Louie Giglio - Come, Lord Jesus
We come down to this last section beginning in verse 6 of chapter 22. And John writes, «The angel said to me, 'These words are trustworthy and true.'» This revelation, you can depend on it. There are very few things you can depend on in life. People are gonna let you down, life is gonna let you down, but I promise you one thing is not gonna let you down and it is these words, this revelation and every other thing in this book of God is trustworthy and true. And I’m so glad we have it, we have the privilege today of opening up the miracle of the living word of God.
We’re not looking for some guy to stand up and say what he thinks and tell everybody what his views are. We’ve got trustworthy and true words in front of us today. And I pray the Holy Spirit will allow us to take them to heart. The angel said, «The Lord, the God who inspires the prophets». So, these prophets weren’t just writing whatever, they were inspired by God. The same God, «Sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place».
Soon is a key word in chapter 22, we’re gonna see it four times in this chapter. We’re talking about urgency here. And then, in verse 7, we’re down to the end of it all, we’re down to the revelation of Jesus and then, once again, look what happens, tell me what you see in verse 7. You see words that are in what? Words in red. What does that signify? That Jesus is talking. So, Jesus steps into the end of the revelation and now He’s weighing in on the revelation of Himself. A lot of people think that Jesus only talked in the gospels, but Jesus is talking here at the end of the age. And He says, «Look, I am coming soon». There’s so much packed into that sentence. This is the operative word for us in revelation, pay attention, be awake, be ready, be watching, keep looking, don’t be distracted.
And then, He says, «I am». What a beautiful phrase. I am that I am, that’s who He is, that’s who God is. And He says, «I’m coming soon». There’s number two. «Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy written in this scroll». And then, look what happens. «I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I had heard and seen them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been showing them to me. But he said to me, 'Don’t do that! I am a fellow servant with you and with your fellow prophets and with all who keep the words of this scroll».
In other words, this whole situation was so beyond what we can imagine. Yes, there’s God in midst, and yes, there’s thrones and there’s thunder and there’s worship, and there’s bright and he’s seen picture of the new heaven and a picture of the new earth, but even this angel somehow, is so majestic and so otherly that John falls down at his feet. He’s hearing the words of the angel, but he’s getting all caught up in the splendor of the moment and he falls at the feet of the angel and the angel’s like, «Whoa, whoa, don’t do that. Hello, I’m just an angel. I’m a fellow servant with you and the prophets and all those who keep the words of this scroll». And then, he says the most powerful two words. He says, «Worship», say it with me, «God»! And I was like, «Wow, wow».
When you have these moments, when you’ve been pouring over something for a long time and you’re just kinda cooking along at the very end and you go, «Wow, this is it. This is what I have been waiting for». Because Revelation is a lot, people, so if you wanted to sum it up, how would you sum it up? Well, Jesus is coming, that’d be a good way to sum it up. Jesus is Lord, that’d be a good way to sum it up. The systems of this world, they’re going down, that’d be a good way to sum it up. But man, when I saw these words and heard this angel, I was like, «That’s it, that’s the two word summary of the book of Revelation. Worship God». That word worship is a Greek word, and I know a lot times we’re like, «Why do we need to know all the Greek words»?
And I get that sometimes it’s clear enough in English, but it’s a word in Greek that is proskuneo, and proskuneo means to fall down in total capitulation and to kiss. It’s got two context in it, one of them is, and he says it in the line before. He said, «I, John, fell down to worship at the feet of this angel». That’s proskuneo. It’s not arms folded, it’s not kinda thinking about it. It’s not hands in the pocket, it’s not even one hand half way, it’s not even, you know, the one hand on the heart. It’s not the one hand and the one hand. It is not any of that, it’s all in, on my face. Included in it is the intimacy of an embrace and the kiss of affection to the Holy one of holy ones.
Proskuneo, 24 times in Revelation, in this book alone, worship God. And, «Then he told me, 'Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this scroll, because the time is near. Let the one,» this is an interesting passage. «Let the one who does wrong continue to do wrong». You would think if we were writing that we would say, right at the end, if you’re doing wrong still, don’t do that. «Let the vile person continue to be vile; let the one who does right continue to do right; and let the holy person continue to be holy». Why? The key phrase here is, «Because the time is near».
