The Distinction Drawn,
Revelation Chapter 22 Verse 10-15 (NASB)
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And he said to me, "Do not seal up THE WORDS of THE
PROPHESY of THIS BOOK,
Nothing is hidden in the Revelation of Jesus Christ except
for the utterances of the peals of thunder (Revelation 10:4). Otherwise,
what you READ and HEAR is what John was told to write (Revelation 1:11). Prior to
Jesus' earthly life, Daniel had been given visions which he
was told to SEAL UP (Daniel
8:15-26-27 and Daniel
12:1-4-9-13). With the purpose for Jesus Christ's
coming to earth completed, there is no need to SEAL up the
Revelation. Jesus Himself opens the seals on the BOOK (Revelation 5:5) which is the
contents of much of the Revelation. He wants us to know what
is to come so that we may HEED the WORDS of THE PROPHESY of
THIS BOOK (previous verse).
We started this study (Revelation
1:3) with these same words. Again we are reminded that
THE TIME IS NEAR. We have a tendency to think in terms of
the time elapsed since John wrote the Book of Revelation and
thus shrug off the urgency of this warning. The Revelation
is thought to have been written sometime between A.D. 70 to
A.D. 95. However, this warning must be taken personally in
light of the next verse. That
is, the TIME-IS-NEAR time frame is the time frame of each
person's life. The
decision whether one will be a resident of the
new Jerusalem (verse 5), must
be made while one is alive. Given how short one's lifetime
is compared to forever and ever, truly THE TIME IS NEAR.
What follows is a reaction to previous scripture. The
speaker, not determined whether it is the angel-guide or the
Lord Himself, indicates that each reader of the Revelation
will either heed (verse 9) the
words or not. As pointed out in the previous verse's
discussion, this can only occur while we are alive on this
present earth. That is, how we live now, results in an
eternal state of being.
This verse is how each of us react to the knowledge of good
and evil (Genesis
2:15-17-17) that is inborn into us. Within this verse,
there is contained a study in contrasts:
Unbeliever Present
Lifestyle
|
Unbeliever Eternal
State
|
Believer Present
Lifestyle
|
Believer Eternal
State
|
|
| "Let the one
who does wrong, |
still do wrong; |
and let the one
who is righteous, |
still practice
righteousness; |
Jude
17-23
|
| and let the one
who is filthy, |
still be
filthy; |
and let the one
who is holy, |
still keep
himself holy." |
The garments:
Revelation
3:5; Revelation
3:18; Revelation
7:9-13-14-17
|
One must come to the conclusion that between "the time is
near" (previous
verse) and "Behold, I am coming quickly" (next verse),
we only have our present life to make the choice of our
Eternal State. It is my prayer that you have chosen to
become a BELIEVER.
This verse is hinted at in Daniel
12:5-10-13.
"BEHOLD, I AM COMING QUICKLY,
Which of us parents haven't used the expression, "How many
times have I told you to pick up your room?" or something
similar. Likewise, the Lord is harping on us to pay
attention. 'I AM COMING QUICKLY' is used six times
throughout the Revelation. The first two times are a warning
to the churches, Ephesus and Pergamum respectively (Revelation 2:5
and Revelation
2:16). The remaining four times, 'I AM COMING QUICKLY'
is a promise (Revelation
3:11, Revelation
22:7, this verse, and Revelation 22:20).
As with verse 7,
this time it is preceded with "BEHOLD". That is supposed to
get our attention.
and MY REWARD is with Me, to RENDER to EVERY MAN ACCORDING
TO WHAT HE HAS DONE.
We would like to think that the Lord is only going to give
GOOD REWARDS, but the phrase 'EVERY MAN' indicates that both
the wicked and the righteous will be receiving REWARDS. We
have found how the wicked are judged (Revelation
20:11-14) and REWARDED (Revelation 20:13).
The righteous, having made the choice to
follow and serve Jesus Christ, get their REWARD just
by being allowed into the presence of Jesus Christ. But this
verse seems to indicate that there are additional REWARDS (1
Corinthians 3:10-14-17 and 2
Corinthians 5:1-10-10) based upon WHAT EACH PERSON HAS
DONE (during this lifetime, implied.). The twenty four
elders, for example, had some form of REWARD inasmuch they
were wearing their CROWNS (Revelation 4:10).
Incidentally, they gladly gave back their CROWNS to God. Let
that be a lesson to us as to our attitude while we are
'DOING'.
There also seems to be a tie-in to the 'HEEDING' found in verse 7 where
we have found another of the 'BEHOLD, I AM COMING QUICKLY's.
The 'DOING' is the result of the 'HEEDING'.
"I am THE ALPHA and THE OMEGA,
This is one of the names of Jesus Christ (Revelation 1:8
and Revelation
21:6). We recognize Alpha and Omega as the first and
last letter respectively in the Greek alphabet. Now,
alphabets in occidental languages are used to construct
words and sentences. That is, they are used to communicate.
Colossians
1:15-16-23 indicates that Christ was at the creation
of the original earth. It is no accident that God SPOKE the
creation (Genesis
1:3-6-9-11-14-20-24-26-29-31) into being. In a similar
manner, it is no accident that this Revelation was
communicated to John (Revelation 1:1).
