Come, Lord Jesus! - Louie Giglio

0:25 And this journey, in case you're just jumping in, is all about Jesus. And Revelation is kind of crazy and has a lot of symbolism and a lot of imagery and a lot of pictures. And some of it is a little intimidating. But ultimately, Revelation is about Jesus. It's the revelation of Jesus. It's the unfolding of Jesus. So it's not all about a chart. And maybe we're coming down to the end and you're like, this is the last week. Surely Louie's going to put the chart up.

0:55 But the revelation isn't meant to be a crystal ball that shows us the times and the turns of how exactly things work out at the end. The revelation is of Jesus showing us that no matter what happens in this world and no matter how it happens in this world, Jesus is above it all and he is at the end of it all. Jesus is running history. So the diagram, if you need a diagram, is a picture of the risen Jesus. That's what Revelation is all about. And God in these pages is trying to draw us to Jesus. Not trying to draw us necessarily to a script or to a plan, but to draw us to a person. And that person's name is Jesus. We saw last week a new heaven and a new earth. praise God, there's a new heaven. But I'm also excited that there's a new earth.

1:48 And I know it sounds terrible to say this, but it's really true. And if you just thought about it for a moment, you would agree. Most people that you talk to aren't that fired up about going to heaven. You're like, oh no, I am. No, I mean, yes, in the sense that we're not going to the other place. Yes, I'm excited that I'm going to heaven. But for a lot of people, heaven is floaty and it's ethereal and it's puffy clouds. And they're like, I was made for purpose. I have gifts and abilities. I want to do something meaningful with my life. And it feels like all of a sudden heaven, we're just sort of floating off into the by and by forever and ever, you know, with the harps playing it. And a lot of people aren't that thrilled about that. But I'm telling you, it's not that. It's a new heaven, but it's also a new earth. It's an upgraded earth. It's an earth like we've never seen before. It's earth like God intended it in the first place. And you're going to be on it and you're going to know who you are and you're going to know the people around you and you're going to be doing things that are meaningful and significant and you're going to be living life to the fullest extent of life. I'm just saying there's nothing on this earth that you're going to look back at in the new earth and go, wow, I wish we could get back to the old earth.

3:02 that's where we're headed and at the center of it all is jesus we come down to this last section beginning in verse 6 of chapter 22 and john writes the angel said to me these words are trustworthy and true this revelation you can depend on it there are very few things you can depend on in life. People are going to let you down. Life is going to let you down, but I promise you one thing is not going to let you down, and it is these words. This revelation and every other thing in this book of God is trustworthy and true, and I'm so glad we have it. We have the privilege today of opening up the miracle of the living word of God. Most of you have one with you today. A lot of you have one at home or in the car. You have the living word of God, and the most powerful thing is it's in a language that you understand.

3:57 And most people on earth think everybody has a Bible in a language they can understand. But do you realize there are millions, hundreds of millions, billions of people who do not have the trustworthy and true word of God that we're holding today in a language that they understand. And their heart language, the language, their mother tongue, if you will. And I brought this copy of the New Testament today because I was privileged a few days ago to represent us, all of us, and the students of Passion 2022 who actually gave University-age young people hello at Passion 2022, gave $1 million to help translate this New Testament into the language of a people group in the Middle East who've never had a Bible in their mother tongue before. And the process began, and then the process came to a conclusion. And a few days ago, this New Testament was dedicated to the glory of God for the sake of over a million people in a people group in the Middle East who live in a country that is shrouded in darkness. And where the people actually working on this translation put their very lives at risk to do so. I asked them, because it's in Arabic or an Arabic type language, it reads the other way. I asked the three translators who I got to meet if they would sign this copy that they worked so hard on. And one of them wrote in Arabic across the page that God's light would come to all nations. I was so thrilled. I got to be in a room with several dozen translators that are working on this project and several other languages in this nation. And just to say to them, on behalf of the students of Passion 2022 22 and of passion. We are for you. We are praying for you. We believe in you and we're thrilled to invest in the work that you are doing. And I told them about the students at Passion 22 giving the million dollars to help fund this translation of the New Testament. And there was a sort of blank looks around the room and I was being translated by someone to them because most of them don't

6:03 speak English as a first or second language. And there was just blank stares. And I thought, well, Maybe they didn't understand what I said somehow. So I sent it to you later. I said, hey, just to be clear, I said just a minute ago that university-age young people gave a million dollars to help invest in the translation of this New Testament. And there was just no response. Is it coming across what I'm saying? And the translator said in English to the room. He goes, oh, they got what you said all right. They're just stunned by what you said. And I was like, how awesome to be a part of the trustworthy and true words of God. coming to people for the very first time in their mother tongue in 2024, they just got the trustworthy and true words that are written in the scroll that reveal Jesus at the end of the age.

