If you would, please turn with me in your Bible to Revelation 22. We’ll be looking at verses 1 through 5. It’s the very last page of your Bible; page 1041 in your pew Bible.
I’m so thankful for the opportunity to open God’s Word with you this morning. Our family loves coming back to First Pres for the Mission Conference each year. As soon as the holidays end, we begin to look forward to it. We are thankful for your prayers, for your support, for all the ways that you care for our family.
As we look at this passage, I want to make sure you understand where we are before we read the text today. We need to look at the immediate context of the passage. At the end of Revelation 20, Satan is finally defeated. He is thrown into the lake of fire forever. That’s then followed by the final judgment. And then, in Revelation 21, John’s describing the new heaven and the new earth, and he begins to describe the new Jerusalem, this perfect temple-city where God’s people will dwell with him forever. The passage we’re looking at today is the end of Paul’s description of that city. This is the final perspective that John gives of this new, forever temple-city. Would you please pray with me?
Heavenly Father, we come to You in the name of Jesus, and Father, we thank You for Your perfect Word. We ask now that Your Spirit would guide us as we study Your Word. Would You enable us to understand this text and apply it to our lives. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.
Please turn your attention to Revelation chapter 22, beginning in verse 1. This is God’s Word:
“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 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. 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. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 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.”
Amen.
I was in college at Ole Miss the first time I met my wife Elizabeth’s parents. We hadn’t been dating for very long at this point, I went to visit her in Dallas, and the first night I was there we went to dinner at a Mongolian barbeque place, one of those places where you get the uncooked ingredients in a bowl and they stir fry it for you with rice. Now I like spicy food, and one of the things that I really like is jalapenos, but at that point in my life, somehow I was not aware that fresh jalapenos are spicier than pickled jalapenos. I remember the chef giving me a little bit of an odd look as I handed him my bowl, filled to the brim with fresh jalapenos. But I was pretty nervous that night, so I didn’t think anything of it. Eventually our food came out, I took a bite, and the heat hit me immediately. I do not remember anything that was said during that dinner that night! I just remember that my mouth, and eventually my entire body, felt like it was on fire. Y’all, I ate every bite! And I did that because I was nervous. I wanted to make a good impression. I didn’t want to be rude. I didn’t know what the future held. Honestly, it was up in the air. I’m not sure if Elizabeth really knew what she thought about me. I certainly didn’t know what her parents would think, so I suffered through a miserable hour, eating bite after bite of what felt like fire until I finished.
But you know, if I had known how things were going to turn out, if I had known what was in my future, if I had known that we would get married, that her parents would accept me, that we would have two beautiful daughters, that things would turn out okay, I’ll bet I would have approached that night a little bit differently. On the one hand, I probably would have just said, “Y’all, I made a mistake. Can I just go get another bowl?” but even if I didn’t, even if I still suffered through every painful bite, I’ll bet it would have been a little bit easier if I had known the certainty of our future.
Brothers and sisters, this particular passage in Revelation shows you the end. It describes for the people of God a certain future. God knew that His people were facing persecution during the first century when Revelation was written, and He also knows that His people throughout history will struggle. They’ll struggle with things like doubt, they’ll be tempted by false teachers, they’ll be attacked. Worldly rulers will try to destroy the churches. Wolves will even rise up within the church. God’s people are going to face difficulty; you can count on that. So God graciously gives this revelation of Jesus Christ to strengthen His people, to ground their hope in truth, to point to the end.
And in this passage, we see specifically that the end of missions is worship. The end of missions is worship. If you remember nothing else, that’s what I want you to take with you. You’re beginning a season as a congregation when you think about missions. You’ll hear from people like me that your congregation supports. And I want you to remember, as you do that, that the end of missions is worship. Having the end in view affects the way that you engage with the present. And I want to look at two future realities that this passage puts before you. These are truths that the Lord promises are certain for those who have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. If that describes you, then that means these promises are yours. I want you to see first – God promises that you will be healed. And second – that you will be in God’s presence. You will be healed and you will be in God’s presence.
I’m putting before you that the end of missions is worship, and first, we see that God promises that you will be healed. Look back with me at the text. Look back at verse 1. John writes, “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 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.” What John’s doing here is he is using imagery from multiple Old Testament passages as he describes what he sees. And the first place chronologically that these verses should take your mind to is the garden of Eden, to the very beginning, to what was really the first temple, the first place where God dwelt with His people – a temple garden. In Genesis 2, just like you do here, you see a river flows out of that garden. And you should also recognize the tree of life. The language John’s using in this passage should initially take your mind back to the garden of Eden to the place where Adam is giving the command to “be fruitful and multiply,” to “fill and subdue the earth.”
