COME, LORD JESUS Revelation 22:12-21 November 29, 2015 Dr. Danny Forshee

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1 1 COME, LORD JESUS Revelation 22:12-21 November 29, 2015 Dr. Danny Forshee - Robert G. Lee served as the pastor of the Bellevue Baptist Church for many years. He preceded Adrian Rogers who preceded Dr. Steve Gaines the current pastor of this great church in Memphis, TN. When Lee was a small boy growing up on a farm his family was very poor. One day he and his mother sat on the porch of their home and Lee noticed that his mother s hands were worn and calloused. (Taken from Rogers, Unveiling the End Times in Our Time, p ) He said, Mama, tell me about the happiest moment in your life. He thought she would tell him about the moment when his daddy, a tall six-footer with dark eyes, expressed his love to her. But she didn t tell him that. Perhaps she would tell him about the time when the moon spread over the little farm and there by the fence gate his daddy asked her to be his bride. But she didn t tell him that. Would she tell him about the day in that cabin in the corner of their little farm where they expressed their vows to each other and how they had kept those vows for more than fifty years until he went to heaven? But she didn t tell him that. Finally, she said, Son, you ve asked a hard question. When all the men went off to the War Between the States, times got hard. We got our salt from the smokehouse floor and our tea from sassafras leaves. We made a substitute coffee from corn. And the women did the work. One day our family received word that my daddy had been killed in the war. Before his death, my mama didn t cry much, but after that I could hear her sobbing in her pillow at night. One day, my mama was sitting on a porch, very much like this, and I was sitting at her feet, very much like you re sitting at my feet right now. She had a bowl of beans in her lap that she was stringing and snapping. Suddenly, a figure appeared across the field. My mama turned to me and said, Elizabeth, I declare that man walks just like your daddy. I said, Now, Mama, don t get all excited. You know Daddy s dead. Don t get all excited. By that time the figure had started across the cotton field. My mother exclaimed, Elizabeth that is your daddy! She threw those beans in the air, gathered up her skirt, and ran across the field. My daddy had lost an arm in the war, but he was alive. My mother met him, and he put his other arm around her. They kissed and hugged and laughed. I ran my finger up his sleeve and felt that funny little knob where his arm us to be. Son, I believe that was the happiest day of my life. Dr. Lee concluded this story with these words, That day will pale into insignificance when the Lord Jesus Christ comes.

2 2 - Today we conclude our series of messages on the wonderful book of Revelation. God has richly blessed us as we have studied verse by verse this book of the unveiling of Jesus Christ and the future of the world. - The book contains many warnings to all who read it and though it says much about the judgment of God, it also speaks profoundly of the love and grace of God. The concluding verses in this last chapter contain both warnings to the unbeliever and hope for the believer. This text also speaks of the blessed return of Jesus Christ to this earth. John closes the chapter and the book with a request for Jesus to come and a word about grace to all. - My prayer today as you listen to this final message is that as a Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ, you will, like John of old, long for our Lord s return. Anticipating the Lord s return causes you to live with purity, excitement, and purpose. Also for those who have not accepted Jesus Christ, my prayer for you is you will hear the last invitation in the Bible and you will say, Yes, Lord, I believe and I commit my life to you. - Read the text. 12 And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last. 14 Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. 15 But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie. 16 I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star. 17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come! And let him who hears say, Come! And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely. 18 For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. 20 He who testifies to these things says, Surely I am coming quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus! 21 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. - Notice with me today the identity of Jesus, the invitation for all to be saved, the indictment upon those who reject Jesus, and the imminence of His return. I. IDENTITY (VS ) - Notice the identity and description of three key figures in these verses: the Lord Jesus Christ, the believers, and the unbelievers. - A. THE LORD JESUS CHRIST (vs , 16) - Vs. 12 Jesus tells John that He is coming tachu, translated quickly. The Greek word tachu is translated shortly in verse 6, and it can also have the meaning of certainty. The events in Revelation will surely happen and when they begin they

