revelation 22:19 lose salvation
"And on the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. In the older Apocalypses, written between the Testaments, the instruction is always to seal them and lay them up for a distant future. What 1 am seeking to stress is that CHRISTS PROMISE "I AM COMING SOON" refers to more than His final coming. Q: Does Revelation 22:19 show us that a person can lose their Salvation as some are teaching? (Deuteronomy 4:2). They are glorified saints, and not angels. And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations unto it. And only by Jesus' faithfulness is anyone kept (He promises that the life He gives is eternal). Against the dark background of night, wise men once saw the clear shining of the Star of Bethlehem, and today we have hope because we see Jesus "the bright morning star" the herald of a new day. If the person who corrupts Revelation is an unbeliever, he or she will have no part (share) in the blessings of . I would suggest to you that the Bible does not teach eternal salvation, although it The only right principle in everything is to go to the source of divine truth, and to seek there refreshment and strength and fitness for whatever our God calls us to. audience. with a lifetime warranty and it wore out in one year, you would rightly complain that the 11:18-22), have And when God does judge, it is not merely for the evil of those then judged, but of all from the first budding of it till that day. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. (Romans 8:18 KJV), Website Design byWebnetave.com Web Design Avenue. Keeping the sayings and words of this Prophecy surely does bless the believer. We see a similar warning given by Moses as he addressed the people of Israel before they entered the Promised Land. But there is a message also for others. how our actions as Christians will be judged. He will return soon. . "Lord you gave me four talents and I went out and used them and I have eight." set by the father. we do not repent and come back to Jesus, we could suffer the consequences for all When the Lord takes His own throne, they take theirs by grace. but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: And they shall see his face ( Revelation 22:3-4 ); "Blessed are the pure in heart", Jesus said, "for they shall see God" ( Matthew 5:8 ). And night will be no more, for they have no need of the light of a lamp, or the light of a sun, for the Lord God will be a light to them, and they will reign for ever and ever. Verse Revelation 22:6. Amen. They were bewildered and broken as they walked the 7 miles from Jerusalem to Emmaus. But it may well be that there is something simpler here. For suddenly shall ye be consumed and wither away. 1. The Jews had forgotten the most fundamental attribute of Scripture: Every word of God is pure (Proverb 30:5). But no believer comes into judgment. Babylon had once heard the varied testimony of God; for what had she not heard of truth? I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last ( Revelation 22:13 ). It is the judgment of the dead as such, who now rise and give account of their deeds. Yet to this heavenly city, after Christ comes, the kings of the earth bring their offerings and their homage; but there is no excitement of the nations, no filthiness of fornication, no abominations, no blood-guiltiness. The millennial nations, "the number of whom is as the sand of the sea," fall a prey to Satan. Like most Bible passages, verses 18 and 19 join in a thought that runs not only throughout chapter 22, but the whole book of Revelation. But a very different point of interest is to be observed. occurrence. It is in Christ alone that men can see God. We had seen Babylon twice: first, in the circle of God's warnings and testimonies; and then as the object of God's judgment under the seven bowls. Before the next command to heed the message of Revelation, an invitation was given: And the Spirit and the bride say, Come! And let him who hears say, Come! And let him who thirsts come. (i) The dog was the symbol for everything that was savage and unclean. From the fall of the first man, Adam, who rebelled against God and whose sin caused destruction to reign upon the earth (as the icy fingers of deathbegan to bewrapped around the throat of every man), to the coming of the prophesied Messiah; the perfect Man Who came to save His people from their sin and graciously gives the water of life freely to whosoever will come and drink. They were judged every man according to their works. will not forgive your transgressions." Again, that it supposes Rome after it had professed the name of Christ I think is not to be doubted, if only from the expression "mystery" attached to Babylon. such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." 17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. "And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have not yet received a kingdom; but they receive authority as kings (not at but for) one hour with the beast." Christian, you are guaranteed that your name will not be erased from the Book if Life. In the early Greek manuscripts all the words are written in capital letters and there is no space left between them. higher or better of the two). Those who accept will not tamper with the message, liberating them from the books terrible prophecies. In the coming of the Lord all include His coming to the habitable earth. He was severe in his temporary judgment of blinding the Jews and He can be severe with the Gentiles if they do not continue to respond to God's goodness in Christ. And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads. "And I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And if any man shall take away from the prophecy of this book,. As he may be said to do, who denies the authority of this book, which has been done by some, and which the Holy Ghost foresaw; or takes it away from, or denies the reading of it to the people, as the Papists do with respect to the whole Scripture; and who wilfully pervert the sense of it, and will not have the things in it, relating to antichrist, to belong to him. "The Spirit and the Bride say: Come!" The individual has his own fruit too. (i) It is not to be interpreted with absolute literalness. The angel affirms the truth of all that had been spoken, Revelation 22:6-11.. 