Revealing RevelationSample

A Message from the Throne
“Then He who sat on the throne said, ‘Behold, I make all things new…’” (Rev. 21:5).

God’s message to us:
1. God’s judgment is for a reason and only for a season.
2. We can be assured that the plan that God has laid out in this book will come to pass.
3. For those of us who commit ourselves to following God, all the good stuff in the previous twenty chapters belongs to us.
4. For those who are still living in their sinful ways, all the bad stuff found in the previous twenty chapters belongs to them.

The New Jerusalem
In chapter 21, an angel came to carry John away to see the new Jerusalem.

“And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal” (Rev. 21: 10–11).

In the next 22 verses, God presents a description of the New Jerusalem and includes facts we must know:
1. It is a massive size, “12,000 furlongs.” This works out to be 1,380 miles as high as it is long.
2. It is beautiful beyond words.
3. There is no temple for worship because, “the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple” (21:22).
4. The city has no need for the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God illuminates it.
5. The holy city is finally, quite literally the holy city. There will be only righteousness there.

The River and the Tree
Flowing in the New Jerusalem will be a new river with a special kind of water. The water of life flows out from the Source of Life, God Himself.

“He showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light, and they shall reign forever and ever” (Rev. 22:1-5).

Even So, Come
God promises blessings to those who read Revelation. The angel assures him of the truthfulness of all he has seen and heard.

“Then (the angel) said to me, ‘These words are faithful and true.’ And the Lord God of the holy prophets sent His angel to show His servants the things which must shortly take place” (Rev. 22:6).

The Lord inserts Himself on four instances in this last chapter (22:7, 22:12–13, 22:16, 22:20). In three of the four verses, he insistently opens with, “I am coming quickly!” The angel tells John to make sure the word of the message he has written gets disseminated throughout the church quickly, because time is short.

We learn that we need to trust that God will carry out His perfect plan in His perfect time, that we can love our enemies knowing that He will bring justice in His time, and that—because time is short—we must be a light to our unbelieving friends and family and anyone else that He puts us in contact with. These last few chapters remind us of our future reward, which helps us to realize that this short life we live on the earth is not about us.

Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus! The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen” (Rev. 22:20–21).