Revelation: The Final Word (22:10-21)

Hello, friends.

This is Pastor Creighton.

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Our second reading this morning is found in Revelation chapter 22, beginning at the tenth verse.

Revelation 22 · chapter mention

And the angel said to me, Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near.

Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy.

Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me to repay each one for 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, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and that they may enter the city by the gates.

Outside are the dogs and sorcerers, and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches.

I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.

The Spirit and the bride say, Come, and let the one who hears say, Come, and let the one who is thirsty come, let the one who desires take the water of life without price.

I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book, if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book.

And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.

He who testifies to these things says, Surely I am coming soon.

Amen.

Come, Lord Jesus.

Amen.

This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

The time is near.

Jesus says, I am coming soon.

Let's pray.

Lord, you are our God from whom salvation comes, by whom we escape death.

And so, Lord, I pray that you would speak to us through your word and Holy Spirit this morning.

Illumine this word to our hearts, Lord, and kindle within us hope, and make your saints joyful as we gather together this morning.

It's in Jesus' name that we pray.

Amen.

Yeah, please be seated.

So we've been journeying together the last number of weeks, letting our uh lectionary lead us through the book of Revelation.

Revelation is a letter written from Jesus to the seven churches in Asia Minor, which we saw stood in for the church of all time, everywhere.

This is a letter for the church, and in that sense, it's a letter for our church here at New Sawn 2.

It's a letter of warning, a letter that contains images of judgment and the reality of sin be confronted by the holiness of God.

But often I wonder if that's where we leave revelation.

This big final gulp before the end of the world.

I think that's some of the images, at least, that I've learned, maybe more through Hollywood than anything else, of the biblical, when the biblical proportions of the end of the world are described, it's often fire and explosions and everything that seems to go with those high production values.

But revelation is a word of warning, that's true.

I don't think it corresponds exactly to how Hollywood portrays it.

Because primarily it's a word of hope.

This is a letter written from Jesus, written by John to these seven churches, calling them to persevere, to discover hope in the midst of an age where hope seems so often lost in the shuffle of evil and darkness and suffering and tribulation.

In the midst of this present tribulation, revelation points us to a new creation that God is at work fulfilling.

A new creation in which God dwells with us, his people, forever.

What a remarkable word of hope that is.

Even in the darkest moments, when the night seems blackest, the morning star is still shining and telling us that the dawn of a new age is coming.

So here we are, Revelation chapter 22, verses 10 to 21.

Revelation 22:10–21

The final 11 verses of the Bible, it's the final word from the final book about the final things.

And here I think Revelation concludes the way it began.

It concludes by telling us that the time is near, which is exactly what John writes in chapter 1, verse 1.

This is a book that's about the things that must soon take place.

The time is near, John writes.

Jesus says, I am coming soon.

And that's a promise.

Boy, sometimes I feel like my idea of soon and Jesus' idea of soon are not the same things.

Do you ever feel that way?

Here we are, two thousand years later, and you kind of go, boy, Jesus, you've got an interesting idea of soon.

When God is an eternal God, and to him a thousand years is like a day, and a day is like a thousand years, we realize that our human estimation of what soon is really pales in comparison.

It's a drop in the bucket compared to who this God is, but he is still just as committed to this word to us as he was when John first wrote it and sent it to these seven churches.

This promise still stands because the word of God doesn't fail us.

Jesus is coming soon.

This is the final word.

It's a word of warning, just like Revelation began.

It's a word to warn a disordered and rebellious and resisting creation.

It's a word that calls us creation to humble itself, to repent, to be about this new work that God's doing in the world.

And it's a word of grace, a word of assurance.

It's a word of hope to those who are suffering.

And maybe you're here this morning wondering in any given circumstance of suffering if this is ever going to come an end.

And revelation is a word of assurance that says there is a hope of a greater world to come, a new creation, a work that God's doing.

This is a word of warning.

Let's look at verses 12 and 13 together.

If you have your order of service, if you have your Bible, I want to encourage you to follow along with me this morning.

Behold, I am coming soon, Jesus says, bringing my recompense with me to repay each one for what he has done.

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.

So there's a lot there.

Why don't we start with verse 13?

Jesus makes a huge I am statement.

And John, the John who I suspect has written this letter of Revelation, is the same John who's written the gospel.

And we know that in the Gospel of John, we see seven huge I am statements of Jesus.

We went through them not too, too long ago.

These I am statements relate us to God's disclosure to his people Israel.

He is the great I am, the self-existing one.

And so when Jesus says I am the Alpha and the Omega, he's identifying himself with God Himself.

He's the Lamb who sits on the throne.

I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord in chapter 1, verse 8, the one who was and who is and who is to come, the Almighty.

Jesus is saying, over all of this, I am God.

I'm the Alpha and the Omega, Jesus says.

The Alpha and the Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, and Jesus is saying, I am the A to Z of everything.

Pardon me, A to Z.

We're in Canada.

