[Chapter 22-2] Be Joyful and Strong in the Hope of Glory (Revelation 22:1-21)
(Revelation 22:1-21)
Revelation
22:6-21 shows us the hope for Heaven. Chapter 22, the concluding
chapter of the Book of Revelation, deals with the confirmation of the
faithfulness of the Scriptural prophecies and God’s invitation to the
New Jerusalem. This chapter tells us that the New Jerusalem is a gift of
God given to the saints who have been born again by believing in the
gospel of the water and the Spirit.
God
made the born-again saints praise Him in the House of God. For this, I
am deeply thankful to the Lord. Words cannot express how thankful we are
for allowing us to be the saints who, by believing in the gospel of the
water and the Spirit, have been forgiven of all our sins before the
Lord. Who on this earth would ever receive a greater blessing than what
we have received? There is none!
Today’s
main passage is the last chapter of Revelation. In the Book of Genesis,
we see God making all the blueprints for mankind, and in the Book of
Revelation, we see our Lord fulfilling all these plans. The Word of
Revelation can be described as a destroying process of this world in
order to complete all God’s works for mankind according to His design.
Through the Word of Revelation, we can see the Kingdom of Heaven
beforehand as revealed by God.
The Shape of God’s City and Its Garden
Chapter
21 speaks of God’s City. Verses 17-21 tell us: “Then he measured its
wall: one hundred and forty-four cubits, according to the measure of a
man, that is, of an angel. The construction of its wall was of jasper;
and the city was pure gold, like clear glass. The foundations of the
wall of the city were adorned with all kinds of precious stones: the
first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony,
the fourth emerald, the fifth sardonyx, the sixth sardius, the seventh
chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase,
the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. The twelve gates were
twelve pearls: each individual gate was of one pearl. And the street of
the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.”
This
Word of Revelation describes the New Jerusalem that God would give to
His born-again people. This City of Jerusalem in Heaven, we are told, is
built with twelve different kinds of precious stones, with twelve gates
made of pearls.
Chapter
22 then speaks of the nature found in the garden of the City of
Jerusalem. Verse 1 says, “And he showed me a pure river of water of
life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the
Lamb.” In the City of God, a crystal river flows through its garden,
just as God made four rivers flow in the Garden of Eden at the
beginning. God tells us that this is the garden that the righteous would
enjoy in the future.
The
main passage also tells us that the tree of life stands in this garden;
that it bears twelve kinds of fruits, yielding its fruits every month;
and that its leaves are for the healing of the nations. It appears to me
that the nature of Heaven is such that not only are its fruits eaten,
but also its leaves, since the leaves have healing power.
The Blessings Received by the Righteous!
The
Bible tells us that in the City of God, “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. They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their
foreheads.” It tells us that those of us who have been forgiven of our
sins will reign forever with God who has saved us.
Those
whose sins have been blotted out by believing in the gospel of the
water and the Spirit while living on this earth will not only receive
the blessing of having all their sins disappear, but they will also be
God’s own children, have many angels serving them when they go to the
Kingdom of God, and reign with the Lord forever. The passage tells us
that the righteous would receive from God such eternal blessings as
standing at the river of life and eating the fruits of life, and that as
a part of these blessings there would be no more disease.
It
also tells us that they would need neither the light of this earth nor
of the sun, for in God’s glorious Kingdom they would live forever with
God, who Himself is its light. The children of God who have received the
remission of their sins through the gospel of the water and the Spirit,
in other words, will live like God. This is the blessing received by
the righteous.
The
Apostle John, one of the twelve disciples of Jesus who wrote the Book
of Revelation, also wrote the Gospel of John and the three Epistles of
the New Testament—First, Second, and Third John. He was exiled to the
Island of Patmos for refusing to recognize the Roman emperor as a god.
During this exile, God sent His angel to John and showed him what would
come to pass on this earth, revealing to him the destruction of the
world and the place where the saints would eventually enter and live in.
