Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth Rev 22
Today we turn the final page of the Bible and see what God has to say to us in Revelation 22. I hope that you have learned something along the way. Had some questions answered and asked some new questions.
There is a resource that is going to be made available in a couple of months. Roger Vanderkolk, one of our deacons here has published a couple of books and he asked me to join him in writing a book on Revelation. He has taken my sermons and incorporated them into a book on Revelation titled, “Thriving through Chaos”. It is a practical study guide written from a layman’s perspective. Donna Vanderkolk has some flyers she will share with you after the service if you are interested.
Today, as we look at this final chapter I am want us to see what God’s final words are to us in the Bible. From this chapter I believe we can get some basic instructions to live by while we wait for heaven.
The first Basic Instruction is this:
1. Connect the Dots
a. Did you ever do one of those “connect the dots” puzzle?
i. Some of them are pretty easy and you can see what the picture is before you even connect the dots. I never really liked those easy ones.
ii. The ones I like are the ones that slowly reveal themselves as you connect more and more of the dots.
iii. In some ways the book of Revelation is one of those hard dot to dot puzzles. But as we look at the last chapter of the book it helps us connect some dots and the message is pretty clear.
IDE
b. 22:1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the great street of the city. (Now, to those of you who noticed last week the passage said that there would be no more sea in the new heaven new earth and panicked because you thought, “Where am I going to fish?” Ok, maybe I’m the only one who thought that! The good news is, God takes care of that, here we find out that we will have a river full of life instead! God is good.)
c. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 3 No longer will there be any curse.
d. What God began in Genesis He brings to completion in Revelation. All of the dots connect from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22.
i. You remember the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
ii. God created a perfect place and man messed up that perfect place by sinning.
e. There were two major trees in the Garden: The tree of knowledge of Good and Evil and the Tree of Life.
i. They were told not to eat from the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil – yet they did.
ii. There was another special tree in the garden – the tree of life. Here is what happened to it: Gen 3:22-24
1. 22 And the Lord God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever." 23 So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.
iii. This tree of life is not mentioned again in the Bible until the book of Revelation.
1. It is promised to the ones who overcome in Rev 2:7
2. Now we find in Revelation 22 the tree of life appears and it is opened and accessible to all who follow Jesus.
3. God reopens what He banned in Genesis. He banned them from it so that they would not live forever. Now, in the last chapter is it no longer banned. Eternal life is open to all.
f. Then another dot that is connected in Rev 22. In the beginning of verse 3 there is a simple statement, but oh so powerful: No longer will there be any curse.
i. Remember the curse on Satan in the garden. In Rev 22 it is no longer relevant – Satan is destroyed and cast into the lake of fire. He is out of the picture.
ii. The curse of sin on mankind is taken away. The Lamb of God in Revelation, Jesus – takes away the sins of man.
g. The dots are connected from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22 and the picture they form is the restored perfection that all began in the Garden of Eden.
h. I encourage you to be continually connecting the dots throughout the Bible so that you can see God’s picture for your life.
The second basic instruction is this:
2. Live Out His Words
a. In Service
i. Enjoy serving God now, because it is what you will be doing for eternity.
ii. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him.
iii. What did Jesus say about serving? Matt 23:11 The greatest among you will be your servant.
iv. Let serving God be a part of you here on this earth. Don’t wait until heaven, if you do, it may be too late.
b. Live out His Words In truth
i. 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." 7 "Behold, I am coming soon! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy in this book."
ii. Where do you turn for truth today?
1. In the evening news? Good luck with that.
2. On the internet? It has a lot of good information but you need to be careful. You can find almost any viewpoint possible to support almost anything.
3. Over the backyard fence? I will let you evaluate that on your own.
4. The point is, truth is a rare commodity these days.
iii. Turn to the word of God for truth. Just as Revelation ends with a statement about truth, it also began with a statement about truth.
iv. You want to find truth, John tells us where to find it – the words of Jesus.
v. And once you find it, don’t just acknowledge it, but live it out in your life.
c. In Worship
i. 8 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. 9 But he said to me, "Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers the prophets and of all who keep the words of this book. Worship God!"
ii. This is the second or third time John fell down at the feet of the angel to worship him, and each time the angel says, “No John, God is the one to worship”.
iii. You might think to yourself, “John, what is your problem. Why do you keep turning to the angel. Isn’t it obvious that God is the one in charge?”
iv. Before we are too harsh on John, we need to examine our own lives.
1. Is it possible that we fall down and worship certain people, or money, or fame, or sports, or hobbies and the list could go on and on?
2. If we are honest with ourselves there are times that we put other things on a pedestal and pay more attention to them than we do God.
v. Worship God. Worship God. Worship God.
The third basic instruction is this:
3. Accept His Invitation
a. I’ve received more invitations this year than I ever have in my life. Why? Since I become eligible for medicare next month everybody want me to come to hear them give their pitch. Sometimes the invitations even included a free meal.
b. What did I do with all of those invitations? Threw them away. Why, because they really weren’t all that sincere. They just wanted to make money off of me.
c. But there are other invitations that I received in my life that were special and I accepted them. Listen to the best invitation you will ever receive:
d. "Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. 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. 15 Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. 16 "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." 17 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.
f. What an amazing invitation. He is inviting us to partake in the tree of life that had been guarded by angels since the Garden of Eden. God intentionally blocked man from having access. Now He is inviting all to partake.
g. Living water is freely offered for all those who want it.
i. What do you do to receive it? Accept Him as Lord and Savior and be wash by the blood of the lamb – the beautiful imagery found throughout Revelation.
ii. I want to invite you to a special class Nov 1 & 8
The final basic instruction is:
4. Live in His Grace
a. 18 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. 19 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. (Heed these words, the word is the authority, not us) 20 He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. 21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people. Amen.
b.. “Yes, I am coming soon” How “soon” is “soon”?
i. When someone says to you, “I will get back with you soon”, what goes through your mind? Is “soon” a short time or a long time? If you and the person who said it have a totally different concept of “soon” it could lead to crossed wires. I you think “soon” means in a couple of weeks but it happens the next day, you will be surprised. If you think “soon” means the next day but nothing happens for a couple of months it will quickly lead to frustration. “Soon” is one of those words that implies a period of time but no specific amount of time is assigned to it.
ii. The word is used 8 times in Revelation.
