Keep These Words!

I. Introduction
A. Well, we have worked our way through the entire book of Revelation: 22 chapters, 404 verses, 45 sermons, filling about 200 pages of written material. It think it was the most difficult series I’ve ever prepared for, but also tremendously rewarding. I hope it’s been a blessing to you as well, and I thank you for your attentiveness and persistence.
B. Last week we began the final passage in the book of Revelation and in the NT. I said that it had two main themes, which we would cover one week at a time. Last week we addressed the first theme, the fact that Jesus promises that He will return soon.
C. Today we are going to address the second theme, which has to do with this book as a whole and our response to it.
D. Revelation 22:6–21 AND HE SAID TO ME, “THESE WORDS ARE TRUSTWORTHY AND TRUE. AND THE LORD, THE GOD OF THE SPIRITS OF THE PROPHETS, HAS SENT HIS ANGEL TO SHOW HIS SERVANTS WHAT MUST SOON TAKE PLACE.” 7 “And behold, I am coming soon. BLESSED IS THE ONE WHO KEEPS THE WORDS OF THE PROPHECY OF THIS BOOK.” 8 I, JOHN, AM THE ONE WHO HEARD AND SAW THESE THINGS. AND WHEN I HEARD AND SAW THEM, I FELL DOWN TO WORSHIP AT THE FEET OF THE ANGEL WHO SHOWED THEM TO ME, 9 BUT HE SAID TO ME, “YOU MUST NOT DO THAT! I AM A FELLOW SERVANT WITH YOU AND YOUR BROTHERS THE PROPHETS, AND WITH THOSE WHO KEEP THE WORDS OF THIS BOOK. WORSHIP GOD.” 10 AND HE SAID TO ME, “DO NOT SEAL UP THE WORDS OF THE PROPHECY OF THIS BOOK, FOR THE TIME IS NEAR. 11 LET THE EVILDOER STILL DO EVIL, AND THE FILTHY STILL BE FILTHY, AND THE RIGHTEOUS STILL DO RIGHT, AND THE HOLY STILL BE HOLY.” 12 “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” 14 Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. 15 Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. 16 “I, JESUS, HAVE SENT MY ANGEL TO TESTIFY TO YOU ABOUT THESE THINGS FOR THE CHURCHES. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.” 17 The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price. 18 I WARN EVERYONE WHO HEARS THE WORDS OF THE PROPHECY OF THIS BOOK: IF ANYONE ADDS TO THEM, GOD WILL ADD TO HIM THE PLAGUES DESCRIBED IN THIS BOOK, 19 AND IF ANYONE TAKES AWAY FROM THE WORDS OF THE BOOK OF THIS PROPHECY, GOD WILL TAKE AWAY HIS SHARE IN THE TREE OF LIFE AND IN THE HOLY CITY, WHICH ARE DESCRIBED IN THIS BOOK. 20 He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! 21 THE GRACE OF THE LORD JESUS BE WITH ALL. AMEN.
E. We’re going to begin with two lessons here about the word of God, followed by considering two questions about v.10-11, followed by an explanation of v.18-19, and ending with a final word about this amazing book we’ve been studying.
II. Two lessons about the word of God
A. The New Testament (NT)
1. Revelation 22:6 “These words are trustworthy and true. And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place.”
2. Some people suggest that the NT writers did not know they were writing NT Scriptures when they wrote, based, I think, on a faulty interpretation of 1Cor.7:10-12. I don’t see any reason to come to that conclusion. Many NT books have explicit statements which make clear that the author believed he was writing the word of God, including 1Cor.
3. And Revelation is perhaps the clearest one of all. Over and over again, from the beginning (see 1:1–3) to the end, the fact that this to be written down as the word of God is made explicit.
a. 6a These words are trustworthy and true
b. 6b The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place.
c. 7 Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.
d. 10 Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near.
e. 16 I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches.
f. 18 I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book
4. These verses and many others show that this was clearly the written word of God from the start.
5. In fact, I think this may be why this strange part in v.8 about John falling down to worship the angel is included – to reaffirm how holy and how divine these words and these visions are.
a. These visions and words are so divine that godly and knowledgeable men struggle to hold themselves back from worshiping the angel who announces them.
b. Even though the word is passed from God to Jesus to an angel to John and finally to us, God wants us to receive it as if it came straight from Him. We don’t see the visions like John saw them, but we still experience the visions through John’s inspired record of them.
c. This indicates how highly we ought to esteem the word of God. God’s word is so heavenly that our temptation when we hear it ought to be to worship the messenger (or at least to think of his feet as beautiful – Isaiah 52:7; Romans 10:15). This word ought to make our knees buckle. It is better than much fine gold! That's the way a discerning man reacts when God speaks!