If
we were to describe the Book of Genesis as the blueprint of creation,
we may describe the Book of Revelation as the completed miniature of the
blueprint. For 4,000 years, our Lord has told mankind that He would
make all its sins disappear through Jesus Christ. And in the age of New
Testament, when the time came, God fulfilled all His promises, that He
would send Jesus the Savior to this earth, that He would have Jesus be
baptized by John, and that He would make the sins of the world disappear
through Christ’s blood on the Cross.
When
mankind fell into the Devil’s deception and was trapped in its
destruction because of sin, our Lord promised that He would deliver it
from its sins. He then sent Jesus Christ, had Him be baptized and bleed,
and thereby saved mankind perfectly from its sins.
Through
the Word of Revelation, God has recorded in detail what kind of glory
awaits those who have received the remission of their sins, and what
kind of judgment awaits the sinners on the other hand. God tells us, in
other words, that there are many who would end up in hell even though
they have claimed to believe in Him faithfully (Matthew 7:21-23).
Our
Lord has saved the sinners from their sins, and He has told us not to
seal the Word of the blessings that He has prepared for the righteous.
Who Are the Unjust and the Filthy?
Verse
11 states, “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.” Who are the
“unjust” here? The unjust are none other than those who do not believe
in the love of the gospel of the water and the Spirit given by the Lord.
Because people commit sin all the time, they must believe in the gospel
of the water and the Spirit that the Lord has given them and thereby
live their lives glorifying God. Because only God is the One who is to
receive glory from mankind, and because only He is the One who has
clothed us in His grace of salvation, we must all live a life that gives
all glory to God. Those who disobey God are filthy, for they do not
always believe in His Word.
In
Matthew 7:23, our Lord told the religionists who profess to believe in
Him only by lips, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice
lawlessness!” Our Lord called them as “you who practice lawlessness.” He
rebuked them because these people believe in Jesus only through their
deeds, instead of believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit
wholeheartedly. Lawlessness is sin, and not believing in the Word of God
with one’s heart. Therefore, when people practice lawlessness before
God, it means that they do not believe in the love and the salvation of
the water and the Spirit that God has given them. Lawlessness is none
other than changing the Word of God at one’s own whim and believing it
arbitrarily in whatever way that one feels like.
Those
who truly believe in Jesus must accept whatever God has established as
it is. We believe in Jesus, but in no way does this allow us to alter
God’s plan and the completion of His salvation. The message of the main
passage is that God would give eternal life to those who believe in His
salvation as it stands on its own, but send to hell those who make
changes to God’s Law and believe in whatever way that suits their own
tastes.
“He
who is unjust, let him be unjust still.” This tells us that such
people, in their stubbornness, do not believe in the salvation as set by
God. They are the unjust. And this is why the sinners are always
unjust.
The
passage continues, “he who is filthy, let him be filthy still.” This
refers to those who, although they are sinful, and despite the fact that
Jesus has made their sins disappear with the water and the Spirit, have
no intention whatsoever to cleanse their sins with faith. As such, God
would leave alone these faithless people as they are, and then judge
them. By giving people conscience, God has made it possible for them to
clearly recognize sin in their hearts. And yet they still have no
intention to cleanse the sins in their hearts, nor to know the gospel of
the water and the Spirit. God tells us that He would let these people
be as they are.
Proverbs
30:12 says, “There is a generation that is pure in its own eyes, yet is
not washed from its filthiness.” The religionist-Christians today are
such people who do not even want to be cleansed of their sins. However,
Jesus, who is God Himself, came to this earth to save the sinners,
cleansed away all their sins by taking the sins of mankind upon Himself
with His baptism all at once, was at once judged for all these sins by
being crucified, and thereby has indeed saved from sin those of us who
believe.