2. In Second Enoch there is the picture of a river in Paradise, which issues in the third heaven, which flows from beneath the tree of life, and which divides into four streams of honey, milk, wine, and oil (2Enoch 8:5). For instance, Abraham kept the whole Law from aleph to tau. For you have taken away the key of knowledge. Here is the symbol that Jesus Christ has everything within himself and needs nothing from any other source. For without are dogs, drug abusers, whoremongers, murderers, idolaters, and whosoever loves and makes a lie. Taking the phrase with the first sentence seems to give the better picture. But when Christ and the church peacefully reign, such is the imagery that suits "a river of water of life, bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. "And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast." Satan will bring forth an empire suited to his purposes, as it springs from Satanic principles which deny God; and this is part of what appears to be meant by the beast ascending out of the bottomless pit. That is, the tabernacle of God is regarded as a separate object, no doubt associated with men, but not confounded with them. so as by fire." Here it is the city described in itself, on which we need not now enlarge. There is no lack of precision, but the very reverse. This passage pertains primarily to Revelation, but its warnings of adding to or subtracting from the Bible and is generally applied to the whole of Scripture, since the book this text refers to forms part of the Bible which is one book. prophecy of this book." In short, it would seem that God has hedged round His own draft of Babylon so as to make it quite plain that Rome, city and system, figures in the scene; and this too necessarily involving a medieval description, though the full result will not be till the end of the age; for she rides the beast or empire characterized so as naturally to involve the past barbarian irruption and the resulting ten-kingdomed state. If a believer subverts God's Word, he will not lose his eternal salvation but will lose some or all of his heavenly reward, forfeiting his benefits found in the Tree of Life and the Holy City. "I am coming soon." 6. Verse 19 also gives a clue for whom the warning is being directed it is those that could enter the New Jerusalem, because those that take away from the Word will lose his part in the Tree of Life and the Holy City, which is the New Jerusalem. I speak not of anything that might be deemed exceptional or peculiar, but of two acts of raising saints. Capnionis, which was used by Erasmus, and lately discovered after a long obscurity by Dr. Delitzsch, reads (not ) . For Christ has not only a supreme but an exclusive place. I do not acknowledge the language to be either difficult or ambiguous. Those that are unsaved cannot enter the new city their taking and adding to the prophecy will be evidence of their unsaved state. their names removed from the Lamb's Book of Life (Rev. The precious Biblical truth that the saints will persevere in faith to the end and be saved is relentlessly opposed, generation after generation. As long as Rome was pagan, there was neither the full bearing of the seven heads, nor did so much as one of the ten horns exist. They reject Gods judgment on humanity that permeates Revelation, so they attempt to soften it up a bit. And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. (Revelation 22:2). All rights reserved. In doing so they contravened the law itself: You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you. the Book of Life . Christ COMES. Deuteronomy 4:2; Deuteronomy 12:32; Proverbs 30:6; Jeremiah 26:2. For remark, the beast or Roman empire is described here as that which once existed, which then ceased to exist, and which assumes a final shape when it reappears from the bottomless pit. This falls in with what we have seen of the book in general; but I do not deny that certain elements which figure in the Apocalypse then existed and still exist. You would say that the carpet is defective and it needs Yet it will be found imperfect, for reasons which, I think, will be clear to any unbiassed mind. (i) There comes a time when it is too late to change. "These have one mind, and give their own power and authority to the beast," or their imperial leader. ", In contrast, the passages in Ephesians 5, 1 Corinthians 6, Galatians 5 and Revelation "And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, Come, gather yourselves together unto the great supper of God; that ye may eat flesh of kings, and flesh of chiliarchs, and flesh of strong [men], and flesh of horses, and of those that sit on them, and flesh of all, both free and bond, both small and great." Website Designed & Managed By Webnetave.com. The point is this. "Let him that heareth say, Come." This section consists of verbal exchanges between an angel and John, and between Jesus and John. And, if anyone takes away from the words of the 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. And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? Conclusion: Revelation 22:18-19 is a warning: If you reject Gods offer of life, you will experience Gods wrath. And this is entirely confirmed byRevelation 17:1-18; Revelation 17:1-18, where it was told us that they are with Him when He comes. And I, with John, would respond, "Amen. You don't get salty tomatoes. If you are being threatened by the false doctrine that you can lose your salvation, study these scriptures. Since our fathers have fallen asleep everything has gone on as it was from the beginning"( 2 Peter 3:3 ). As in the beginning of this book (Re 1:3) a blessing was promised to the devout, obedient student of it, so now at its close a curse is denounced against those who add to, or take from, it. Consequently they sat upon the thrones at once; while the two latter classes, described in the rest of the verse, were still in the separate state "and the souls." And the truth dawns on Martin the cobbler that Christ does fulfil His promise to come again when Christians respond to the call of duty. But according to His principle of government it is not merely personal guilt, but that which, from despising the testimony of God, is thus morally accumulating from age to age in the ratio of the testimony of God and the wickedness that has been indulged by men in spite of it. The church cannot hear of Him as the bright morning star without at once desiring that He should come. In our times of crises and need, Christ comes to guide, strengthen, encourage and help. Nothing more, nothing less than nothing else. (Revelation 22:19), Waitwhat? (2 Peter 3:9) The tree of Life can be thought