Now he’s given this command before the fall, before sin enters into the world. So one way you might understand those commands is that as Adam fills the earth, what he’s supposed to be doing is extending the garden of Eden to fill the entire earth. It’s supposed to be a worldwide temple-garden filled with image bearers. But what happens? Adam sins. And because of his sin, he is sent out of the garden. God actually has to protect Adam from the tree of life so that he doesn’t eat from it and remain in that fallen state forever. Humanity is now in rebellion against God, and in their rebellion, they don’t have access to the tree of life. They have to be protected from the tree of life. And y’all, you’re in the same position on your own because your sin separates you from God. Paul says in Ephesians that you were “dead in your trespasses and sins.” You had “no hope” and were “without God in the world.” Think about that. But thankfully Paul doesn’t leave you there. You’re not left on your own. Paul then adds, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”
Brothers and sisters, in this passage, in this passage in Revelation, you get a glimpse of the immeasurable riches of God’s grace and kindness towards you in Christ Jesus. You were dead in your trespasses and sin. You had to be protected from the tree of life. Paul says you were “without hope.” That position, being without hope from an eternal perspective, that’s where Paul says every one of you is on your own. But Paul also reminds you that God is gracious and merciful. You were dead in your trespasses and sin, but God is so gracious that He has covered your sins by the blood of Christ. You are made alive in Christ. You literally have a new life.
So how can that not affect the way that you live in the present? Does that impact the way that you think about missions? Does that impact what you give to missions? Y’all, in John’s vision of the end, he shows you that the tree of life that humanity had no access to, is now abundantly given to God’s people. At the end when Christ returns, God’s people have free access to the tree of life and its fruit. That means that you will be finally and forever healed. The abundance of blessing that John sees, he can’t even describe it without using other worldly imagery. The images of the river of the water of life, the tree of life, they draw us back to the beginning. But in this picture at the end, there’s something different. There’s an escalation of the blessing. See, the original temple-garden occupied a limited area. But in the end, the entirety of the new creation is a temple-city where God’s people enjoy eternal blessing.
On Sunday mornings, I make cinnamon rolls for my daughters. Just a frozen roll of Pillsbury cinnamon rolls. And when they come out of the oven, I use a knife and spread the little cup of icing on the hot cinnamon rolls. And sometimes one or both of my daughters will see me begin to spread the icing and they’ll see just the first little drop that I put on the first roll. And I might joke and say something like, “Alright, there you go. That’s it!” And they’re eleven and eight now, so that’s not funny anymore! They’ll just say, “Come on, Dad.” They’ll roll their eyes at me as they walk out of the room. When they come back into the kitchen, all eight cinnamon rolls are covered and dripping with icing. One cinnamon roll with just a drop of icing, that’s not bad, that’s fine, but it doesn’t compare to the fullness of what comes next – all of the cinnamon rolls dripping with icing, abundant icing!
We see God’s blessing and provision in the garden of Eden. We see it. Throughout redemptive history, we see God continue to bless His people. But y’all, in the end, the entire new creation is filled with God’s eternal blessing. It’s filled with healing. You will be finally and forever healed. When you hear that, when you think about missions in light of that fact, when you think about the Gospel continuing to spread to the ends of the earth, don’t you want as many people as possible to experience that with you? John draws you back to creation. He draws you to the garden of Eden.
But he’s also drawing extensively from Ezekiel 47. The prophet Ezekiel was carried away to Babylon, and that’s where he is in his ministry; he’s in exile. So while he is in exile, he describes why God’s people are in exile. He describes God’s judgment. But Ezekiel is also given a message of hope and restoration. He’s given a vision of a new temple. And like John’s vision in Revelation, Ezekiel sees a river flowing from the temple, and the water from that river is life-giving. He sees trees growing on both sides of the river that continually produce fruit. Just like in Revelation, those trees and that fruit, they are for the healing of the nations. But once again, the picture in Revelation is heightened. Where is the river that John sees flow from in Revelation 22? Look back with me at the end of verse 1. The river is “flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb.” In Ezekiel’s vision, the river flows from the temple, but in the end, there is no longer a need for a temple. The river flows, it proceeds from the Father and the Son. There is really good reason to take this imagery as the life-giving power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son and He sustains the life of everything in this forever temple-city. This is a beautiful, Trinitarian picture of the end.
