Source: https://nightlightblogdotcom.wordpress.com/tag/comfort/
Timestamp: 2019-04-24 03:08:40+00:00

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6] Then he said to me, “These words are faithful and true,” And the Lord God of the holy prophets sent His angel to show His servants the things which must shortly take place.
8] Now I, John, saw and heard these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who showed me these things.
14] Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie.
17] And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let take of the water of life freely.
18] For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; 19] and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.
Verse 6 is a witness to the authenticity of Revelation. It says a lot about the wickedness of human nature that, over and over, God has to assure us that He can be trusted and that His word is true.
The Lord refers to His coming three times in this chapter, in vs. 7, 12 and 20. In v. 7, it’s in connection with the prophecy of this book. This doesn’t mean that prophecy is something to speculate or argue about or to sensationalize or trivialize. It’s to assure us that the future is in His hands and that He has everything under control. In v. 12, it’s in connection with His purpose to give everyone according to his work. It’s too easy for us to seek a reward in the approval and praise of mere men, but the only praise that will amount to anything is the commendation of the One who is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last. The interesting thing is that He says it’s His “Reward.” Unbelievers and skeptics, those who scorned Him at His First Coming and hanged Him on a Cross, and those down through the ages who have rejected Him or corrupted His teachings will discover that He is the Judge, not them!
Both the godly and the ungodly will find this to be true. The godly, those who do His commandments, v. 14, will enter the city. The wicked, described in v. 15, will never enter that city. There will be nothing that corrupts or defiles allowed into that eternal paradise.
V. 15 says these things are to be testified in the churches. Yet how seldom is this true, that churches are given the message in this book. I know there is a lot of discussion, sometimes heated, about what that message is, but if nothing else, it concerns what is the emphasis in these verses: that the Lord Jesus will return to this earth, that there is coming a time of reward or punishment, and that the invitation is freely given to “Come.” I don’t have access to the original language at this time (I’m actually on vacation), but I wouldn’t be surprised if this word isn’t an imperative, that is, a command, for folks to come to the Savior. This is similar to Acts 17:30, which says, God commands all men everywhere to repent.
There’s some discussion as to whether the Gospel is an offer or an invitation. I think it’s actually a proclamation from the Court in Heaven that men are under condemnation because of their sin, but God, the High King of Heaven, has made a way of escape through His Son and those who repent of their sins and trust in Him for salvation will receive a full and complete pardon for those sins.
Verse 11 troubles some people: He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him be filthy still; he who is righteous, let him be righteous still; he who is holy, let him be holy still. Some might think that the verse means that God is ok with unjust and filthy lives. Perish the thought. We think our Lord’s teaching in Matthew 13 is the answer. In this chapter, He is describing the Kingdom of God using various similes and pictures. In vs. 24-30 he uses the analogy of a man sowing wheat in his field. An enemy comes along and sows tares in that same field. BTW, the NIV version saying “weeds” is terribly inadequate and misleading. Our Lord isn’t talking about something like dandelions! No, no, the idea is that tares are almost indistinguishable from true wheat until harvest, hence, the reference to harvest in v. 30.
The meaning is that we can’t infallibly tell the heart condition of anyone. Some looked down on in “church” might actually be godly individuals, while some who have huge ministries but whose praise is from men might find that that is all the reward they will ever get, and the Lord will tell them to depart from Him, Matthew 25:41. This does not mean that there can be no church discipline or that we can’t “judge” brethren whose lives don’t measure up to Scripture. It does mean that we are neither infallible nor omniscient.
There is also a solemn warning against tampering with the contents of this Book. There’s some discussion about whether this warning is only for Revelation or for the whole Bible. I think it’s the latter. This book is God’s Word, and it’s a terrible presumption and a great wickedness for anyone to believe that it can be improved upon. There has been no revelation since John closed his writing and to say otherwise is a wicked sin.
These verses continue and finish the description of “the new heaven and the new earth” begun in chapter 21. So far we’ve seen something of the New Jerusalem and of the inhabitants of the new earth. Now we see something of the blessings of that eternal life.
In Psalm 46:4, the Psalmist wrote, There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God. We believe this is a prophetic reference to “the pure river of water of life” John described in v. 1. By the way, this river flows “out of,” not “by,” the throne, as one religious song used to put it.
John describes what we would call a lush, beautiful park. The Greek word is, “paradise,” hence the title. As in the beginning, God fellowshiped with our first parents in a park, so throughout eternity He will do so in the New Jerusalem.
The leaves of the tree are for the “healing” of the nations. The Greek word is where we get our word, “therapy”. I don’t understand what might be involved in that thought, but Adam and Eve ate before the Fall. Our Lord ate in His resurrected body, though it wasn’t necessary to His well-being. Though the saints will have glorified bodies, there will be others who, though perfect and sinless, will have ordinary physical bodies, which perhaps will need some care. As I said, I don’t really know.
V. 3-5 gives us the reason why eternity will be perfect for God’s people: “there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him.” Never again will the glories of Heaven be marred by the intrusion of rebellion. “They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads.” Only once or twice in Biblical history have men been allowed anywhere near to the God of heaven and that was only very briefly. Here such association will be forever.
There are records of men having been caught up into heaven and telling their stories. I make no judgment on these stories, but after being caught up into the third heaven, Paul wrote that he heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful to utter, 2 Corinthians 12:4. The ESV translates this, he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. There is only one source of “heavenly things” and it’s not the minds or experiences of mere men. Besides, these things “cannot be told.” How could we? What do we have in this life or world to compare?
