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[0:00] Revelation 22 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb, through the middle of the street of the city.

[0:22] Also on either side of the river the tree of life, with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month.

[0:34] The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him.

[0:50] They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads, and night will be no more. They will need no light of the lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they shall reign forever and ever.

[1:09] And 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.

[1:28] And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.

[1:40] I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down in worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me.

[1:55] But 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.

[2:07] Worship God. And he said to me, do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near.

[2:20] Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy. Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done.

[2:43] I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. 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.

[3:04] Outside are the dogs and sorcerers, and the sexually immoral, and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

[3:14] 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.

[3:33] The spirit and the bride say, come. And let the one who hears say, come. And let the one who is thirsty, come.

[3:45] Let the one who desires, take the water of life without price. I 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.

[4:03] And 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.

[4:20] He who testifies to these things says, surely I am coming soon. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

[4:32] The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you all. Amen. Amen. Well, let's turn now to the word of God.

[4:50] Revelation 22 and verse 20. He who testifies to these things says, surely I am coming soon.

[5:04] Amen. Amen. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. We have been looking for some while at some of the great invitations of the Bible involving that word come.

[5:23] There are lots of them. Many that we haven't looked at. We've looked at nine so far. Some in the Old Testament, some in the New.

[5:36] There's another little cluster of them right here in this chapter. So I'm sure you noticed during the reading. In verse 17, the Spirit and the Spirit and the Bride say, come.

[5:51] 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.

[6:03] Most of the commentators say that the first two comes in that verse are addressed to the Lord Jesus Christ himself who has just said in verse 7 and again in verse 12, I am coming soon.

[6:22] But the last one is certainly an echo of Isaiah 55, which was the first come that we looked at in this series.

[6:35] Come, everyone who thirsts. Come to the waters. And of course, of the promise of the Lord Jesus himself, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.

[6:52] I want us to focus, though, on the last come in this chapter. The last come in the Bible, in fact.

[7:03] And the last in this series. Almost the very last words of the Bible. Come, Lord Jesus. This obviously is different from the other comes that we have looked at.

[7:22] The others have all been invitations to us. This is a heartfelt cry to the Lord himself, inviting him to return.

[7:39] He needs no invitation, of course. He's going to return, whether we invite him or not. But this surely is the desire of every true Christian.

[7:53] That our Lord Jesus Christ would come. And come quickly. I want us to consider this this evening under two very simple headings.

[8:07] The promise and the prayer. First, the promise. He who testifies to these things says, surely I am coming soon.

[8:26] He who testifies is obviously our Lord Jesus Christ himself. He's just said in verse 16, I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches.

[8:41] I am the bright morning star. The morning star is a name given to the planet Venus, which shines brightly in the eastern sky just before dawn.

[8:59] Just as the morning star heralds the dawn. So Jesus is saying here, the darkness is almost over.

[9:11] The night is almost past. I'm coming soon. Bringing glory and light to all the earth.

[9:22] Jesus came the first time to redeem us. He'll come the second time to reign over us.

[9:35] He came the first time to rescue us from the world. He will come the second time to judge the world. He'd spoken about this before.

[9:49] Indeed, he'd spoken about his second coming, even before the first coming was over. Luke 17, verse 23, for example.

[10:02] He'd warned them not to be deceived over this. And how many people have been deceived with Jehovah's Witnesses and other cults coming out with all kinds of false teaching on this subject.

[10:16] He says there, they will say to you, look there or look here. Do not go out or follow them. For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky, so will the Son of Man be in his day.

[10:33] But first, he says, he must suffer many things. First, he must die for our sins and rise again. And only then will it be possible for him to come in power and glory.

[10:50] Which, of course, is what the disciples have been longing for. For their Messiah to come as the powerful King spoken of in the Old Testament. Yes, I'm coming, Jesus says.

[11:03] But first, I must die and rise again. This second coming, he says here, will be sudden and unexpected, at least to the world.