But there’s more. Look back with me at verse 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.” Did you hear that? No longer will there be anything accursed. From the moment that sin entered into the world, everything in creation has been subject to the curse, everything. But not in the new heaven and the new earth. There is a reversal. John’s restating here something that he already said. In Revelation 21, John says that in the new heaven and the new earth there will be no more tears, no more death, no more pain. No longer will there be anything accursed. So if that’s the case, if all of those things are no more, what’s left? Worship. That’s the heart of this short passage. Worship.
Look again at the end of verse 3. What’s going to happen in the place where there are no more tears, no more death, no more pain? What’s left? God’s servants will worship Him. The end of missions is worship. John Piper correctly says, “Missions exists because worship doesn’t.” When missionaries are sent out, when churches are planted, the goal is worship. The goal is not humanitarian aid, the goal is not relieving poverty, the goal is not starting justice initiatives, although all of those things have their place. Y’all, the goal of missions is worship. We want men and women who are lost to repent of their sins and turn to the Lord Jesus Christ in faith. And then we want those people to be discipled in faithful churches that worship according to God’s Word. That’s it! Brothers and sisters, the ordinary means of grace are sufficient for missions. The ordinary means of grace are sufficient for church planting. The preaching of the Word, the sacraments and prayer – that’s all you need! That’s how God grows His Church. That’s how God gathers His people to Himself.
First Pres has a long history of supporting missions all over the US and all over the world. When you think about missions during this season, do you ever think about the end of missions? Do you think about the worship that you will enjoy forever? And I want you to think about this. Right now, right now your worship is still affected by sin. It’s still tainted by sin. Sin affects your worship in so many different ways, even simple ways. Simple things like your mind wandering. Whatever happened during the week may take over your thoughts. Listen, I know many Ole Miss fans went to worship triumphantly after Ole Miss beat Georgia this year. The next day was a glorious Lord’s Day! Two weeks later, the Sunday after they lost to Florida, some of you didn’t want to get out of bed. You are affected by things like that. Or maybe during worship you see someone in another pew that you recently had a disagreement with, and that disagreement dominates your mind the whole entire service. It affects your worship. Y’all, having a cold can affect your worship. If you are here today and you are sick, it might be affecting your worship.
But do you see what John says about the worship that we can look forward to? No longer will anything be accursed. That means your worship won’t be affected by sin anymore because you’ll be healed. Don’t you long for that? Don’t you want as many people as possible to enjoy that with you? When you participate in or you support missions work, God is using you to gather His elect, to gather His people. You are actively working toward Christ’s return. On top of that, I would encourage you to pray for specific works. Pray for specific missionaries and church plants. God really does use prayer to advance the kingdom. I’ve been told by multiple people in our presbytery that they had been praying for a church plant in our area for over 20 years. What’s happening right now in our church plant is the fruit of those prayers. Pray for your missionaries. Pray for the church plants you support. When Christ returns, you and all of the people who have called on His name throughout history will be healed. Your faith will finally become sight. Your worship will be perfected. The end of missions is worship. Perfect worship. Pray to that end.
Second, in this text, John shows you with certainty that in the end you will be in God’s presence. Look with me at verse 4. John writes, “They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.” In the garden of Eden before the fall, we hear that Adam walked with God, Adam talked with God, and he did this without fear. He had fellowship with God in the temple-garden, but then sin entered the world and no longer could God’s people be in the fullness of His presence without being consumed. I’m preaching through Exodus right now at our church, and when we got to the Ten Commandments, we slowed down and took them one at a time. I finished with the tenth commandment last week. And right now, the pastor who is filling in for me, he’s preaching on the epilogue to the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments are unique from the rest of the Old Testament law, not just because they are foundational, but they are unique because the text seems to indicate that God speaks them directly to the people. The people actually hear the voice of God.