7:08 So today we're not looking for opinions. We're not looking for some guy to stand up and say what he thinks and tell everybody what his views are. We've got trustworthy and true words in front of us today. And I pray the Holy Spirit will allow us to take them to heart. The angel said, the Lord, the God who inspires the prophets. So these prophets weren't just writing whatever. They were inspired by God. The same God sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place. Soon is a key word in chapter 22. We're going to see it four times in this chapter. We're talking about urgency here. And then in verse 7, we're down to the end of it all. We're down to the revelation of Jesus. And then once again, look what happens. Tell me what you see in verse 7.

8:01 You see words that are in what? Words in red. What does that signify? that Jesus is talking. So Jesus steps into the end of the revelation, and now he's weighing in on the revelation of himself. A lot of people think that Jesus only talked in the Gospels, but Jesus is talking here at the end of the age, and he says, look, I am coming soon. There's so much packed into that sentence. This is the operative word for us in Revelation. Pay attention. Be awake. Be ready. Be watching. Keep looking. Don't be distracted. And then he says, I am. What a beautiful phrase. I am that I am. That's who he is. That's who God is. And he says, I'm coming soon. There's number two. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy written in this scroll. And then look what happens.

8:56 I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I had heard and seen them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been showing them to me. But he said to me, don't do that. I'm a fellow servant with you and with your fellow prophets and with all who keep the words of this scroll. In other words, this whole situation was so beyond what we can imagine. Yes, there's God in the midst. And yes, there's thrones and there's thunder and there's worship and there's bright. And he's seen a picture of the new heaven and a picture of the new earth. But even this angel somehow is so majestic and so otherly that John falls down at his feet. He's hearing the words of the angel, but he's getting all caught up in the splendor of the moment. And he falls at the feet of the angel.

9:51 And the angel's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, don't do that. Hello, I'm just an angel. I'm a fellow servant with you. and the prophets and all those who keep the words of this scroll. And then he says the most powerful two words. He says, worship, say it with me, God. And I was like, wow, wow. When you have these moments, when you've been pouring over something for a long time, and then you're just kind of cooking along at the very end, and you go, wow, this is it. This is what I have been waiting for, because revelation is a lot, people. So if you wanted to sum it up, how would you sum it up? Well, Jesus is coming. That'd be a good way to sum it up. Jesus is Lord. That'd be a good way to sum it up. The systems of this world, they're going down. That'd be a good way to sum it up. But man, when I saw these words and heard this angel, I was like, that's it. That's the two-word summary of the book of Revelation. Worship God.

10:47 We've seen in these last few chapters how people are falling away and they're worshiping the beast and worshiping the false prophet. They're taking 666 on their head. They're worshiping something other than God. We've seen this fight from the very beginning of Scripture all the way through every page. We even see Jesus coming out of that 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness. And what does the enemy tempt him with at the end of the day? If you bow down and worship me, I'll give you everything you see. and Jesus knew that the day is coming when it's all gonna be summed up in these two words, worship God, and in no uncertain terms, he said to him, I already have all that, and I already am running history to my conclusion. Thank you very much. I shall worship the Lord God Almighty. This is the challenge for today, and this is the reward.

11:41 We've seen it in the pages before, and they'll sit on thrones, and they'll rule. who? Those who did not worship the beast or its image or the false prophet or take the mark of the beast, but they stayed faithful and they stayed true. They knew their worship was the most important thing in their heart. And they said, no, no, no, I am going to worship God. You can silence me. You can take my life, but you will not take my worship. I am going to be true to the very end. I will not be deceived by an idol. Worship God. That word worship is a Greek word. And I know a lot of times we're like, why do we need to know all the Greek words? And I get that sometimes. It's clear enough in English, but it's a word in Greek that is proskuneo. and proskuneo means to fall down in total capitulation and to kiss it's got two contexts in it one of them is and he says it in the the line the line before he said um i john fell down to worship at the feet of this angel.