To
whomever knows and believes in the Word of the gospel of the water and
the Spirit with which Jesus Christ has saved the sinners, our Lord has
permitted this person to be forgiven of all his/her sins, regardless of
what kind of sinner he/she might be. And yet there are still people who
have not received this remission of sin through faith. These are the
ones who have resolved themselves to not even try to get their sins
cleansed away. God will let them be as they are.
This
is to fulfill the justice of God. It is to show that God is the God of
justice. These people will be cast into the fire of brimstone that burns
forever. They will then realize who the God of justice really is.
Although they confess Jesus as their Savior, they are not only deceiving
their own conscience, but they are also defiling the conscience of
others. Because they have rejected the gospel of the water and the
Spirit, God will pay them back according to what they have done. When
the day comes, God will bring His wrath to those who deserve His wrath.
Give to Everyone According to His Work
There
are two kinds of people on this earth: those who have met the Lord, and
those who have not. Our Lord will pay everyone back according to
his/her work.
No
one can be justified on his/her own, but justification comes from
Jesus. He took all the sins of mankind upon Himself with His baptism all
at once, carried the sins of the world to the Cross, and on the Cross
faced all the judgment of sin that mankind itself should be facing.
Mankind could become righteous by believing in this truth. Those who
believe in this truth are the ones who have met the Lord.
God
asks those who are sinless, who know and believe in this truth, to
preach the gospel on this earth and keep His holy Word as they live on.
God says, “he who is holy, let him be holy still.” We must keep this
command in our hearts, defend our holy faith, and always preach the
perfect gospel. Why? Because too many people in this world remain
ignorant of this true gospel, and as a result their faith is all wrong.
There
are those on this earth who unconditionally support the doctrine of
incremental sanctification. Although our Lord has already made mankind’s
sins disappear, these people still pray for the forgiveness of their
sins daily, even as now. Offering their prayers of repentance on a daily
basis, they try to cleanse away their sins, to be incrementally
sanctified so that they would finally become the righteous who no longer
commit any sin, and to thus be a match for Jesus. But Jesus Christ, the
Son of God, is the King, the Prophet and the High Priest.
The
true servants of God not only carry out their task of making sure that
everyone is truly forgiven of sin, but they also lead everyone to the
truth as the co-workers of God. God’s servants are the ones who, through
the written Word, have the exact knowledge of the things that would
come to pass.
Verses
12-13 say, “And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me,
to give to every one according to his work. I am the Alpha and the
Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.” Our Lord
indeed is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First
and the Last. We must believe in everything that the Lord has spoken to
us in fear.
Our
Lord will reward the saints with the blessings that are far greater
than their works, for He is glorious and merciful. He is the merciful
and compassionate One who has saved us from all our sins, and, as the
Word of Revelation tells us, the God of power and justice who would
complete His work of salvation. And this completion of salvation, which
is soon to come, is permitting to the saints the glorious entrance into
the City of the New Jerusalem, the generous and sufficient rewards of
our Lord for their works.
Blessed Are Those Who Do His Commandments
Continuing
on with verse 14, the main passage tells us, “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.” There are many people who
claim, based on this verse, that salvation comes by deeds—by observing,
in other words, His commandments.
But
in fact, “doing His commandments” means believing in and keeping all
the written Word of God with faith. John the Apostle wrote, “And this is
His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus
Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment” (1 John 3:23).
So, when we believe in the true gospel of the water and the Spirit, and
devote ourselves to preaching the gospel to save all the lost souls
throughout the whole world, we are doing His commandments in His
presence.
The
truth is that all the sins we commit throughout our lives have already
been blotted out through the baptism that Jesus received from John the
Baptist. Following this baptism, our Lord’s blood on the Cross, His
resurrection, and His ascension have made us be born again and allowed
us to live a new life in His truth.
