Princeton Presbyterian Church

Princeton Presbyterian Church (EPC) Sermon # 1628

March 10, 2024

Revelation 22.6-21    Click here for audio worship.

Dr. Ed Pettus

(This is an extended outline, not a verbatim transcript.)

 

“Come, Lord Jesus!”

 

⁶And he said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true. And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place.” ⁷“And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.” ⁸I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me, ⁹but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.” ¹⁰And he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. ¹¹Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy.” ¹²“Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. ¹³I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” ¹⁴Blessed 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. ¹⁵Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. ¹⁶“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.” ¹⁷The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price. ¹⁸I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, ¹⁹and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book. ²⁰He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! ²¹The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.

 

 

Essential # 6 – Jesus Christ will come again to the earth personally, visibly, and bodily—to judge the living and the dead, and to consummate history and the eternal plan of God. “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” (Rev. 22:20)

 

• Words We Can Trust

 

When we began this series on the Essentials of Faith, we began with the opening paragraph that gives the basis for all the Essentials, that is, the authority of God’s Word. The Bible attests to itself as being the authoritative Word from God. As we look today at Essential # 6, we are also examining Revelation 22, which is referenced at the end of Essential # 6. In 22.6 we see the statement from the angel that “these words are trustworthy and true”. Now, I realize that the angel may be referring to the words of this book, Revelation, this particular revelation of Jesus Christ, the final book of the Bible. But, the connection is clear that if these words are trustworthy and true, and these words are words from the same author of the rest of the Bible, God Himself, then the same can be claimed for the entire Bible. All the Words of God are trustworthy and true. This is a foundational understanding of our faith, that we trust the Bible to be God’s Word and this Word is the revealed truth about all things necessary for faith and life. In this Word is the way of salvation, the way of love, the way of life in families, in societies, and in church. In this Word is hope and confidence and wisdom.

These Words that are trustworthy and true are diametrically opposed to the lies of the world. This is becoming more and more apparent daily as the lies are exposed. We cannot place our trust in the words of the world, only in the Words of the Bible. We can trust this Book, the Bible, and this prophecy of Revelation, and the Words of all the Prophets and Law and Gospels and epistles, all of it. The truth is hard to come by in the world. The more we know the Word of God, the more we will see the lies of the world. Those lies are distributed on a daily basis by the media, by quite a few politicians, and unfortunately we are learning even by some in the medical field who once swore to do no harm as a part of their profession. Whether they are destroying babies in the womb or destroying lives with changes to teen bodies, they are filled with lies, deceiving, evil, and not at all trustworthy. It is not all medical professionals, not all politicians, not all media, but enough who have a microphone to influence people with their lies. Some speak against God and Christians, some are even within the church twisting the Word of God to suit their own lies of passion and sin.

Some of the lies over the years have twisted the truth of Jesus’ death and resurrection and His promise to come again. That is what today’s Essential addresses, the return of Jesus Christ.

 

• Coming Soon

 

The following statement is trustworthy and true – Jesus is coming soon! I do not know when. People have been making predictions ever since Jesus ascended into heaven while the disciples were looking up to the sky. We read Acts 1 to begin our preparation for worship. Let’s look at in again in this context of Jesus coming soon.

⁶So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” ⁷He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. ⁸But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” ⁹And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. ¹⁰And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, ¹¹and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

 

Jesus is coming back and He is coming soon. He is coming, as the Essential points out, personally, visibly, and bodily.

Jesus is coming personally. It is really Him. Jesus Christ, the Savior who came in the form of a human being to live, die, and be raised from the dead. He is coming again.

He is coming visibly, just as He was seen ascending into heaven, He will be seen coming in the same way.

He is coming bodily which means truly rising from the dead, not a spiritual resurrection but a complete bodily resurrection after death, after three days in the tomb. In essence this is three ways of saying that the Jesus who lived, died, rose, and ascended is the same Jesus who is coming back.

 

He is coming to judge the living and the dead, and to consummate history and the eternal plan of God.

 

Coming to judge the living and the dead. In one of Paul’s sermons in Acts, he says, “³⁰The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, ³¹because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead” (Acts 17.30-31). Of course, that is a reference to Jesus who will be the judge.

 

Coming to consummate history and the eternal plan of God. The consummation of history is the final revelation of the glory of God displaying His mercy and salvation to the elect and the justice shown in the punishment of the reprobate and wicked. This is clearly seen in the parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25.

 

³¹“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. ³²Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. ³⁴Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

 

⁴¹“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.’”

 

This will mark the completion of history, the fruition of God’s plan, and what comes next is the eternal glory of God and the picture the book of Revelation gives in glimpses of heaven and the heavenly worship.

Winged creatures saying, 4.8, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”

Elders around the throne saying, 4.11, “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”

People from every tribe and nation, 7.9-10, After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, ¹⁰and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

 

Jesus is coming soon and all these things will take place. But when is soon? Soon can mean many things. 2 Peter 3.8-10 ⁸But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. ⁹The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. ¹⁰But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.” Soon is all in God’s time. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

 

 

• Come, Lord Jesus

 

¹⁷The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.

The bride says come, we who hear say come. Some days we pray harder than others that Jesus would come. But God is patient. God is working off His own timing. Invitation to come - Isaiah 55.1-3 “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. ²Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. ³Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.”

 

How long shall we wait? How bad can it get? What is God’s timing? There have been plenty of times when God waited and then, at the right moment, He took decisive action. In the days of Noah God took action. So too, the Bible says, the time of Christ’s return will be as it was in the days of Noah. “For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. ³⁸For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark” (Matthew 24.37-38). Eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage...the world does not even know the definition of marriage anymore! We could probably make the argument that we have surpassed the days of Noah as far as sin and confusion and idolatry go.

 

Why is the promise of Christ’s return an essential?

• It tells us that there will be a day of judgment. Everything will not continue as is forever. Today is the day of salvation. 2 Corinthians 6.2, For he says, “In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.

• On that day all will see the glory of God, His mercy, and His justice. The elect to everlasting life and the wicked to everlasting destruction.

• The Westminster Confession says this: [Jesus] has also made sure that no one knows when that day will be, so that we may never rest secure in our worldly surroundings, but, not knowing what hour the Lord will come, we must always be alert and may always be ready to say, “Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly.”

 

Yes, Lord, come. Come, Lord Jesus! Amen.