12:55 That's proskuneo. It's not arms folded. It's not kind of thinking about it. It's not hands in the pocket. It's not even one hand halfway. It's not even the one hand on the heart. It's not the one hand in the one hand. It's not any of that. It's all in on my face. Included in it is the intimacy of an embrace and a kiss of affection to the Holy One of holy ones. proscuneo 24 times in revelation in this book alone worship god and then he told me do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this scroll because the time is near

13:41 let the one this is an interesting passage let the one who does wrong continue to do wrong he would You would think if we were writing that, we would say right at the end, if you're doing wrong still, don't do that. Let the vile person continue to be vile. Let the one who does right continue to do right. And let the holy person continue to be holy. Why? The key phrase here is because the time is near.

14:13 What do we make of this phrase? I think two things. I think number one we make of it that it's time. And maybe what John is trying to convey to us here or God is trying to convey to us through John is look man it is time. So if you're choosing to go away from God go away from God. If you're choosing to go with God with everything you've got go with God because it's time right now. I think he's just putting it all on the table again like in the Old Testament where he said choose you this day who you will serve. Choose now. Let's go. Oh, you want to go in the darkness? Then run in the darkness. You want to run in the light? Then run in the light. And the answer was in the Old Testament, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. But choose now. Let's go. The time is near. And if you want to go to the ways of the wicked, then go to the ways of the wicked.

15:10 And if you want to go to the ways of God, then go to the ways of God. Just make up your mind right now because the time is near. But I also believe that this other message is powerful. Do not seal up the words of the prophecy. In other words, it's not done yet. it's not sealed just yet. It's gonna be sealed. And when it's sealed, it can't be unsealed. It's gonna be completely sealed. And when it's completely sealed, there is no recourse. But it's not sealed yet. Meaning even today, there is the opportunity that someone today could say, for me and my house, we're gonna choose the Lord.

16:04 Thank you. The opportunity is still there today for someone to choose to turn to Jesus. I'm thinking about somebody in this gathering right now. I just have a picture in my mind of somebody in this gathering right now. And you are hearing these words and they are going into your heart. They are not bouncing off your head. You feel these words right now, and inside, you're feeling the words, and you're still saying, I'm not going to turn. Not today. Maybe tomorrow, but not today. And this is the reality that is the end of the age. Jesus again he speaks in and he says look same phrase are you with me?

17:02 hello? is anybody awake? is anybody watching? is anybody paying attention? anybody not distracted enough to see? he said look I am They aren't I am. It is an I am. And I am coming soon, third time. And my reward is with me. In other words, I'm not coming empty-handed, and I will give each person according to what they have done. I am, in case you don't know fully, the alpha and the omega. Yes, the first letter of the Greek alphabet and the last letter of the Greek alphabet. I am the first and the last. So it starts with me and it ends with me. I bookend everything. I am the first and the last, and I am the beginning. Can we say that together? I am the beginning and the what?

17:56 And the end. We see this in Revelation 1 where he says the very same phrases. He says, I am the Alpha and the Omega. And he says later, I am the beginning and the end. He says in Revelation 1, I am the one who was and who is and who is to come. So he opens Revelation with I am the Alpha Omega. He ends Revelation with, I am the Alpha and the Omega. He wants us to know that the way it all goes down is, I start it and I end it. Anybody know the first verse of the Bible? Hello? Anybody know the very first verse in Genesis 1? Anybody? Come on, take a shot at it. Let's see a show of hands. Anybody? I got no hands. I got nobody that knows that. Okay, what is the very first book of the Bible? First verse, first words. Anybody?

18:43 Say it all if you know it. In the beginning. I like how it kind of faded off there at the end. In the beginning, God created. What? The heaven and the earth. In the beginning. Who is the beginning? it's not a trick question. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. So who is the beginning? Jesus is the beginning. So in the Jesus, God created the heavens and the earth.