Whenever
we fall into sin after being born again, we must return to the Word of
truth that has cleansed us of all our sins; realize that our roots are
such that we cannot help but sin; and, returning once again to the faith
of the Jordan River where our Lord took upon all our weaknesses,
shortcomings, and sins, be baptized together with the baptism of Jesus
and be buried together with Christ who died on the Cross. When we do so,
we can finally be freed from the sins committed after being born again,
and be washed clean. We must hold onto the righteousness of God by
reaffirming our eternal salvation of atonement and thanking Him for His
permanent and perfect salvation.
Jesus
has already washed away all the sins of this world. The problem is
found with our conscience. Although our Lord has already taken care of
the sins of the world with His baptism, because we the human beings do
not realize that the Lord has thus cleansed away all our sins with His
baptism and crucifixion, our conscience remains troubled as sinners. We
therefore are apt to feel that we still have sin left in us, when in
fact all that we have to do is just believe that all our sins have
actually been washed away already through the gospel of the water and
the Spirit given by Jesus Christ.
If our hearts have been hurt by our sins, with which truth can we then heal the wounds of these sins?
These
wounds, too, can all be healed by believing in the gospel of the water
and the Spirit—that is, by believing that our Lord took all the sins of
the world upon Himself by being baptized by John at the Jordan River,
and that He made all these sins disappear by carrying them to the Cross
of Calvary and shedding His blood on it. In other words, the sins of our
deeds that we commit after receiving the remission of sin can also be
washed away when we confirm once again our faith in the gospel that
Jesus Christ has already cleansed away all our sins, including these
sins of our deeds.
The
sins of this world were washed away all at once when Jesus Christ
received His baptism and was crucified. As such, neither the sins of the
world nor the personal sins of ours need to be washed away twice or
thrice, as if they must be cleansed continuously. If someone teaches
that the remission of sin is attained little by little, then the gospel
that he/she is preaching is a false gospel.
God
has made the sins of the world disappear all at once. Hebrews 9:27
tells us, “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this
the judgment.” As we die once because of sin, it is God’s will that we
should also receive the remission of sin at once. Coming to this earth,
Jesus Christ took all our sins upon Himself at once, died once, and was
judged in our place at once as well. He did not do these things for
several times.
When
we receive the remission of sin by believing in Jesus Christ with our
hearts, then, it is also right for us to believe all at once and receive
the eternal remission of all our sins. Because the sins that we commit
from then on hurt our hearts from time to time, all that we have to do
is go before the Word of this salvation, that our Lord has washed away
our sins all at once, and cleanse and heal our tainted hearts with
faith: “Lord, I am so full of shortcomings. I’ve committed sin again. I
was unable to live a whole life according to Your will. But when You
were baptized by John at the Jordan River and bled on the Cross, did You
not take care of all these sins of mine also? Hallelujah! I praise You,
Lord!”
With
such faith, we can confirm our remission of sin once again and thank
the Lord always. This last chapter of Revelation tells us that by going
before Jesus Christ, who is the tree of life, and by believing that the
Lord has already washed away all the sins of the world, those who have
received the remission of sin have earned the right to enter the Kingdom
of God, the Holy City, through their faith.
Whoever
wants to enter the city of God must believe that Jesus Christ atoned
for the sins of mankind eternally by receiving His baptism at once and
shedding His blood. Though we all have many acts of shortcomings, by
believing in the baptism and the blood of Jesus Christ our Savior, our
faith can be approved by God as true, and we can all go before the tree
of life.
Only
by believing in Christ’s baptism and blood can we have the right to
drink the water of life flowing in the city of New Jerusalem and to the
fruits of the tree of life. Because the qualification to enter the New
Heaven and Earth, which can never be allowed to be taken away by anyone,
comes only from the gospel of the water and the Spirit, we must defend
our faith and also preach it to many others. Likewise, the phrase “(to)
do His commandment” means for us to overcome the world by faith—that is,
to believe in and keep the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and to
devote ourselves to preaching the true gospel all over the world.
