Revelation 22:12-20
June 1, 2025
Many of you have been in my office before and have probably noticed that my desk is full of papers and books strategically placed in different piles so that I have just enough room to work. Even though I have things stacked up all around my desk, I usually know where everything is just in case I need to find something. However, last week I needed to find an address of one of our former members who moved out of the state that I had written down on a piece of paper. I had forgotten to put it in my phone, but I knew I had it on a small piece of paper on my desk and I thought I knew what pile it was in. However, I couldn’t locate that piece of paper among any of the piles on my desk and I was getting frustrated. So then I tried looking on my computer, thinking it might be in my email address book, but I couldn’t find it. Usually when I cannot find something on my desk, it means it is time for me to clear my desk. In fact, at one moment as I was looking for that piece of paper I said to myself, “Lord, if you would just come back to this world today, then I wouldn’t have to deal with all of these papers.” But, as you know, Jesus did not return.
I’m sure we have all had times like that where life gets busy, rushed, or just hard for one reason or another. For example, you’re getting the oil changed on your car and the service rep then comes out to tell you that your brakes need to be replaced, as well. And you wonder how you are going to get that done and then get the children to their athletic practices. Or your bathroom sink still hasn’t been repaired; you’ve got other bills to pay and you’re short of money again this month; your in-laws are coming over in a few days and you don’t know how you’re going to deal with them as they will be staying at your home in the middle of what seems like utter chaos. During those moments we may remember Jesus’ promise that He will come back someday to take us to live with Him in His heavenly kingdom, and we may find ourselves praying those same words of John, the writer of our second lesson, as found at the very end of our Bible: “Come, Lord Jesus, come soon.” “It would be nice if you came back today so I wouldn’t have to deal with all of these challenges.”
But the Church has actually prayed that prayer throughout the ages for 2 simple reasons: First, we want Jesus to come back soon, because this sinful world we live in is filled with difficulties, disappointments, and dangers. Second, I think we all want to go home, to be with Jesus in heaven and to live joyfully without pain or stress forever.
However, Jesus makes it clear in our second lesson, and in others places throughout the Bible, that there are those who will not go home to live with Him forever. There are those who will be left outside the heavenly city when He returns to this earth. We get a list of these people in Revelation whose lives run contrary to the Gospel, such as people who do not believe in Jesus as their Savior. They are referred to as “dogs” in this text. Verse 15 says, “Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.” We all know that there are plenty of these kinds of people all around us. The stories we see on the news each week clearly reveal what a difficult, dangerous, and sinful world we live in.
Yes, there are many who will be left behind when Jesus comes back on the last day; and while those words of verse 15 may sound pretty harsh, we must also remember that they were spoken by a gracious God out of a loving concern for all people to repent of their sins so they could live. In fact, it was this same God in the person of Jesus who prayed for all of us in our Gospel lesson from John as He was about to be arrested, beaten, and nailed to a cross, that we would live with Him. As Jesus is about to face the most horrible and painful event in His earthly life, He takes time to pray for you and me that we would be with Him forever in His heavenly kingdom. I find that incredibly comforting. Any time someone says, “I’m praying for you,” I take that as an expression of love and I am always thankful for their thoughtfulness. But just imagine if Jesus appeared before you and said, “I’m praying for you.” Wouldn’t that be awesome, especially knowing who Jesus is and what He can do? But that is not wishful thinking, that actually happened and Jesus continues to take our prayers to His Heavenly Father on our behalf.
Living in a difficult and sinful world, we certainly want Jesus to come back soon; but another reason we want Him to return is so we can all go to our eternal home. What makes heaven so wonderful? Is it because the streets are paved with gold and will be beautiful beyond our wildest imagination? That may be one reason, but not the main one. What makes a place home are the people who are there. Home is where the most important people I know and love live. Heaven is home because Jesus is there. Heaven is such a wonderful place, because loved ones from this life will be there to sing with us songs of praise and celebration to our God.
Have you ever been homesick? I remember a friend of mine many years ago did a lot of traveling with his company. He had a new car that his company gave him to use and he always stayed in very nice hotels. I visited him one summer in Atlanta where he was staying in this fancy hotel for 6 weeks. His room had a large living area, a kitchen, a bedroom, a Jacuzzi in the bathroom, a large screen TV in every room, maid service, room service, and easy access to tennis courts, racquetball courts, a weight room, and an indoor swimming pool. I was overwhelmed when I saw these accommodations, especially knowing that his company paid for the hotel room and all of his meals. Neither of us were married at that time, so I thought it must be awesome to live this way. Initially my friend felt the same way, but he said the excitement quickly wore off, because as nice as it was, it wasn’t home. He didn’t have family or friends in those cities where he traveled, he often ate his meals alone, and many times he couldn’t wait to get back to his small one bedroom apartment, because he knew and loved the people there and that made it home.
Think about the times you go on vacation. Vacations are usually nice and a lot of fun no matter where you go, but as relaxing and exciting as they are, often times we are very happy to get back home to see the people we know, love, and live with on a daily basis.
Deep down in our hearts we all want Jesus to come back soon, because we are not really home yet. We are not in heaven. We are not with all those we love. We are not experiencing the full presence of God. Oh, we are on our way, but we are not there yet. And so, in the meantime Jesus invites us to come and stay with our brothers and sisters in this family called the church, and it is here that we prepare ourselves to go out into this world to share our faith with others as we travel on the road that leads to our heavenly home with Jesus.
And one thing we do here to prepare ourselves for our heavenly home is to eat and drink. Now I am not referring to our Sunday refreshments or Wednesday night dinners, as wonderful as they are; the food and drink I am referring to is found here in Holy Communion – the body and blood of Jesus in bread and wine that gives us forgiveness, strengthens our faith, and empowers us to serve God and others in a sinful world. The second thing we do to prepare ourselves for our heavenly home is to get adequate rest. The church is the place where we pause or rest from our busy lives to hear the words of care and comfort from our Lord in the Bible, and it is here that we are given hope and joy for the daily race of our fast-paced lives as we learn more about Jesus and are encouraged by others.
Jesus has certainly not returned yet, but someday He will. And so, until then, we will continue to come to Jesus in this place for clean robes of forgiveness, good food at His table, and to rest in His Word of love. And until He comes back, we will keep praying as part of our preparation for eternal life, “Come, Lord Jesus, because this world needs You. Come soon, Lord Jesus, because we want to go home to live with You forever.”
