This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

Well, here we are at the end and also the beginning. We're ending our study of
the book of Revelation, Revelation 22, the last chapter, day five of our look at
this chapter. But as we've seen these last couple of weeks, Revelation ends with
a beginning, with a new heaven, a new earth, a new Jerusalem.

And Revelation 22, the end of the chapter, ends with some talk to you and I
about what we should do about that new beginning. Let me read for you Revelation
22 verses 17 to 19. The spirit and the bride say, "Come.

" And let him who hears say, "Come. " Whoever is thirsty, let him come. And
whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.

I warn anyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book, if anyone adds
anything to it, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if
anyone takes away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his
share in the tree of life in the holy city, which are described in this book.
Now these last two verses, 18 and 19, they are a third direction concerning this
book.

We've been told this week that we are to take and keep the words of this book.
We've been told this week that the words of this prophecy are to be lived out in
our daily lives. We've been told this week that we are to honor God as we
faithfully keep out these words.

We're also being told this week in these last couple of verses that we're not to
add, we're not to take away. This is serious stuff as you read these verses.
Plagues will be added.

I will take away from you the tree of life. This is a very serious warning. The
warning here is that it's not my word, it's God's word.

If I take these words of the book of Revelation and I twist them to fit my
selfishness, I twist them to fit the way I want to live life, I'm going to lose
everything that God wants to give to me, all the hope that he wants to give. Now
I think most of you listening to this, you would not want to change one word in
the book of Revelation, but let me just say a personal word to you concerning
what this is saying about not adding, not taking away. The personal word is
this, be okay with being uncomfortable or being unsure about the meaning of some
of the book of Revelation.

Instead of trying to explain it away, taking it away, or choosing to ignore it,
adding in, taking away, just be uncomfortable. Lord, I don't quite understand it
yet. Just allow yourself to be uncomfortable with some of the meaning of the
book of Revelation if that's where you still are.

Because God will take that discomfort and he will use it like a grain of sand in
an oyster. Eventually, not quickly, but eventually there will come a pearl of
truth out of that discomfort unless you take it away by ignoring it, unless you
add to it by trying to explain it in a way that you know is not really making
sense. Every time I study through the book of Revelation, God reveals in my
heart, in my life, some things that I needed to understand, and my prayer is
that he's done that for you as you've gone through this book.

For me personally, as I went through Revelation with you this time, the pearl of
truth that God's shown in my heart, like he hadn't before, was the truth that
judgment is one of God's creation events. It's not a taking away, it is God
judging so that all the fullness of his new heaven and new earth can shine
forth. For me, as I walk through the book of Revelation this time, the personal
truth that I can have absolute confidence in the plan of God, shown through like
never before, now I know that truth in my head, I've known it for years, I've
known it for decades, but something about walking through this book with you
this time, God used the study of this book to help me to know that truth in my
heart, in a deeper, more convicted way, more convinced than ever before.

I don't know what God's done in your heart. He may still have some questions,
let him stay, let God work, let God work through the truth of this book.
Revelation chapter 22, the last two verses, 20 and 21, say this, "He who
testifies to these things says, 'Yes, I am coming soon, amen.

Come Lord Jesus. '" The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people, amen.
Jesus says, "I am coming soon.

" Next to the last verse of the book of Revelation, soon, that is a word that is
filled with immediacy. This is not a sometime soon word, this is a now soon
word. That's the idea of this, soon.

If I tell you that you're going to move someday, down the road sometime, what do
you do? You think, well, that'd be great, you don't do anything about it. But if
I tell you that you're moving tomorrow, what do you do?

You start packing, you act upon that. Now we don't know that Jesus Christ is
coming tomorrow, he may come tomorrow. He may come before this is even heard by
anyone.

I'm taping it a little bit before you hear it, before this is even heard, Jesus
Christ may come again. Wouldn't that be glorious? We never even got to finish
the study of the book because Jesus came again.

So he can come any day. But whether he comes tomorrow, or the next day, or next
month, or next year, whenever he comes, it's always soon. What does soon mean?

It means at any moment. At any moment, Jesus could come again. So at any moment,
I need to be ready.

At any moment, I need to be living out a life of hope. And John, as he hears
this, he expresses his heart's desire in a one word prayer. In the Greek
language, the one word prayer is Maranatha.

Translated into English, it's come Lord Jesus. That's what that means,
Maranatha. Come Lord Jesus.

Come quickly, Lord Jesus. So here we are at the end of the book of Revelation.
We've gone from Genesis in the beginning, God created, and now we're at the end
of the book of Revelation.

