The Spirit and the Bride Say, Come
December 20, 2020
Preached by Benjamin Vrbicek
Scripture Reading
Revelation 22:6-21
6 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.
Last week Pastor David spoke about being left alone at home, which of course at this time of the year got me thinking about the Christmas classic Home Alone. Kevin’s mother sits in first class with a terrible feeling, not for the garage door they left open.
In Pastor David’s story he talked of being left at home on purpose when his parents ran errands or went out for dinner, but Kevin’s parents forgot Kevin on accident. I love that dialogue on the airplane. As Uncle Frank mumbles, “It’s horrible, just horrible,” Kevin’s mother asks rhetorically, “How could we do this? We forgot him.” Dad, trying to console her and perhaps trying to shift blame, says, “We didn’t forget him; we just miscounted,” to which she asks, “What kind of mother am I?” And Uncle Frank responds, “If it makes you feel any better, I forgot my reading glasses.”
It’s a classic scene. I bring it up to reflect for a bit on forgetting, on what it means to wonder if you’ve been forgotten. Perhaps some of you have worked for companies that rebranded their mission and vision and values, and it was all so important for five weeks, but five months later it seems as though everyone, including the leadership, has forgotten. We’re coming off an intense political cycle where local, state, and national candidates made all sorts of promises. Some of their promises, you hope will be forgotten and other promises you hope are not forgotten—but that some promises will be forgotten is inevitable.
If we were believers in God who were alive in 1 bc—just before the birth of our Lord—I suspect we could have been tempted to feel like many people feel in ad 2020: forgotten, or even forsaken by God.
There’s a line in “O Holy Night” that says, “Long lay the world in sin and error pining.” The phrase in sin and error pining describes the state of the world just before the Advent of the Messiah, just before the birth of Christ. But that description of the world of the New Testament just before the first Advent, sounds a lot like how I might describe our world as we wait for the second Advent. Consider for a moment with me each of those three words.
First, sin. In the first century the political leaders over God’s people were debauched. For example, we read in the Christmas story about one leader killing babies when he learns a new king is born. Today, we still kill a lot of babies. And consider Matthew 14 where we read of the leader Herod Antipas granting political wishes to a young woman who does something of a striptease for him at a dinner party. Sin abounded in their world—but also in ours. Depending on which way you drive to our church building on Sunday mornings, you have to pass our strip clubs, not in some faraway land but around the corner. Long lay the world in sin—then and now.
And there is error. You don’t have to be familiar with the Bible to know of the religious group called the Pharisees. But they were only one of four major religious groups. There were also the Sadducees, who tended to be more liberal and interested in colluding with the Romans. There were the Essenes, a pious group who retreated from ordinary society to maintain their supposed purity. There were the Zealots who were primarily interested in regaining political power. Then, of course, there were the Pharisees, who were more like your evangelical pastors, those who tended to take a more conservative approach to the Bible. But Jesus took even the best group, the Pharisees, to task over and over again for their errors. And today, think how many errors exist among all the fractured denominations of Christianity. Long lay the world in error—then and now.
And then there’s the word pining. We don’t use the word pining much, but it means reaching or yearning. To pine is to long for something yet unrealized. It’s like reaching for a carrot held in front of you, but you only seem to be able just to tap it with your fingertips but never grasp it. That’s pining. We just spent the fall preaching through a ten-week series on idols. And behind each idol in their day or our day—whether the idol of work or money or sex or approval or power or whatever idol—is a pining for something we know we want but can never quite reach. Perhaps to describe pining we could use the language of thirst, as we’ll see our passage in Revelation does (v. 17). Or we could use the language of desire, as C.S. Lewis does. C.S. Lewis has written that “If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.” And we all have that desire, that thirst, that pining. Before the birth of Christ, there were four hundred years of silence from God’s prophets from Malachi to Matthew. And there have been two thousand years since. Long lay the world pining—then and now.
Kevin’s mother asked the question, “What kind of mother am I [that I would forget].” We’re closing our Advent sermon series by looking closer at the book of Revelation—specifically the last verses in the last chapter in the last book of the Bible—and we see that Jesus anticipated a time when his church would be wondering if they were forgotten and forsaken. In Revelation we see that Jesus anticipated a time when it seems the world would also feel it has too long lain in sin and error pining. Jesus anticipated a time when believers might ask, What kind of God are you to forget us for so long?