1. Jesus uses the word “soon” five times (Rev 2:16; 3:11; 22:7; 22:12; 22:20) in the context of urgency, calling His followers to heed His words. All of the uses point to something in the future that will take place.
iii. In the context of Revelation, only God knows when “soon” is but the word is used with a purpose.
1. The word is used to depict something that will surely happen, but the exact time that it will happen is intentionally left vague. Why?
2. Because every generation of the followers of Jesus need to live with the tension of the “already and not yet”.
3. On this earth we have “already” experienced many of the blessings of God but we have “not yet” fully received nor comprehended the vastness of God’s blessings.
iv. Jesus wants us to face the chaos of this life with the certainty of His promises.
1. It is that peace that the word “soon” promises. “Soon” implies to hang in there and be patient because the current state you find yourself in is not permanent.
2. Our challenge is to not impose our idea of “soon” onto God’s plan. On a temporal time line we measure everything by the calendar and the clock. God measures time in light of eternity.
3. Jesus’ speaks His final words in Revelation in the context of eternity – “Yes, I am coming soon” - and John replies with a temporal time line prayer – “Amen, come Lord Jesus!”
4. The implication is that John is saying, “Hurry up, make “soon” happen quickly. But God doesn’t work with the temporal, He specializes in the eternal. It is in the eternal that we will truly enjoy the blessings of an existence without “chaos.”
d. Many times people think the last words of the book of Revelation are – Amen, come, Lord Jesus. If I was ending the book that is where I would end it. End it on a high note. End it with the clash of the symbol. But that is just what Jesus warned about in verse 19 – don’t take away from the words of this book.
e. Instead of ending with the clash of a symbol, he ends with the rock of Gibraltar. What do I mean by that?
f. 21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people. Amen.
g. The grace of God. There is nothing more solid to stand on as we look to the day that we will stand before Jesus.
h. How soon is soon? It doesn’t really matter if we stand in the grace of the Lord Jesus.
i. If “soon” happens this afternoon, that’s find if we live in the grace of Jesus.
ii. If “soon” happens when we die, that’s fine if we live in the grace of Jesus.
iii. If “soon” happens in the next generation, that is fine if we live in the grace of Jesus.
Conclusion
Stories of going to death scenes as a Chaplain.
Worker on Tamiami bent down to hold a sign and hit by a pickup truck
Worker was unloading blacktop from the dump truck in one of the new developments out past Village Walk on Bonita Beach road, tailgate was jammed, forgot to set the brake and the truck rolled over on him.
There were two young men heading to work one morning on old 41 about a ¼ mile north of the circle. One young man was turning his pickup to go to work at Sherwin Williams, another young man was on a motorcycle heading to work just up the road. He hit the pickup truck and was killed instantly.
None of those people probably woke up that morning about “soon” but it happened.
Let’s wake up every morning thinking about “soon”. Living each day in the grace of the Lord Jesus. Jesus shares the book of Revelation with us – Why? - because He is coming soon.
Jesus simply wants us to be ready to meet Him and He invites us to spend eternity with Him.
To that we can all pray the prayer of John
“Amen, come Lord Jesus.
Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth Handout Rev 22
Did you ever do one of those “connect the dots” puzzles?
Hopefully we are going to connect the final dots in the book of Revelation.
1. Connect the ___________
a. Read 22:1-3
b. What God began in Genesis He brings to completion in Revelation. All of the dots connect from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22.
i. The story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
ii. He also does something else – there were two major trees in the Garden: The tree of knowledge of Good and Evil and the Tree of Life.
iii. This tree of life is not mentioned again in the Bible until the book of Revelation.
c. At the beginning of verse 3 there is a simple statement, but oh so powerful: “No longer will there be any curse.”
d. The dots are connected from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22 and the picture they form is the restored perfection that all began in the Garden of Eden.
2. Live Out His _______________
a. In ____________________
i. Read 22:3 – 5
ii. What did Jesus say about serving? Matt 23:11-12
b. In _________________
i. Read 22:6-7
ii. Turn to the word of God for truth.
c. In ___________________
iii. Read Rev 22:8-9
3. Accept His _____________________
a. Read Revelation 22:12-17
b. What an amazing invitation.
c. Living water is freely offered for all those who want it.
d. What do you do to receive it?
4. Live in His ______________________
a. Read 22:18 – 21
b. How “soon” is “soon”?
i. “Soon” is one of those words that implies a period of time but no specific amount of time is assigned to it.
ii. In the context of Revelation, only God knows when “soon” is but the word is used with a purpose.
iii. Jesus wants us to face the chaos of this life with the certainty of His promises.
c. 21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people. Amen.
d. The grace of God. There is nothing more solid to stand on as we look to the day that we will stand before Jesus.