Jesus Is Coming. Revelation 22:12-17, 20. And he is coming. 43 days ago we saw him rise, and we sang, Alleluia! On

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1 Jesus Is Coming Revelation 22:12-17, 20 by Michael G. Lilienthal He is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! And he is coming. 43 days ago we saw him rise, and we sang, Alleluia! On Thursday we saw him ascend to heaven, and again we sang, Alleluia! Now, Jesus is coming, as he says, Surely I am coming soon. And to this we say, Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! I. He Says, Surely I Am Coming Soon. To John, Jesus announced, Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay everyone for what he has done. Yes, Jesus comes as a judge. As he approaches, you should prepare to stand before his court. He will analyze each man s deeds, and dole out appropriate rewards: the clean will be allowed inside his city gates, while Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. Which are you? Are you among these six or seven categories of sinners and unlawful people? Here consider your own situation, and think of the Ten Commandments, whether you are a father, mother, son, daughter, employer, employee; whether you have been disobedient, dishonest, lazy; whether you have injured anyone by word or deed; whether you have stolen, neglected, wasted anything, or done any harm. 1 1 Luther, Small Catechism, ELH (Mankato: ELS, 1996), 35.

2 Revelation 22:12-17, 20 2 Jesus declares that he comes, to repay everyone for what he has done. He said the same thing to his disciples while on earth: When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats (Matt. 25:31-32). Then he declares what he will say to the sheep, Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me, and to the goats, Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me (Matt. 25:40, 45). On the basis of each man s works he is judged. Paul wrote, Romans 2:6: He will render to each one according to his works. And again, 2 Corinthians 5:10: We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, each to receive according to what he has done with his life, whether he has used it for good or evil (Beck). We feel so much better, don t we, saying, Faith! Faith! Hear what James wrote in his epistle: What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? [F]aith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead (2:14, 17). This is further explained by Paul in his letter to the Ephesians: For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them (Eph. 2:8-10). Now I want you to notice a trend in the book of Revelation. Here John writes, Blessed are those who wash their robes. This is the seventh time in his Revelation the

3 3 Jesus Is Coming word Blessed, in Greek, maka,rioi has been uttered. Exactly seven times do we find the description of those who are blessed, maka,rioi. Let s trace this pattern. The first instance is in 1:3: Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near. At the beginning of the book we are warned that this time is coming, namely, the time when Jesus is coming. The only way of rescue is in keeping what is written in this book. This is expanded on in 14:13: And I heard a voice from heaven saying, Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Blessed indeed, says the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them! Death now carries that blessed description. And those who die in the Lord are blessed, says the Holy Spirit, in their deeds following, their deeds giving witness for their faith. The third, 16:15: Jesus interrupts an intense vision by saying, Behold, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on, that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed! Those who remain faithful to the end and do not fall into sleep, into sin, so that they are prepared when Jesus comes, and not caught with their pants down, they are called Blessed. 19:9: And the angel said to me, Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said to me, These are the true words of God. The marriage supper of the Lamb is the occasion of Jesus wedding to his Bride, the Church. This marriage supper is especially a picture of heavenly bliss: those who are invited are, broadly speaking, the whole world. God desires all people to be saved

4 Revelation 22:12-17, 20 4 and to come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Tim. 2:4); in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, that is, we invite you in his name, be reconciled to God, (2 Cor. 5:19-20), come to the marriage supper. All are invited, in a broad sense, but many reject it, and then the servants of the master are told, Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find. And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good (Matt. 22:9-10). Ultimately blessed, therefore, are those who are brought into the marriage supper. 20:6: Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years. Whoever manages to be united into Christ s resurrection and therefore to rise to eternal life after death, he will not be touched by eternal death. So this blessedness comes to whoever is raised by God. 22:7: Jesus speaks again, And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book. Again, keeping these words is characteristic of those who are blessed. And last, 22:14: 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. Whoever s robes are washed are described by this term, Blessed. This robe-washing is described elsewhere in John s Revelation: the ones coming out of the great tribulation have