But the answer to that question, the question of whether God’s people have been or will ever be forgotten and forsaken, comes a resounding, No. In v. 7 we read, “And behold, I am coming soon.” In v. 12 we read, “Behold, I am coming soon . . . I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” The book of Revelation, specifically the last chapter, thunders the answer to the question of whether God’s people have been forgotten or forsaken with a resounding, No.
And that’s one of the many reasons I love the book of Revelation. Promises only whispered in the Bible, Revelation shouts from the mountains. In Revelation, shadows become substance, and songs on the hearts of God’s people become reality.
In literature there is an idea that’s become known as Chekhov’s gun. It comes from a Russian writer named Anton Chekhov in the late 1800s. The idea is that in a story, if you include details in the beginning of the story, those details set up and promise something that will come later in the story, and good stories don’t forget what they promise. That’s Chekhov’s gun. Here he is in his own words:
If you say in the first chapter [of a story] that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off. If it’s not going to be fired, it shouldn’t be hanging there.
Or in another place he wrote,
One must never place a loaded rifle on the stage if it isn’t going to go off. It’s wrong to make promises you don’t mean to keep.
Or again,
If in the first act [of a play] you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired. Otherwise don’t put it there.
Hence the name Chekhov’s gun. Now, I thought about consulting my extensive collection of Russian literature to find those quotes, but then I remembered I don’t have an extensive collection of Russian literature, so I just used Wikipedia.
My point in mentioning this aspect “promise and fulfillment” in good literature is not to take some guy’s view of what makes for a good story and then press that back on to the Bible. I’m not doing that. But I will say that Chekhov observed something that does happen in the Bible, the greatest story ever told. There are details throughout the story of God, sometimes details only whispered, that the book of Revelation shouts. Look with me at v. 14.
Blessed are those who wash their robes [speaking of forgiveness], so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates.
What tree is this—the tree of life? Outside of a few references in the book of Proverbs where a “tree of life” is used as a metaphor (3:18; 11:30; 13:12; 15:4), the literal tree of life has not been mentioned in the Bible since the opening chapters of the book of Genesis. Genesis, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua and on through the rest of the historical books of Samuel and Kings and Chronicles and Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther; through all the wisdom literature; through all the prophets of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, and the minor prophets of Daniel and Habakkuk and Haggai and so on through the last book in the Old Testament, the book of Malachi; then into the New Testament, with the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; through the book of Acts; all the letters of Romans and Ephesians, and so on through Hebrews and James’s letter and Peter’s letters and John’s letters, and then finally, here in the last book of the Bible, we read again of the tree of life. In Genesis when Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden, an angel with a flaming sword, this heavenly lightsaber, was put there to guard the tree of life. But here in Revelation, God is saying to us, “You know that thing I did back there? Yeah, I haven’t forgotten. And you are not forgotten or forsaken. One day you will eat and live forever in paradise.”
And this is not the only detail that resurfaces. Look again at v. 16, a statement Jesus makes “for the churches,” for us.
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.”
That phrase about the root of David refers to king David in the Old Testament. Jesus sees himself as the heir of king David’s throne. The prophet Isaiah wrote about this. God, speaking through Isaiah, says, “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit” (Isaiah 11:1). Jesse was the father of David. In other words, though the kingdom of Judah looks like a dead stump in the ground, like a tree that was chopped to the numb of a stump, out of it will come a shoot of a new king, the one who is Jesus, Isaiah says. And in Revelation, Jesus reminds us that the one who came once, will come again. The first Advent promises the second.
Consider also the word “thirst” in v. 17.
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.
That phrase—“let the one who desires take the water of life without price”—also comes from Isaiah (55:1). It’s a phrase Jesus picks up in the gospels several times, as in John 7 when we read that he went into the temple grounds during a bustling Jewish holiday and shouted:
If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, “Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” (John 7:37–38)
Your thirst will be satisfied in a way that gives life, Jesus says in the Gospels. In Revelation, Jesus makes that offer again.