[11:19] We're expecting it because we know the scriptures. To the world, it will come as quite a shock. As in the days of Noah, he says there in Luke 17, people will be eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage, buying and selling, planting and building and then suddenly the Son of Man will come.

[11:42] And he asks, searchingly, a little later, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith in the earth? I wonder what the disciples made of all that.

[11:58] The coming of the Son of Man was a familiar idea to them from Daniel chapter 7. But surely, the Son of Man was with them. How can Jesus be standing amongst them and saying, I will come?

[12:15] But of course, our Lord is speaking there of his second coming. Again, in Matthew 24, after speaking of the future destruction of Jerusalem and of its temple, which happened in AD 70, Jesus says, then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

[12:54] Again, he's quoting there from Daniel 7. goes on to speak of that second coming in a series of parables in Matthew 25, urging them to be ready.

[13:09] Parable of the virgins, the talents, the sheep and the goats. In the last of those, he speaks of it as the day of judgment. Matthew 25, 31, when the Son of Man comes in his glory, then he will sit on his glorious throne.

[13:25] Before him will be gathered all nations and he will separate them as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. So our Lord had spoken about all this while he was yet on earth.

[13:40] There's another more private promise in John 14 when he says to his disciples, if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself.

[13:58] I think that's particularly beautiful when we think of the second coming, we think of the lightning from one end of the sky to the other. It's a grand universal event, isn't it?

[14:14] But it's also a personal event. He's coming for you. He's coming for me. He's prepared a place and he's coming to receive us to himself.

[14:31] Moving on, beyond the Gospels there was a further promise in Acts 1 when Jesus had ascended to heaven. The angel said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven?

[14:43] This Jesus who was taken up from you to heaven will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven. Peter straightaway took that up in his sermon in Acts 2.

[14:59] Speaking of the great and magnificent day of the Lord. Quoting from Joel. Takes it up again in Acts 3. He urges the Jews to repent that the times of refreshing may come from the Lord and that he may send the Christ appointed for you.

[15:18] Jesus whom the heavens must receive until the time of the restoration of all things. Already you see it's forming a central part of his thinking.

[15:30] This same Jesus that we have just seen ascend to heaven he is coming again. Paul likewise picks up on this.

[15:40] Acts 17 he speaks of God judging the world by the man whom he has appointed which is of course Christ. Speaks of it often in his letters.

[15:52] 1 Thessalonians 4 for example the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command with the voice of an archangel and with the sound of the trumpet of God.

[16:05] Peter as well he speaks of it the day of the Lord will come he says and John when he appears we shall be like him.

[16:18] All of them are speaking with one voice. The early church was fixed upon this promise the Lord is coming again.

[16:30] And of course here in the book of Revelation Revelation is full of it isn't it? right from start to finish right at the beginning Revelation 1-7 where promise behold he is coming with the clouds and every eye will see him even those who pierced him.

[16:49] And then throughout the book this promise is in view. And now here it is again right at the very end the grand finale of the book of Revelation the grand finale of the Bible the grand finale of history Jesus himself is promising surely I come soon.

[17:18] Now a promise made by the Lord Jesus Christ can be relied on. These words are trustworthy and true. Many people make promises they can't keep some make promises they have no intention of keeping.

[17:33] but this is our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the one described in Revelation 19 as faithful and true. When he says he will do something he will do it.

[17:49] All the more so when he says it repeatedly again and again. And this is not a vague ambiguous promise either.

[18:00] it's not as if we were relying on one rather mysterious saying a single verse in the scripture. No this is as plain as daylight and it's repeated many times over and if we still have any doubts well our Lord has gone to the extent of adding that little word surely.

[18:27] Doesn't just say I'm coming soon surely I am coming soon. No need for you to have any doubts. This is a gold pleated promise from our Lord himself.

[18:43] Indeed he has to come again in order to fulfill all of the prophecies of the Old Testament. In order to be both our saviour and our king and our judge.

