others. Verse 11 may be a kind of giving over of the wrong to their wrongdoing, the vile to their vileness.

But while they can hear this invitation, there is still hope.

Brothers and sisters, are you not moved by the thought of the lost? It was Jesus Himself who taught in Matthew 8, The faithless will be thrown outside into the darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And then just look at the text again. Look at verse 15. Look at this list of people.

Those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, Everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

And that is what some of you were.

But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. So friends, if you're not that anymore, it's because of God's grace. And a part of that grace was someone telling you about Jesus. Will you not be that person for someone else?

It's kind of God to warn us like this. Before such are thrown forever into the lake of fire, God through this book, perhaps through you, will speak to a friend and He offers this free gift of the water of life. If they will only Repent and believe in this Jesus we see here. The Messiah, the eternal Son of God, the one who will soon be our judge forever, and yet who can even now, even today, be your Savior. Oh friend, take this free gift.

Take this water of life that He offers you today. Why do you keep searching for what you can't tell? You're even searching for through your dissatisfaction. Why will you not turn to Jesus? This book teaches us the truth about Jesus Christ.

And of course, speaking about His coming as our Judge and preaching the book of Revelation, and at the very end of the book of Revelation, we can't ignore the third point. This book of Revelation teaches us the truth about Jesus Christ, number three, and about His return.

In this final passage of the book of Revelation, we're taught one last time that Jesus will return and that He will return soon. We've seen this throughout this book and we see it throughout this passage, don't we? Look in verse 6, He refers to the things that must soon take place. And then in verse 7, Jesus Himself says, I am coming soon. And then the angel warns in verse 10 that the time is near, just like Jesus had taught in Mark 13 that we heard Philip read earlier for us.

And then in verse 12, Jesus says again, I am coming soon. And then again in verse 20, He reaffirms it. For the third time in this passage, Jesus says, Yes, I am coming soon.

Now, the question that Christians have always faced with this is that if Jesus taught that He was returning soon, but He also taught in Matthew 24 that no one knows the day or the hour, and if years and years have gone by, then how are we supposed to understand this?

What we're to understand is that Jesus is ready to return.

And that when He does return, it will be quick. By the time you know He is returning in the sense of it's happening this instant, it will be too late to do anything about it.

It has been this way, in fact, ever since Pentecost. For all we know, we will be the last generation ever. The long-promised Messiah has come. He died and has been raised. The Spirit has been poured out.

All we await now is the return in glory of Christ to judge the living and the dead.

Someday the last person who ever will be converted will come to Christ. And then the day of opportunity will be done. And the number of the elect filled and the heavenly city full.

We don't know when that day will be. But until that time, we wait. And we Christians should be encouraged to, as He says here in verse 7, keep the words of this book. We should persevere. The soonness of Christ's return is a call to holiness, very much like we heard in Mark 13 where Jesus taught that because He is coming back, we should always be on our guard, be alert.

Keep watch. If you want to know more about, well, but how does it mean soon if it hasn't happened in all this time? There's a whole chapter in the Bible on that. Anybody know what that is?

2 Peter, chapter 3. You can read it this afternoon as the early Christians thought about, well, what does it mean for it to be soon if it hasn't happened yet?

Now, brothers and sisters, if you're finding this world hard, Be encouraged to persevere, whether it's your job or your gender, your spouse or your family, your marriage or your joys or your fears. Whatever would eclipse Christ and His soon return from your sight, remind yourself of who Christ is and of what He's promised and keep going. You will get home.

We are to be a part of those here in verse 9 who keep the words of this book. So, if you're a Christian and you're not a member of a faithful Bible preaching church, let me encourage you to join one precisely in order to help you persevere till the end. Which brings us to one last matter that we see here at the end of this book and that I want us to cover in this series on Revelation. And that is the Christian's desire for Christ's soon return. The Christian's desire for Christ's soon return.

You see verse 20, Jesus says, I am coming soon. And then John writes, Amen, which means, Yes, let it be. I agree. Come, Lord Jesus. Now, friends, honestly, can you pray that prayer or do you find that difficult?

What are you looking forward to?

Have you made your job God gave you to be able to support you and your family into an idol that you really don't want to be without? Has God given you the gift of children and now you love that gift more than you love the One who gave them to you?