Thank you.

He's the A to Z of everything, filling and fulfilling all things.

And Jesus says, I am the first and the last, which might sound like he's repeating the same idea, and in a sense it's true, he's recapitulating that idea and amplifying it.

But here's where we start to catch something if we do a little scratching around in the Greek.

The word he uses for last here is this word telos.

And the idea of a telos is a purpose, a goal.

It's the thing to which we're headed, we're aimed.

The telos of an acorn seed, for example, is an acorn tree.

This is going to be fulfilled, it's going to grow, it's going to fulfill the thing for which it's purposed.

Jesus says, I am the purpose and goal of all things, the beginning of all things, the purpose, the aim of all things.

And I'm the beginning and the end.

And again, this word beginning is tricky in Greek.

It's this word archae.

And we get the word architecture from archae.

And what we know to be true of architecture is you don't start building a building without a plan, without a blueprint, without a sense of how this is all going to come together.

We also get the word archetype from this word archae.

And if I say something like Hercules is the archetypical hero, then I mean he's the kind of hero, after all, all heroes are patterned.

They find correspondence.

So Jesus is saying, I'm the Archae and the end, the telos of all things.

I'm the source of all things.

All things find correspondence to my will for them.

This is why the final judgment at the end of the age uniquely belongs to Jesus and to no one else.

Because he is the creator God, the great I am, who is the source of all things, who fills all things, and who gives purpose to all things as they head towards the goal he's designed for them.

I love that scene in movies where, you know, maybe one character bumps into another, and the audience knows, you know, who one character is, but this character doesn't.

And maybe he offers a criticism, maybe it's a work of art, maybe it's a machine, whatever it is, you see this again and again.

And you know, this other character just kind of has a coy look and says, Well, you know, I designed that, right?

You know, Jesus gets to say that about everything.

He isn't just to say, I designed that.

He gets to say, Well, I'm the source, if that finds its source in me, I fill all things.

All things find their purpose in what I intend for them to be.

He gets to have the final word of judgment over all things because he is the source of all things.

He fills all things and he purposes all things.

So when Jesus returns to this creation, he gets to say, I am bringing my recompense with me, which is to say, to repay each one for what he has done.

Again, maybe Hollywood fills our mind with images of destruction here.

Is this Jesus unhinged?

Jesus come unglued, Jesus getting back at the bullies?

I think all of this fits into exactly what Jesus is saying in verse 13.

This one who is the source of all things, who fills all things and purposes all things, is coming to reform all things, to renew all things with what he has always intended for them to be, to set right again what has been made wrong, and to bring all things into accordance with God's good will for them.

The reality of judgment, which Revelation does not shy away from, you can read verse 19, or pardon me, chapter 19, or even in verse 15, that talks about those who are left outside the kingdom.

The reality of judgment means that there will be those who obstinately and unrepentantly rebel and resist God's good will for creation.

God speaks yes over a good creation, and there will be those who say no.

And so God's judgment meets their no with a no.

There will be those who are committed to their will be done, to their kingdom.

We see kingdoms being built around us all the time, don't we?

We see images coming out of Ukraine, and we're reminded of the kind of kingdoms that tyrants want to build.

And we grieve.

We wonder if this kind of injustice or suffering or war will come to be an end.

And here Jesus' promise rings as good news for those who suffer injustice.

He will set things right, which have been made wrong.

Because he is the telos and the archai and the source and purpose of all things.

This Jesus is coming soon.

And so this word stands as a warning who might otherwise resist or rebel against God's new creation work.

That's all enough to make me kind of nervous.

Do you feel nervous?

I feel nervous about this stuff.

Because I'm there's always part of me that goes, Will Jesus return and look me in the eye and say no?

Will I be left condemned at his return?

It's a funny thing to read a verse like, oh, where is it?

Verse 17.

The spirit and the bride, they say to Jesus, Come, and the one who hears says, Come.

That's not how I feel when I think about the word of warning here.

I sort of think, oh, Jesus, keep your distance.

Don't come.

Let's let's, you know, social distance here, please.

You know.

But that's not the word John wants the faithful to walk away with.

We ought not to shy away from the reality of judgment, from the reality of God meeting evil with his holiness.

But we ought not to live our lives as Christians, nervous and anxious and apprehensive about that day where Jesus returns.

In fact, verse 14, we're called blessed.

Do you see that?

It's like a whole new beatitude.

Remember the beatitudes in Matthew chapter 5?

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

Blessed are those who live out the kingdom life in this way.

Well, here's the reality, the realization of that beatitude blessing.

That those who are in Christ have a right to the tree of life, is what John writes.

And that's a callback to what we read last week in Revelation chapter 22.

Revelation 22 · chapter mention

This tree that was at the center of the Garden of Eden, this tree that God plants in the middle of this holy city, this provision of God's for our eternal life and happiness, lived with him.

And so too were we blessed, because we have entrance into this city.