It will be a time of continual day, with no need of artificial light, v. 5. Cf. 21:23. We will have the “true light,” that One who said, “Let there be light…,” Genesis 1:3. God is light and in Him is no darkness at all, 1 John 1:5.
We live in a time when Christians are increasingly disregarded, even despised. In some countries, the tag is a death sentence. Somewhere in this world, a brother or sister may be killed while you read these words. We won’t read or hear about them because, in the world’s eyes, they’re not important, maybe even deserve to die.
The time is coming when that won’t be true: “they shall reign forever and ever.” The devil will not forever have his way in this world.
This verse closes our view of the future. Vs. 6-21 deal with other things. We only have a brief glimpse of things which must shortly take place, v. 6. Again, we don’t believe the angel was telling John that these things would happen soon, as we’ve said elsewhere.
For the most part, we live in the moment. That’s all any of us really have. The past is over with and done, and we have no guarantee of the future, even to our next breath. So this, right now, this is it. That doesn’t mean we can’t or shouldn’t plan for the future, but simply that we realize, as James 4:15 says, If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.
And we live in the flesh, that is, our natural bodies. This means that we see and know and experience what our physical bodies are able to see and know and experience, abilities which can diminish or be destroyed. And even in this world, we know that there are things we can’t see or hear, things in the light spectrum or as sound, things which animals or other creatures can see or hear. When it comes right down to it, even with all the advances mankind has made over the centuries, I’m not sure we really know any more about our environment than an ant knows about its.
This is especially true about this thing we call salvation. Without getting into any of the other things we could think about, when was the last time you heard a sermon or read something on our verse today?
What does it mean: “kings and priests”?
The second word is easy: “priests”.
This simply means that, through the Lord Jesus, every single believer has direct access to God. This is called, “the priesthood of the believer.” This is something largely lost in the denominational view of the church that has sprung up over time. But there is no NT office known as “priest” which divides believers into “laity” and “clergy.” This is an idea which was born out of the effort to mold NT believers by an OT pattern.
There are men who are called as pastors and such, but that doesn’t give them a monopoly on God’s presence. Through the Lord Jesus, the humblest believer in the pew has the same access to God as the man behind the pulpit. The believer out in the middle of nowhere has the same access as the believer in the most ornate cathedral, and perhaps more, because we tend to get distracted by all the glitter and pomp and ceremony in such places.
Through the Lord Jesus, we can come directly into the presence of God. We don’t need saints or ceremony or our Lord’s mother. There is one God and one Mediator between God and man, the Man Christ Jesus, 1 Timothy 2:5. Through Him alone, we come to God.
But we must come through Him. There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved, Acts 4:12. Without Him, we are shut out from the presence of God. With Him, we are completely welcome.
The other word is a little more difficult: “kings”.
After all, look at John himself. He was no “king” as the world counts it, but a criminal, exiled onto a tiny and barren island in the Aegean Sea.
To the Corinthian church, Paul wrote, For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence, 1 Corinthians 1:26-29.
There aren’t many among the world’s intelligentsia and elite who name the name of Christ in truth. There are a few, but not many. For the most part, God’s people are made up of those whom the world ignores or hates.
I think it’s a promise.
It’s a promise for the future.
Without getting into all the discussion about the future – I do that enough, as it is – let me just say that Scripture says that this world isn’t the end-all and be-all of our lives. There is coming a time when wickedness and error will be put away, and righteousness and truth will be all there is. And Scripture seems to indicate that believers will have a key role in the administration of things in that future time.
Paul wrote to the Corinthian church about all the troubles they were having in their midst, Do you not know that the saints will judge the world?…Do you not know that we shall judge angels? 1 Corinthians 6:2, 3. Cf. also our Lord’s parable in Matthew 25:14-30.
But I think it’s also a promise for the “right now, this is it.” It may be that, with the Psalmist, we can say that the lines have fallen to me in pleasant places, Psalm 16:6. This was a reference to the division of the land early in Israel’s history, as also seen in v. 6, with the reference to inheritance. But it may be that, like Daniel in the lions’ den or his three friends in the furnace, Daniel 6 and 3, we have to spend some time in less than pleasant places.
God said to Israel, “But now, thus says the LORD, who created you, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you. For I am the LORD your God…,” Isaiah 43:1-3a. While it’s true that the whole chapter is addressed directly to Israel, I think we can take shelter under a corner of the promise in these verses because God refers to “everyone who is called by My name,” v. 7. While that also refers to descendants of those in vs. 1-3, are not true believers also called by the name of Christ-ians?
The promise in Isaiah doesn’t mean that Israel won’t suffer as it goes through the river or the fire. And it doesn’t mean that believers won’t suffer in this world. As I write these words, and as you read them, many are suffering in ways that words can’t describe. Many throughout church history have suffered. And the idea of “kings” doesn’t mean that we “rule” these things. We still live in a world in which Satan is its “god.” As his presence becomes increasingly evident, as it has recently in the political and social upheavals, I expect things will get worse for Christians.
Some Christians seem to have the idea that life should be “without a care,” as a “gospel” song I’ve mentioned before says. It should all be health and good times. But Scripture and life itself tell us that that isn’t so. I think Paul gives us the idea in Romans 8 when he wrote, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Some Christians seem to think that God’s love can’t possibly include such things.
But Paul continues: As it is written: “”For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord, Romans 8:32-39, emphasis added.
The word “kings” does have a promise for the future, but it has a promise for the present. It means that God has made it so that we can rise above whatever our circumstances might be. Sometimes when one is asked how they are doing, they’ll reply, “Under the circumstances….” That’s a terrible place to be. God intends for us to be above the circumstances.
There’s nothing that life can throw at us that, by the grace of God, we can’t catch.

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