A year ago we took our boys on the longest trip of their young lives. 21 hours of driving. 2000 kilometres. They didn’t know the world was that big. We thought they would have fun discovering new things, exploring new places. We were wrong. It wasn’t long before they just wanted to go home. Discovering new things is not always fun. The last thing a political party wants the day before an election is new revelations about its candidates or leader. Voters want to know who they are voting for; not to be surprised by what they didn’t know. We have a federal election happening tomorrow in Canada. And let me tell you why I’ve kept my political views to myself, why I’ve chosen to be non-partisan in public. Because I don’t want my politics to prevent people from hearing what they need to hear about Jesus. I don’t want me to get in the way of anyone discovering Christ. Knowing Jesus is infinitely more important than who becomes our next Prime Minister. And knowing Jesus is impossible without revelation. He has to be revealed to you. To know Him like you should, you need to be eager to learn everything the Bible reveals about Him.

Last Sunday we learned from verses 1-5, that God’s ultimate blessing to human beings is Himself. But more specifically, we learned that He gives Himself to His people in Jesus Christ. More specifically still, we learned that the reason Jesus is portrayed in the Book of Revelation as a Lamb is because it is through the sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus Christ that God gives Himself to His people. That’s why the very last scene of the prophecy about the Bride, the Wife of the Lamb (21:9)—the Church, the people Jesus redeemed by His blood—that’s why their love and joy in Heaven will flow back to God in worship they give to the Lamb and to God. And we learned that because God and the Lamb sit on the throne, and because it is not their throne but His throne in verse 3—and because they worship Him and not “them” in verse 3—to love and delight in Jesus Christ is to love and delight in God. And we learned that the reason all that worship is pictured as flowing back and returning to Jesus Christ, to the Lamb, is because of what flows out from God and from the Lamb in the first place—because of the meaning of that river that gushes out from God and the Lamb to His people in Heaven: it is the Father’s love for and delight in the Son; and the Son’s love for and delight in the Father; and it gushes outward by the Holy Spirit who engulfs and includes His people in the love and joy of the Trinity. To put it as simply as I can, in Heaven, you will be caught up in the infinite love of the Trinity, so that you will love the Father who glorifies His Son; and you will love the Son who is the glory of the Father; and you will love the Holy Spirit who glorifies the Father and the Son. And you will love the Trinity with infinite love.

Now if that’s how you will love God in Heaven, in the future, what about now? Well that’s what these next two verses are about. Verses 6-7 are the conclusion to that vision of the Bride, the Wife of the Lamb, loving the Lamb in Heaven. The angel who told John he was going to show him the Wife of the Lamb; the angel who showed John the Wife of the Lamb, has two more things to say about the Lamb that His bride needs to know while she waits for Him to come. The angel makes two revelations that must change how you think about Jesus. Verse 6 has something you need to know about the words of this book. Verse 7 connects the words of this book to a blessing for those who are eagerly waiting for Jesus. There are two things to discover here. Two revelations about Christ. First…

All Scripture comes from Christ (v6)

What do I mean by that? I mean Christ is the source of everything written in the Bible. I mean the Scriptures themselves are not just about the Son of God but from Him. The angel makes three assertions in verse 6 that reveal all Scripture is from Christ. First, every word of Revelation is true. “And he said to me, ‘These words are trustworthy and true...”  (Rev. 22:6a ESV). The angel confirms that everything written here is both faithful and true. To say these words are faithful means they are dependable. Trustworthy. You can believe them. To say they are true means they align with reality. They are in accordance with and correspond to the facts. So the angel is asserting that all these words are words you should believe and words that tell it like it really is. What words? All of them. Everything John heard and was told, and all the words John writes down to describe what he heard and saw.

The second assertion here is that the Book of Revelation is also Holy Scripture. “And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel…”  (Rev. 22:6b ESV). There are two parts to this claim. The angel makes it clear this book, what is written in it, comes from the Lord. Then the angel identifies the Lord as the same God who spoke through the prophets. When he says the Lord is the God of the “spirits of the prophets” he is just saying that it was God who spoke through each individual prophet who wrote the Scriptures. This is what Peter means when he writes, “For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit,” (2 Pet. 1:21 ESV). The angel’s telling John that what John is writing in this book is God’s Word.

The third thing the angel asserts is what Revelation is for. “…[The Lord] has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place." (Rev. 22:6c ESV). It’s to equip you to serve the Lord until He comes. It is very practical. It was given by God to show His servants what “must soon take place.” This implies it is necessary to help God’s servants serve God well through the events that are coming. But what does he mean by “things that must soon take place?” What does soon mean? I examined all the places in the Greek Old and New Testaments where this exact phrase is used. Then I studied the 29 times this word for “soon” is used. And you know what I found out?[i] That “soon” means soon. But the angel doesn’t just say these things could happen soon. He says they must happen soon. In other words, it will all “begin shortly,” as one scholar puts it.[ii] Well that was in the year 95AD.