In
Matthew 22, Jesus tells us “the parable of the wedding feast.” The
conclusion of this parable is that those who do not have their wedding
garments on should be cast into outer darkness (Matthew 22:11-13). How
can we wear our wedding garments to participate in the marriage supper
of the Lamb, and what are the wedding garments? The wedding garments
that enable us to enter the marriage supper of the Lamb is the
righteousness of God given to us through the gospel of the water and the
Spirit. Do you believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit? If
so, you are then beautifully clothed in His righteousness so that you
can enter Heaven as a sinless bride of the Son.
We,
the born-again, also commit sin every day. However, only the righteous
who have been forgiven of their sins before God are qualified to wash
away their daily sins from their garment of righteousness with faith.
Because those whose sins have not been forgiven are not qualified to
wash away their sins, they would never be able to cleanse themselves of
their sins with their daily prayers of repentance. That we have been
saved from the sins of the world by believing in the Lord was all made
possible by knowing and believing that the Lord has washed away all our
sins of the world by coming to this world, being baptized, and shedding
His blood.
We
can confirm, in other words, that our daily sins have already been
washed away only in His true gospel. Those who have received the
remission of sin from the Lord through the Word of the water and the
blood can also have the conviction of their salvation from the sins that
they commit as they go on with their lives.
It
is because our Lord has made our sins disappear all at once that we can
also wash away the sins that we commit with our own acts by believing
in this salvation of eternal atonement. If this were not the case, if
our Lord had not washed away all our sins at once, in other words, how
could we ever become sinless?
How
could we ever enter into the Holy City of Heaven? How could we ever go
before Jesus Christ, the tree of life? By believing in our Lord who has
made all our sins disappear, we can enter the Kingdom of Heaven as the
clean and spotless people; and whenever we sin in our lives, by going
before our Lord and confirming that He has made these sins disappear
also, we can be freed from all such sins. That’s why I tell you that
only the born-again are privileged to be forgiven their daily sins by
faith.
King
David committed great sins before God, even though he was a servant of
God. He committed adultery with a married woman, and killed her husband
who was a faithful subject of his. Nevertheless, he praised God for His
merciful forgiveness like this:
“Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,
Whose sin is covered.
Blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity,
And in whose spirit there is no deceit. (Psalm 32:1-2)”
Who
is the most blessed in this world and before God? The blessed are none
other than those of us who have been born again; who have been saved;
and who, whenever sin is committed in our lives, look toward the fact
that the Lord has made all our sins disappear, go to the spring of life
everyday, and wash away our tainted hearts daily. This is ruminating on
our deliverance and confirming our Lord’s great grace of salvation.
Only
the righteous have received the remission of sin, making all their
shortcomings whole. Their acts are whole, and so are their hearts.
Having thus become the righteous without blemish, we can then enter the
Kingdom that God has prepared for us, the Kingdom of Heaven. If we would
only accept what Jesus Christ, the gate of salvation and the tree of
life, has done for us, His power would be revealed, and we would
therefore all receive the remission of sin and enter Heaven.
Those Who Go before the Tree of Life
The
reason why those of us who have received the remission of sin always go
before the Lord is to confirm that our Lord has made all our sins
disappear, to ruminate on the grace of salvation once more, to remember
it, and to praise God for it, so that we may all be more than able to
enter His Kingdom. This is why we preach the gospel.
A
countless number of Christians, unable to meet God’s servants who can
guide them by teaching the Bible correctly, are stuck in their
misunderstanding of the Word and mistaken beliefs. Even now, there are
people who are preoccupied with their acts, offering prayers of
repentance every morning and all night long. Why do they do these
things? Because they believe that by doing so, their sins would be
forgiven. And they believe so because they have been taught erroneous
doctrines. But these are unrighteous acts before God. Such people are
the pitiful ones who know neither the righteousness of God nor His
unconditional love.
The
Bible is not something that can be taken lightly, as if it can be
interpreted in whatever way one wishes to. And yet because people have
interpreted, taught, and believed in it based on their own man-made
thoughts, the result has been like the above—that is, they remain
ignorant of God’s righteousness and love. Each passage of the Bible has
the exact meaning, and this can be interpreted correctly only by God’s
prophets who have received the remission of sins.