What do we make of this phrase? I think two things. I think number one, we make of it that it’s time. And maybe what John is trying to convey to us here, or God is trying to convey to us through John is look man, it is time. So, if you’re choosing to go away from God, go away from God. If you’re choosing to go with God, with everything you got, go with God, 'cause it’s time right now. I think he’s just putting it all on the table again like in the old testament where He said, «Choose you this day who you will serve».
Choose now, let’s go. Oh, you wanna go in the darkness? Then run in the darkness. You wanna run in the light? Then run in the light. And the answer was in the testament, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. But choose now, let’s go, the time is near. And if you wanna go to the ways of the wicked, then go to the ways of the wicked. And if you wanna go to the ways of God, then go to the ways of God. Just make up your mind right now, 'cause the time is near. But I also believe that this other message is powerful. «Do not seal up the words of the prophecy». In other words, it’s not done yet. It’s not sealed just yet. It’s gonna be sealed, and when it’s sealed it can’t be unsealed. It’s gonna be completely sealed, and when it’s completely sealed there is no recourse. But it’s not sealed yet, meaning even today, there is the opportunity that someone today could say, «For me and my house, we’re gonna choose the Lord».
The opportunity is still there today for someone to choose to turn to Jesus. Jesus, again, He said, «Look, I am,» they aren’t, I am. It is, I am. «And I’m coming soon,» third time. And, «My reward is with me». In other words, I’m not coming empty-handed. «And I will give each person according to what they had done». «I am,» in case you don’t know fully, «the Alpha and the Omega,» yes, the first letter of the Greek alphabet, and the last letter of the Greek alphabet. «I am the First and the Last». So, it starts with me and ends with me. I bookend everything. «I am the First and the Last, and I am the beginning…» can we say that together? «I am the beginning and» the what? And «the end».
We see this in Revelation 1, where He says the very same phrases. He says, «I am the Alpha and the Omega». And He says later, I am the beginning and the end. He says in Revelation 1, «I am the one was, and who is, and who is to come». So, He opens Revelation with, «I am the Alpha, Omega». He ends Revelation with, «I am the Alpha and the Omega». He wants us to know that the way it all goes down is, I start it and I end it. Does anybody know the first verse of the Bible, hello? Anybody know the very first verse in Genesis 1:1, anybody? C’mon, take a shot at it. Let’s see a show of hands, anybody? I got no hands. I nobody that knows that. Okay, what is the very first book of the Bible? First verse, first words, anybody? Say it all if you know it. In the beginning… I like how it kinda faded off there at the end.
In the beginning God created, what? The heaven and the earth. In the beginning, who is the beginning? It’s not a trick question. «I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the beginning and the end». So, who is the beginning? Jesus is the beginning. So, in the Jesus, God created the heavens and the earth. And this is actually all through scripture where we see that it was Jesus who was the agent of creating the world. In the beginning, Jesus. And at the end… here comes the end of your Bible. «Come, Lord Jesus». «May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people». He gets the first word and He gets the last word because He is the word. Jesus is the beginning and the end of it all. I am the Alpha and the Omega.
You can dig deeper into these, this word beginning in Greek means, arch like archetype. He’s the archetype of everything that is and He’s the telos here. He’s the terminating point and the reason for everything that is. «Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they might have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city». But Jesus said, this is Jesus, «Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood».
So, make no mistake, Jesus is still calling it like it is, even at the very end of the age. And He’s saying, «Look, you don’t have to be in the city. Outside the city are people who love to practice falsehood, and you and I can look around right now, look into our own hearts and see weakness where we stumble still, but we can look around us and see people who are just reveling in the wrong». And He’s like, «Yeah, they don’t wanna be in the Holy city and inside the gates where the tree of life is. They’re gonna get what they want, but it’s gonna be outside the city that I’m bringing down from heaven». «I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches».
