Revelation Chapter 22 Verse 7

 We talked about this idea of each one of us are shortly to see these

things come to pass. Even for the world, if Jesus tarries another ten

years or hundred years or a thousand years, for God it will only be a

day as Peter says in 2 Peter 3:8, “Beloved, do not forget this one thing,

that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand

years as one day.” Time works differently outside of time. Sort of a

duh statement, right!?

 So, within the next hundred years, I would venture to say for each one

of us in the room, this is coming. The entirety and fulfilment of all

things, whether Jesus comes to us in the clouds or whether we go to

Him (in the croak, HA!)! It’s a good thing to consider our own

mortality. In fact, it’s incredibly important. Because life is like a

vapor, here one moment and gone the next but what comes after this

life is permanent. Superiorly foolish to not secure THAT let alone not

think about it!

 Blessed is he who keeps the words of this prophecy of this book.

Blessed is the word happy in the Greek. Fortunate, well off,

profitable and confident. Take what the Word of God has to say, keep

it, and character strengthens. Satisfaction of heart establishes. You find

yourself happy not because of happenstance but because of a deep

seeded understanding of all things.

 Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2:6-8, “However, we speak wisdom among

those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers

of this age, who are coming to nothing. But we speak the wisdom of

God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the

ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had

they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.”

 The blessing isn’t in the hearing, believing, listening, studying,

teaching, it’s in the keeping! Keeping of the word in your own

thinking, your own life, your own faith, but also in keeping yourself

FOR the word! This is the hard part and getting harder as the world

move further and further away from God… But that is where the

blessing is!

 Let’s say you love the gym. You study things about gym equipment.

You teach people how to do exercises. You write nutrition books, you

know so much about it all! But you don’t go to the gym yourself and

you eat like my Doberman! Put anything in front of him and he

doesn’t even chew, he just inhales! Doesn’t matter how much it

interests you, you know about it, you study it or how much you can

tell someone else about it. If you don’t keep it yourself, your health is

in the tank. Blessed are those who keep the words of this book!

Revelation Chapter 22 Verses 8 - 9

 Only one angel in the Bible ever wanted, received and demanded

worship and that is the fallen one. He asked God to worship him! This

angel, along with all other angels in the Bible, refuse to receive

worship. Worship is reserved for God alone. Jesus said to Satan in

Matthew 4:10, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall

worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve!’”

 Now, check this out. Matthew 2. Herod sends wise men to seek the

Child born when the Star in Bethlehem appeared. And we read in

Matthew 2:9-11, “When they heard the king, they departed; and

behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till

it came and stood over where the young Child was. When they saw the

star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. And when they had come

into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and

fell down and worshiped Him.”

 Then, Matthew 14, when Jesus called Peter out of the boat to walk on

the water, we read in Matthew 14:33, “Then those who were in the

boat came and worshiped Him, saying, “Truly You are the Son of

God.”

 More! John Chapter 9. Jesus heals a man that had been blind from

birth. And we read in John 9:38, “Then he said, “Lord, I believe!”

And he worshipped Him.” I could go on and on. Scene to scene in the

word of God where Jesus was worshipped and received worship and

yet it was Jesus Himself that said, “You shall worship the Lord your

God only!” So, folks, who does that make Jesus!? Jesus is the Lord!

The Almighty. God among us, with us, for us, revealed to us! Clear

throughout the Word of God!

Revelation Chapter 22 Verses 10 – 11

 That means that all that we have read and studied, the entirety of the

Word of God is not sealed to us! It can be received and processed by

our minds with the help, guidance and leading of the Holy Spirit. It’s

not sealed up. The intellectual can’t learn it. The arrogant cannot grasp

it. The carnal natural man can’t discern it. But it can be taught to the

spiritual man by the Holy Spirit.

 This means therefore there is no excuse. Ignorance of the word of God

by anyone that has had access to it can only be explained a few ways.

It’s either laziness, lack of interest, (which means folks just didn’t care

about the things of God), worldliness, carnality and self-seeking, or

just plain pride. But in the spirit, by the Spirit, all is revealable.

