Revelation 22:12–17, 20

Seventh Sunday of Easter

¹²"Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. ¹³I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. ¹⁴"Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. ¹⁵Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. ¹⁶"I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star." ¹⁷The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life. ²⁰He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

A couple of months ago I began reading the novel, Crime and Punishment, by Dostoyevsky. Soon I was pretty caught up in the story and really wanted to know what happened to Raskolnikov in the end. Did he turn himself in and confess his crime, or did he get off scott free? During the reading of the book one develops a sort of sympathy with this unfortunate character and begins to hope that he doesn’t get caught. So I just couldn’t stand it any longer and made the fatal mistake that we all make sometime in our life: Half way through the book, I opened up the final chapter and read it. I won’t tell you what happened because it would spoil the story for any of you who might read it someday, just like it spoiled the story for me. It was hard to read the rest of the book now that I knew the outcome. The intrigue of the story had been to find out what was going to be his ultimate end, and now that I knew, there was little motivation left to read the rest of the book.

The same thing sometimes happens in our lives as well. Especially when we are going through a really difficult time; a time of suffering or anxiety or worry. We really want to know how things are going to turn out in the end. We wish we had some assurance that things would turn out well. The pain seems unbearable; and the worry and anxiety is excruciating. If we could just go to the last chapter in the story; our story; the story of our life, and see how it would all turn out it would make it so much easier to bear our burdens. If we just had some assurance that tomorrow all would turn out well it would make getting through today so much easier.

On the other hand, if we read the last chapter of the story and discovered that it didn’t turn out alright, it would be a disaster. It would not only make today so much more difficult to get through, it would take away our motivation to even keep living. It could result in utter despair or worse. It would spoil the story for us. It might even end our story.

But that is just what we are doing in our Epistle reading today: it is from the final chapter of the Bible. It is the end of the story; the story that began in Genesis comes to an end in Revelation. Knowing the end of the story will either make it easier to deal with the problems of today, or it will take away our motivation to keep going and destroy us forever.

But in order to understand the end of the story, we must understand the beginning. If we look in Genesis, we see God. God who is transcendent: he transcends time. He is before time. God who is transcendent heaven and earth. God who is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.

We also see a man and a woman living in a garden: Adam and Eve in Eden. There is the tree of life in the garden and if they eat from this tree they will never die.

Instead, they chose to eat of the forbidden tree. The tree God put there to test their devotion to him. They failed the test. They disobeyed God. They wanted to be free from his rule, free from him, and free to do as they pleased without any cost or responsibility. They wanted to be free to choose their own gods, or rather, to be their own gods.

They were cast out of Eden and they lost the right to eat of the tree of life. The door to the garden was sealed so they could not enter it and eat from the tree of life.

That is how the story of our lives began. It began in failure, sin, lostness. It began by being barred from the tree of life. In other words, all mankind from then on is begotten in sin. We are excluded from the garden and live in a wilderness. Excluded from the tree of life, death became the ultimate end of every human being. Our lives are lived entirely under the curse of sin and the effects of sin reach into our souls and innermost being. All the pains, worries, dissentions, illness, greed, pride, and lack of love for fellow humans, and injustice is the result of our corrupt human nature; the depravity of our souls, our inner self.

We live our lives in the shadow of death. Illness, pain, ageing, deterioration of our bodies over time are the norm of our existence. In our agony we look for some bit of hope or comfort. We are told to look into our selves to find the way to happiness and peace and health; but when we look deeply into our inner self all we really find is garbage and rot. Our inner self is soiled with the stains of selfishness and greed. We feel the superiority of love and understand that loving others and being kind and generous is a good and worthy thing, but when we try to apply it we fall short. We find that in spite of our talk of love and peace we are really only capable of selfishness, strife and injustice.

This is our story; the story of our life; and it has been this way since the beginning. But that very same day that mankind chose to separate himself from God; God who is the source of all love; the one who is love; God promised a Seed who would crush the head of Satan. A Seed who would come and destroy the sinfulness, the greed, the selfishness, and the injustice that separates us from one another. He would put an end to the suffering, the sickness, and the death that rules the world. He would bring about a kingdom of love and peace that would be eternal. The message was: “I am coming soon.”