of as big enough In like manner Hymenaeus and Alexander, Christians of the church at Ephesus, were turned over to Satan by Paul so they might be taught a lesson (1 Timothy 1:20). We must perforce therefore look for a still more complete development before the Lamb judges the beast after the ten horns along with it shall have destroyed Babylon. opposing categories of approaching God - Law being one and Grace the other The regular ending of the letters to the seven Churches is an invitation to hear what the Spirit is saying ( Revelation 2:7; Revelation 2:11; Revelation 2:17; Revelation 2:29; Revelation 3:6; Revelation 3:13; Revelation 3:22). "And fire came down out of heaven from God, and devoured them. There is no scriptural reason to infer that any saint dies during the thousand years, but rather the contrary. The application to old pagan Rome is harsh and purposeless enough; but the attempt to refer it to Jerusalem is of all schemes the most absurd; for, far from being borne up by the imperial power, Jerusalem was trodden down by it. At the beginning of the Gospel of John, Jesus is presented as "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). There is a real danger, subtle danger there. I am concerned lest Christians today should be so caught up in prophecies about Christs final coming that they become blind to the reality of His present coming to Christians in daily life NOW. 34. Is it more reasonable to believe in Creationism vs Evolution? It is not a syllogism that is wanted or that can satisfy here: only require, only believe, the word of God. The mouth of a righteous man is a well of life ( Proverbs 10:11). When we come to the full application of the prophecy, we must look onward to the latter day. (a) There is the idea of completeness. "And he said unto me, It is done. 19 'Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent. This also is a no less important element for understanding the chapter. We cannot win the battles against sin by our own unaided powers. We know that if He tarries, it is not that He is "slack concerning His promise," but that "His long-suffering brings salvation to many." In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. This is of great importance, because if the new Jerusalem be, as I have no doubt it is, the bride the Lamb's wife, then we have her separate condition asserted in eternity. And the Spirit and the bride say, Come ( Revelation 22:16-17 ). This disposes of many a web of comments; for we find at once what is perfectly simple, what any child of God who believes this to be the word of God must own. In perfect submission to him they will find perfect freedom and the only true royalty. Objections and Solutions to the Problem of Evil. Something Christians miss - it is not our doing that 'keeps us', but the power of the Holy Spirit. To the Christian this book is not sealed. He did this to comfort and caution his readers and to affirm the authority of this book. Nor are its fruits confined to the Jews; its leaves are for the healing of the nations. unbelief (vs. 20). But to the fearful, and unbelieving, and abominable, and murderers, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, their part [is] in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.". According to the general scope of scripture, then, we may be quite sure that these saints, kept during this universal dissolution of the atmospheric heaven and the earth, will be translated to "the new heavens and new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness," in a condition new and meet for the eternal state into which they are ushered. In fact, we may say, all nations will be desolated by judgments of one kind or another; but for all this the world proceeding for a thousand years with every outward blessing, and the most admirable government administered by the blessed Lord Himself, will issue in the teeming and prosperous races of mankind. for Christ. Revelation 18:1-24 need not delay us long. Christians who believe a person can lose their salvation point to the term "blotted out" in connection with the Book of Life. *It is the more strikingly characteristic, because of such language as Psalms 149:6-9, which speaks of all the saints contemplated on earth for the day of Jehovah. believe that one cannot lose his salvation does not mean I think we should approach our The Psalmist sings of the river whose streams make glad the city of God ( Psalms 46:4). You will recall that verses 18 and 19 are a warning for those who do not accept the invitation given in verse 17. Men are not regarded as composing this tabernacle; they co-exist. The name was not there at one time, then removed. So, there will be a medicinal value in the leaves of the tree. (We prefer to use the term The final coming of Christ). "I'm coming quickly. 1. fol. "And he that sat upon him called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war." I was the sweeper, the woman, those in need." So we can safely But the most ordinary knowledge suffices; for who does not know from the Bible that there was a Roman empire when Christ was born, one emperor, and no such state as that empire divided into ten kingdoms? Hard to believe; isn't it? 12. "The ten horns which thou sawest AND the beast" would give unquestionably the right form of the verse. The very name indeed shows something similar; not of course that the church can ever be earthly. It kind of sounds like Revelation22:19 is teaching that we can lose our salvation, doen't it? 3:5, etc) all make a statement such as "if you gain access to 50+ premium resources to enhance your study of Scripture. The bride breathes out this word to the bridegroom; and the Holy Ghost it is that gives strength to her desire that He should come. "His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many diadems." It furnishes material for a contrast between the earthly Jerusalem and the heavenly city, because if there be one thing more remarkable than another in Ezekiel's description, it is the temple. A stranger CAME to them, and talked with them, lifted up their hopes and faith, "but their eyes were holden and they did not know Him. And he shewed me a pure river ( Revelation 22:1 ). Therefore we find in connection with the book a most solemn warning. While the promise of blessing in chapter 1 is a wonderful encouragement to believers, the warnings in this final chapter of Revelation should be chillingto anyone, both believers and unbelievers who tampers with God's Word or distort its meaning.