 So, the unjust, let them be unjust still. It will be on them. Not you

John. Let them be as they will be, but as for you, as for me, what we

are is entirely accountable to us because the truth can be known,

freedom and faith are accessible, and the Spirit is locked-in ready to

work in the hearts and lives of all of us. This is a verse of personal

accountability for every person.

Revelation Chapter 22 Verses 12 – 15

 Super interesting here in verse 12, we read in the NKJV, “according to

his work,” however in the original text, and you find this in the KJV,

there is a word after the word “work.” It’s the word in the Greek,

“esomai,” and it means “what shall be.” So, this quite literally in the

original text reads, “according as his work shall be.”

 This is the reward of Jesus to us in the eternal state. That we will be

given a place in the New Jerusalem and that will include a function. A

job if you will but it won’t be like work. It will be a specific privilege

for us and purpose for us in heaven. And it will be entirely as a result

of what you did by faith unto the Lord in this life.

 It will be a blessing for all. That’s what verse 14 says. I do desire to

report directly to Jesus but even if you are a street of gold sweeper,

blessed is everyone who enters into its gates!

 But outside, those that don’t make it to the eternal state, new heaven

and new earth with New Jerusalem as its capital, their position is

described as “outside.” The word in the Greek is literally, “without.”

Revelation Chapter 22 Verses 16 – 17

 Incredibly essential verse set and also incredibly advantageous in

witnessing to those that say Jesus is Michael the Archangel or that

Jesus is the spirit Brother of Satan. Take them to Revelation 22 and

read to them Chapter 1 verse 8. “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the

Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who

is to come, THE Almighty.”

 And ask them, “Who is that speaking?” This one is super clear. There

can only be one Alpha, one Beginning, one Omega, one End…, there

can only be one Almighty. If you have two then one cannot be

almighty! So, they will say, “That is God the Father.” Quickly agree

with them.

 Then take them to chapter 22 verse 13, “I am the Alpha and the

Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.” And ask

them again, “Who is that speaking?” They will say again, “That is

God the Father.” Quickly agree with them.

 Then walk them down to verse 16. “I, Jesus.” Checkmate. Say to

them, either you have two Alphas, two Omegas, two Beginnings and

two Ends, either you have two Almighties…, or you have an essential

problem with the foundational doctrine of your group… And then give

them the GOSPEL! The free gospel of grace and forgiveness, total

forgiveness of all sin through the sufficient blood of Jesus Christ, and

tell them they need to be born again!

 Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely! That is the

gospel of the goodness and grace of God who so loved you and me

that He gave Himself in my place and in yours so that we can stand

with Him in His place before the Father.

Revelation Chapter 22 Verses 18 – 19

 This is not just speaking of the Book of Revelation but of the entirety

of the Bible. The full and complete Word of God that has been given

to us and preserved by His Spirit through the generations.

 If you add to it then you introduce legalism. Works based relationship

and pressure packed piety which is not the message of this book. But

rather salvation by grace through faith unto good works as a result of

worship in your heart of hearts. So, add to the Bible, you get legalism.

 Take away from the Bible and you get liberalism. A God not

Almighty but made in the image of man as we pick and choose what

to accept and what to leave behind. You end up shipwrecked in terms

of genuine faith…

 But even more, a stark warning of the seriousness God places on His

word that doing either means in some mysterious way that you are

apart from a true saving faith and the plagues written in this book will

be yours to experience…

Revelation Chapter 22 Verses 20 – 21

 Grace is the key to the entirety of the Revelation of Jesus Christ. The

Book of Revelation and truly the key to understanding the Bible. The

Book of Revelation is filled with things that would terrify anyone and

yet the key to fear being overcome is faith. Faith that the grace of God

is as He has described it, not as we so often twist it.

 Grace, God’s riches at Christ’s expense. That in the receiving and

confessing of Jesus Christ, you receive the fullness of forginess and

enter in, you queue up in line for the gates of the New Jerusalem.

 The last words of this book, the last words of the Bible, the last and

final word. God’s desire is for His grace to be with you all.