[18:56] And he will come. But what about that word soon? In some versions quickly.

[19:11] John wrote probably about AD 96. Already the church had been waiting for 60 years. 2,000 years have passed and we're still waiting.

[19:26] coming. How then could he say that he was coming soon? Well they evidently felt the force of that even in New Testament times.

[19:39] Peter says that some mocked the very idea of a second coming because nothing had happened yet. They will say where is the promise of his coming?

[19:51] For ever since the fathers fell asleep all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation. Peter reminds them first of the flood just as Jesus did in Luke 17.

[20:08] And then he adds to Peter 3 verse 8. But 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.

[20:19] The 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 come to repentance.

[20:35] That remains the best answer there is. First we must adjust to God's time scale and second we should actually be thankful that he hasn't yet come.

[20:51] if he had come in John's lifetime then you and I would never have lived. We wouldn't be in glory because we wouldn't even have been born.

[21:04] And if he had come shall we say 50 years ago well some of us here were not converted then. What a disaster that would have been for us.

[21:16] We would be lost. And some whom we love are not yet converted. So perhaps we are not so keen for him to come in the next five minutes.

[21:31] There's a few conversions we'd like to see first. And that actually is exactly what the Lord himself wants. The Lord is patient.

[21:43] He wants all of his elect to be saved before he comes. but he will come. Peter goes on. The day of the Lord will come as a thief.

[21:54] It really will come. And then the heavens will pass away with a roar and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved and earth and all the works that are in it shall be exposed.

[22:07] That's a terrifying prospect isn't it? But then he goes on. According to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

[22:23] This is the promise. But let's now turn to the prayer. Amen. Come Lord Jesus.

[22:36] This is the heartfelt cry of every genuine Christian. If you don't have that cry in your heart, if you are not particularly interested whether the Lord comes or not, then there's a big question mark whether there's grace in your heart at all.

[22:56] If you know the Lord Jesus Christ, you want him to come. We say amen at the end of a prayer, don't we?

[23:06] Here it comes at the beginning. It's a Hebrew word, of course. It means so be it. As Mary said, let it be so according to your word.

[23:20] The authorised version adds the words even so, amen. Come Lord Jesus. Even though that second coming will be the day of judgment, even so, Lord, we want you to come.

[23:39] now that raises the question, do you really want him to come? Have you thought about what it really means for him to come?

[23:55] If someone comes to your house, stays a while, and then leaves, and as they go out of the door, they say, I'll be back. you may be pleased, or you may not be pleased, depending on who it is, what your relationship is with them.

[24:17] Any illustration falls short, but there are two examples that come to my mind. When General MacArthur was forced to withdraw from the Philippines in 1942, handing it over to Japanese occupation, he famously said, I shall return.

[24:46] And many people in the Philippines must have been earnestly hoping and praying that he would keep his word. And he did. Two years later, he returned and he liberated.

[25:01] The Philippines. The illustration is imperfect, as I said, because Christ was not forced to retreat from this world.

[25:13] He had triumphed over Satan on the cross. He returned to heaven merely in order to direct operations, as it were, to command the great work of the gospel gathering in his people.

[25:27] But nonetheless, his final promise, I shall return, has been fulfilled, or will be fulfilled rather. He will return as the great liberator.

[25:43] He will return as the great deliverer, in a much greater sense than MacArthur could. to take a very different example, again, very inadequate.

[25:58] I don't watch films very often, if ever, but I do know of one very famous film called The Terminator.

[26:13] And it's famous for one particular moment where a robot assassin walks into a police station, demands to see someone, and is refused entry.

[26:27] And he leans upon the counter and he says, I'll be back. And moments later he comes crashing through the wall in a car.

[26:42] Now Christ is not a robot assassin, far from it. But the enemies of Christ, if they were to think about it, they have every reason to be terrified of that thought, I'll be back.

[27:03] Where are you on that scale? Are you longing for Christ to return? Or are you secretly afraid of him? The true Christian wants him to return, longs for him to return.