The churches, we haven’t seen them for a minute. We had seven letters to the churches and then we were in the throne room of God, and then we saw the unfolding of eternity and all the cosmic conflict that is coming at the end of the age. But not so much the church, we saw saints and we saw overcomers. But now we see the church again, why? Because I believe this revelation is for the church. Just to let you know, a lot of opinions are out there, some people think that we get raptured out before all the hard stuff happens, and one of the reasons is 'cause there was no church for the last little while. But all of sudden, we come to the end and this testimony is for the church.
So, that leads me to lean more towards the fact that the church is in the midst of all of this with this testimony of Jesus baring up the entire time. And reminding us again today, that the days are at hand, the day of the Lord is at hand, the time is near, He’s coming soon. So, let’s be alert, let’s be ready and let’s be aware. And let’s not forget that it doesn’t take hardly anything for a church or a person to drift away from the truth of these trustworthy and true words. If you wanna drift, do you know what you have to do to drift? Do you know what’s required of you to drift?
I borrowed this from Christine Caine's talk at Passion a few years ago. Do you know what you have to do to drift? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. You just sit there and the calm of zero consequence decisions and at the end of the day, you find that there actually was a consequence and that is that you drifted away from the things of God. I was looking at this next verse, «The Spirit and the bride say, 'Come! '» And the one who hears say, «Come»! And I was expecting when I looked into the Greek text here to find the word Maranatha. I was like, «Oh great, I’m so excited». That’s what we just sang about here at 5:15, it was a by word of the early church. They would sing it and pray it, it would be, a greeting that they would share with each other, like, «Maranatha». Because that word meant, Come, Lord Jesus.
And I thought surely it comes out of Revelation, I learnt something in this talk, which I learn a lot in all of my talks. But I thought, that’s what I’m gonna find here and so when I looked for come, and come in the Greek, they said come. They didn’t say Maranatha, it was a Greek word for come and I was like, «Okay, so where is the Maranatha»? So, I did a little quick search and Maranatha only appears one time in the Bible and it’s in 1 Corinthians 16, and I’ll show you what it says. It’s the end of a letter that Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, and these are the final greetings. Look at that, look how inspiring that looks right there. I’m sure most everybody has put this to memory right here. Whoo, have you heard these final greetings? These are powerful.
And most of the books in the epistles of Paul, you don’t have too many highlights in the final greetings, but this one is amazing. «The churches in the province of Asia send you greetings». Now, I don’t know if this registered, the province of Asia, does that ring a bell to anybody? When we had seven churches in Revelation getting letters in chapter two and three and they were churches in the province of Asia. So, he’s right there in the churches that the letters are being written to in Revelation. So, here he is, and he says, «Aquila and Priscilla greet you warmly in the Lord, and so does the church that meets at their house».
Now, we know that the house church that they led was the church in Ephesus where we get the book of Ephesians. So, all of a sudden, things are starting to connect together. «All the brothers and sisters here send you greetings. Greet one another with a holy kiss». Somebody is like, «Praise God, you finally got to that phrase. I’ve been waiting for you to pull that out for a couple years now. I got someone here in the gathering I’ve had my eye on and maybe that’ll happen, maybe, possibly today. I don’t know but thank you for getting there». «I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. If anyone does not love the Lord, let that person be cursed! Come, Lord»!
Come, Lord. That word is an Aramaic word, Maranatha. Maranatha, come Lord. So, just follow me for a second. Just a little, kinda connect the dots Bible study moment. Paul’s in Ephesus with Priscilla and Aquila, who are leading this amazing church in their house in Ephesus. On fire, somewhere in the 50's A.D. 40 later, a significant number in God’s economy, the years that Israel wandered in the desert. Forty years later, in 96-ish, 95 A.D., in chapter 2 of Revelation, write this letter to the church at Ephesus, the one that’s on fire, the one that Paul is leading, the one that Priscilla and Aquila are pastoring on his behalf, the one that meets in their house.
The one from which you wrote that Corinthian letter, the who all of them sent their greetings, the one where they were all in it for the kingdom of God, write this to them, 40 years later, «I have this against you, you’ve lost your first love». «You’re still doing the stuff,» He said, «But the fire of the proskuneo and the embrace of God with everything I have in Him, that’s gone». Look, and be awake and intend not to drift. Make it your ambition to live Maranatha. Come, Lord Jesus. Not just saying, «Lord Jesus, come», but to be living when you come and I know you’re coming soon. You’re gonna find me looking for you as much as I’ll find you looking for me, 'cause I’m not just saying, «Come, Lord Jesus,» I am coming, Lord Jesus. I’m coming your way, 'cause I know you’re coming my way.
