“An Invitation to Come”

Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21

Have you ever completed a garden? Is gardening ever something that ends?

Today, we will be reading a passage of scripture that can seem like the end. Yet, as we discuss it, we will see like a garden it never ends. 

We want to see how Jesus tells us that He is coming and is inviting us to come. Then we will discuss how Jesus wants us to come to the tree of life and the river of life.

Jesus says three times in chapter 22 that He is coming soon. 

The writer John is emphasizing the hope that we have of Jesus’s return.

Take note of verse 14; depending on your Bible translation, the passage will read differently. Here it says, “Blessed are they who wash their robes,” but the KJV reads, “Blessed are they that do his commandments.” Why the difference? First, remember that all English editions of the Bible are translations from another language—Hebrew and Greek, with some Aramaic. Every English translation is only as good as its translators’ scholarship and the manuscripts used. Modern biblical scholarship has greater access to ancient manuscripts than the translators of the KJV did. Based on this ongoing research, to give as accurate an English translation as possible, modern biblical scholarship translates the Greek as, “Blessed are those who wash their robes,” with the understanding that “Blessed are they that do his commandments” was due to a copy error rather than anything nefarious. There are some specific reasons for why it’s translated this way. But if we look at the verse in the context of Revelation and the larger picture of Scripture, “wash their robes” is doctrinally correct, since the only prerequisite to entering the new city of Jerusalem is salvation through the blood of Jesus Christ.

Herman Grobler, “Robes Wash or Commandments Do? Rev. 22:14,” Bible Differences, August 10, 2012, https://bibledifferences.net/2012/08/10/56-robes-wash-or-commandments-do-rev-2214/

This idea of washing robes gives the image of baptism. We don’t usually use the traditional baptismal robes in our Nazarene denomination.

We go under the water to let the old pass away. And rise up out of the water for the new to come. The white baptismal robe signifies that we are pure, clean, and new.

We are to let Jesus continue to make us new creations

We wash our robes so that we have the right to the tree of life and enter the city by the gates. The word we have translated “right” is a powerful word.

“Right” "1849. ἐξουσία ĕxŏusia, ex-oo-see´-ah; from 1832 (in the sense of ability); privilege, i.e. (subj.) force, capacity, competency, freedom, or (obj.) mastery (concr. magistrate, superhuman, potentate, token of control), delegated influence:—authority, jurisdiction, liberty, power, right, strength."

A concise dictionary of the words in the Greek testament and the Hebrew Bible, accessed through the LOGOS Bible app

We have the freedom, liberty, and authority to come to the tree of life. We can come because of Jesus restoring us to Himself. 

The word Come or Coming occurs seven times in this last chapter of Revelation. Come is in the present tense. It’s not something to be done once in heaven. It’s not something we have missed out on yet. Right now we are to come.

John writes the invitation for us. We are invited to come. Come to the place where everything and everyone will be restored. Will be whole. Will be full of life. We are invited to come. 

Jesus is coming soon! Here we see the third time that Jesus says He is coming soon. We have hope that He will come again. John wants to leave us with that hope.

What does it mean for us to wash our robes today? How can we accept the invitation to come?

What does Jesus want for us today? Wash our robes and Come. Come experience the life Jesus gives.

Why am I supposed to Wash my robes and Come? To have life. Not just life after death, but life now. 

How am I supposed to Wash my robes and Come? Accept the invitation to come. 

Today, we see Jesus telling us that He is coming soon. Through this proclamation, we are given hope that our current circumstances won’t last forever. John mentions that blessed are those who wash their robes. They will have the right to the tree of life and to enter the city. Jesus invites us to come.

We are to wash our robes and come. When we do we experience the whole life Jesus gives. We are to accept His invitation. Today, what is the invitation to come that Jesus is giving you today? Is it coming for the first time? Is it coming to find healing? Is it coming to experience His love? Is it to come to grow more in your relationship with Him? Let’s accept Jesus’s invitation today.