August 20, 2023

REVELATION: THE END OF THE BEGINNING

August 20, 2023

Pastor Jonathan Falwell

 

Almost everyone who sits down with a book desires a great ending. As we recall the fairy tales from the years of our childhood, they would usually end with the lovely phrase, “And they lived happily ever after!” In our lives, we learn it doesn’t often go like that but the victory comes after much pain. Today, we see how fairy tales got their amazing last words as Revelation 22 has the happiest of endings that one could desire! The final words of the Book breathed by God Himself states that those people who have confessed Jesus Christ as Lord, repented of their sins and made their peace with God, will live with Him through eternity, in a life with no end, no sorrow, no pain, forever beholding the face of God. Could there be a better happily ever after?

Focal Passage: Revelation 22.

Eden Revisited:

  • Read Revelation 22:1-2. Who was the “he” who was with John? What does he show John? Read Gen. 2:8-10a. How does this new creation of a new earth sound like the Garden of Eden before Satan came into it?
  • Where did the river of life originate? Coming from the Throne of God, what will it be like? Read John 4:14. Is this the same water? Why did Jesus call Himself the Living Water? Why would the nations need healing?

Perfection Defined

  • Read 22:3-6a. What will be absent from the new earth? Is this how God planned for the world to be in Genesis 1-2? What are other concepts the word “curse” can include?
  • Who will be there? What will the saints be doing? Do you imagine that God will have work for us to do? What did Adam do before the fall? What keeps us from being able to do the work of God here on this earth? Can we even speculate as to what “serving God” might mean in the New Heaven and New Earth?
  • Who were some Old Testament saints who were afraid of seeing God’s face? Why? Read 1 Cor. 13:12. Why will we be able to see the face of God and live?
  • Why will there be no sun or light in heaven? Can you imagine a place where there is no night? We can only think in temporal terms; why will everything be different there? As we have discussed in previous weeks, when God says His word is “faithful and true,” what does He mean? Why can we trust Him?

Eternity Imagined

  • Read 22:6-8. Why does the angel reiterate that the words are true? What is the word in verse 6 that catches your attention? What do you think “shortly” means? What does God say next? Is there a connection between “shortly” and “I am coming quickly”?
  • What is the difference between the Beatitude in chapter 1:3 and this one in verse 7? Why would God repeat this? Why does the angel emphasize that it is God—and God alone—who is to be worshiped?

Our Efforts Rewarded by the Only One Worthy

  • Read 22:10-13. Why would God tell John NOT to seal up these words of prophecy? Read Daniel 8:26 and 12:4. Why did He tell Daniel to seal up his vision? What was the difference?
  • In verse 11, how fast are things going to happen once the time has come? Will there be time to change one’s behavior or belief once God declares “It is done”?
  • Why does He repeat He is coming quickly? What reward will He be bringing with Him?
  • Read Rev. 1:8 and 22:13. Again, God repeats Himself; who are the words attributed to in chapter 1? What about chapter 22? What do the words mean?

All Because of Jesus

  • Read 22:14-16. What is the eighth Beatitude in Revelation? What are the promises for those people? Who are the people “outside”? Is this a partial list of unregenerate persons who have rejected Jesus Christ that also includes other categories?
  • What does Jesus testify to being the truth of what has been said? Why does He mention that He is the Root and Offspring of David?
  • Read verses 17-21. God is ending His words to mankind. Why does He offer an invitation of “Come” three times? To whom is the invitation offered? God now promises blessings and curses for those who add or take away from His words. Can you think of those who add another book to the Bible for salvation? What will their punishment be?
  • What phrase is used again in these parting words? Why does Jesus want us to know the end is almost upon life as we know it? Read 2 Pet. 3:9 and Num. 14:18. Why is He so concerned that all hear?

Close:

The time is drawing to a close. As we saw in the earlier chapters of Revelation, people will observe the terrible chaos and catastrophes happening world wide and still reject God as the one who is bringing all things to an end. They do not repent and turn to the Lord. We see in Jude 4, the end will bring about times when “certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.” Yet for those of us who know and love the Lord Jesus Christ, and God the Father, we will be in heaven for eternity—an incredible length of time that our finite minds can’t imagine. We will worship God and God alone, in perfection and beauty, with an endless hallelujah!

 

By Sandy Day

August 20, 2023

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