There are other phrases I’d love to linger over, though we don’t have time. But reflecting on the tree of life and the king from the root of David and the promise of living water, are enough to show you why I love the book of Revelation. Promises only whispered in the Bible, Revelation shouts from the mountains. In Revelation, shadows become substance, and songs on the hearts of God’s people become reality. A gun of blessing hung in a garden goes off in a city. Just to give one more example, in Genesis 3:8, we read of God walking in the garden in the cool of the day with his people. In the book of Revelation, we read of God with his people again, which is the meaning of Immanuel, except now the small garden of Eden has become a bright and beautiful city full of worshipers.
So, what kind of people ought we to be in light of this passage, in light of the hope of the second Advent. A few things to be said.
We ought to be people of the book. Repeated through this passage is the idea of “keeping” the words of this book.
6 And he said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true.”
7 “And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”
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.
Clearly, we are to be people of the book, people of the Bible, people who read God’s word, who treasure it up in our hearts, and seek to live in light of what it says. Do you know your Bible better this year than last year? If not, what will you do next year that you didn’t do this year? I was just telling some guys the other day that next year I hope to read the Bible in a different translation just to mix it up. I’ve been reading the same one for a dozen years and want God’s word to stay fresh. What are you doing?
In light of the second Advent, we also must be holy people. We must not be those who play with sin. Look at v. 11.
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.”
This is a strange verse, right? We don’t expect God to tell people, if you want to sin, just keep going, just keep going, just keep going. I don’t think that’s what it means, though. It means one of two things. Perhaps this verse means that when Jesus comes again the time for change will be done: he’s here, it’s over. Perhaps it means that (cf. Daniel 12:4, 10). Or v. 11 could be a direct address to believers to stay the course, meaning, Jesus is saying that that there will be those who keep sinning all the way up until his return, but no matter what they do, you be righteous, you be holy. It might mean that. In either case, the takeaway is that you don’t play with sin. You don’t say, “Yeah, I know this is wrong, but I’ll fix it tomorrow.” Sometimes young people put off becoming holy, and sometimes retired people put off being holy. This is my time, we think. I’ll live for God later. Church, if you are not walking with the Lord Jesus Christ, there is nothing more urgent in your life. Only those who walk him now, will walk with him then.
In light of the second Avent, we also must be an inviting people. I’ll read v. 17 again.
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.
Here, the Spirit of God and his church, called the Bride, speak in unison. They make an invitation. Just has Jesus has said, “Come to me all who are weary and heavy-laden,” the church says to thirsty sinners, those pining for more, “Come to Jesus.” I know inviting people to church is weird now because of Covid and large gatherings, but we’ll be here on Christmas Eve, and I’ll be preaching, and we would love to share the good news of Jesus with everyone who comes. So invite someone to come with you.
Finally, we are to be a praying people. The second to last verse in the Bible is a prayer that the church makes. Yes, we invite others to come to Jesus, but we also say to Jesus, “Come, Lord Jesus!” You might not be the best prayer, but you can pray that verse, and you will pray that verse, if you want it to be true . . . but you have to want him to come. Lots of people don’t. Christians do.
When John, who wrote the book of Revelation, sees the angel speak to him, John wants to worship the angel. But the angel tells him to get up and worship only Jesus. In other words, there are many things—both good and bad, angels and idols—that might pull your attention away from Jesus this Advent season. But he is where our attention belongs, until the day he splits the sky and returns in glory.
The late pastor and author Eugene Peterson wrote several books about pastoral ministry and what ought to be most important in local churches. In one place where he is critiquing the ideal of church growth, he writes,
The biblical fact is that there are no successful churches. There are, instead, communities of sinners, gathered before God week after week in towns and villages all over the world. . . . In these communities of sinners, one of the sinners is called pastor and given a designated responsibility in the community. The pastor’s responsibility is to keep the community attentive to God. It is this responsibility that is being abandoned in spades. (Peterson, Working the Angles, 2)
At our church, we are blessed not to have one pastor but several. And there is nothing more in this difficult year that our pastor-elders want for you in this Advent season than to stay attentive to God, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. I don’t know exactly what Jesus means by soon, but I know it means that we are not forgotten, which should lead to “a thrill of hope [and] the weary world rejoic[ing].
I’ll invite the music team to lead us in a few songs. Let’s pray. . .