19:39 And this is actually all through scripture where we see that it was Jesus who was the agent of creating the world in the beginning, Jesus. And at the end, here comes the end of your Bible. Come Lord Jesus. May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people. He gets the first word and he gets the last word because he is the word. Jesus is the beginning and the end of it all. I am the Alpha and the Omega. You can dig deeper into these. This word beginning in Greek means like archetype. He's the archetype of everything that is, and he's the telos here. He's the terminating point and the reason for everything that is. Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they might have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. But Jesus said, this is Jesus, outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. So make no mistake, Jesus is still calling it like it is, even at the very end of the age.

21:12 And he's saying, look, you don't have to be in the city. Outside the city are people who love to practice falsehood. And you and I can look around right now, look into our own hearts and see weakness where we stumble still, but we can look around us and see people who are just reveling in the wrong. And he's like, yeah, they don't want to be in the holy city and inside the gates where the tree of life is. They're gonna get what they want, but it's gonna be outside the city that I'm bringing down from heaven. I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches.

21:59 The churches. We haven't seen them for a minute. We had seven letters to the churches, and then we were in the throne room of God, and then we saw the unfolding of eternity and all the cosmic conflict that is coming at the end of the age, but not so much the church. We saw saints and we saw overcomers, but now we see the church again. Why? Because I believe this revelation is for the church. Just to let you know, a lot of opinions are out there. Some people think that we get raptured out before all the hard stuff happens. And one of the reasons is because there was no church for the last little while. But all of a sudden we come to the end and this testimony is for the church. So that leads me to lean more towards the fact that the church is in the midst of all of this with this testimony of Jesus bearing us up the entire time and reminding us again today that the days are at hand.

22:55 The day of the Lord is at hand. The time is near. He's coming soon. So let's be alert, let's be ready, and let's be aware. And let's not forget that it doesn't take hardly anything for a church or a person to drift away from the truth of these trustworthy and true words. If you want to drift, do you know what you have to do to drift? Do you know what's required of you to drift? I borrowed this from Christine Kane's talk at Passion a few years ago. Do you know what you have to do to drift? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. You just sit there in the calm of zero consequence decisions. And at the end of the day, you find that there actually was a consequence. And that is that you drifted away from the things of God. I was looking at this next verse.

23:48 The spirit and the bride say, come. And the one who hears say, come. and I was expecting when I looked into the Greek text here to find the word Maranatha. I was like, oh great, I'm so excited. That's what we just sang about here at 515. It was a byword of the early church. They would sing it and pray it. It would be a greeting that they would share with each other. Maranatha, because that word meant come Lord Jesus. And I thought surely it comes out of Revelation. I learned something in this talk, which I learned a lot in all of my talks. But I thought that's what I'm gonna find here. And so when I looked for come and come in the Greek, they said come. They didn't say Maranatha. It was the Greek word for come. And I was like, okay, so where is Maranatha? So I did a little quick search. And Maranatha only appears one time in the Bible.

24:42 And it's in 1 Corinthians 16. And I'll show you what it says. It's the end of a letter that Paul wrote to the church at Corinth. And these are the final greetings. Look at that. Look how inspiring that looks right there. I'm sure most everybody has put this to memory right here. Woo, have you heard these final greetings? These are powerful. In most of the books in the epistles of Paul, you don't have too many highlights in the final greetings. But this one is amazing. The churches in the province of Asia send you greetings. Now, I don't know if this registered the province of Asia. Did that ring a bell to anybody? Well, we had seven churches in Revelation getting letters in chapter two and three, and they were churches in the province of Asia. So he's right there in the churches that the letters are being written to in Revelation. So here he is, and he says, Aquila and Priscilla greet you warmly in the Lord, and so does the church that meets at their house. Now, we know that the house church that they led was the church in Ephesus, where we get the book of Ephesians.

25:42 So all of a sudden, things are starting to connect together. All the brothers and sisters here said, you greetings, greet one another with a holy kiss. Somebody's like, praise God, you finally got to that phrase. I've been waiting for you to pull that out for a couple years now. I got someone here in the gathering I've had my eye on, and maybe that'll happen, maybe possibly today. I don't know, but thank you for getting there. I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. If anyone does not love the Lord, let that person be cursed. Come, Lord.

26:11 Come, Lord. That word is an Aramaic word. Maranatha. Maranatha, come, Lord. So just follow me for a second. Just a little kind of connect the dots Bible study moment. Paul's in Ephesus with Priscilla and Aquila who are leading this amazing church in their house in Ephesus on fire.