B. Keeping the words of this book
1. Verse 7 says, “Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”
2. What does it mean to keep the words of this book?
3. It’s not a book of law, after all. It’s not the same as Deuteronomy, which was the second revelation of God’s law and in it Moses urges the people to keep the words of this law.
4. There’s very little law in this book, and the law which is here is just brief references to the laws found in the rest of Scripture.
5. No, the concept of keeping the words of this book is different than that.
6. When it talks about keeping these words, it’s referring to heeding these words, letting these words sink into your heart, mind and life.
7. By and large, the book of Revelation is about who God is, why things are as they are in this world and where things are headed in the future.
8. And here it says to us that those who remember the glory and power of God, His purposes in the present distress, His imminent return and triumph, His judgment of the wicked and His rewarding of the overcomers will be blessed.
9. The vast majority of people in our society have a very mistaken interpretation of what’s going on and why, and what’s going to happen in the future. And this book is given to us so that our thinking will not be conformed to the way the world thinks about these things.
10. Let me illustrate. Here are three popular secular eschatologies of our day:
a. We are evolving to be better and better so that one day there will be no more war, no more sickness, no more poverty.
b. If we don’t urgently and immediately stop the way we’re living, we are going to drive this planet irreparably into the ground such that virtually all human life will cease to exist on earth.
c. It’s already too late. Even if we could change, it would be too little too late. The planet is already doomed. So, eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die.
11. We’re surrounded by many who buy into this kind of thinking.
12. But God doesn’t want us to think according to man. He tells us what’s going on and what’s going to happen. And HE’S THE ONLY ONE WHO KNOWS!!
13. And He wants us to base our thinking & our living on what He says, not on what the world thinks.
14. So each person is faced with the question: Whom am I going to believe? Am I going to believe what I want to be true? Am I going to believe the crowd around me? Am I going to believe some scientists? Or am I going to believe what God says in His word? It’s our choice.
15. But choices have consequences. And one day each one is going to face up to our choices.
16. The Bible talks a lot about those who don’t heed God’s word. For instance, Jesus compared those who hear God’s word but don’t heed it to a foolish man who builds his house on the sand. All was fine – till the storm came & the winds blew, and the house had a great fall. Matt.7:24-27
17. This shows us that our interest in Revelation must not be primarily academic. God did not inspire this book merely to give us information. It is here to arrest us, to stop us in our tracks. It is here to confront us, and to send us in a different direction. And if we are able to go through the book of Revelation and not be changed in the way we see things, in the way we live our lives, in the way we view God, then we’ve missed the whole point! All this is here to impact us!
18. We keep the words of this book, for instance, by not being overwhelmed by the darkness around us – even when others ARE overwhelmed – because we know that the morning star has already appeared brightly in the heavens, signaling the imminent dawn of day.
19. We keep the words of this book, to give another example, during times of societal optimism and prosperity, by holding ourselves back from thinking that this is day, that satisfaction can be found in this world, that this is our home, when it is yet so dark that the morning star still shines brightly in the darkness.
III. Two questions about strange things said in this section
A. In v.10 John is told not to “seal up the words of this book.” What does that mean?
1. Well, this command not to seal up these words must be understood in light of several OT passages which say the opposite, esp. Daniel 12:4, who was told to “shut up the words and seal the book, until the time of the end.” (See also Daniel 8:26; 12:9; Isaiah 8:16.)
2. Daniel prophesied about the rise and fall of evil kingdoms of the world and the final triumph of God’s kingdom. But Daniel didn’t know how or when it would all unfold, though he knew it was not going to take place in his own day (Dan. 12:13). So, the “sealing” of Daniel’s book meant that its prophecies wouldn’t be fully understood or come to pass until a later time period.
3. However, now with the coming of Christ, that later time period, the latter days, has begun. So, it’s time for the meaning of these prophecies to begin to be understood, meaning which was hidden in the OT era, but is now revealed through Christ and His apostles (Eph.3:4-5).
4. When the angel tells John not to seal up the words of this book, he is telling John not to keep this message hidden but to shout it from the housetops.
