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seaster704
The Certainty of
Heaven
Text:
Revelation 22:12-17, 20
Date: The Seventh Sunday of Easter
5/23/04 my immortal torrent
At
the end of our series from the Book of Revelation is the invitation,
“let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the
water of life without price.” So certain ought faith to be of our
eternal inheritance of heaven that nothing shall be able to take
it away.
The
text speaks of water even as paradise is pictured as “the river
of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne
of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city;
also, on either side of the river, the tree of life” [Rev. 22:1-2
(ESV)]. Water and life. Water is life.
We
thirst because of sin and dry death. Sin is our deadly thirst. And
there is no quenching this thirst for life but in the water of life.
Jesus said, “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said,
‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water'” [John 7:38
(ESV)]. The water is faith, the water is life in Jesus.
Apart
from faith in Jesus one will spend their entire life trying to quench
this thirst for life, but to no avail. As our text says, “outside
are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers
and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.”
These are only some of the worst cases of life without God, life
without the water of life. Rather the beatitude, “blessed are those
who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree
of life.” When Jesus begins our text by saying, “Behold, I am coming
soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay everyone for what
he has done,” this recompense is based on either faith in the works
of Jesus on our behalf or no faith but in our own dead works.
The
only water that can quench our thirst and give life is the water
Jesus makes available from the deep well of his own life. This water,
this life Jesus once offered to the Samaritan woman at the well,
saying, “whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never
be thirsty forever. The water that I will give him will become in
him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” [John 4:14 (ESV)].
That's because the water is the faith that trusts solely in the
atonement Jesus made for the sin of the world. Such faith in such
a Savior can never run dry. The water of Holy Baptism is just the
beginning of a life drenched in faith that clings to Jesus our Savior.
“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.” For now the water
of life Jesus offers freely to all. It is as near and available
as God's Word in the Holy Scriptures, which proclaims Christ's saving
work. For through the preaching and hearing of this Word the Holy
Spirit gives water, that is, creates faith in the heart when and
where he wills in those who hear the Gospel. It continues to be
given freely and regularly with the body and blood of Christ in
the Holy Supper. And it sustains us all the way until Jesus comes
again.
The
last word of the Lord Jesus is a promise to his church, to God's
saints, “Surely I am coming soon.” Just before his ascension he
promised that he would never leave his believers alone, that he
would be with them always to the close of the age. In John 14 he
promised that, after he has gone to prepare a place for us, he will
come again to receive us to himself that where he is there we may
be also. Here, in his last word spoken before he does come again,
he says, “Yes, I am coming quickly.” And John's response is the
response of the whole church, “Amen, come, Lord Jesus!” In 1 Corinthians
16:22 the apostle Paul says this prayer in Aramaic, “marana Tha,”
our Lord, come.” The early second century Didache gave the liturgical
instruction for the Eucharist, “Let grace come and let this world
pass away…. If anyone is holy, let him come [to the Lord's Supper];
if anyone is not [holy], let him repent. Maranatha, amen” [Didache
10:6].
So
certain are believers bidden to be of their eternal salvation this
is the prayer that should be prayed after the reading and hearing
of the message of Revelation, in fact of the entire Bible: Amen,
Come now Lord Jesus.” For the Lord Jesus will keep his promise,
“Yes, I am coming quickly.” He is the First and the Last, the Lord
of the Church. He is the beginning and the end of all creation and
also of the new creation. He is the Alpha and the Omega of all eternity.
“Together with the Father, Jesus of Nazareth, born of a woman, is
glorified and honored as God incarnate, through whom alone God deals
with the human race in creation and in redemption, in judgment and
in mercy. To him who reigns together with the Father and the Spirit
be the glory, both now and forever. Amen!” [Brighton, Revelation
, p. 660].
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