26:44 Somewhere in the 50s A.D. 40 years later, a significant number in God's economy. The years that Israel wandered in the desert. 40 years later, in 96-ish, 95 AD,

27:07 in chapter two of Revelation, write this letter to the church at Ephesus. The one that's on fire. The one that Paul is leading. the one that Priscilla and Aquila are pastoring on his behalf, the one that meets in their house, the one from which you wrote that Corinthian letter, the ones who all of them sent their greetings, the one where they were all in it for the kingdom of God, write this to them 40 years later. I have this against you. You've lost your first love. You're still doing the stuff, he said, but the fire of the proscuneo and the embrace of God with everything I have in him. That's gone. look and be awake and intend not to drift.

28:09 Make it your ambition to live Maranatha. Come Lord Jesus. Not just saying Lord Jesus come, but to be living when you come and I know you're coming soon. you're going to find me looking for you as much as I'll find you looking for me. Because I'm not just saying, come Lord Jesus. I am coming, Lord Jesus. I'm coming your way. Because I know you're coming my way. And I know the worlds are overlapping right now. So while we're in this earthly world, I'm living in it as if I am already a citizen of heaven. I am living in it like I have got a residence already in the heavenlies with you. I'm not trying to blow up earth necessarily. I like what I do and I like where I live and I like what I get to experience here. I'm not ready to trash all this necessarily, but until you come, I will steward it well. But my heart is set on the heavenly city. And I say what now the response in the text is, the spirit in the bride say what? What do they say? Come. Let the one who hears say what? Come. And not only are we saying, Lord, you come, but we're understanding there's still an opportunity here. So powerful.

29:37 yes come but then the verse breaks and the focus shifts again let the one who is thirsty come and let the one who wishes does anybody wish today to take the free gift of the water of life come it's not sealed yet and right here at the end he's inviting I'm inviting on his behalf today.

30:19 Is anybody thirsty? What does that mean? It means you drank it all up, but it didn't do it. You gathered it all as much as you could, but it didn't do it for you. You tried it all, but it didn't do it for you. They didn't do it. It didn't do it. He didn't do it. She didn't do it. It didn't fill me up. And I am still thirsty in my soul. And he's saying, if you're thirsty, you come. I'm coming. But you come and take freely the gift of the water of life. There is something that satisfies.

31:15 And it is Jesus. And it's free. He is offering his life to you. If anyone who hears these words adds anything, God's going to add to them all the plagues. And if anybody who hears these words takes away, then God's going to take away their share of the tree of life and the holy city. and so he testifies again Jesus yes I am coming soon can we say it there's the fourth one yes I am coming soon you could just say yes I am that's Jesus but yes I am coming soon so what is our answer today? Our answer is amen. Come Lord Jesus. And I love it how in the midst of this text, he tells us one last time who he is. He tells us that he is the bright morning star. He says, I've sent my angel to the churches. I want to make sure the churches hang in there. I want to make sure they don't drift away, even in one generation from on fire till you need to renew your first love. I want you to be looking, but I want you to know I am the root and the offspring of David, and I am the bright morning star. The last name that Jesus gives us besides his name, Jesus, is Morning Star, capital Morning Star, not the little m Morning Star of Lucifer, whose name is Morning Star, who fell like a star out of heaven, was cast down to the earth. You see this in Isaiah 14, verse 12, but it's lowercase Morning Star, not uppercase Morning Star, not the name of Jesus, which is bright Morning Star. Why did he leave that to us right at the end as he's saying, yes, I'm coming soon? Why did he leave us bright Morning Star? Because the bright Morning

33:21 star, if you don't know, is Venus. Did you know that? Venus is the morning star. Venus is the third most bright object in the sky, the sun, the moon, and Venus. And so the sun will go down and darkness will cover the earth. And eventually it will get really, really dark before it comes up again to sunrise again. And Venus appears way down here in the darkest part of the night. bright in the darkest part of the night. And what Venus says is, dawn is coming.

33:57 When you see Venus in the east, you know dawn is on the way. Yes, darkness has come. And now deep darkness has fallen. But there is a light in the deep darkness telling us that morning is on the way. In the very last name that Jesus gives his churches, I am the bright morning star.