[27:23] And we do so for several reasons. First, we want him to return as our deliverer. This world is a world of sin and temptation, of suffering and death.

[27:40] It's a world where the saints are persecuted. We long for a new world in which righteousness dwells.

[27:52] And therefore we long for the return of Christ, knowing that he is the one who will bring in that new heavens and new earth. Revelation itself whets our appetite for this.

[28:07] Revelation 21 begins and I saw a new heaven and a new earth. And here in Revelation 22 you have a description of it. this holy city with the river running through it, with the throne of God and of the Lamb, where the Lord God will be our light, where we will reign with him forever and ever.

[28:29] Don't you long for that? We want Jesus to return because we want to see these things fulfilled. world. Yes, as Christians we will get a foretaste of it in heaven.

[28:47] To be with Christ is far better. But how good it will be when we finally see this earth transformed, to be raised from the dead and to live forever in a perfect world.

[29:04] God is the Lord. Secondly, we long for him to come as the judge. Perhaps that seems a strange thing to say, longing for judgment.

[29:19] judgment. But there is a sense of justice in our hearts, isn't there? You know, I find it difficult watching the news these days because there's so much that is wrong in the world and I find myself thinking, Lord, please come and deal with these people.

[29:41] This is so wrong, judge them. And I find it gets to me and I can't watch it for long. We have that sense of justice because God is just.

[29:55] And if Christ is in us, then the justice of God is also in our hearts. We want to see justice done on the earth. Psalm 96 says, Let the heavens be glad and let the earth rejoice.

[30:12] Let the sea roar and all that fills it. Let the field exult and everything in it. Then the trees of the forest shall sing for joy before the Lord.

[30:24] Why? For he comes, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in faithfulness.

[30:38] We look forward to that. God. But thirdly, and perhaps most important, we simply want to see him and to be with him forever.

[30:57] When a friend says they're coming to see you, you don't immediately think, Oh, that's good, they can fix the gutters for me. Or they can help me with the garden or whatever.

[31:11] They might do that and that will be very good of course. But first of all, you just want to see them and spend time with them. And so it is with Jesus.

[31:24] Although he will do great things for us, although he will do great things in this world, first and foremost, he is our friend, our beloved.

[31:37] He's the one who died for us. And we long to see him. Do you notice here what John calls him? Come, Lord Jesus.

[31:50] That's a very personal way of addressing him. It's not unique, but it is quite unusual in the New Testament. He is still Lord.

[32:05] John still speaks with reverence towards him. But that personal name, Jesus, reminds us that he is his friend.

[32:16] This is the same Lord Jesus that he had known on earth. The man, Christ Jesus, who came to save us from our sins. The man whose very name, Jesus, means Savior.

[32:32] Bearing now the name that is above every name, the name of Lord. God. So let me ask you as we close, are you longing for his coming?

[32:47] We read this morning in 2 Timothy 4 how a crown is prepared for all those who love his appearing. appearing. Not just those who believe in his appearing, but those who love his appearing.

[33:05] True Christians loved his first appearing, came to save us, and we love his second appearing. Paul expresses his longing in 1 Corinthians 16 verse 22.

[33:21] 2 Corinthians 16 If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed. Our Lord, come. In the AV it gives the Aramaic word Maranatha.

[33:36] Is that cry upon your heart? The Chinese Christian Watchman Nhi tells of an elderly missionary lady whom he overheard praying on New Year's Eve.

[33:51] Lord, must it be another year before you come? That surely is the spirit that we should have.

[34:04] For those who don't know him as saviour, of course, his return will mean nothing or will cause them fear. The fact that people in the world are not interested doesn't mean that they will escape.

[34:25] They too must face judgment. That is one good reason why we must preach the gospel. Jesus is coming again and he wants people saved before he comes.

[34:40] But if you are his, this will be your great desire for your Lord to return. May we all be able to say from the heart, come, Lord Jesus.

[34:55]  Amen.