And I know the worlds are overlapping right now, so while we’re in this earthly world, I’m living in it as if I am already a citizen of heaven. I am living in it like I have got a residence already in the Heavenlies with you. I’m not trying to blow up earth necessarily, I like what I do and I like where I live and I like what I get to experience here. I’m not ready to trash all this necessarily, but until you come, I will steward it well, but my heart is set on the heavenly city. And I say, «What now»? The response in the text is, «The Spirit and the bride say,» what? what do they say? Come. «Let the one who hear say,» what? «Come»! And not only are we saying, «Lord, you come». But we’re understanding there’s still an opportunity here, so powerful. Yes, come, but then the verse breaks and the focus shifts again.
«Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes». Does anybody wish today to, «Take the free gift of the water of life»? Come. It’s not sealed yet and right here at the end, He’s inviting, I’m inviting on His behalf today. Is anybody thirsty? What does that mean? It means you drink it all up, but it didn’t do it. You gathered it all, as much as you could, but it didn’t do it for you. You tried it all, but it didn’t do it for you. They didn’t do it. It didn’t do it. He didn’t do it. She didn’t do it. It didn’t fill me up and I am still thirsty in my soul. And He’s saying, «If you’re thirsty, you come. I’m coming, but you come and take freely the gift of the water of life».
There is something that satisfies, and it is Jesus. And it’s free. He is offering His life to you. And so, He testifies again, Jesus, «Yes, I am coming soon». Can we say it? There is the fourth one. «Yes, I am coming soon». You could just say, «Yes, I am». That’s Jesus. But, «Yes, I am coming soon». So, what is our answer today? Our answer is, «Amen. Come, Lord Jesus». And I love it, how in the midst of this text, He tells us one last time who He is. He tells us that He is the bright morning star. He says, «I have sent my angels to the churches».
I wanna make sure the churches hang in there. I wanna make sure they don’t drift away even in one generation from on fire to you need to renew your first love. I want you to be looking, but I want you to know, «I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and I am the bright Morning Star». The last name that Jesus gives us besides His name, Jesus, is Morning Star. Capital, Morning Star. Not the little «M» morning star of Lucifer whose name is morning star, who fell like a star out of heaven, was cast down to the earth.
You see this in Isaiah 14:12, but it’s lowercase morning star, not uppercase Morning Star, not the name of Jesus which is Bright Morning Star. Why did He leave that to us right at the end, as He’s saying, «Yes, I’m coming soon». Why did He leave us Bright Morning Star? Because the Bright Morning Star, if you don’t know, is Venus. Did you know that? Venus is the morning star. Venus is the third most bright object in sky. The Sun, the moon, and Venus. And so, the sun will go down, and darkness will cover the earth, and eventually it will get really, really dark before it comes up again to sunrise again. And Venus appears way down here in the darkest part of the night. Bright in the darkest part of the night, and what Venus says is, dawn is coming.
When you see Venus in the east you know, dawn is on the way. Yes, darkness has come and now deep darkness has fallen, but there is a light in the deep darkness telling us that morning is on the way. And the very last name that Jesus gives His churches, «I am the Bright Morning Star». So, when it gets dark and darker, and the darkest, you will see Jesus in the night, letting us know, dawn is on the way.
And so, we say, «Come, Lord Jesus». We’re saying, «Come, dawn of God. Come, dawn of the new heaven. Come, dawn of the new earth. We can feel the darkest night». But in the darkest night is the Bright Morning Star. That star doesn’t shine in the morning, it shines to tell you that the morning is near. And so, we answer and we say, «Amen. Come, Lord Jesus». Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. Not today, 'cause my neighbor isn’t ready, but come, Lord Jesus. Not today, because my wife isn’t ready, but come, Lord Jesus. Not today, I really believe my coworker’s close, but come, Lord Jesus.