Do you want Christ to come and act finally and decisively to exonerate God against all the satanic slander that God is not worth living for? Christ is not worth following. He is not worth dying for. That's what this whole world thinks about their Creator. Do you want that to end?

Do you want the truth to be known about God and His glorious goodness?

Can you trust God in the perfection of His holiness, His justice, His grace, His mercy when it comes to your unfinished plans, your unmet hopes, even your unsaved family and friends?

Do you trust His timing?

Can you pray for Christ's return? Or would you rather continue to live in this world without His perfect rule, without His immediate presence? Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, Verse 19, if only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men. Oh friend, if you're one that finds you cannot honestly pray, come Lord Jesus. Meditate on that verse this afternoon.

1 Corinthians 15:19, if only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men. Perhaps your heart is cold to Christ. Reluctant to pray for His return because you've made sure that your life in this world is not very pitiful.

It is not something that the eyes of this world question over. It does not depend upon our hope in Christ being fulfilled to make it all add up. Friends, do you live a life that is inexplicable to the people in this world because you have so wagered it and leveraged it on the truth of the Christian gospel of the resurrection and the coming of Christ. Or have you hedged your bets every day of your life in what you have done with your jobs and your money and your relationships, in what you say and don't say, in what you give and don't give, in what you hope for or don't hope for, even in what you pray for or don't pray for. Let me tell you right now that if you are living your life to add up on this side of the ledger, of death, you will have a miserable Christian life.

Because you will be living a life that is completely sensible to those people who have no idea about God and His mercy in Christ and His yearning for the nations.

Friend, if you would be able to pray for Christ to return, look to where you put your heart, where you put your time and your money. How does your life add up? That's what we see here. This book of Revelation calls us again and again to overcome exactly because this fallen world is so opposed to Christ and His gospel. So if you think you have found some kind of middle way, you know, a neutral area, a way to sort of thread the needle that most people just are too crass to understand, a way to be acceptable to God and to this world, you are living in a very dangerous spiritual mirage and it will end.

Again and again we've seen in this book of Revelation that if we are allied to the true God, we are in conflict with this world. And that's why this declaration of Christ's soon return brings hope, even joy, to believers in this world. As the old song puts it, By and by, when the morning comes and the saints of God are gathered home, we will tell the story of how we've overcome. And so we pray with John here in verse 20, Come, Lord Jesus, really echoing Christ's declarations that He's given again and again here in verse 7 and verse 12 and here in verse 20. Come, Lord Jesus.

I am coming soon. Our response, Come, Lord Jesus. This is a typical Christian prayer. Do you ever pray this? Would it be on your top 10 prayers?

It's here in the Bible. And it's not just here. If you go back to 1 Corinthians 16:22, Paul prays exactly this. Come, Lord, come. It's interesting, he even does it in the original manuscript.

It's not in Greek, it's in Aramaic. It's like he remembers it in Aramaic because the disciples, the very disciples of Jesus, prayed this prayer. They learned it from Jesus. Remember in the Lord's Prayer when they asked how to pray? One of the things He taught them to pray is Thy kingdom come, Thy kingdom come in Aramaic.

And so that's what they were praying. Maranatha. Come, Lord. This is a basic prayer for us as Christians. Of course, the very image of the bride that John has used here suggests this joyful anticipation of consummation of the marriage union that's about to be.

As I was sitting in Melody and Preston's wedding yesterday, I couldn't help but think of this, that her situation as a bride, yes, even on that day, more than even just as a wife, because the wife is also speaking about the consummation. It's interesting that we have the bride image that's used. The bride is that time where the commitment is there and the joy is high. Why? Because the anticipation of consummation is there.

And yet the consummation is not yet there. And that's what we are in this time. We are the bride. Friends, I don't know about you, but we don't want the wedding to last forever, do we? At some point we want to finally be married.

We want to be the wife of the Lamb to use this image. We want to be with Christ. We don't want Christ's purposes never to be consummated. We live in, as the theologians call it, the now and the not yet, in the sense that the end has come upon us. Christ has become incarnate.

