Dr. J. Vernon McGee (0:00)

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord is made for your faith in his excellent word.

Steve (0:17)

It's an exciting day on through the Bible. We've come to the last study in our five year Bible bus journey through God's whole word. And as we take this final look at at the incredible book of Revelation, Dr. J. Vernon McGee reminds us that the purpose of this entire study is to glorify Jesus Christ, the Alpha and Omega, the centerpiece of the entire Bible. It's a great study. So be sure to stay with us until the end when Greg and I are going to share a few thoughts about our adventure through God's Word these last five years and then tell you some of the great things that we're going to look forward to as we begin the journey all over again. For the 12th time, let's pray together. Heavenly Father, would you bless your word as it goes out around the world? We believe it Lord, we rejoice in it and we proclaim it with great confidence in you. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Now here's our study of Revelation 22 on through the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee (1:15)

Now we were in the 22nd chapter, we had just gotten into it and here we have come to verse two and it reads, in the midst of the street of it and on either side of the river was there the tree of life, which bare 12 manner of fruits and yielded a fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. Now in the new Jerusalem there is this river of the water of life, and the throne of God is its living fountain, supplying an abundance of water. And the tree of life is a fruit tree as we indicated, bearing 12 kinds of fruit. And it would seem that man in eternity will return back to the diet that he had in the garden of eden. In Genesis 1:29 and 30 we're told, and God said, behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed which is upon the face of the earth, and every tree in the which is the fruit of the tree yielding seed to you it shall be for meat, and to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth when there is life. I have given every green herb for meat and it was so. Now the 12 kinds of fruit would seem to suggest a varied diet. And there is a tendency to want to spiritualize all of this here and compare it to the fruits of the spirit. Well, I have no objection to that personally. I rather would take that viewpoint Myself, provided we hold to the literal interpretation, which I think you can do through this section here. Although it does seem highly symbolic, I think that we're dealing with that which is quite literal. For we're still talking about heaven. Now, we're told the leaves of the tree are beneficial. They have a medicinal value. Now, why is healing needed in a perfect universe? Is a very good question, and I would say it's a difficult problem to solve. I have made the suggestion that it's a sort of a first aid kit which demonstrates the old adage, an ounce of prevention is. Is worth a pound to cure. In other words, here is this first aid kit. And I personally believe that the bodies of the earth dwellers in eternity will be different than the bodies of the believers in the church, who are to be like Christ, that is, their bodies will be like his. And I would say that the bodies of the earth dwellers may need renewing from time to time. In other words, that may be the reason they come up not only to worship, but to be renewed, certainly spiritually. And I take this as a first aid kit here, at least the prevention is there, but the possibility of sin entering is just not there. Now, we are told here that definite thing, there shall be no curse anymore. And the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be therein. And his servants shall do him service. And they shall see his face and his name shall be on their foreheads. All theirs shall be night no more. And they need no light of lamp, neither light of sun. For the Lord God shall give them light. They shall reign forever and ever. Now, the first creation was blighted by the curse of sin. And this whole earth on which you and I live today bears many scar marks. And of the curse of sin, the new creation will never be marred by sin. Sin will never be permitted to enter, even potentially. You see, it was potentially in the Garden of Eden, in the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Now the very presence of God in the Lamb will be adequate to prevent it. And it was during the absence of God in the Garden of Eden that the tempter came to our first parents. But we are told here that the throne of God and the Lamb are in the New Jerusalem. It's the ghq, it's headquarters for God the Father and God the Son. And the notable absence of any reference to the Holy Spirit does need some explanation. You see, in the first creation, the Holy Spirit came after the fall to renovate and renew the blighted earth. The Spirit of God brooded over the face of the waters. And he is the instrument today of regeneration in the heart and life of sinners. Now there will be no need of his work in the new creation in this connection. And therefore the silence of God at this point is eloquent. And his servants shall do him service. Now it reveals that heaven's not a place of unoccupied idleness, but a place of ceaseless activity. It will not be necessary to rest in order to give the body an opportunity to recuperate. And the word for service here is a very peculiar word. Dr. Vincent calls our attention to it. That it came to be used by the Jews in a very special sense to denote the