Going
before the tree of life is for us to believe in the Lord while on this
earth, to remember everyday that our Lord has made our sins disappear,
to praise Him, and to preach this gospel. We, the born-again, are also
to remember that He took our sins upon Himself, to confirm this truth
everyday, to worship Him with the joy of thanksgiving, and to go before
our Lord.
However,
it is not an exaggeration to say that Christians throughout the entire
world have misinterpreted this passage and mistakenly believe that they
can enter the Kingdom of God by having their sins washed away on a daily
basis through the prayers of repentance. But this is not what the
passage means.
After
receiving the remission of sin, our hearts can remain in peace by
confirming that our Lord has made all the sins that we commit with our
acts disappear. By confirming the remission of ALL our sin, we are no
longer bound by sin. This is the way to go before the tree of life in
Heaven.
The
Scripture is on a whole different dimension from the man-made thoughts.
As such, to know the truth, we must first learn and hear the truth from
the born-again servants of God.
Those Who Are Outside the City
Verse
15 says, “But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and
murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie.” This
Word refers to all those of the end times who are not born again. It is
simply amazing that our Lord would depict these people with such
accuracy.
One
characteristic of dogs is that they regurgitate—that is, they throw up
what they had eaten, eat it again, and then throw up again, and then
once again eat what they just vomited out. Our Lord says here that these
“dogs” would not be able to enter into the City.
To
whom do these dog refer then? There are people who cry out, “Lord, I’m a
sinner; please wash away my sins,” and then praise God singing, “I’ve
been forgiven, you’ve been forgiven, we’ve all been forgiven!” But the
next moment, these people once again cry out, “Lord, I’m a sinner; if
you would just forgive me one more time, I’ll never sin again.” They
then sing again, “I’ve been forgiven by the Blood of Calvary!”
These
people go back and forth so much that no one is sure whether they were
actually forgiven or not. None other than this kind of people are the
“dogs” that the Bible speaks of. Dogs bark everyday. They bark in the
morning, they bark in the afternoon, and they bark at dawn. These people
do not bark exactly in this way, but they do cry out that they are
sinners, even though they have been forgiven of their sins. They become
the righteous one minute; they turn into sinners the next minute.
In
this way, they are like the dogs that vomit out what’s inside and eat
it again, and then vomit it out again only to eat it one more time. In
short, the Bible refers to Christians who still have sin in their hearts
as the “dogs.” These dogs can never enter Heaven, but must remain
outside the City.
Next,
who are the “sorcerers?” These are the ones who, taking advantage of
the innocent church-goers’ emotions, rob them of their money with their
sweet-talking, and the ones who deceive people with false signs and
miracles claiming to heal their diseases. Because they all take the name
of God in vain, they cannot enter into the Holy City.
Also,
the sexually immoral, murderers, idolaters, and whoever loves and
practices a lie cannot enter into the City. When the end times come,
dogs and sorcerers would deceive people, and the Antichrist would
emerge. The Antichrist who deceives many people with false miracles and
signs, steals their souls, stands against God, and seeks to raise
himself higher than God and to be worshipped, and all his followers
would never be able to enter into the City.
As
such, if we fall into the deception of those who claim that we still
have sin, or if we fall into the deception of signs and miracles that
stir up our emotions, we would all end up outside the City along with
the Antichrist and Satan, wailing and gnashing our teeth, just as the
Word warns us.
Verses
16-17 say, “‘I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these
things in the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the
Bright and Morning Star.’ And the Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And
let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ And let him who thirsts come. Whoever
desires, let him take the water of life freely.”
