Revelation: Part 62

When anyone anywhere, responds to this knowledge by having a desire to know this God, God will move heaven and earth to get the message to them.

God tells us that the things that are revealed are for us and our children, but the things not revealed are the Lord’s. God hasn’t revealed everything to us. You know, there could be intelligent life somewhere else in God’s universe that we’re gonna be priests for. One thing for sure, it’s not gonna be boring.

And when it says that God will give them light, Jesus gave us a full view in the Gospel of John, I’m the light of the world. He that believes in me shall have the light of life. Well, here’s where it’s going to reach its full fruition. God is going to give us light.

And there will not be any need for the sun or any artificial light or lamp or something like that. There will be light everywhere from the presence of God. Verse 6 in chapter 22 now, the angel said to me, these words are trustworthy and true. The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets -I think what this means here is the God who through the spirit inspired the prophets.

In other words, he’s saying, it was God who inspired these prophets to write and preach what they did. What they wrote is the infallible Word of God, is the idea. And it says, the Lord, the God of the spirits who inspired these prophets, sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place. And so in God’s economy, he was announcing this was the age that was beginning with the Church, was the age that was approaching God’s fulfillment of the last stages of world history and then goes into the new heavens and new earth.

And he shows that that was anticipated by these prophets. And he says, in God’s economy, this is not far off. Now, he says in verse 8, I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. 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.

Now, remember when I started this book, the first thing I brought out from chapter 1 and several places, and also we looked at this verse here, is that here John is testifying that what he has written in this book he heard. And the word used for seeing here means an eyewitness. He not only heard, but he was an eyewitness of everything that he describes in this book. And what God is doing here, is giving an assurance you don’t find in any other book of the Bible, that this is a direct revelation of God that has been written down by a man under the power of the spirit of God, and he was an eyewitness of what he saw.

So it’s the strongest assertion of authority of any book in the Bible. This is the Word of God. And that’s what he is saying here. And he says, he fell down at the feet of the angel who had been showing them to him, he said.

But he said to me, do not 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. Verse 10.

Then he told me, do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, because the time is near. Now, in Daniel’s day, Daniel received all of those incredible prophecies and he asked about the meaning of them, and God said, Daniel, go your way. Seal up the book until the time of the end. Many shall learn and knowledge shall increase.

But he said, seal the book. And the word that’s used there means encrypted. Encrypted. Because it won’t be understood until the time of the end.

But here he says don’t seal this book. This is the time when God wants us to understand prophecy, and all down through the Church age, he has sought to get people to understand prophecy. Now, continuing here in verse 11, 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. What he’s saying here is that, you know, God gives us free will. And especially at the time when all of this -all of these terrible judgments and things are going on, on earth and so forth.

He says we’ve got a choice. And the one who chooses his way and rejects God, let him be vile. And the thing is, he says what we became here on earth, is what’s magnified and going to continue forever. If you were righteous, you sought righteousness, you believed in Jesus Christ and have been clothed with his righteousness, well, you’ll continue that way.

All right now, verse 12. Behold, I’m coming soon. Now, this word here is interesting. Behold, I’m coming soon.

Because here it’s not the idea of I’m coming immediately, it’s the idea of how you’re coming. It’s the idea of I’m coming suddenly. In other words, when he comes, it’s going to be sudden. And for the Church, that is really gonna be sudden.

Because in the twinkling of an eye, a nanosecond, he’s going to shout, come up here! And only believers will hear it. Well, only believers will understand the noise. The rest of the world will hear this great booming noise, but the believer will hear, come up here.

And when they hear the words, they’ll be in his presence. Before he finishes that short phrase, they’ll be in his presence. We will be in his presence. And that’s sudden.

When we get to the first chapter of the Gospel of John, that’s gonna be an exciting time. I get excited every time I go through it. Even just the first five verses are enough to blow somebody’s mind. Now he says in 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.

You know, it’s interesting that the tree of life continues to be an important factor of our eternal relationship with God. Now, we can’t lose eternal life, we can’t lose our relationship, but it will be something that apparently is kind of a daily ritual. We will love it, to be at the tree of life. You’re not gonna want to cut fishing poles off of it and go out there and fish in the river of life either.

It says the way you get in is, first of all, to wash your robes in the -wash your robes in the blood of the Lamb. Jesus Christ gave his life to pay the penalty for every person’s sin. And when we receive the gift of pardon that he died in our place to provide for us, in that moment, we’re ready to go in the gates. It says, blessed are all of those who have washed their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life.

Now, it won’t be like God, you know, in this case, the moment you believe in Jesus who hung on the tree as a curse for us, you believe in him on that tree then immediately you’ve got a right to heaven. Access to the tree of life. And if you don’t believe in him, you don’t have access to it. It’s all determined by faith in him.

And you will have the right to enter in through the gates of the new Jerusalem, which is, as we saw last week is beautiful beyond anything we can conceive. And that’s where we’re gonna live, is in the new Jerusalem. So it says now, outside, that is outside of the city of this new Jerusalem, are the dogs who practice magic arts. The sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

You see, as I showed you last week from 1 Corinthians 6:9 and following, that’s what we were. And when it talks about immoral, it talks about liars, it talks about all these things, that’s what all of us were. But when we believe in Jesus, we’re washed and we are clothed with the robe of his righteousness. But if we don’t have that robe, we’re still in the same sin that we were born with.