service rendered to Jehovah by the Israelites as his peculiar people. And you find that over in Hebrews, the ninth chapter, verse one. Then, verily, the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service in a worldly sanctuary. Then down in verse six of that same chapter. Now, when these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God. You see, this is going to be a peculiar service to God that you and I will perform in eternity. What it is, I don't know. I think that he may give us charge of universes. I think there will be ceaseless activity. There's no night. And man will at last fulfill his destiny and satisfy the desires of his heart. And man will at last see his face. This was the supreme desire voiced by Moses in the Old Testament and Philip in the New Testament. It's the highest objective for living. What divine satisfaction there's going to be there. And each person will bear the name of Christ. Each will be like him, yet without disturbing his own peculiar personality. I've always said this facetiously. It could be true. But I've said that one of the things I want God to do, if he'll do it, is to let me teach the Bible. I want to attend the classes Paul teaches. Then I'd like to teach a group of people that were members of my churches that I served on Earth but wouldn't come to the midweek Bible study. I've asked for them for 1 million years. And they won't think it's heaven for that first million years. I'll tell you that, because I'm really going to work them. They're going to have to catch up. Whether that's true or not, I don't know. But I do say that we are all going to be busy there. Now, our attention is called in this section to the direct lighting of the new creation. There will be no light holders such as the sun, or reflectors such as the moon. God lights the universe by his presence, for God is light. Now it's in eternity that the Church will reign with Christ. Who knows but what he'll give to each saint? A world or a solar system or a galactic system system to operate. Remember that Adam was given dominion over the old creation on this earth. Now verses 6 and 7 we see the promise of the return of Christ. Verses 6 through 16. And he said unto me, these words are faithful and true. And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent his angel to show unto his servants the things which must shortly come to pass. And behold, I come quickly. Blessed is he that keepeth the words of the prophecy of this book. Now the important thing to note here is that he says, behold, I come quickly. And that means rapidly. And that is repeated again in verse 12 and then again in verse 23 times. Now at the end, behold, I come not shortly or immediately or soon even. But what he's saying is these events that we have been looking at in Revelation, beginning with chapter four, take place in a period of not more than seven years. And most of them are confined to the last three and a half years. Now, the encouragement is the Lord Jesus said, this is not going to be a long period. I'm coming shortly, I'll soon be there. And that's when you get to this period. We are not exactly accurate when we say the soon coming of Christ. And I'm sure I've used that a thousand times, but I don't think it's an accurate term at all. And it gives the wrong impression, by the way. Now the Lord Jesus here puts his own seal upon this book, and the words are faithful and true. And I think it means that no man is to trifle with them, bespoke, spiritualizing them, or reducing them to meaningless symbols. He's talking about reality. And you remember at the beginning of this book there was a blessing pronounced upon those reading here. Now in conclusion, the Lord Jesus repeats the blessing upon those who keep these words, you see? And that's the important thing now in verses 8 through 11. And I read hurriedly, and I, John, am he that heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel that showed me these things. And he saith unto me, see, do it not. I am a fellow servant with thee and with thy brethren, the prophets, and with them that keep the words of this book, worship God. And he saith unto me, seal not up the words of the prophecy, this book, for the time is at hand. He that is unrighteous, let him do unrighteousness. He that is filthy, let him be made filthy still. And he that is righteous, let him do righteousness still. And he that is holy, let him be made holy still. Now, this is tremendous. This is John's final and oft repeated statement that he was both auditor and spectator to the scenes in this book. And this is the method that was put down at the very opening of the book. And this, therefore, is the first TV program John saw and John heard. Now, he was so impressed that his natural reaction was to fall down and worship the angel. And the simplicity and meekness of the angel here. It's impressive, though the angels who were created above man, this angel identifies himself as a fellow servant. With John and the other prophets, he was merely a messenger to communicate God's word to man. And. And he directs all worship to God. Christ is the centerpiece to the book of Revelation. Don't lose sight of him. And he's told here not to seal this. Now, Daniel was told to seal his book. Why? Well, the things that he mentioned, always a long ways off. In fact, we haven't even got to the 70th week of Daniel yet. But now the book of Revelation don't seal it, because we are already in that church period, in chapters two and three somewhere. And where, I don't know. But there seems to be a lot of folk today