That they may have that they may enter into the city by the gates in verse 14 there.

This city we read about in chapter 21, verse 2.

This is the God's holy city, the new Jerusalem, which descends from the clouds like a bride adorned for her husband.

This city in which God's glory is so radiant that there's no need for sun and moon.

That God dwells with his people forever in this place where we he himself is the temple, where he makes himself so present and so manifest.

We are blessed by eternal life in God's glorious presence.

So we ought to say, come, not keep your distance.

But how?

What makes the difference between verse 15 and verse 14?

Here's the key phrase I want us to catch.

Blessed are those who wash their robes.

So do lots of laundry and you'll get into heaven.

That's a joke, you should be laughing.

Maybe it's just a lame joke.

John's talking about purification.

Being made new and washed regenerate.

This purification makes the difference between the blessedness described in verse 14 and those left outside the kingdom in verse 15.

But it's it might be tempting to read this verse and wonder if this is an imperative.

That we're the ones told to go, you know, go get busy and get washing.

I have a lot of washing to do if I'm going to make it into the kingdom.

Boy, oh boy, I better start now.

If I do enough pure things, maybe I'll be pure enough to be rewarded with an entry ticket.

But I think that would be the wrong way to read this verse.

I think this call to wash our robes is less an imperative, where the responsibility lies with us and more of a gift which is given to us.

This purification that we need to enter into God's presence is something that He provides before, or provides for us.

And why do I say that?

I say it because we've seen this phrase to have our robes washed before in our study of Revelation.

We've seen it in chapter 7, verses, I'm gonna read verses 13 to 17, which is a bit lengthy, but I think it's worth reading.

Revelation 17, verse 13 to 17.

Revelation 17:13–17

John is seeing a vision of a great multitude being called into heaven.

Again, Revelation is not something that's strictly speaking in chronological order.

There's things being renewed and recapitulated like a like themes and motifs repeated throughout a symphony.

So here John is seeing this great crowd being brought into the presence of God.

One of the elders before the throne addressed me, saying, Who are these?

He points, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?

And John says, Sir, you know.

So the elder says, These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation.

They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

Therefore, because it's the case that they've washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb, they are before the throne of God.

They serve him day and night in his temple.

He who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence, they shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more, the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat.

Why?

Because the lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd.

He will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

What is the kind of purification we need?

To be brought into God's kingdom on that last great day?

It's the blood of the Lamb.

See, it's not our washing, however, we understand that that makes the difference.

It's what we are washed in.

That makes the difference.

The blood of the Lamb provided for us by Christ on the cross.

Bible scholar Michael Wilcock writes that those who are admitted, admitted into the kingdom, do not get in on account of their goodness.

The blessing is theirs solely because they have washed their robes, made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

See, it's the blood of the Lamb that makes the difference for you and I.

It's the blood of the Lamb that makes the difference between, oh Jesus, you better keep your distance, you look kind of angry.

And instead saying, Come.

If we've been washed with the blood of the Lamb, we can say with the Spirit and with the bride, Come, because we long for that day where Jesus will bring us into his kingdom, where we will see him face to face.

We can have full assurance that we will be not cast aside because our trust is in him.

The last day for a Christian is not a day of dreadful judgment.

But rather, that judgment's been poured out already on the cross.

And if we have been washed by faith and the blood of the Lamb, this is a day that we can anticipate.

In fact, we should hope for it.

And I'm convicted to think how little time I spend thinking about that.

That day.

That day that is the end of this age, but the beginning of an age to come where all things are going, where all things find their purpose and fulfillment in Jesus.

J.I.

Packer says that every Christian should say six things to themselves every single day.

I can give you the fullest sometime if you'd like, but one of those six things is every day is one day nearer.

Because we long for that day.

Where Jesus will come and make all things new and where we will be brought into his kingdom.

So the question for us is: are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

Are you pure and spotless?

Are you white as snow?

Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

Jesus wants you to know that renewing and purifying washing of your soul.

By faith, by putting your trust in his sacrifice on the cross.

A saving faith is a faith that clings to the promise of the cross because you, Jesus, have provided for me what I cannot on this cross.

You have shed your blood for me.

And through your cross and through your resurrection, you are working new life where once there was death.

For those of us who are baptized, Paul says that we have been baptized, buried with him in baptism.

And for those of us who are united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

Baptism is that sacrament, that sign and seal that God gives us to say you have been washed by the word, that same word that has shed his blood for you on the cross.

You have been brought in and joined to him.

And so too now we share corporately in that reality.

We are all of those who have been washed by the blood of the Lamb, His church.

And we come to the table that the Lord gives us to once again receive that body and that blood which is given for us as our true spiritual food.

This is a commitment that God has given to us that we will feast with him on that last great day and not be cast away, because this his blood has been shed for us.

So, dear saints, we can say together with the Spirit and with the bride, come.

Amen.

Come, Lord Jesus.

Thank you for listening today.

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