The End

DEVOTION

THE REVELATION

THE END

Rev 22:18-21

18 I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. 19 And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.

20 He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming soon."

Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people. Amen.

NIV

We have arrived the conclusion of this revelation. Within this conclusion is a warning, a most grievous warning to anyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book. Perhaps this warning should have been at the beginning, but then maybe we would never attempt to read and understand all the meaning God intended in his showing John all that he did. But here it is, a warning to do exactly that. We are warned not to make something out of this revelation that God did not intend. That is, not add anything to the words of this revelation. Of course we would not actually insert a word into scripture, but then perhaps some men have done that in their translating from one language, Aramaic to Latin, Latin to Greek, Greek to English or from one version to another. We do find in the Greek interlinear text times when they have added a word for better clarification of sentence structure. Could this warning be about that? It is doubtful. It truly has to be that God would not desire for us to misrepresent the truths he has revealed to us. We are also warned at the same time not to take words away from this book. That is we are not to lessen its meaning, to dismiss its meaning, to diminish the intent of its meaning. We are not to curtail its meaning, explaining away the spirit and design of the prophecy within it. So then we should not indulge in conjectures, but rather seek the truth. Have we done that? Have we conjectured about what has been described to us by John? There can be only one intent from God. He is revealing but one truth to us. There cannot be multiple meanings, or interpretations and yet that is exactly what we see when we investigate all the writings of scholars, commentaries, or other books explaining the meaning of all the symbolic language used. Have we done the same thing? Have we simply added another meaning? Is it possible that each of us can see a little difference in the meaning because of the Spirit revealing areas in our life that need adjustment? We know that throughout scripture many times people are revealed a truth which applies to their individual life, while another person has been shown another truth within the same scripture because the Spirit is doing his work, revealing all truth, leading us to the truth. Yet we are warned here this should not be the case with this revelation. It has been given for one purpose, for one intent. There cannot be multiple purposes, multiple truths, one for this person and another truth for someone else. What we are left with is the main purpose, the main reason all this has been revealed. God is God and he is the creator and all sovereign God who will someday put an end to all that he has created. He is warning mankind the end is near. He is telling mankind to make the choice to accept his free gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ. He is warning all mankind that if they insist on rejecting him, rejecting his offer, rejecting Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior they are going to perish. They have the opportunity to have eternal life, it is their choice, but he is wanting them to see their fate if they do not. He is showing all of us who have decided to accept his offer, our fate as well. Whether we see the exact representation of every aspect of this revelation or we don’t, we can see what God is going to do. We can see the end of everything we know now, and an all new creation that has been prepared for us. We can see that one day Jesus, who went to prepare this place, this creation, is returning to take us to that place. This is the whole the truth that is within all of scripture and is carried out throughout this revelation. There is an end coming and we should be prepared. Being in Christ is the best preparation, it is the only preparation. This revelation proves that truth over and over again. We have that truth in the last words of Jesus spoken in the scriptures.

20 He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming soon."

He is coming soon, be prepared, be ready, be alert, be vigilant, be on guard, and keep all these words deep within our spirit, our mind, our heart. Do not get lazy, do not get lax in our attitude or our disciplined life. Remain true to Christ, keep the faith, and do not get distracted by the powers at work against our soul, the things of the world. Jesus is coming soon and we need to be where we should be when he comes. At the same time we know he is waiting for the full number of gentiles to come into his grace. That means in his all-knowing, ever-present knowledge he knows there are more people who will accept his offer. Although he has not determined who will and who won’t, he still knows there are more, and knows who they are, who will accept his offer. So as we are led by the Spirit we will encounter some of them. Surely each of us cannot encounter all those who will accept his offer because they are all over the world. But some of them are right in our midst, perhaps our neighbor, or our co-worker, or at a store we shop, or at a place we find recreation. They may be all around us, and we have the obligation to hear the Spirit when he says, “Here is one I have been working on”, “I have been convicting them, now it is your turn to speak up”.  This might be the most important truth, as we are told not to cast our pearls before the swine. That is not to witness to people who are going to reject Jesus anyway. The Spirit knows who will and who won’t accept God’s offer. So we need to hear from the Spirit as to who we should speak up to and who we should not. So let us conclude with the same words John did.

Amen, Come Lord Jesus!

The Grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Once again we see this Greek word Charis, grace, the divine influence upon our heart and how that is reflected in our lives. His influence be upon us.

Amen, Come Lord Jesus.