May 24, 1998 Back to the Tree of Life Revelation 22:12-17, 20

He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Amen.

We recognize our graduates today. As we remember their accomplishments, with thanksgiving to our God who gave those accomplishments, we also look forward with the graduates to their futures. They have different paths they will follow and a variety of opportunities that lie ahead. And so we wonder: What will they do? Where will they go? What adventures lie ahead? What trials will they face and what blessings will they experience? Surely, the most important question will be what road will they follow with their faith? Will they continue to walk with Jesus? Will they eventually enjoy the tree of life?

Today in our church year calendar we have reached the end of the Easter season, the seventh Sunday of Easter. Next week we celebrate Pentecost, which remembers the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles and the dramatic development of the Christian Church. Last Thursday we remembered Christ's Ascension, when He left the earth to reign at the Father's right hand in heaven. During the season of Easter we have followed the theme of Christ's work following His resurrection from the dead. Death did not hold Him, but rather, He arose to life again. He lives and reigns to all eternity and continues to bless us with His actions on our behalf.

The sermons you have heard during these Sundays after Easter have been from the readings from Revelation. Revelation only comes up rarely in our 3 year cycle of readings. It is used once every three years in the season of Easter, as it was this year. One other time it comes up is the last Sunday of the Church year, in November. Revelation doesn't get much attention in our readings. Yet, in the book, our Lord does have some important things to say to us.

Revelation directs our attention strongly to the end of the world, the return of Christ, and His judgment of the living and the dead. Could we spend too much time on this subject? Now, maybe six sermons on the end of the world is too many. Then again, if you think of how easily we get caught up in the details of our day-to-day life, maybe it is good to focus on how our Lord promises all this will come out.

Our text immediately opens with words to give us encouragement and confidence. "Behold, I am coming soon!" This could also be understood as "I am coming quickly." The coming soon part does not seem to match our expectations. Almost 2000 years have passed. Perhaps this is better understood as "I am coming quickly," meaning that when Jesus does come, it will happen in an instant, in the twinkling of an eye. However, to the Lord a 1000 years is as a day. Perhaps, rather than focusing on our time scale, we ought to concentrate on just the phrase, "I am coming." We don't know that day or hour, nor does any human. Many will be surprised when He does come. Our Lord warns us to always be prepared. Always look toward that coming.

There is something special that comes with the Lord in His return. He says, "My reward is with me." He is bringing along the reward He will give out. Who gets the reward? "I will give to everyone according to what he has done," says Christ in our text. Is this saying that if we are good we will be rewarded? Sure it is.

Wait a minute! This sounds a awful lot like salvation by works. This sounds like what we do--will determine our reward when Jesus returns. How can this agree with salvation by grace? God saves us freely, apart from our works.

It does take a bit more effort to understand this sentence from our text. The problem is not that the Scriptures are unclear, but rather that we are clouded in our understanding by sin. That sin in us wants to believe that we are saved by works. So, it is in our nature to read that statement, "I will give to everyone according to what he has done" and think that works will justify us before God. If we live a "good Christian life," go to church, and say a prayer before mealtime, then we are inclined to think God will reward us. Others might say if we "accept" Jesus, decide to believe in Him, or vow to follow Him, then God will reward us.

Of course, a proper understanding needs to start with our utter and total sinfulness. All are works are like filthy rags. We all fall short of the glory of God. The wages of our sin is death, not the reward Christ brings. So, we start off at zero. We have no works to our credit.

Next, we understand God's grace. All He gives us is pure gift. All given by His mercy. We deserve nothing, for we are at zero. This same grace then saves us. The reward given when Christ returns is one given freely.

Then, finally, how do we make sense of the statement, "I will give to everyone according to what he has done?" We need to understand how Christ served as our substitute. Out of His love for us, He laid down His life for us. Christ suffered for you. God presented Him as a sacrifice of atonement. Jesus' death on the cross paid the penalty for all our evil deeds.

Not only did our punishment go to Christ, but Christ's righteousness came to us. In other words, the good works that Jesus did, the perfect life He lived, are credited to our account. By the forgiveness we have, all our evil deeds are turned into good works. God sees us through eyes of forgiveness, and thus He sees us as living lives of righteousness, innocence and blessedness.