So it says on the outside that’s all there is. And I assume that he means here that outside the city is all of those who are in the lake of fire, which is the second death. Now, in verse 16, I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you all. You know, I’m glad to know that God’s a southerner.

Because in the original Greek it doesn’t just say you, it says you all, because it’s plural. But he says I have sent my angel to give you all this testimony for the churches. Notice, churches, plural. The whole purpose of -as we saw at the beginning of this book, is that Jesus was giving this message to send to the churches.

And the seven churches he selected were representative of all the churches. And he has, he says he has revealed this message to John to give to us, and that it is to be a testimony for all the churches. I’ve sent my angel to make sure that what is written in the book of Revelation, is given and testified to all the churches. Now, that puts this in a very special class.

The book of Revelation is a testimony Jesus commanded to be given to all the churches, plural. There are gonna be some pastors that are gonna have to really give account of how many teach the book of Revelation. Hey, even in good churches, I’ve heard them put it down and minimize it. No, you don’t need to be in all that sensationalism.

And this is the only book in the Bible that says God will give you a special blessing if you keep reading it. And then there are all of these special promises that this is the Word of God. Now, let’s read on. And then he says, I am the root and the offspring of David.

Now, this is said on behalf of the believing Israelites. Because they look forward to the day of the coming of the son of David. And Jesus says, look. How can you do this?

I mean, this is absolutely amazing. He says, I am the root and the offspring of David. In other words, I’m the source of David’s life. And I’m the offspring of it.

He is the creator of it, and then he became a man in his line to become the offspring of it. Now, only a God man could do that. And then he says, and the bright and morning star. Now, this is a special promise to the Church.

The other is to call up all of the promises that are made to the Israelites, but the bright and morning star is mentioned many times in relation to the Church, especially by Peter, that Jesus’ coming is like the bright, morning star. He’s the hope of him suddenly appearing, is in that. The spirit and the bride, verse 17, 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. Now, this is God commanding the Holy Spirit in the Church to be a witness to the fact that we can all come to the river of life; that we can all have life. And it should be the purpose of all churches to constantly be showing the world that salvation that Jesus purchased is free. That you can come and get it freely.

And this goes all the way back into the prophets and everything in the Old Testament, like Isaiah said, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. And he that thirsts, come and drink the water of eternal life. Now, in verse 18, there’s a group of people that are teaching in the Church today, to which this is a special warning. And they’re in the -they’re in the protestant churches.

And they’ve swept into a bunch of churches in the charismatic movement and in the, you know, the evangelical churches and everything else. They’re called preterists or dominionists or whatever. Listen to what this says. I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy

Days of vengeance, huh? But, you know, I don’t know any other book in the Bible where God is so serious about the importance of a particular book in the Bible, as he is about the book of Revelation. And so what we’ve studied here, and I’ve given my best effort to make it understandable to you. Believe me, I’ve reverently walked these roads with the book of Revelation, not wanting to add or take away from it.

I want to be able to try to lead people to understand what is there, the meaning, the intent of it. I don’t want to add anything to it. Because I believe God’s serious. And this, about not adding to or taking away, is about the book of Revelation.

And so he says in verse 20, he who testifies to these things says, and it’s Jesus, yes, I am coming soon. And then the apostle John wrote, amen. Come, Lord Jesus. And I say, amen.

Hurry up, Lord Jesus. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen. Amen.

Now, I just want to close by saying, look, if you are not sure where you stand with God, if you’re not sure that you’ve received the gift of forgiveness through Christ’s pardon that he purchased for you, then as I close in prayer, please make sure. Because you can do this in your heart. That’s where the decision has to be. But you don’t want to be outside the new Jerusalem.

You want to be inside the new Jerusalem walking down the main street with all those beautiful trees of life. And be able to participate in the river of life. Heavenly father, I thank you for everyone who’s here. I pray that you will, through your spirit, make sure that each one has dealt with this issue of receiving the gift of Jesus Christ, that he gave his life to purchase in each of our place.

May that one who is in doubt just say thank you, Lord Jesus Christ, for dying for me. I confess I’m a sinner because I have broken your laws. I know I cannot erase what I’ve done, I cannot be good enough for you to accept, no matter how good I try to be. I put myself only in the hands of the pardon of Jesus Christ, and that he died and shed his blood for me.

So right now, I receive the pardon of Jesus Christ. Lord Jesus, come into my heart and life. Make me what you want me to be. I give you the right to make me what you want me to be.

In Jesus’ name, amen.

If you have the guts to be a real revolutionary, come forward right now and accept Jesus Christ as your real revolutionary, and he’ll make a revolutionary that will change lives.

As I prepared for this week’s program, I was again struck by the speed with which events are moving into the scenario the prophets predicted for the end times. I believe we’re there. People on the street are talking about what all of these things mean. Folks that wouldn’t darken the door of a Church or pick up a Bible, are now very curious.

This may be our greatest opportunity, maybe even our last opportunity, to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ before we’re silenced by political correctness. The message that God has given me is more important now than it’s ever been, for the Church and for the nation.