He has taken upon Himself our nature. And in our conversions, we've been born again by His Spirit. We've been filled by God's own Spirit. Even now we do what Peter calls participate in the divine nature. But on that day, that final day, we will be with Him fully forever.

All of our marriages here are just a foreshadowing of of that final coming union on that day. So now today the bride waits with great hope and with continuing faithfulness and giving herself to no one else. We wait, but we do wait in anticipation. You remember what we confessed earlier this morning in the Apostles' Creed: He will come. This is what makes us Christian.

It is this belief, this desire even that sets us apart and makes us a Christian assembly, a Christian congregation. Come Lord Jesus. We pray for Christ's return as Jesus taught us Thy kingdom come. The kingdom will come finally one day with the coming of the king. Brothers and sisters, do you long for this?

Why should we? For so many reasons. More reasons than we could possibly think of, even if we spent all day together with an enormous whiteboard.

We should long for this because we desire the church to appear in the glory and beauty of holiness that will truly reflect the God that made us. Because we desire the church to overcome, to survive, to outlast those that now persecute us. Because we desire her true identity to be revealed to all so that God will be proved right and true in all of His promises. On that day the church will be purified and the invisible church will become visible. On that day there will be perfect peace and unity among all Christians even as there will be perfect peace and unity between all Christians and God.

On that day Satan will be finally and fully defeated. On that day and not until then our patience may end in satisfaction and our desire in joy. On that day all of our own struggles with sin will end. On that day sickness and pain and mourning and sorrow and even death itself will be done. On that day all of God's plans for us planted in this life will come to full fruition.

On that day our bodies will be raised and glorified to love and serve and be with God forever. On that day our love will finally be completely matched with His.

Friends, I could go on without stopping. This world, you see, even this whole world does not satisfy the church of Jesus Christ. And so she prays, Come, Lord Jesus.

Now the carnal say, Do not come. The demons during the ministry of Jesus did not want Jesus to come.

The carnal say, I've got things here and now that I care about more than I do you, God. But Christians, Christians are exactly and precisely those who are marked out as those who are longing for His appearing. Remember how Paul wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy 4, Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing. Capitol Hill Baptist Church, let's be honest. If Christ were a good congregationalist, and he were presenting his return as a vote at our next members' meeting.

Would we vote for him to return now?

What if there were no social pressure and it was a secret ballot?

Friends, if you truly desire Christ to come, There will be evidence in your life. You'll live a little bit like a crazy person, at least crazy as this world thinks. Even now you will be desiring ways in your life, what Paul calls the fruit of the Spirit.

Friend, if you're trying to live in a way that others will not make fun of you for being a Christian, you will never live as a Christian. To truly follow Christ, to be out and out for Jesus, you will find that a desire for Christ will manifest itself in this life and it will manifest itself in a way that others will not fully understand. You will have a desire for His Word that people do not understand. You will have a desire for His people that others do not understand. How does Paul describe the Christian in Titus 2?

Christians, he describes in Titus 213 as those who wait for the blessed hope, the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. This appearing will be glorious to us. And so in the midst of our temptations and our discouragements and struggles in this world, we do pray with John here, Come Lord Jesus. As Richard Sibbes said, We have nothing to do with Christ unless we have His Spirit. To stir up motions and desires of better things than this world can afford.

I love that. Better things than this world can afford.

That's what we found in our study through the book of Revelation.

Have you better things than this world can afford? Let's pray.

Friends, we thought of so much. Let's just take a moment to quiet our hearts before the Lord to still our minds.

Here are some other inspired words of John. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself just as he is pure.

O Lord God, you, know the weakness of our hopes. We pray that by youy Holy Spirit you would help us to fix our hope, our confidence, our expectation upon Christ's return.

O God, purify us by that hope.

Cause that hope to grow in us so that more and more we see the power of temptation in our own life being broken. Oh God, loosen our hearts from things of this world. Do not give up on us. Teach us how glorious the return of Christ will be. Teach us to love Christ more, to appreciate Him more.

Oh God, help us to read and consider your Word. Cause us to pray. Help us to talk with each other. To listen to your Word read and preached. Fill us with your Holy Spirit, we pray, even today, so that we can pray with John here fully and sincerely and with longing, Come, Lord Jesus.

We ask it for His name's sake and our eternal good. Amen.