Peter Barnes: Revelation 22:6-13
(15 July 2018)
SERMON NOTES: THE COMING OF JESUS (Revelation 22:6-13)
History is all heading towards the coming of King Jesus to claim His own.
1. We are in the last lap of human history.
– 22:6-7. This book is true and trustworthy.
– 22:10. The explanation of this verse can be gleaned by what God said to Daniel back in the sixth century B.C. For example, Dan.8:8 is explained about 250 years after the prophecy – Daniel 8:26. It was not that people could not read the prophecy until then, but that its meaning was sealed from them until then.
– Daniel 12:4, 8-9. The end is not the end of the world but the end of the Old Testament era, and the beginning of the time of the Messiah. Again, it is not that people could not read Daniel 12 until then, but they could not understand it until the first century.
– Jerry Bridges says that the Christian is like a POW escapee. He is free but still struggles because he is in enemy territory. The only thing to add is that he knows the enemy will not win.
2. Worship the divine Christ.
– 19:10; 22:8-9. Jesus accepts worship from human beings – John 9:38. Contrast that to Peter in Acts 10:25-26. Abraham Kuyper: ‘Erect before men, prostrate before God.’ Christ is divine as the Father is divine and the Spirit is divine – 22:13.
3. We have one life, then the judgment.
– 22:11-12. It is a declaration that a time will come when there will be no time to repent. This is the day of grace – Isa.55:6-7. But as the gospel is proclaimed in this world, it is a message of life to some and a message of death to others – 2 Cor.2:15-16. As the tree falls, so it lies – Eccles.11:3. In the 1989 Newcastle earthquake one of the victims was playing a poker machine, and was found with the handle embedded in his chest. Rev. 22:12.