3 3 will move with much rapidity. (Patterson, p. 378) This word is also used in vs. 7 translated quickly. Jesus will reward His faithful followers according to their works. - Vs. 13 Jesus gives a powerful description of who He is in this three-fold statement of His identity. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End (eschatos from which we get eschatology). As we have noted before these are the first and last letters in the Greek alphabet. Our modern equivalent would be He is the A to Z. He is everything. He is the beginning and the End. What God starts He also finishes. His plans cannot be thwarted or halted. Read Philippians 1:6. 6 being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ; The third title is the First and the Last, a title only given to Jesus in the book of Revelation, but in Isaiah notice to Whom it refers-- Yahweh, the LORD. (Thomas, p. 505) Read Isaiah 44:6. 6 Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel, And his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: I am the First and I am the Last; Besides Me there is no God. Read Isaiah 48: Listen to Me, O Jacob, And Israel, My called: I am He, I am the First, I am also the Last. - Look at verse 16, I, Jesus is used only here in the New Testament. This is an emphatic self-designation. This is Jesus Christ, the Lord of heaven and earth, the Lord of history, the historic Christ who lived, and died, and rose from the grave, the One who is in the midst of His churches, the One who is returning! - Jesus sent His angel to testify to John and John in turn sent this message to the seven churches mentioned in chapters 2-3. And this message is still being read and studied in the churches today. One writer, states, (Thomas, p. 509,) The ultimate objects were people in the seven churches who received these words through seven messengers who received them from John. - Jesus also identifies Himself as both the Root and Offspring of David. He is the Root or creator of David. Before King David ever lived Jesus Christ existed as the second person of the Trinity. He is also the Offspring of David. He was born of the lineage of King David of the tribe of Judah as foretold in the Old Testament. He is the Jewish Messiah, the Anointed One, the long expected One who was to come and save His people from their sins, as Matthew 1:21 states. - He also describes Himself as the Bright and Morning Star. He is the radiant Son of God. The morning star announces the arrival of a new day and Jesus as the Morning Star has inaugurated the kingdom of God here on earth and will one day reign in the millennium and then forever in the new heavens and earth. He promised the overcomers in Thyatira the morning star, and He is that morning star. (Matthew 2:28) (MacArthur, p.307) - B. BELIEVERS (vs. 14) - Verse 14 better translation is Blessed are those who wash their robes. See Revelation 7:14. Every person ever born has a dirty robe that needs washing, and the only agent powerful enough to cleanse the sin-stained robe is the blood of Jesus Christ! Oh precious is the flow that makes me white as snow, no other fount I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus.

4 4 - Many never come to the cleansing flood for forgiveness because they do not think they need salvation. If I were to ask most people today, when they die what would they say if God asked them why He should let them into heaven, the response would be I have done more good than bad or something similar to this works answer. Read Isaiah 64:6. 6 But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away. - Verse 14 those who have access to the tree of life and enter through the gates into the New Jerusalem are clearly saints of God, believers in the Lord Jesus who have been saved. - C. UNBELIEVERS (VS. 15) - But those not in the new heavens and new earth are outside. They live in the lake of fire and they are there because of their own volition and choice. They never humbled themselves and asked for the Lord to forgive them and cleanse their dirty garments stained with sin. - Each description is mentioned in 21:8 except dogs. Just as referring to one as a star was and is a compliment, so referring to someone as a dog was not a compliment but a derogatory designation, and even more so in John s day. There is a kindness associated with dogs today as we think of the family pet, Lassie, Old Yeller, etc., but not so in John s day. Dogs were scavengers, unclean animals. To refer to one as a dog meant that they were most impure and totally consumed with base, immoral practices like prostitution (Deuteronomy 23:18) (Thomas, p. 507). - There are many addicted to this dog like vice of sexual sin. It is an epidemic in our world, not just here in America. People are succumbing to the temptation of sexual sin in unprecedented numbers. Those who live this way will enjoy a few fleeting moments of hedonistic pleasure but they exchange their eternal souls for it in the process. II. INVITATION (VS. 17) - Verse 17 you read of the amazing love and grace of God. In a book full of warnings and impending judgment there is repeatedly an invitation to repent and receive God s forgiveness. - The Spirit of God and the bride of Christ, the church, both ask the Lord Jesus to return. And added to this duo is another group making it a trio, And let him who hears a reference to perhaps even the angels of heaven. The word come is used three times in this one verse. All three usages are imperatives, the language of command, so there is both a mandate and an invitation. (Patterson, p. 384) - Look at the last part of verse 17. What a beautiful invitation for all without Jesus. Come. You who are thirsty. Come. I love the word whoever. That means any

