Bible Passage: Revelation 22:12-17,20
Pastor: Joel Jenswold
Sermon Date: June 1, 2025

Bulletin June 1, 2025

In the name of, and to the eternal glory of, Jesus,

On Thursday of this week, we commemorated Jesus’ ascension into heaven.  We stood there in spirit with his first disciples and watched him go up into the sky until a cloud came and him from our sight.  And with that event, we became the waiting bride.  We say that because the Bible itself uses that language to speak about the Church’s relationship with Jesus.  He is called our heavenly Bridegroom.  We are called his blood-bought bride.  The time when we will be together finally with Jesus is called the “wedding feast of the Lamb.”  Our Groom has told us, I am going there to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. (John 14:2-3)

And so we are the waiting bride.  So what does the waiting bride do?  Have you ever known a waiting bride?  Here are two things waiting brides do.  They eagerly anticipate their wedding day.  And they send out invitations.  That is how the waiting bride of Jesus is described in our text this morning.  The Waiting Bride Says, “Come!”  She says that to Jesus.  And she says that to the world.

Our text today comes from the very last chapter of your Bible.  This is very significant!  These are the closing words of the greatest story ever told, the greatest book ever written!  No book has sold more copies in the history of the world than the Bible!  What is the epilogue to the Holy Spirit’s magnum opus?  This story that has taken us from the Garden of Eden and man’s primal rebellion, to God’s promise of a Savior, to Bethlehem, to Jerusalem, to Calvary, to the empty garden tomb, to the hillside of ascension.  How does the book end?  It ends with the words of Jesus.  It ends with Jesus saying, Look, I am coming soon.  (v. 12)

Now, at first, that might be the last thing we want!  Especially when we hear what he will do when he comes.  My reward is with me, to repay each one according to what he has done. (v. 12)  This the Son of God talking!  This is the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.  The eternal God!  This is the Root and and the Offspring of David (v. 16).  This is David’s son and David’s Lord speaking!  He is coming to pay you back for what you have done.  Does that make you want to say, “Come!  I can’t wait for you to come and give me what I deserve for my deeds!”

If these words of Jesus give you pause, it is because you are looking at your dirty robe.  It is your dirty robe that makes you nervous.  You are thinking about all the sinful stains and smudges and smears on your life.  You are thinking about how bad you must reek to a holy God.  My stench probably makes his eyes water!  When I think about the filth of my sin, I want to say, “Um, stay away as long as you want, Jesus.  No hurry to come back…”

If that is how you feel, listen to your Savior.  Blessed are those who wash their robes. (v. 14)  If you’re scared of Jesus, you are forgetting the whole purpose of his first coming to this earth!  He came to wash you, to cleanse you, to launder your robe and make it white!  Remember what John saw in the seventh chapter of this book!  He saw the throneroom of heaven filled with people in white robes.  And he was told, They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. (7:14)  Jesus came the first time to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29).  He came to shed his blood and then put your filthy robe in it and take it out dazzling white and pure, like a beautiful wedding dress!  When Jesus returns, you will be given the right to enter the eternal city and eat from the Tree of Life.

That is why the Church at the end of our text speaks as one who has nothing to hide!  Jesus has already seen it all!  Jesus has already carried it all!  Jesus has already cleansed it all!  And so at the end of our text when Jesus says, Yes, I am coming soon, the waiting bride says, Amen.  Come, Lord Jesus! (v. 20)  When was the last time you said that to Jesus?  This morning?  Yesterday?  Last week?  Last month?  Have you ever prayed that?  When you know the story of this Book, when you know Jesus as Lamb, you are not afraid of his return, you are not afraid to say to your Bridegroom, Come, Lord Jesus!

But as we wait, we are not a bride who sits and pines away for her wedding day.  We are a busy bride!  There are invitations to send out!  The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!”  And let him who hears say some; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life. (v. 17)  Here the bride is speaking not to Jesus, but to people in this world.  The Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life to the Church, is also the one who gives the Church a voice in this world.  And by the Spirit of God we say to others, Come!  And a blessed “chain reaction” is unleashed.  And let the one who hears say, Come!  (v. 17)  The invited become the next inviters!

There is a feature of this word in the original Greek that doesn’t come over into English.  In English, we can’t tell if “Come!” is talking to just one person, or to many people.  The Greek allows us to tell.  “Come” is a singular imperative.  Just talking to one.  That’s nice to know.  You don’t have to evangelize the whole world yourself.  Just do one invitation at a time.  One by one by one. Do you know one person you could invite?  One person you could invite to the wedding banquet in heaven by telling them about Jesus?  Remember, that remains the mission, the co-mission Jesus gave to his Church to carry on until he returns.  Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. (Matthew 28:19-20)  

So, dear waiting bride of Jesus, this is an exciting time!  There is a wedding to get ready for!  The “big day” will soon be upon us!  The Groom will soon be here!  There are invitations to send!  Say to your neighbor, “Come!”  Say to your Savior, “Come, Lord Jesus!”

Amen.