5 5 Jesus Is Coming washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb (7:14). This washing, when Jesus blood and righteousness pour over the robes of an individual, that washes him clean, giving him the right to the tree of life and the city; it comes without our asking for it, without our seeking it: because it is entirely the work of the Holy Spirit. There on the cross Jesus died and shed blood and water from his side. His death paid for all sins. His suffering accomplished the purchase of sinful souls. The blood and water the Lord s Supper, Holy Baptism, each with the power of the Word come to people, and through them the Holy Spirit inspires the believer with faith, and with forgiveness and all that comes with it: Life, Salvation, and the ability to do good works in Jesus name. Therefore we can take comfort in the thought that each man s life will in a sum be his work, the public evidence of what is in his heart, either faith or unbelief. 2 We are forgiven, and Jesus Christ lives in us. He says, I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. The testimony is sent here the testimony of the whole book of John s Revelation so that we may learn what it is to be Blessed. We are blessed when we hear these words and believe them, which is the work of God. Jesus also says, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. This means many things, one being that Jesus is the creator of the world, and he is also the destroyer of the world, so that just as he was the Word of God by which Creation came about, he is also the last Word of God by which Creation 2 Lenski 666.

6 Revelation 22:12-17, 20 6 will come to an end. But beyond this, Jesus is the first letter and the last letter, the beginner and the finisher, and as the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews phrases it: Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, (12:2, KJV). Jesus creates our faith through the Word and Sacraments (it is all his doing), and he alone bears us through our life of faith, performing good works through us, until we reach the end goal of that faith, eternal life. Now that is the point of extreme comfort: If Jesus has begun this faith in us, he will see it to conclusion. That conclusion comes when he comes. When he says, Surely I am coming soon, that means, Surely I am coming to bring you home. That is a statement to which we may confidently, joyfully say, Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! II. We Say, Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! Notice everyone who calls for the coming of this Lord: The Spirit says Come, that is, the Holy Spirit. At Jesus ascension into heaven, he promised, And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you (Luke 24:49); and this is explained by what he said earlier: And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you (John 14:16-17). Therefore this is not the Holy Spirit as he dwells in heaven. This is the Holy Spirit as he dwells among us, in us, all around us, empowering our worship and our lives so that we can do good works. That is why this text says, The Spirit and the Bride say, Come. The Bride is the Church, the purchased people of Christ.

7 7 Jesus Is Coming If the Church as a whole says, Come, then each individual member, each person who is present with the Church and hears the Word of God and receives the Sacraments, each one ought also to say, Come. Therefore the text goes on: And let the one who hears say, Come. Whoever hears the Word of God and is given faith by the Holy Spirit cannot help but have his heart attuned to the song of the whole Bride of Christ which in a long sustained melody cries, Come! And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price. This is like what Jesus said on earth: If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water (John 7:37-38). We come and gather around Jesus where he is found in the Word that is preached, in the Baptism that washes, in the Supper that feeds and we receive those things that he offers. We come and receive the water of life without price, because it is freely given. And when we come, we ask our Lord also to come. Even in one of our most common prayers, which even children know, we pray this very thing: Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest, and let these gifts to us be blessed. Amen. We want him to come, gather us, be with us, bless us with immeasurable gifts, all of which culminate in the single greatest gift of eternal life with him: 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. We ve spoken about this washing: this is the doing of Jesus, the washing of water with the Word, Baptism, and the gift of faith in general. To enter the city of God by the gates is to come into him by

8 Revelation 22:12-17, 20 8 the open way, and Jesus says, I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me (John 14:6). And this way in, this gate, is also shown by the tree of life. In Eden, the right state of affairs was destroyed. Man once had the right to the tree of life, but we gave it up by rejecting God. Now, Baptism washes us, causing us to be reborn a New Creation (ending the Old), and linking us inexorably from the tree of life. But the Greek here is interesting. The language has a perfectly good word for a living, growing tree: de,ndron. But that s not the word here; instead, it s zu,lon, which means tree, but is broader, and means wood in general. Through washing we are connected with the wood of life. The old tree of life which man rejected is now offered freely in a new, better tree of life the wood on which our God died. Jesus established our salvation on that wood, that cross, and on that account we are saved! Through faith, that wood is life to us. And therefore, in faith, we wait the time when that life comes to fulfillment and completion, and so we say, Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!