Rev. Doug Floyd

Easter 7 2025
Rev. Doug Floyd
Revelation 22

Today, we come to the end of The Revelation. As we come to the end of The Revelation, we realize we are back at the beginning.

In Revelation 22:13, Jesus says, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” ^[1] Iin Revelation 1:8, we read, “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”^[2] The entire Revelation teaches that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is and was and is to come. At every moment in our history God Is.

The end of Revelation points all the way back to the beginning of Scripture. In the opening of Revelation 22, we read, “Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb ² through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. ³ No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. ⁴ They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. ⁵ And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.” (Revelation 22:1-5)

This sounds similar to Genesis 1-2. A glorious world is created by the Word of the Father and the hovering of the Spirit. In his Gospel, John also tells us that this the Word is the Son of God, and all things are made through Him. The Triune God creates a world out of the abundance of His love. This world is good. Then when the Lord creates His humans, the world is very good. Man is set in the Garden of Eden and there is a river flowing from the throne of God, through Eden to the ends of the earth. God walks with man in the cool of the evening.

At the end of The Revelation, we see this image of a garden, a river, and a tree of Life flowing out from the Throne. And yet, this is not Eden. For this is a New Heaven and a New Earth. Instead of Eden, we see the New Jerusalem. A city that is also a Bride. Just as in Eden, God and humans dwell together. “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.”^[3]

We are no longer in a Garden, we are in a city. We might say “the city.” This is the true city that fulfills all inferior human cities. Cities are amazing places. Humans live together and must cooperate with one another. Within this community, there is all sorts of activity, energy, possibility.

St. Augustine sees the city as aspiring to be a community of friends. It is amazing what humans can do together. The Romanian Theologian, Dumitru Stăniloae said that the world was created in and through God’s love. Within this wondrous world, there is time and space: both allow for some type of movement toward love. I can move closer to you or I can avoid you. At the same time, I can share life and time with you or I could turn my heart away from you.

He suggested that there are mysteries within creation that are revealed in the exchange of love. Think of science or art. These and other fields are built on centuries of exchange, centuries of learning from one another.

Back to the city. Humans can create amazing things. We can find cures to diseases. We flew to the moon. We carry computers in our pockets, and my childhood dreams of Dick Tracy’s video phone have come true.

And yet, humans can create bombs that will destroy millions, create poisons that will torment those infected. Humans can create all sorts of horrors that darken the mind and soul.

St. Augustine said that we are not living in the city of God, but the city of man. Though we aspire to love and do well, we can collectively do awful things. Together, we can turn away from God and worship our creations and ourselves.

In Revelation 21-22, we begin to see the true City of God, the true city of brotherly love. I first caught a glimpse of this city when I was young, and read the last story in the Chronicles of Narnia. The children had passed through death into a new land, but it was familiar. It was home. It was the true home they always longed for. We spend our lives longing for home, our true home. Jesus leads into our homeland.

When we finally come home, our fears have flown. Tears are wiped clean. Joy rings out on every corner. We have stepped into the communion of love. Dumitru Stăniloae said that we will continue to behold the wonders of our God and the wonders of one another for all eternity. Endless delight.

But the Revelation is not actually taking us out of this world. As we come to the close of the book, Jesus says three times, “I am coming soon.”

“Behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.” ^[4]

“Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. ¹³ I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” ^[5]

“Surely I am coming soon.”^[6]

And the people of God say, “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!” ^[7]

The Revelation is not calling us out of this world into a mystical vision of what is to come. Jesus is calling out to His churches in the present. “Return to love that you had for me and one another.” “Be faithful unto death.” “Repent. Turn away from false teaching.” “Beware of idolatry. Turn away from it’s seductions. Hold fast until I come.” “Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die. Remember what you received and what you heard.” “I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have that no one may seize your crown.” “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.”^[8]

He is speaking to churches who are weary, who are tired, who are suffering, who have strayed into false teaching, who have allowed idolatry and immorality, who have grown cold. He reminds them, “I am coming soon.”

He promises to bless each of His churches with grace to face the challenges before them. He is not telling them to leave this world, but to stand fast. To love. To worship God alone. To rejoice. To trust Him.

The church is called to live in history, in time and space, always turning toward Jesus, always moving toward love. Love God, love one another, love this world in desperate need of reconciliation.

Yes, it will seem difficult at times. Some people may hate and even kill you. Consider our brothers and sisters in Nigeria, in China, in Iran, and in all the troubled spots of our world. Some face death daily. You may be tempted by teaching that goes beyond Christ. Don’t fall for it. This teaching will always lead you down a dead-end road.

You are made to worship, so make sure you worship God alone. Don’t bow before angels, people, smartphones, or whatever else human ingenuity has created. The Spirit of God can lead us into all truth, into all worship. He can lead us into the love of the Father and the Son.

Jesus is praying for the seven churches. He is praying for our church, the church across the world. Even the churches that you may think have given into to false teaching and idolatry. It is clear from the Revelation that He is praying for a pure and spotless Bride. He prays,

20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. 24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. 26 I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

Christ is our true home. Christ is the tree of life. He feeds us, sustains us and will lead us to glory. As we look with hope to that glory beyond the veil of this life, we life in this moment, watching for Jesus who is coming soon. Even in the brokenness of our world, we look around and behold,

skies of blue and clouds of white
The bright blessed days, the dark sacred nights
The colors of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces of people going by
friends shaking hands, saying, “How do you do?”
They’re really saying, “I love you”

And we think, What a wonderful world. Thanks be to God for His goodness and grace breaking in all around us.

Jesus says to you and to me, “Surely I am coming soon.”

And we reply, Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! ^[9]

Let’s try it again together:

Jesus says to you and to me, “Surely I am coming soon.”

And we reply, Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! ^[10]

^[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Re 22:12–13.

^[2] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Re 1:8.

^[3] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Re 21:3.

^[4] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Re 22:7.

^[5] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Re 22:12–13.

^[6] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Re 22:20.

^[7] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Re 22:20.

^[8] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Re 3:20.

^[9] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Re 22:20.

^[10] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Re 22:20.