In other words, God was showing John everything that God decreed must shortly begin to happen to the Church. And this teaches Christians to understand that all the things predicted in this book are ordained by God. Decided by God. Decreed by God. All the hard stuff that was going to befall Christians in the centuries that followed. All the geopolitical upheaval. All the oppression of Christianity. All the opposition to the Gospel. All the persecution of Christians who refused to be silenced. All the tyrants who were going to rise, and the kingdoms that were going to fall; all the invasions and defeats, the unrest and anarchy, all of it must happen and it must start happening soon. But not just bad things. Good things too. All the Gospel preaching. All the millions of converts to Christianity. All the faithful testimony in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. All the patient endurance of His saints. All the Christians who suffered for the sake of their Saviour. All the martyrs who chose to die rather than disown the Lord who loved them even to death on the cross. All the terrible and frightening things that were soon going to fall upon the Church of Jesus Christ, and all the God-glorifying perseverance of His people—all of it must begin shortly. And when God the Lord of the prophets sent this angel to show John all the things that must soon take place, Joh wrote it all down so that those who serve Jesus would be ready. Equipped. Prepared for what was coming. When governments send special forces into hostile territory, the success of their mission often depends on the quality of their intelligence. What conditions will they find on the ground? What obstacles? How many enemies will they encounter, etc.? The book of Revelation is better than intelligence. It is prophecy that equips the Church for its mission.

So just think about what verse 6 tells us. A) Every word of this book is inerrant—totally trustworthy and totally true, because, B) it is all from God just like all of holy Scripture is from God, and C) It is meant to prep Christians for what God had decreed must start happening shortly after John wrote this book. But don’t miss how important it is that all of this prophecy is from Christ Himself. Because that means this is given in love. Just look back at verse 3. Who is on the throne? God and the Lamb. The Lamb who was slain and is alive. The Father and His Son who was crucified and raised. Look who God’s servants in Heaven worship: “Him” (v3). Not them. Him. The Lamb and God are One. The Son is counted one with the Father. Christ is God. So when verse 6 says “the Lord, God of the spirits of the prophets… sent his angel,” who is that exactly? Is it a distant, aloof, and detached Deity? Is it a harsh or formal father? The book of Revelation does not let you think of God like that! This is all from God and God is Christ and Christ loves the Bride He died to save! Verse 21:22 reveals that the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb is One; 21:23 reveals that the glory of God and the Lamb is One; 22:1 reveals that God and the Lamb is One; 22:3 reveals God and the Lamb is One, so when verse 5 says the Lord God will be the light of His people, you must understand that those who belong to Jesus Christ have a very great and loving God who loves His Bride more than you can comprehend and sent these words to equip her for what she must endure. This is Christ loving His Church.

Look again at 21:22. You don’t need a temple if you’ve got Christ. Look at 21:23. You don’t need a flashlight, and you don’t even need the Sun or the Moon if you’ve got Christ. And look at 22:1 and 22:3. You don’t need a Hero, or a Defender, or anyone to fight for you because Christ Himself is the Lamb who gave His own life to save yours, and He is on the throne. The blood that paid for your sins, and ransomed your soul, and bought you, now flows through the veins of the Lord God who is in total and complete control of everything that the angel told John must soon take place. What all this means is nothing less than awesome: Whatever happens to God’s people happens to the Bride Jesus loves; to the Wife of the Lamb. But what happens is not random. It’s not left to chance. It is ordained by Jesus Christ. Decreed by the Lord who is the Lamb. Decided and determined by our Saviour.

The angel makes two revelations that must change how you think about Jesus. The first is that all Scripture is from Christ and that includes Revelation. And verse 6 reveals Revelation is written to help and equip the Bride Christ loves. The Lord Jesus did not abandon His Church. He did not forsake His Wife. His people don’t walk through the valley of the shadow of death alone. This is how verse 6 teaches you to think about Jesus. He has given you this book. Read it. Learn it. You need it. Your heart needs Revelation. Your head needs Revelation. You hope will be much stronger with it than without it. That leads to the second revelation that needs to change how you think about Jesus…

All history leads to Christ (v7)

What do I mean by that? I mean all events lead to Jesus. All time marches toward Christ. Everything that happens, brings us one step closer to Him. What this verse reveals about Jesus Christ teaches us to see history this way. Notice two things here: an arrival that’s coming soon, and a blessing that’s up to you. “‘And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.’,” (Rev. 22:7 ESV). Look at the arrival that’s coming soon: "And behold, I am coming soon," (Rev. 22:7a ESV). Wait, who said that? Imagine what this might have been like for John. He’s just had this overwhelming vision of a whole bunch of things that predict world events that had to happen before Jesus comes back. The angel who showed him the final prophecy about the Bride of Christ has just pronounced the conclusion of the whole dream and said who it’s all from, who it’s all for, and why. And then a voice says, "And behold, I am coming soon," (Rev. 22:7a ESV). (c.f. Rev 16:7; 19:5; 21:3) Maybe it’s not obvious to you right away who these words belong to, but it was obvious to John (which probably explains why he then bowed down to worship!). It’s the Lord God Himself, the Lamb. All Scripture comes from Christ—we just learned that in verse 6. Now John hears the very words of Christ out loud!