B. Then in v.11 John is told to “let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy.”
1. This verse has stirred up much confusion. Right after John is told to spread the word, he is told to let sinners keep sinning.
2. It might sound strange at first, but, think about it. The Bible doesn’t call the unrighteous to do righteousness. The unrighteous cannot do righteousness. No! The Bible calls unrighteous people to repent and turn to the Lord. And if they do so, they will become righteous, and then – and only then – will they do righteousness.
3. It seems to me that this verse actually helps us understand our mission. We are not here to try to reform society. Evil mankind will continue to do evil, and it is not our job to stop them.
4. Now I’m not saying that repentance is what is in mind here, but it is clear that whoever is unrighteous is going to go on being unrighteous. Sinner sin. That’s what they do.
5. And our job is not to try to get them to stop sinning. Our job is to tell them the good news of Christ and call them to repent and come to Him. And, as a result, some who are evil will become righteous in Christ. And then, once they are righteous, they ought to do right.
IV. Final words from v.18-19 “I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.”
A. These words are written about Revelation, of course. But there is no reason this applies to Revelation and not also to the rest of the Bible.
B. There is a line of demarcation between God’s words and the words of men.
C. But sometimes we feel so convinced about things said by man that we are tempted to add them to our collection of God’s words.
D. And sometimes we’re so troubled by things in God’s word that we’re tempted to erase them, even if only by ignoring them and pretending they’re not there.
E. And different cultures see different things and are blind to different things.
F. In the Christianity of one culture, you hear a lot of this but hardly ever hear about that. In the Christianity of another culture, you hear a lot of that, but they never mention this.
G. In the areas we feel strongly about, we’re tempted to add to the word of God. For instance, it’s not enough that the Bible warns against drunkenness, we need to make it forbid all drinking of alcohol.
H. And, in areas we are embarrassed about, we’re tempted to subtract from the word of God. For instance, pastor and author Joel Osteen avoids any reference to hell or the wrath of God, and Dave Ramsey, the Christian money expert, never talks about the main thing the Bible says about money: namely that loving it is sinful and dangerous.
I. When you study church history, it is astounding the things which in some context or period of time some activity was considered acceptable or unacceptable in the Christian community.
J. The fact is, we have a Bible. It is God’s word. Man’s words can be helpful; they can’t even help us to understand God’s word. But we must never blur the line between the two.
K. But it is the job of every Christian in every culture to be on guard against selective attention. Every one of us lives in a context where Christians around us are alert to some things in God’s word and oblivious to others. And it’s unacceptable just to go along with the crowd which adds to and/or takes away from the word of God.
V. And now, dear Friends, we have reached the end. In this book God has sent a message about why the world is dark and torn and about the judgment day which is coming. And the message is trustworthy and true, and a blessing to any who heed it.
A. 19 years ago this week was the disastrous Tsunami in Indonesia, which claimed over 200,000 lives in communities along the coasts of the Indian Ocean. But you might of heard about the one beach in Thailand which had no casualties at all, and the 11-year-old British girl, there with her parents. who saved them all. Her name was Tilly but that day she became known as “the Angel of the beach.” You see, on that day Tilly noticed the sea behaving in a strange way, just as she had recently learned in geography class about what happens right before a tsunami. She tried to raise the alarm but no one believed her at first. She got hysterical and started screaming, even threatening to leave her parents and flee back to the hotel. Finally her parents told a security guard. Fortunately, an English-speaking Japanese man was nearby and heard her mention the Japanese word "tsunami," and informed them all that he just heard on the news that there’d been an earthquake in Sumatra. The beach was evacuated to the second storey of a nearby hotel just moments before the 30 ft. tsunami smashed into the beach, demolishing the surrounding area.
1. Tilly didn’t come ordering everyone to get off the beach. Tilly informed them about the coming tsunami, and the people were blessed because they heeded her words.
B. Brothers and Sisters, in the book of Revelation God has graciously sent His angel to warn us that there’s a much bigger tsunami coming – and that He has provided a place of escape.
1. And only those who heed the warning will be spared.
2. And the One who sent the message has asked that those who heed the message spread it to everyone else on the beach who need to know that the tsunami is coming – though not everyone on the beach wants to hear it.
3. The time is near. It’s 2000 years shorter than whatever Jesus meant in v.12 by “soon,” when He said, “I am coming soon.”
4. He is the tsunami, and He is the shelter. Some find death fleeing from Him; others find life fleeing to Him.