But do you know what immediately follows the Ten Commandments in the epilogue. Moses tells us that the people are afraid. They’ve heard God’s voice, but it’s too much for them. They basically say this, they say, “Moses, we’ve had enough of God’s voice. We’re afraid. That was too scary. You speak to God from now on, but please don’t let us speak to God anymore. We don’t want to die!” Throughout the Old Testament, when God appears to His people, it’s glorious but it’s also terrifying. This happens with Elijah. It happens with Isaiah. And it happens because any time you get a glimpse of God’s holiness you are reminded of your sin and unworthiness because a sinner can’t be in the presence of a holy God and live. The daily sacrifices in the Old Testament, even the architecture in the temple, the fact that the Holy of Holies is blocked off by a curtain, the entire system of the old covenant worship served as a constant reminder, “Come close, but not too close. Be careful.”
The Hillsborough River runs through the city of Tampa. And there is a park with a boardwalk along the river about a half-mile from our house. It’s a beautiful area, particularly at sunset. But there are signs all along that river that say, “Beware of alligators” because alligators are everywhere. There’s probably a 60-70% chance as you walk along that boardwalk any given day that you’ll see at least one alligator. The signs serve as a reminder and a warning. “Come close, but not too close. Be careful.” That was the way that God’s people existed for a long time, but throughout the Old Testament period, God sent prophets that described a future when access to God wouldn’t be limited. And then, John, the same John that wrote Revelation, John tells us, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” Literally, “The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us.” Christ, the Son of God, is the new and better temple. Paul tells us that in Christ, “fullness of God was pleased to dwell.” The fullness of God in the flesh, the curtain in the temple, that curtain that guarded access to God, it’s torn in two at the moment Christ dies on the cross. You now have access to God the Father because of the work of God the Son. But you still don’t see Him face to face right now. There’s still more to come. You still live in a world that is tainted by sin, including your own.
But in the new heaven and the new earth, in this forever temple-city that fills the entirety of the new creation, what can you expect? Look back again with me at verse 4. God’s people will see His face. You will be in God’s presence, and you will be in His presence at all times because God’s presence fills the new creation. You won’t just get to see His back like Moses did when God hid him in the cleft of the rock. You will get to see His face. What that’s communicating is that you will get to see Him in the fullness of His glory. In the end, you see God face to face. You will eternally be in His presence. The end of missions is worship. Worship in the fullness of God’s presence forever. And John also tells you that God’s name will be on your forehead. That communicates intimacy. That communicates ownership. When a rancher puts his brand, his name on a cow, it shows others who that cow belongs to. When He places His name on your forehead, God is claiming you as His own. You are His people, “a people for His own possession.” And He assures you of His eternal presence and protection, which is further demonstrated in verse 5.
Look with me at the text. “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.” Y’all the imagery of darkness in Scripture is threatening. Night, darkness was not safe. But in his first epistle, John tells us that “God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.” And then in Revelation, John says that in the new heaven and the new earth, there is no need for a lamp, there is no need for the sun. Why? “For the Lord God will be your light.” One commentator says the main point of that phrase is this – “Nothing from the old world will be able to hinder God’s glorious presence from completely filling the new cosmos or the saints from unceasing access from the divine presence.” You will be in God’s presence and you will reign with Him forever. Missions, working to fulfill the great commission, moves us toward that day, the day when worship begins and never ends. The end of missions is worship.
Here’s where I want to finish. The epilogue to Revelation immediately follows this passage, Revelation 22, verses 6 through 21. In that passage, three times Jesus says, “I am coming soon.” The Bible ends with that promise. Jesus is coming soon. But that passage also includes a warning. John writes this. “I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book. If anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes away from the words of this book, of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.” If the end of missions is worship, and it is, if you participate in missions to hasten the return of Christ, then you also need to heed this warning. You are called to engage in mission work according to the Word of God. God’s Word directs your worship. God’s Word sets the parameters for the missions work you support. God’s Word frames the prayers you offer up. All of life is to be directed by the Word of God for the glory of God. That means that your time, your talents, your money, even yes, your bodies are given to advance the kingdom. Paul reminds you, “You are not your own. You were bought with a price.” That means that your salvation was costly. Christ’s blood was actually shed. He did take on the wrath of His Father, and because of His work, your eternity is certain. What if you lived like that was true? Would you please pray with me?Heavenly Father, we come to You again in the name of Jesus. We can come before You in no other name. Father, we are so grateful that we get to worship You. We are so grateful that You continue to gather Your people in from all peoples, tribes and nations. We ask that You specifically use this church in the works that they support to do that, to gather Your people to Yourself. It’s in Jesus’ name we pray, amen.