Coming Soon
Today’s passage: Revelation 22:17–21
Focus verse: He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” (Revelation 22:20)
After Jesus finishes his last teaching, the Holy Spirit weighs in as well. But it’s not just him. It’s also the bride (not the bridegroom). This means you and me, all whose names appear in the Lamb’s book of life.
We join with the Holy Spirit to bid people to “Come!” And everyone who hears our offer we’ll add to the invitation and likewise say to others, “Come!”
This invite is to anyone who’s thirsty. They may come to him. Anyone who wants to can receive Jesus’s no-strings-attached gift of living water. Isn’t this exciting?
Only a few verses ago, in Revelation 22:11, it seemed too late for those who hadn’t already decided to follow Jesus. But now it feels as though they’re given one last, final chance. The invitation, given three times, is to come to Jesus and receive the water of life.
We serve a God of second chances. And third chances. And even more than we can count. He is patient because he wants as many to come to him as possible (2 Peter 3:9).
But we need to come to Jesus before it’s too late, perhaps before he returns, which will happen soon.
In this chapter in Revelation, Jesus speaks three times.
The first is in verse 7. Then comes his longer message (which we just covered) in verses 12 through 16. His final words in all of Scripture appear at the end of verse 20.
In each of these three passages he repeats the same phrase: “I am coming soon.”
This threefold testimony from Jesus that he’s coming soon repeats to underscore its importance. Though Jesus saying it once is enough, saying it twice adds emphasis, while three times confirms beyond all doubt that it will happen.
Yet we must acknowledge that God reckons time differently than we do. What is soon to him may not be soon to us.
Indeed, 2,000 years ago Jesus told his followers that his kingdom was near, that it was coming soon. The early church understood this as meaning any day, just as many people now make the same assumption.
As Jesus’s followers, how can we understand his promise that he is coming soon? How should we live our lives in this tension between him coming soon and having already waited two millennia?
We must embrace both scenarios.
We should strive to simultaneously expect that he’s coming back today and seek to live every day for the rest of our lives to advance his kingdom and raise up future generations to follow him too.
We should balance the seemingly competing realities that he is coming soon and that we may die before he does.
Questions:
- What do we think about people getting a final chance to come to Jesus?
- Since Jesus could come any day, what are we doing to make each remaining moment count?
- As we wait, what are we doing to produce a long-term kingdom impact?
- How can we best live in this tension of him coming soon with not coming in our lifetime?
- How can we find a God-honoring balance?
[Discover more about Jesus coming soon in Hebrews 10:36–37, Revelation 2:16, and Revelation 3:11. Read about the kingdom of God (heaven) being near in Matthew 3:2, Mark 1:15, and Luke 21:31.]
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Read more in Revelation Bible Study: Discover Practical Insights from John’s Epic Vision.
Discover practical, understandable insights from the book of Revelation.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront a status quo faith and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
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