that seem to know more than I know, and that bothers me a great deal. You'll notice here something else, and this, I think, is the most frightful thing that's been said in this book. And we've had some strong statements, and it's, let him that's filthy be filthy still. May I say to you, the condition of the loss gets worse and worse in eternity until each becomes a monster of sin. And this thought is frightful. On the other hand, neither is the condition of the servant of God static. They will continue to grow in righteousness and holiness. Heaven is not static. Even in the millennium of the increase of his kingdom, there shall be no end. What a glorious and engaging prospect this should be for the child of God. We shall have all eternity to grow and to know. And believe me, I'm going to need eternity to learn something. And how wonderful it'll be. Now he says again here in verse 12, behold, I come quickly. My reward is with me to render to each man according as his work is I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. Blessed are they that wash their robes and in order that there shall be authority over the tree of life and may enter by the gates into the city without are the dogs and the sorcerers, fornicators, the murderers, idolaters, and every one that loveth and maketh a lie. I, Jesus, have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things for the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David the Bright, the morning star. Now the church should know this program of God. You see now the angel is bearing a very personal word from Jesus. Or else Jesus is breaking through and saying it personally. He promises that he's coming again. This is his personal declaration. No believer can doubt or deny this all important and personal promise of the Lord Jesus. And he'll personally reward each believer individually. The Church at the Rapture and Israel and the Gentiles at his return to set up his kingdom at the millennium. Little wonder that Paul could say I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, I reaching forth unto those things which are before. I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. And again the Lord Jesus asserts his deity here. I'm the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. He said that at the beginning of Revelation he concludes it and only blood washed believers have authority over the tree of life and access to the holy city. Dogs come off rather badly in scripture as you've noted. We've talked about that before. They were scavengers down here in that day. And the term is used for Gentiles quite a few places by the way. Now the Lord Jesus had sent his angel with this very personal message. I, Jesus. And he takes the name of his saviorhood, the name he received when he took upon himself humanity, the name that no man knows but himself. And you and I are going to spend eternity just centering on him, his person. And my friend, if you're not interested in Jesus today, I don't know why you'd want to go to heaven. Because that's all he's going to talk about up there. Don't talk about him. And he's called here the root and offspring of David that connects him with the Old Testament. But he's the bright morning star to the church. And do you notice the bright morning star always appears at the darkest time of the night. And it appears and indicates that the sun will be coming up shortly. And in the Old Testament it ended that the Son of righteousness will arise with healing in his wings. That's the Old Testament hope. But to us he's the bright morning star and will come at a very dark moment. Now we have the final invitation and warning here in verses 17 and 19, the Spirit and the Bride say, come. That's the church. The invitation goes out today. He that heareth, let him say come. And he that is athirst, let him come. This is a twofold invitation. An invitation to Christ to come. An invitation to sinners to come to Christ before he comes. He that will let him take the water of life freely. I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book. If any man shall add unto them, God shall add the plagues which are written in this book. And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the tree of life and out of the holy city which are written in the book. Now the Holy Spirit is in the world today and he joins in the prayer of the church that says, lord Jesus, come, come. The Holy Spirit is performing his work in the world today of convicting and converting man. We know that now in the five year program of the through the Bible ministry, he works through the Word and through the church which proclaims his word. And the invitation is to come to man to take the water of life. Everyone that thirsteth, let him come without money and without price. And Jesus stood and said, if any man thirsts, let him come unto me and drink. That's the invitation that goes out today. And if you are tired of drinking at the cesspools of this world, he invites you to come. What an invitation this is to come to him. Now the final promise and prayer, verse 20 and 21. He who testifieth these things saith, yea, I come quickly, not soon. But when these things begin to come to pass, he's even at the door. Then come, Lord Jesus. And that should be the prayer of every believer today. And the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with all his saints. And we sure need plenty of the grace of God. Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me I once was lost but now am found Was blind but now I see. May God richly bless you, my beloved.