Have
you received your remission of sin freely? Through the Holy Spirit and
God’s Church, our Lord has given us the gospel of the water and the
Spirit that enables us to drink the water of life. Whoever hungers for
the righteousness of God, whoever thirsts after the Word of truth, and
whoever wants desperately to receive the remission of sin—to all such
people, God has offered to clothe them in His mercy and extended His
invitation into His Word, the water of life of His salvation. Receiving
the remission of sin is the only path to respond to this invitation to
the New Heaven and Earth where the water of life flows.
Amen, Come Lord Jesus!
Verse
19 says, “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.” Before
God, we cannot believe in whatever way we wish to based on our own
thoughts. If it is written in the Word of God, all that we can say is
just “yes,” for if anyone were to say “no” to the Word, our Lord would
also take him/her away, saying, “You are not My child.” This is why we
must believe in Him according to the Word. We can neither add to nor
subtract from any of the Word of God, but we must believe in it as it is
written.
Holding
onto the servants of God and believing in what the Holy Spirit speaks
through God’s Church are what the true faith is all about. Yet many
people, as they have excluded the gospel of the water and the Spirit
from their faith, still have sin remaining in their hearts. Even when
the Word repeatedly tells them that only those who are sinless can enter
God’s Holy City, they still leave out Jesus’ baptism from their faith,
and instead add to it their insistence on such acts as giving prayers of
repentance and material offerings.
Those
who believe in Jesus as their Savior must be able to confess with their
faith that all the sins of mankind were passed onto Jesus through the
baptism that Jesus received from John the Baptist at the Jordan River.
If you omit Jesus’ baptism you are essentially abandoning your own
faith. In other words, if you do not believe in the gospel of the water
and the Spirit, even the blood of the Cross is meaningless, and the
resurrection of Christ, too, is irrelevant to you. Only those who
believe that God has made all their sins disappear freely are relevant
to the resurrection of Jesus, and only they can shout out loud for the
coming of the Lord Jesus, as the Apostle John does in verse 20.
Verse
20 says, “He who testifies to these things says, ‘Surely I am coming
quickly.’ Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!” Only the righteous can say
this. Our Lord will soon come back to this earth, according to the
prayers of the righteous. Only the righteous, who have received the
perfect remission of sin by believing in the gospel of the water and the
Spirit, would rejoice and wait eagerly for the quick coming of the
Lord. This is because those who are prepared to receive the Lord are
only those who are clothed in the garment of the gospel of the water and
the Spirit—that is, those who are sinless.
Our
Lord is waiting for the day when He would respond to the righteous’
waiting, the day when He comes to this earth. He will reward us with the
Millennial Kingdom, and clothe us, who are the righteous, in His great
blessings of entering the New Heaven and Earth where the water of life
flows. This waiting of our Lord is not that long. As such, all that we
can do is just say, “Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!” And, with faith
and thanksgiving, we earnestly long for the Lord’s return.
Finally,
verse 21 says, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.”
The Apostle John ended the Book of Revelation with his last prayer of
blessings for everyone. He offered his prayer of blessing at the end,
with his heart hoping for everyone to believe in Jesus, be saved, and
enter the city of God.
My
beloved saints, that we have been saved by God means that He has loved
us, delivered us from all our sins, and made us His people. It therefore
is simply wonderful and thankful that God has made us righteous so that
we may enter His Kingdom.
This
is the core of what the Bible speaks to us. To make us live forever in
His Kingdom, God has allowed you and me to be born again by hearing this
true gospel, and He has delivered us from all our sins and judgment. I
praise and thank our Lord for His salvation.
It
is so fortunate that we have safely received the remission of our sins.
We are all people who have been greatly blessed by God. And we are His
prophets. As such, we must spread the gospel of the remission of sin to
all those souls that are yet to hear this gospel, and also preach to
them the Word of Revelation, the completion of the gospel.
I
hope and pray that everyone would believe in Jesus, who is the Creator,
the Savior and the Judge, and, when the end times come, thereby enter
the holy place of the New Heaven and Earth given by the Lord. May the
grace of our Lord Jesus be with you all.
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