This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

Welcome to day two of our look through Revelation chapter 22 in Daily Drive Time
Devotions, the last chapter of the book of Revelation. We began a look yesterday
at the connection between the first part of the Bible and the last part of the
Bible, as we saw the tree of life that was in the Garden of Eden and then again
is restored in the New Jerusalem. There are other connections between the
beginning and the end, and I want to share with you some of them, many of them
come out of verses three to five, so I'm going to read those verses and then
share some of those connections that we see in these last chapters of Genesis.

Revelation 22, three to five, "No longer will there be any curse. The throne of
God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and His servants will serve Him. They
will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads.

There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light
of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light, and they will reign forever
and ever. " There is a connection between the beginning and the end.

Let's just walk through some of the connections. In Genesis 1-1, the heavens and
the earth are created. In Genesis 21-1, we see a new heaven and a new earth that
is created.

God is restoring. In Genesis 1-16, we see a sun that's created. In Genesis
21-23, we see that there's no longer any need of the sun in this new heaven,
this new earth, this new Jerusalem, because God is all the light that you need.

In Genesis 1-5, the night is established. In Revelation 22-5, we're told clearly
there will be no night there. It never gets dark there, because God is always
light.

You're never away from the light. In Genesis 1-10, the seas are created. In
Genesis 21-1, we're told there will be no more seas in heaven.

What does that mean? The idea of a sea is that it separates us from other
people. In heaven, we are connected, not separated.

In Genesis 3-14-17, this is very important. A curse is announced because of
mankind's sin. Because Adam sinned and Eve sinned, they are cursed.

Eve is cursed to suffer with labor pains and childbirth, and Adam is cursed to
suffer with the sweat of his brow as he works the fields, as he works the
ground. This curse meant that there would be weeds, that we'd have to get those
weeds out of the ground, that there'd be pests, and we'd have to get those pests
out of the way in some way in order for the things that we wanted to grow to
happen to happen. Now, you may not be a farmer, but you still understand in your
job there are weeds and there are pests.

There is a curse that you're facing. Things don't work like they're supposed to
work. In Genesis 22-3, no longer will there be any curse.

God's canceling it. It's done. In Genesis, it begins, but it was only for the
time that we're on this earth.

We're going to see none of that in heaven. In Genesis 3-19, death enters human
history. In Revelation 21-4, there's no more death.

In Genesis 3-24, man is driven from the tree of life. In Revelation 22-14, man
is restored to paradise where there is the tree of life. In Genesis 3-17, we're
told that sorrow and pain will begin.

In Revelation 21-4, we're told now there are no more tears. There is no more
pain. Very clearly, God is giving the revelation that what happened in Genesis
is being changed in this new heaven, this new earth, this new Jerusalem.

He's going to put it all right again, and how does he do it? He does it through
Jesus Christ, through what Jesus Christ has done for us. That's why we look
forward to him coming again.

And so Revelation chapter 22 verses 6 to 7 says this, "The angel said to me,
'These words are trustworthy and true. ' The Lord, the God of the spirits of the
prophets, sent his angel to show his servants the things that soon must take
place. Behold, I am coming soon.

Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book. " It's
interesting. In verse 7, "Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of
this book.

" There are three commands or directions given to us in this last chapter of
Revelation concerning how we're to take the words of the book of Revelation, how
we are to treat the words of the book of Revelation. And the first command is
right here. We are to keep these words, not just hear these words, but keep
these words.

Jesus, in his Sermon on the Mount, after he had preached a sermon at the end, he
gave us a picture. And he said, "There are two types of people. One kind of
person is going to listen to what I've said, but not put it into practice.

" And that person, Jesus said, is like a man who built his house on the sand.
You listen, you don't do it, you don't put it into practice. It's like building
your house on the sand.

You build something, but it immediately is going to sink because it has no
foundation. But Jesus said, if you hear my words and you put them into practice,
you're like a person who builds their house on the rock. And the rain comes and
the winds burst against that house, but it will not fall because it's built on
the rock.

The rock is putting it into practice. So as we come towards the end of the book
of Revelation, we're in the last chapter. One of the questions I have to ask
myself, you have to ask yourself is, how do I keep the words of the book of
Revelation?

How do I practice what we've just read together, what we've just studied
together? Knowing it is not enough. Even understanding it is not enough.

And it's a tough book to understand. The blessing is found in keeping the words,
in practicing. What does it mean to practice these words that come to us from
the book of Revelation?

Before I talk about some specific things that we practice, let me go back to
that word blessing. A blessing is declared here. Blessed is he who keeps the
words of the prophecy of this book.

It's interesting. If you study through the book of Revelation, there are seven
specific blessings that are declared upon us who trust in him and who study this
book. Remember, Revelation is a book of sevens, and God in his exactness has put
seven blessings in this book.

Revelation 1-3 says, "Blessed are those who read and hear the prophecy of this
book. " Revelation 14 verse 13 says, "Write, 'Blessed are the dead who die on
the Lord from now on. '" Revelation 16-15, the third blessing, "Behold," Jesus
says, "I'm coming like a thief.

Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes so that he'll not walk
around naked and men will see his shame. Blessed is the one who trusts in me,"
he's saying. Revelation 19-19, "Blessed are those who are invited to the
marriage supper of the Lamb.

" Revelation 20 verse 6, "Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the
first resurrection. " Revelation 22 verse 7, "Blessed is he who keeps these
words of the prophecy of this book," the one we're looking at now, and then in
Revelation 22-14, we're going to see later this week, "Blessed are those who
wash their robes so that they may have the right to the tree of life. " We'll
talk about what that means.

Seven blessings throughout this book. God wants to bless your life, not just now
but into all eternity. Here in this blessing, in verse 7, the blessing is the
living of the truth.

How do I live out the truth of the book of Revelation? Here's what you do. You
trust the Lamb.

You worship the Lamb. You put your hope in the Lamb by anticipating the return
and the reign of the Lamb. That's how you and I live out the truth of the book
of Revelation.

That's what he's told us to do again and again in this book. First, you trust
the Lamb. You realize that what he's saying about human history, about life in
this world, I can trust him.

I'm not going to build life on my own selfishness. I'm going to build my life on
my trust in him. He knows what's best for me because he knows the future, and he
knows me better than anyone else.

How do I live out the truth of this book? I trust what he's saying in this book,
and then I worship the Lamb. Because of my trust in him, I worship him as God.

We're told to do that again and again in the book of Revelation. I worship him
for who he really is. Every day of my life, I think about who God really is.

I think about the fact that the priority of my life is not maybe the
circumstances surrounding me right now. The priority of my life is who he is and
how deeply he loves me. And then I keep the words of this book as I put my hope
in the Lamb.

That's anticipating his coming again. I put my hope in the Lamb by anticipating
the return and the reign of the Lamb. We're not just waiting for Jesus to come
again.

We're waiting for Jesus to reign for eternity. That's what it's all about.
That's what we look forward to.

As you and I pray today, I want to take a moment to pray that you and I would be
able to live the truth of the book of Revelation. Our Father, we believe in the
power of prayer. We believe that when we ask you here, and so right now in our
hearts we ask.

We studied this book together, help us to live the truth of this book in our
lives. Jesus, help us to trust you. Jesus, help us to worship you, Father, Son
and Spirit, help us to worship you.

And Jesus, strengthen us, strengthen our mind and our heart, strengthen our very
soul to put our hope in you by anticipating your return and your reign. We ask
this, Jesus, in your name. Amen.