Rich Realities from Revelation: Jesus is Coming Back! (Rev. 22)

December 3, 2023 in Rich Realities of Revelation

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Rich Realities from Revelation
Revelation 22:1-5

INTRODUCTION:
Mesquite trees are survivors. These trees can live in extremely arid conditions because they are not dependent on the occasional rainfall for survival. In seasons of extreme drought, they can even drop their leaves to conserve energy. The reason why the mesquite tree is so resilient is because of its tap root. The mesquite tree can send its taproot deep into the earth, up to 200’ below the surface! It’s as if the mesquite tree knows where its tap root is.

Christians are challenged from many different directions. As we have studied the book of Revelation this year, we have seen that churches are also challenged from different directions. Satan is working to tempt us away from Christ in any way he can. He will use challenges within the church, among fellow Christians, as well as challenges from outside the church - from our surrounding culture, to challenge the Lord’s church. All Satan wants us to do is compromise.

Christians who received the book of Revelation in the first century were being killed for their refusal to compromise (Rev. 2:13). They were being thrown into prison for refusing to compromise (2:10). They were even suffering economically for refusing to compromise (13:17).

To encourage these Christians, John gave them a dozen “realities” that was to sustain their faith, into which their spiritual “tap root” was to be deeply rooted:

1) Christ holds the church in His hands. See 22:16.
2) Churches will be blessed if they do not compromise. See 22:12.
3) Regardless of what is happening in the culture, God and Christ deserve to be worshipped. See 22:9.
4) Christians are forgiven through the blood of Christ. See 22:14.
5) God wants all men to repent of their sins. See 22:12.
6) Regardless of what is happening in the culture, Christians must continue to evangelize. See 22:11.
7) Christians face challenges from the secular culture as well as false religions, including false “versions” of Christianity. See 22:15.
8) There will be a harvest of the faithful one day. See 22:4.
9) Jesus has already overcome Satan and all evil. See 22:13.
10) A marriage banquet - between us and Christ - is in our future! See 22:14.
11) Heaven is our destination. See 22:2.

In this last chapter of the book of Revelation, in the middle of a host of final encouragements John gives, we simply wants to emphasize that Jesus is coming back!

Let’s study the text…

PARADISE REGAINED - 22:1-5:
John uses a metaphor from a picture of Ezekiel’s image in Ezekiel 47:1-2 as he pictures heaven with a river. The river, of course, is simply a symbol of life, of the blessings of God.

John pictures God’s people in heaven - in the very presence of God. There will be no way to be any closer to God than what we’ll experience in heaven.

John also, of course, uses the “tree of life” from Genesis 3 and the Garden of Eden as a metaphor for the idea that there will no longer exist the penalty for sin in heaven; there will no longer be the “curse” God put on Adam and Eve. God’s plan to save man has made its full circle and it has reached its completion, its culmination.

Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden, from Paradise, because of their sins, but now Jesus has removed the penalty for sin and mankind is allowed back to the tree of life. But this is a tree that is in heaven, not on earth, a tree that is in the presence of God.

The leaves of the tree are for the “healing of the nations,” indicating that mankind will not experience sin or temptation or disease or death in heaven. It is paradise regained!

Now, here are the final encouragements John gives Christians:

TRUST GOD’S MESSAGE! - 22:6-8, 10, 16, 18-19:
When God revealed to Daniel what was going to happen to God’s people under the Roman Empire (12:4), God told Daniel to “seal up” the book. Here, Jesus tells John not to seal up the book. Why? Because the Christians needed the encouragement and the motivation from the book of Revelation in order to trust God and stay faithful to God. We will not obey God until we trust Him. We will not obey the New Testament until we trust it.

In verse 16, Jesus reminds the Christians that this message - Revelation - is from Jesus Christ. Who is He? He is the fulfillment of all the OT prophecies; He is the “root and offspring of David.” We have to be convinced of who Jesus is if we are going to put our ultimate trust in Him. He is also the “morning star,” indicating that a new day dawns in Jesus Christ. His “mercies are new every morning” (Lam. 3:22-24).

The “morning star” is also a reference to a Messianic prophecy in Numbers 24:17. Now, it is only about one generation after the Christians received the book of Revelation when a Jew - a false teacher - named Simon Bar Kochba will deceive many Jews into following him as the Messiah and he will claim to be the “star” from Numbers 24. But Jesus states here that He is, in fact, the “morning star.”

JESUS IS COMING BACK! - 22:6-7, 10, 12, 20:
As Jesus was returning to heaven in Acts 1, the angels gave this message to the apostles: “This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven” (1:11).

The return of Christ is at the core and is the foundation of all subsequent Christian teaching. You and I preach to the world every time we take the Lord’s Supper that we believe Jesus is coming back. The ultimate motivation to trust Jesus and obey what He says is because He is coming back again.

“I am coming quickly” - verse 7.
“Behold I am coming quickly” - verse 12.
“Yes, I am coming quickly” - verse 20.

In the context of Revelation, the “coming of Christ” often refers to the coming of Jesus in judgment agains the Roman Empire on behalf of Christians who have been persecuted and murdered. But in the overall context of NT teaching, we know that Jesus is coming and He can come at any time. That’s why we need to be faithful all the time.

OBEDIENCE WILL BE BLESSED - 22:7, 9, 11, 12, 14, 17-19:
At the beginning of Revelation (1:3), John had written: “Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near.”

Here is another beatitude: “Blessed is he who heeds the words of the prophecy of this book” (22:7). Revelation is not primarily about telling what is going to happen to the first-century church in the near future. It was primarily about encouraging and challenging Christians to stay obediently faithful while God works things out.

The last few verses (22:18-19) sound very similar to God’s words to Israel in Deuteronomy 4:2 (see also 12:32; Prov. 30:5-6). In other words, do not distort God’s message. Peter warns us in 2 Peter 3:16 that twisting the Scriptures will bring about our destruction. Paul warns in Galatians 1:6-9 that if anyone changes the Gospel message, he or she will be eternally accursed by God.

We can not afford to ignore a single verse of the NT. We cannot afford to twist a single verse of the NT. We cannot afford to alter God’s message. Since it is perfect as it is (2 Tim. 3:16-17), we have to obey it as it is and teach it as it is and follow it as it is.

Take home message: Trust Jesus. Obey His Gospel. He is coming again so that Paradise can be ours.