All those who trust in Christ, who have the gift of faith in Christ's atonement for our sins, given as a gift of the Holy Spirit, will receive the reward when Christ comes. They will receive the reward, for Christ will see them as holy and blameless, based on the forgiveness He earned on the cross.

Jesus says the same thought to us in a different way, right in our text. He says, "Blessed are those who wash their robes." This is a shorthand way of saying they are washing their robes and making them white in the blood of the Lamb, as our reading from Revelation a few weeks ago mentioned. Washing your robe with the Lamb's blood means counting on Christ's sacrifice on the cross to make you righteous and holy-that is, to make your robe white, which is a sign of holiness.

The reward is given to those who have their sins forgiven. The unbelievers will not have their sins forgiven, because they reject the gift Christ offers. They will receive according to their works, and since their sins are not forgiven, they will receive the punishment of eternal fire.

For those trusting in Christ's righteousness, their reward will be the "right to the tree of life" and they "may go through the gates into the city." What is this tree of life? The part of Chapter 22 of Revelation prior to our text describes the tree of life which grows on each side of the river of life. This tree has twelve crops of fruit, one maturing each month. It's leaves are for the healing of the nations.

This same tree is described in the prophecy of Ezekiel, in chapter 47, "Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing."

The tree of life probably makes you think of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Genesis 2 says, "And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground-- trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." "And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."

We know that Adam and Eve did eat from the forbidden tree. This gave man a sinful knowledge of good and evil. The necessary result was that Adam and Eve must be cut off from the tree of life. This is how Genesis explains it: "And the LORD God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever." So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life."

Thus the human race was cut off from the tree of life. We do not live forever. We must face death. Yet, God's plan, from the beginning, was to restore to us the tree of life. God's plan of salvation was to bring us back to the tree of life. For this reason, Christ died and rose again. That all who believe in Him may have life to its fullest. This theme was echoed early in Revelation, chapter 2, "To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God." By the grace of our Lord, we will overcome. We will have the right to eat from the tree of life, and live forever. When we are resurrected, we will never die again. And we will be restored to the same blessed existence which God had intended for Adam and Eve at the start.

Further, we will be able to "go through the gates into the city," says the text. This means entry into the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, which we have been exploring the past two Sundays from the readings from Revelation.

There will be those, however, who are not in the city. "Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood." Sounds like these are the kind of sins that will ruin your chances for eating from the tree of life. These are the particularly wicked sins, or...are they? Think back to how we define sin: thought, word or deed. Think of how anyone who hates his brother is a murderer. Anyone who lusts after another has committed adultery. Anyone who does not fear, love and trust God above all things is an idolater. Anyone who has told a lie practices falsehood. Now, you see that list of sins of the dogs expand. Now, you must wonder, am I one of the dogs. Are my sins too great to allow me into the Holy city?

And the answer is...Yes and No. Yes, any sin is enough to keep you out. We all have fallen into sin. We can probably all find one or more of the categories of sins listed in our text in which we have failed. Yes, we are each among the dogs. Yes, your sins and my sins are too great to allow us into the city.

Yet, the answer is finally, No. No, because our sins are washed away. Washed away in the blood that makes our robes white. Washed in the blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ. Cleansed by the mercy of our Lord. Purified by God's grace.

This grace and mercy says to us, "Come!" To anyone who hears, our Lord says, "Come! Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life." The Lord offers a drink of salvation and forgiveness to whoever wants to be freed from their sins. He offers the refreshing water of life, eternal life to all who come. This water is given freely, not based on our works.

Jesus once again says, "Yes, I am coming soon." After enticing us with the water of life and the tree of life, we can only anxiously await that coming. We echo the same words that John speaks in the second last verse of the book of Revelation, "Amen Come, Lord Jesus." John is ready for Jesus to come. Ok, Lord, anytime you are ready, go ahead and come. And we pray that the Lord would keep us in His grace until that day. May you be blessed as you await the coming of the Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

We conclude, as Revelation concludes, "The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all." Amen.