It seems like these verses are disconnected, but they aren’t. This devotional reading looks at what the Book of Revelation is all about.
Nuggets
- Sin will not be let into Heaven.
- The Book of Revelation is about Jesus, and He finally appears in Person.
- How can Jesus be the root and descendant of David at the same time?
- Jesus is the Light that guides us to salvation.
This devotion is one of those potpourri ones. We are going to be looking at just two verses, but they are totally different.
But are they. Work with me on this until we get to the connections.
Let's Put It into Context
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Devotions in the Eternity Begins series
The Last Reference to Sin
“Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood” (Rev. 22: 15 ESV)
Sin will not be let into Heaven.
There are six verses left in the Book of Revelation. This is the last reference to sin.
It comes right after God tells us in a nutshell what we have to do to gain eternal life. Here, He gives us a partial list of those who lose it.
What? You don’t like being called a dog????
Shuttleworth explains that there are four kinds of dogs.
- Cynic, who berates believers.
- Puppy, who is selfish.
- Jolly, who is the party animal.
- Sly, untrustworthy and insincere.
Resource
We get that sorcerers are magicians and use supernatural powers. The part that we forget is that they are trying to manipulate people and influence events.
Ooo, baby. People don’t always need to use magic or supernatural powers to do that! But the emphasis here is that the sorcerers are calling on Satan to bestow these powers onto them.
The biblical definition of sexual immorality includes sexual acts that are committed outside of marriage as well as those that are considered morally wrong.
That can include premarital sex, adultery, and same-sex acts. A good list of morally wrong sex acts is in Leviticus 18.
The Greek word used is porneia. It gives us the concept of selling off our sexual impurity. (No money has to be exchanged for us to sell off our purity.)
The way I read this is we are exchanging our bodies through sex for something we want that makes us impure in God’s eyes. We may be doing it for gratification or acceptance.
Whatever the reason, it stems from our desire to achieve something through sex to replace God.
We can kill a lot of things without murdering the body. We can kill someone else’s self-esteem, reputation, and happiness. The worst offense I can see is that we murder someone’s faith in God.
Sometimes, we get stuck on idolatry being the worship of something other than God. We gloss over that idolatry is the replacement of God with something.
No, we don’t have to bow down and pray to something to be committing idolatry. We have to choose to put something in the place of God.
- This thing made me.
- This thing is my security.
- This thing is all I need.
We no longer see God as Sovereign God.
The “… everyone who loves and practices falsehood” (Rev. 22: 15 ESV) is interesting. The way I read it is that the person isn’t just a liar.
This deceiver is one who gets much joy out of the deception. Because of that, they practice deception often.
In other words, deception becomes their way of life.
This is a partial list of those sins which will keep people from eternal life in Heaven. The sad part is that none of these sins — on their own — are the unpardonable sin.
“Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven” (Mt. 12: 31 ESV).
The unpardonable sin is a constant, conscious rejection of the promptings of the Holy Spirit. We refuse to follow Him to accept Jesus as our Savior and Redeemer and to sanctify us to become like Him in every way.
All these sins could have been forgiven if we sincerely ask for forgiveness and repent and turn away from them.
Jesus Appeared
“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star” (Rev. 22: 16 ESV)
The Book of Revelation is about Jesus, and He finally appears in Person.
I, Jesus
Here, finally, we get specific words from Jesus. Does that mean Jesus has been talking the whole time in Revelation?
No. “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches …” (Rev. 22: 16 ESV).
This whole book is about Jesus and our need for Him as our Savior and Redeemer.
“The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw” (Rev. 1: 1-2 ESV emphasis added).
Jesus is the message of Revelation, not the Messenger.
Simcox believed this angel that brought the message of Revelation was Jesus’ guardian angel.
- “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven” (Mt 18: 10 ESV).
- “And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him” (Lk. 22: 43 ESV).
- “They said to her, ‘You are out of your mind.’ But she kept insisting that it was so, and they kept saying, ‘It is his angel!’” (Ac. 12: 15 ESV) [Young servant girl Rhoda believing it was Peter’s angel at the gate when Peter was rescued from prison]
Simcox went to on to say that here in verse 15, it may be Jesus Himself. He wrote,
“But we must remember that our Lord’s state is not the same as that of His departed servants. He is already in the body of the resurrection, and so conceivably visible. And there can be no doubt that He appeared in His own risen body to St. Paul, and probably to St. Stephen. It may be, therefore, that He now appears personally to St. John, at once superseding and authenticating [the] previous ministry of the angel.”
Resource
I like the part about authenticating the message. I don’t really agree with the word superseding. What Jesus is saying isn’t replacing what the angel said. It is verifying it.
Root and the Descendant of David
How can Jesus be the root and descendant of David at the same time?
- “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit” (Isa. 11: 1 ESV).
- “In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples — of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious” (Isa. 11: 10 ESV).
Part of the meaning here is that Jesus has a dual nature. He is 100% God while being 100% man.
“concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 1: 3-4 ESV).
It is this duality of nature that is being referred to here. We are made in the image of God — which Jesus is being God — and born into flesh.
So, Jesus — through Whom all things were made (Jn. 1: 3) — is the precursor to mankind and one of us Himself.
If Jesus hadn’t identified with humanity, He wouldn’t have been our sacrifice. A human had to be totally without sin. We can’t do that — only Jesus could.
But then is Jesus wasn’t human, we couldn’t identify with Him. “Oh, He’s God. Mankind can’t do that.”
He was, so we can, too — with His help.
Bright Morning Star
Jesus is the Light that guides us to salvation.
We’ve talked about Jesus being the morning star before. There are a couple of verses that discuss the morning star.
• “And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts” (II Pet. 1: 19 ESV).
• “The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father. And I will give him the morning star” (Rev. 2: 26-28 ESV).
Jesus, as Light of the world and morning star, provides light throughout eternity.
Wynne brought up a good point. To him, the morning star spoke of the knowledge diffused by the gospel.
Resource
Jesus is light does shine in the world, but it has to be diffused. God’s Word does tell us the gospel story. However, we, as His disciples, are charged to be the agents of this diffusion to the whole world.
- “And he said to them, ‘Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation’” (Mk. 16: 15 ESV).
- “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age’” (Mt. 28: 19-20 ESV).
Moule pointed out that the book of revelation begins and ends declaring the witness of Jesus. In fact, we can say God’s word does the exact same thing.
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Jesus is the light for all, bringing to the world salvation. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (Jn. 3: 16 ESV).
I like what Talmage had to say. He wrote, “… as the morning star precedes and promises the coming of the day, so Christ heralds the natural and spiritual dawn.”
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That was the whole purpose of revelation — to tell us what was coming. The Day of the Lord is coming and, after that, the dawn of eternity.
We have to be ready.
Making the Connections
In the last devotion, we said that God tells us in a nutshell what we have to do to gain eternal life. The first section gave us a partial list of the sins those who lose it.
But then Jesus showed up to remind us He is the way, the truth, and the life (Jn. 14: 6).
The outcome is up to us. We have to follow God by asking Jesus to be our Savior and start walking with God, or we continue to follow Satan.
Those are our two choices. Choose well.
How Do We Apply This?
- Be ready for the Day of the Lord and the dawn of eternity.
Father God. We choose Jesus. We choose You. Help us to walk with You That road – the Sanctification Road – will lead us to spending eternity with You. Amen.
What do you think?
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