5 5 and all. God knows who will and will not accept Him but we do not, so we must tell one and tell all to come to Jesus. Believe on Jesus. Repent of your sins and be saved. - I invite all here today without the Lord to accept Jesus invitation and come to Him and be saved. In a few minutes I will extend a public invitation for all who desire to take of the water of life to come forward at that time and receive Christ. Let us introduce you to the One who can quench your spiritual thirst and save your soul. III. INDICTMENT (VS ) - Verses contain severe warnings to any who would seek to make additions to or deletions from the book of Revelation. First, the one who adds to this book for him God will add to him the plagues written in the book. We have seen the plagues especially in the seal, trumpet, and bowl judgments of God. - What a severe warning to the Mary Baker Eddys, the Joseph Smiths and other false prophetesses and prophets in the world who say that the record of Scripture is incomplete and a new revelation or vision is needed to supplement or augment what God said. No ma am and no sir! - Dr. John MacArthur accurately and pointedly states, p : But in light of the repeated warning against altering God s Word, Christ s warning must be broadened to include all of Scripture. In Deuteronomy 4:2 Moses cautioned, You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you. In Deuteronomy 12:32 he added, Whatever I command you, you shall be careful to do; you shall not add to nor take away from it. Proverbs 30:5-6 warns, Every word of God is tested; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him. Do not add to His words, He will reprove you, and you will be proved a liar. Thus, the prohibition against altering the Apocalypse by implication extends to all of Scripture. Because Revelation describes the entire state, any alteration of it would be an alteration of Scriptures. Also Robert Thomas, p. 517 adds, So the final book of the Bible is also the concluding product of New Testament prophecy. It also marks the close of the New Testament canon since the prophetic gift was the divinely chosen means for communicating the inspired books of the canon. - Verse 19 God warns those who would take away from the Word of God. He will take away their part from heaven and all the blessings contained therein. God desires all people to be saved but those who engage in tampering and editing the Word of God demonstrate by their actions that they are not saved though they may profess to be. This has serious warnings and direct application for those who like the heretic Marcion in the first century, cut and deleted God s Word at will. The canon of Scripture is closed. Anyone who adds or deletes does so to his or her eternal shame. IV. IMMINENCE (VS. 20)

6 6 - Verse 20 the final words of canonical Scripture speak of the Lord s imminent return. Jesus Himself says He is coming quickly (tachu). John responds with both an affirmation Amen meaning let it be so, and then a prayer, Even so, come, Lord Jesus. (Patterson, p. 385) - His coming could happen at any moment. The early church lived with this expectancy and so should we. - Many scoff and ridicule the thought of Jesus coming again. They did in the New Testament era, and they do so today. Read 2 Peter 3: knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, 4 and saying, Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation. - Living as if Jesus could come at any moment and take His people away and bring about retribution and judgment upon this earth will make you a better Christian. It will keep you from sin, turn your heart toward the things of God, and give you urgency in your witness for Christ. CONCLUSION AND INVITATION - Verse 21 John closes this amazing book with a word about the grace of God. God s grace is what keeps us going. He is faithful and loving and kind. It is all about Jesus and His sustaining grace. - I invite you now to give your life to Christ. Believe on His name. Turn from your sins. Be saved.