Good morning.
Revelation 22 describes life. There are 12 pictures to help us identify life. There is the river of life, the tree of life, the faces of life, the light of life, the faithful sayings of life, we are to worship the God of life, the prophecy of life, the Alpha and Omega of life, the commandments of life, we are to come to life, and the Lord Jesus is life.
These pictures describe our eternal home. God gives the readers one last chance to get saved. He warns not to add or take away from the “…prophecy of this book…”
Faithful sayings of life (22:6-7)
6 And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly be done.7 Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.
Three things to glean from these verses. First, God’s word is truth. It is sure and will never fail. Second, God sent his angel to proclaim what is to come. He has been doing that from the very beginning of Scripture. Third, we are to obey the word of God. The theme from Genesis to Revelation is to obey what God tells us to do.
Doing these three things brings life.
Worship the God of life (22:8-9)
8 And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things.9 Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.
The mistake of mankind throughout the ages is that they worshipped anything but God. Idols of stone and wood. Gods of the sun, moon, and stars. The things of this world.
Worship God and have life.
The prophecy of life (22:10-11)
10 And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand.11 He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.
We have had the word of God, the Bible, available to us all our lives. But it can only bring life when it is opened, read, obeyed, and applied to our lives. The Bible tells us about sin, tells us the wages of sin is death, and that God provided a solution to the problem of man’s sin through Jesus paying our sin debt on the cross at Calvary. Jesus gives us eternal life.
Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001
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