And he did come. That promised Seed was God himself, the very Son of God. He came to atone for our sin and rebellion. He came to be the sacrifice for sin; the Lamb slain on the altar. He was the transcendent God who became a man; a human being so that he could live under the law and take our human sinfulness and guilt upon himself. He was God who took our selfishness and greed and strivings into his own person and executed them on a cross in his own flesh and blood. He suffered in his body and agonized in his soul for all of the hatred, bitterness, sinfulness and death of all humanity. On account of our ugly and twisted hearts he poured out his blood on the altar of sacrifice to pay for our redemption and make atonement for our sin.

By his death he made payment and satisfaction for our sin. For his obedience and sacrifice he earned the reward; the reward of eternal life; the right to the Tree of Life. He rose from the dead three days later and showed himself to hundreds of people as evidence of his victory over sin and death. He was exalted and glorified and ascended into heaven to take his seat on the throne of all heaven and earth.

And from there, he speaks and says: “I am coming again.” At the beginning of the human story he said: I am coming to crush Satan. He did come and he won the salvation of all mankind. By doing so he earned his reward. Here at the end of the story, he again says: I am coming again, and I will bring my reward with me and I will give it to you.

That is the hope and trust of every believer in Jesus Christ, that he is coming again, and he is bringing his reward to give to all who trust in him. Notice he says it is his reward. He earned the reward of eternal life. He purchased with his own blood the right to the tree of life. It is not our reward. We have done nothing to earn or deserve it. We have nothing with which to purchase it. Only the innocent and perfect blood of the Son of God could purchase such a reward.

Yet he purchased it for us. He is coming again to share his reward with us. What is his reward? It is the right to eat from the tree of life. Jesus opened the gates of Eden which were shut to Adam and Eve. Now all may enter the garden and eat from the tree of life.

To whom does he give his reward? To whom does he give the right to enter the garden and eat the tree? To all who wash their robes in his blood; that is, to all who repent of their sin and believe in him. All who in baptism are washed by the blood of Christ and forgiven for their sin.

Notice the word “all.” Jesus is not exclusive, but inclusive. He does not limit his reward to just a few. It is not limited to people from certain races, or cultures, or who speak certain languages. He is not a tribal god, or a god tied to any one culture or race or people. He is the transcendent God who transcends all creation and all peoples. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last. He purchased the reward on behalf of all people and he gives it to all who would receive it. The only reason for not receiving his reward is not wanting it. Only the person who rejects it, who denies it, who does not want his reward is left out. He offers it freely to all who want it but does not force it upon anyone who rejects it. Only the person who does not believe it does not receive it.

But what about those who do not know? He sends out his invitation to all. The Spirit and the bride say “Come!” The Spirit is the Holy Spirit of God who through word and sacrament brings people to repentance and faith. He works through the bride; the church; those who believe and are baptized into Christ. It is the bride, you and me, who preaches the gospel and administers the sacraments that invites all people; “Come!” We are the ones who invite. It is by our invitation through the word that all people are to hear the message of forgiveness and life.

What is the invitation? “Come! Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.” The invitation is for all people, he uses the word “whoever”. It is for all; it is inclusive. “Go ye to all nations; to the uttermost parts of the earth.” We are to invite everyone. Everyone who thirsts for eternal life. Everyone can come and drink of the water of life free of charge. Why is it free? Because Jesus already paid for it! He paid for it on the cross! He paid for it with his very own blood! It is paid for! Salvation and life are paid for, for every man, woman and child. Come, drink of it, all of you! And after you drink, invite others that they may come and drink too.

Jesus says: “I am coming soon.” This is the end of the story; he is coming back to put an end to the present heaven and earth and all the sin and greed and corruption and lack of love that inhabit the earth. The story that began with sin and death, ends with the end of sin and the end of death. The story that began with mankind being kicked out of the garden and denied the tree of life, ends with an invitation to return to the garden. It ends with the right to eat of the tree of life given to all.

He is coming back with his reward to give to all who desire it and receive it by faith. The story of our life, of our world which began in failure and sin and being denied the right to the tree of life, will end a most excellent story. It will end with and new haven and earth. And new Eden where there will be no corruption, or sin, or lack of love, or selfishness, or greed, or injustice. The gates to the new garden is Jesus Christ himself, and they will be opened to all who would enter. All have the right to enter and eat from the tree of life without cost or money because it has already been paid for.

Amen, Come Lord Jesus.