The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you all. That's the joy of all eternity.
That's what eternity is going to be about.

The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people. It can be in your life today
because of who Jesus is, and we're going to enjoy it in our lives forever
because of who Jesus is. So the question is, as we come to the end of this book,
what am I going to do about it?

What are the now actions in these verses? Let me just remind you of two of them.
Let me remind you of three of them as we end this book.

Number one, I need to come to him. Notice at the beginning in verse 17, "The
Spirit and the Bride say, 'Come. ' Let him who hears say, 'Come.

' Because Jesus is coming soon, that means I should come to him. It means I
should give my heart and life to him. If you haven't done that yet, do it even
now.

Just say, 'Jesus Christ, I give my life to you. I ask you to lead and guide me.
I ask you to forgive me.

I want to live my life for you now and to all eternity. I come to him in
trusting in him, and then day by day, I come to him and I trust him for that
day. '" Have you trusted him for today yet?

Sometimes we get into the day and we're going, and we're going so fast we forget
to come to him and to trust in him. Do that right now. What do I do right now
about the fact that Jesus Christ is coming again someday?

I come to him and I trust in him. What do I do right now about the fact that
Jesus is coming again someday? We read it earlier.

You wash your robes. That's what happens when we come to him. We wear white
robes because of his forgiveness, not because of our perfection.

I've always loved what John Newton said about heaven. He said, "When you get to
heaven, you're going to be surprised by three things. First, you're going to be
surprised by who is not there, all these very high-minded people who look like
they'd get in based on their good works, and they won't be there.

Jesus will say, 'Depart from me. I never knew you. '" You're going to be
surprised, number one, by who is not there.

You're going to be surprised, number two, by who is there. You're here in
heaven? I can't believe it.

I'm just flabbergasted that you would somehow make it in, but it's by the grace
of God and Jesus Christ. Your jaw is going to drop sometimes in heaven. You're
going to be surprised by who's not there, by who is there, and number three,
you're going to be surprised by the fact that you are there.

You're going to be surprised, in one sense, in all eternity, by the fact that
you get to wear a white robe. Now, I don't mean that you're going to be
surprised in a way that you didn't expect it. We're to expect his coming and
expect to be with him in eternity, but just shocked in a way that he would have
that deep a grace.

We get to wear a white robe. You get to wear a white robe. I don't know how long
it's going to last, this surprise, because we won't remember our sins from this
earth while we're in heaven.

We're not going to grieve over them, but I just have to believe there's going to
be this millisecond of surprise when I look and I think, "I get to wear a white
robe with the things that I thought, the things that I did, the things that I
failed to do? I get to wear a white robe with all of the other saints in all of
eternity? I get to be a saint in heaven?

Anticipate that. " That's what we do now, because Jesus is coming again, because
he's forgiven us. We anticipate that day.

I come to him. I anticipate wearing a white robe, and what do I do? How do I act
out, live out, practice the truth of the book of Revelation?

Here's the third thing you do. You worship God. You do what the angel has told
us to do a number of times, if you've studied through this book, you worship
God.

You don't get confused about that. You don't worship this book. You don't
worship the angels.

You don't worship the truth about heaven. God alone is worthy of our worship,
and worshiping God, that is what we will do for all of eternity, and it will
give you more joy and more abundance than you can imagine. The one who made the
heavens and the earth, the one who's going to remake the heavens and the earth,
the one with whom we're going to spend eternity.

Worship is declaring to God clearly and boldly how much he's worth in our lives.
The only reason that heaven is going to be what it is, is because God is who he
is, and we're going to spend eternity worshiping him for who he is and enjoying
who he is. Let's get a taste of eternity right now as we end our study of the
book of Revelation.

Our Father, we worship you. We worship you. Not the things of this world, not
the ego of our lives, not the pleasures that we can grasp.

We worship you. Not the word that you have given, or the truth that you've
given, or the angels you've created. No, we worship you, the one who's done it
all.

We worship you. Through the book of Revelation, we've seen that you are in
control, both now and to all eternity. And so as we end our study of this book,
we worship God.

We worship in Jesus' name. Amen. I'm grateful that together we've been able to
study this book, and I'm prayerful that God will use his word in my life and in
your life to continue to bring hope as we worship him.

I'll see you next week as we continue in our weekly study through the book of
Revelation. If you would like to study maybe a separate book that we're going to
study next week, you can go to drivetimedevotions. com and see the list of books
that we've already done and choose one of those and study whatever book you
would like to next as you personally walk through God's word and let God's word
change your heart and life because of who God is.