In fact, the
second to the last verse in this Revelation is Jesus
SAYING, "Yes, I am
coming quickly."
John's first encounter with Jesus in this Revelation finds
Jesus touching John with His right hand, the hand of
authority, and comforting John with these same words (Revelation 1:17).
Just as THE ALPHA and THE OMEGA was an alphabetic ordering,
THE FIRST and THE LAST is a numeric ordering. When Jesus
talked about the difficulty of making Him the master of our
lives, he often ended the discussion with words referring
that the first will be last and the last will be first (Mark
10:17-31, Matthew
20:1-16, and Luke
13:22-30). Humans have an inborn need apparently to
know where they fit within society. But here Jesus is saying
that He fits next to each of us who are residents of the new
Jerusalem (Revelation
21:2-3,9-10). He is the bridegroom to each of us, THE
FIRST and THE LAST.
THE BEGINNING and THE END."
Here we are presented with a conceptual difficulty. Jesus as
part of God and equal to God is forever. That is, He has no
BEGINNING and no END. So this phrase must refer specifically
to Jesus Christ as the Son of Man. He assumed the character
and nature of man (Philippians
2:1-11). He had a BEGINNING (Luke
2) as man, and He had an END as man (Luke
23:44-49). In between His human BEGINNING and END, He
was tempted in every way as mankind is or has been (Hebrews
2:14-18 and Hebrews
4:14-16). Furthermore, He overcame His human ending
and conquered DEATH (Revelation 1:18).
We can say that Jesus communicates in God-speak (John
14:1-10-11), He occupies all from THE FIRST to/through
THE LAST, and He experienced all of human life. Thus He, as
revealed in this book, can redeem the earth (Revelation 5:5)
and provide our forever home (John
14:1-2-11).
BLESSED are those who WASH their ROBES, that they
We, again, see the use of ROBES (Revelation 6:11,
Revelation 7:9,
Revelation 7:13,
and Revelation
7:14) to describe the inhabitants of THE CITY. White
ROBES, in particular, denote righteousness or a
right-standing with God. The only way to God is through
Jesus Christ (John
14:1-6-11). Thus it is implied that the WASHing of
their ROBES is done in His Blood. What an awesome thought!
(1) may have the RIGHT to the TREE of LIFE, and
Because of Adam and Eve, all mankind have been barred from
the TREE of LIFE (Genesis
3:22-24). But those who accept Jesus
Christ as Lord and Savior (or WASHed their ROBES) have
the RIGHT, not just a privilege but the RIGHT, to the TREE
of LIFE. In our present world, we are so separated from God
by our sinful state that we can't even conceptualize what it
means to eat from the TREE of LIFE. I, for one, am looking
forward to what that fruit tastes like.
(2) may ENTER by the GATES INTO THE CITY.
THE CITY is the one described in Revelation
21:10-Revelation
22:5. As discussed in Revelation 21:12,
these are GATE of RIGHTEOUSNESS, and it is easy to
understand that only those who WASH their ROBES are
permitted to ENTER through the GATES. Once inside, they have
access to the TREE of LIFE (verse 2) and
their own eternal home(s) (verse 3).
This verse describes the HAVEs. The HAVE NOTs follows.
OUTSIDE means not allowed in the new Jerusalem, THE CITY.
From the list which follows, one understands that OUTSIDE
is the lake that burns with fire and brimstone (Revelation 21:8).
* the DOGS and the SORCERERS and
By Jewish law, DOGS are unclean animals (Leviticus
11:27-28). 'DOGS' also is a term used for impure
individuals (dirty robes versus previous verse).
They are listed in Philippians
3:1-2-16 right next to evil workers and falsely
circumcised individuals. In other words, they are fakes.
SORCERERS are enchanters with drugs. SORCERERS are on
'the list' of those who are scheduled or chose the lake
which burns with fire and brimstone (Revelation 21:8).
* the IMMORAL PERSONS and
If we have received training as a child (Proverbs
22:1-6-16), our conscience will tell us when we are
doing IMMORAL deeds. IMMORAL PERSONS also are on 'the list'
(Revelation 21:8).
MURDERERS are emulating one of the traits of the devil (John
8:31-44-47), and as such are not of God. They won't
get anywhere close to the new Jerusalem. 'The list' (Revelation 21:8)
also contains MURDERERS.
IDOLATERS by definition are those who do not WORSHIP GOD (verse 9)
exclusively. In fact, if one tries to have every angle
covered and worship GOD and other prominent gods (self,
wealth, notoriety etc.), it cannot be done (Matthew
6:24-25). IDOLATERS are in 'the list' (Revelation 21:8).
* everyone who loves and practices LYING.
This phrase is even more emphatic than the 'all liars' in
'the list' (Revelation
21:8). It shows that these people don't just lie
by accident, but rather enjoy LYING. How sad, but
nonetheless, this must make their father, the devil, quite
happy (John
8:31-44-47).
After this ugly verse, we come to the sweetest invitation
ever given in Revelation
22:16-20. The Spirit chimes in with the bride, the
eternal new Jerusalem residents, to invite you (verse 17) to
"COME".
|
"Scripture taken from the NEW
AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, © Copyright The Lockman
Foundation, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975,
1977, 1995 Used by permission."
References to the Revelation of Jesus Christ are in bold
italics. All other references are in bold
only |