And what does Christ say? The message He gives John, to give the Church, is hope itself. The words are words of comfort. The promise is a promise of a Lover to His betrothed. Behold, I am coming soon. You see those words on billboards at the cinema, but they don’t have the power these words have. These words revive the heart of the Christian. These words inflame the love of true believers. These words cheer the Church and strengthen the saints and encourage God’s elect. So let me point out the Elephant in the Room: if hearing Jesus say He is coming soon does not make your heart skip a beat, I wonder if you’re even a Christian. Because either you don’t really trust His words as true like verse 6 says they are, or you don’t really love Him. If you don’t know what it is to eagerly long for Christ’s return, you need to question whether you truly know Him.

That’s the first thing to notice in verse 7: the Lord commands you to see it: that’s what “Behold” means! See the arrival that’s coming soon. The second thing you need to see is a blessing that’s totally up to you. “Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book" (Rev. 22:7b ESV)There are many unconditional promises in the Bible. This is not one of them. This promise has conditions. The Lord Jesus promises a blessing. Remember the beatitudes in Mat 5? Well that’s what this is. A beatitude. A promise of beatific happiness and favour from God. There are seven beatitudes in the book of Revelation. This is number six. And it’s a promise Jesus will keep. Verse 6 confirms these words are faithful and true. But the Lord only promises this to certain people. Only to those who keep the words of the prophecy of the book of Revelation.

Do you want this blessing? Do you want the Lord to help you keep loving Him, trusting in the truth of His Word, secure in your faith that the Lord will bring you safely through whatever must happen before He comes? Let me tell you how to fail to get this blessing. All you have to do is not know what Revelation says. Now the blessing in Rev 1:3 is similar: it promises those who read this book out loud will be blessed, and so with those who hear it and keep it. It says that because when this was written most people couldn’t read. The book was meant to be preached to believers who would hear it and be blessed if they kept it. So just don’t pay attention. Don’t listen. Don’t read it. Ignore it. Another way to fail to get this blessing is to not bother learning what it means. The blessing is only for those who keep these words. You can’t do that if you don’t understand what the words mean. And of course that’s another way to fail to get this blessing. You could pay attention, you could learn what it means, start keeping these words, but then just stop. Quit. Forget about it. And you will fail to get this blessing. Is that what you want? Because I suspect that quite a few of you are doing a really good job of failing to get this blessing from Jesus.

Look again at verse 6. Why did Jesus give John this prophecy? To show His servants what is going to “begin shortly.”[iii] Rev 1:19 explains that the predictions John was about to see in his vision were things that were going to happen right away—“the things… that are to take place after this,” (Rev 1:19b). Now John wrote this book in 95AD. And so that means the things predicted in this book began to happen 19 centuries ago. But there are a great many predictions in this book! The predictions are grouped under seven seals the Lamb opens, that lead to seven trumpets angels blow, that leads to seven bowls of wrath angels pour out on the Lamb’s enemies. And it’s all written with a lot of details predicting a whole lot of things. So although it all began to happen 19 centuries ago, as soon as John wrote it all down, it’s not quite finished yet. What I’m saying is that the blessing Jesus promises is very practical. But it’s up to you. Take hold of this book. Listen to it preached and taught. Learn to make sense of it. Start to see how true and faithful these words are! How prediction after prediction has come true, as written, in order, one after another. See how the fulfillments of Revelation so far prove that Jesus Christ is true and trustworthy! See how all that has happened to the Church, and how the Lord has taken care of His Bride, proves His love. Take up this book and become familiar with the words your Saviour lovingly speaks to His Beloved—keep these words close; hold onto these words when you are afraid. When it’s dark, live by the light these words provide. Because Christ promises, you will be blessed.

So in verses 6-7, this angel’s last words to John at the end of the vision contain two profound revelations that need to change how you think about Jesus. All Scripture is His Word. And all of history is leading us to Him. 19 centuries ago there were so many things that still had to happen, that Christians had to watch for and endure. 19 centuries later, there are very few things in this book that have not already been fulfilled. Our little boys don’t understand distances, and they can’t read a map yet. But they can see the blue line on the screen in our van. And after a very long trip they get excited when the line gets short and the dot appears. Because they know what it means: we’ve almost arrived. Anyone can at least learn that much from Revelation. The line is short. The dot is getting close. The Lord your heart longs for, who your eyes ache to behold—He himself speaks and promises He is coming soon. The Bride needs to know her Beloved, her Husband, and know Him as well as she can. And she needs to know He’s telling her the truth when He says, “I am coming soon.” The Church needs to depend on these words from Jesus.