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Well, once again, good morning. Please turn in your Bibles to Revelation chapter 22. Can you believe it? The very last chapter, the book of Revelation, and the Bible. After about two and a half years, we've finally arrived. I want to look at verses 1 through 5 today. Revelation chapter 22, beginning in verse 1 through 5.

Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street, on either side of the river, was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month.

And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. There will no longer be any curse, and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his bondservants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.

And there will no longer be any night, and they will not have need of the light of a lamp, nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them, and they will reign forever and ever. But we've come to the very last scene in the book of Revelation.

This is it. This is the end of the scenes, the tour. There'll be some exhortations that come in light of everything that's been said, but this is that final scene. You remember, we began this tour of the city, the tour back in chapter 21. You remember when the new heavens and the new earth, right after the great white throne judgment, in verse 1 of 21, John saw a new heaven and a new earth.

And then, in verse 9, as he sees this glory of heaven come down, he gets this vision of heaven. And then in verse 9, we start getting a tour of this heavenly city. Look at verse 9. Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and spoke with me, saying, Come here, and I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.

That's what we've come to see. And we're not leaving here until we see the bride of the lamb. And so that's what the tour starts. I want to show you the bride, the wife of the lamb. And so he takes them on this tour, and this tour ends.

Today, you know, last night I had this conversation with my wife. We're about to celebrate our 30th anniversary. Yes. Give her, that almost, you know, if we were doing that saint thing and kind of sainting people, well, that would qualify her right there. But since we don't, since we're all saints, we just commend her for her great grace.

But as we were talking about it, you know, we have had many good memories of life together. We look back. It's like we can look back over our lives and we see these epics, these little mini epics, if you can call them that, different seasons of life that God has given us to live together.

And time without children, a time with a couple of children, a time in lots of children, and then now just a couple of children and places and all that. And we look back and we are very thankful. And, you know, some of our parents, her parents are gone.

My parents, one of mine is left, one is gone. And we look at these different epics of time and we look back and we had the same feeling. We look back with fondness over the seasons and the epics of our lives. We are thankful, but we are also very content and very thankful and excited for where we are now, what God has done.

And we're very excited about what comes next. Because as we look back and we look at our times and the seasons, they all point to a reality of a good God who has good things in store for his people and has more in store for his people. Same is true for planet Earth.

We're going to leave this world behind someday, and there's a lot of good things that have happened. There's a lot that we want to leave behind, and we'll be glad. But then, even in the midst of this fallen world, there's a lot of fond memories, aren't there? There's a lot of the good things, but they all testify to the reality that the God who created all these things is still accomplishing his purpose and has many more good things ahead.

So much so that one day we'll look back and this will all be fond memories, but we'll not for a moment want to trade it for where we will be and what is ahead. And so, as we come to this last scene of Revelation, I want. God, through His Word and by His Spirit, to rapture us one more time into the scene of heaven, to rapture our minds and our heart and see this beautiful scene where we really actually come to look upon the flesh and blood bride of Christ, bride of the Lamb.

See, we've already started. John saw the vision of heaven, he saw the glory, or he saw the vision of heaven, and then we started looking at the glory of heaven. And you remember that glory in part one of this series, Revelation 9 through 21. We see the glory described in the physical description of the new Jerusalem, the miracles, the beauty, I mean, the materials, the beauty, costly, costly memorials to what God has done.

And then we look at the function of the new Jerusalem. The glory of heaven is also seen in the function of the new Jerusalem. We spent some time looking at that in verses 22 and 27. It's the place of God's physical presence. It is the tabernacle of God.

Come down. See that it illumines the nations. The nations are then going to walk by the light of God's tabernacle among men. The glory of the nations are going to be presented. It's where the new discoveries, the excitement, tribute, and all that's going to come in in a never-ending stream of the glories of the new heavens and the new earth.

And all, it's the place where that's going to be presented and celebrated. And most importantly, it is the home of the saints. Verse 27. It is the home of God's people, those who are written in the Lamb's book of life. Everyone whose name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life.

And so, by this time in Revelation, all God's people, all saints of all times, are caught up in this bridal imagery. Today, we want to complete this tour of this heavenly city. See the flesh and blood bride Christ. The glory of heaven is also seen in the occupants, not only in the physical description, as we've already seen, not only in the function of the city, but also in the occupants of this city, and that is the bride, the flesh and blood bride herself, the wife of the Lamb.

And so, I want you to this morning see the beauty of the bride, the wife of the Lamb, so that you will join yourself to Christ, so that you will be more devoted to Christ. So, let's take in. Let's take in this last scene, Revelation, this morning. And really, it boils down to six characteristics.

I'll stay within the metaphor of the bride. Six characteristics of the bride. This is the metaphor for God's people that God, by his design, chose to use to relate to us his people. But she is splendid. She is beautiful, and so much so that even as Balaam, that false prophet, got a glimpse of God's glory, he made this statement: Let me die the death of the upright.

So splendid is the future for God's people, and a beautiful people they are. And I want you to see six characteristics of the bride this morning as we walk through this last scene, book of Revelation. First of all, she drinks from the water of life. She drinks from the water of life.

Look at verse 1. Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God. Angel pointed out a river. And then John described it. He described its appearance, and he described its source. It's a water of life. What is water of life?

Well, something essential for life. I believe he's looking at a physical river. But it's also emblematic of a spiritual supply, that which flows out from the throne of God and the Lamb. It's a physical river described, crystal, clear. Actually, the word for clear can also, and oftentimes, is translated as sparkling, glistening.

Glistening as crystal. And crystal, if you think about what crystals, some crystals, structure. It's like you can think about salt. Salt is a crystal. You can think about diamond. A diamond is a crystal structure. And you can think about snow, ice. So think about this as he's looking at this.

Think about all the light that's coming into the city. Think about, we've described all the materials. Everything in that city is designed to reflect the glory of God, reflect the light, his Jekina presence, his glory. It is radiant throughout. It sparkles, it glistens. So think about this river.

It's sparkling, it's radiant, it's clear that it's pure, unpolluted. That's because it comes from the source. The source is from the throne of God, God and the Lamb. And then, certainly, the implication that she drinks of it, because in Revelation 21 or 22, 17, you see the Spirit and the bride saying, Come, let the one who hears come, and let the one who is thirsty come.

Let the one who wishes take with the water of life without cost. It is the city's supply. It is from that which she drinks. And all in the book of life are part of this imagery, swept up in this bridal imagery and have access to the water of life.

Those in the book of life have access to the water of life. They are supplied both physically and spiritually from that which proceeds from God's throne. Now you remember from your studies in biblical anthropology, that's a big word, but your study of man as what, as the Bible declares man to be, man is a unity.

You and I aren't just body, and we're not just spirit. We are unity. We are body and soul. And We're not one or the other. So, in the future, we're not going to be disembodied spirits just floating around without a body. There is a physical supply that is going to be provided to give us physical life.

And that's going to flow from the throne of God, that pure water. But it's also emblematic of the spiritual supply, that which proceeds from the Father, the Spirit's work. So you think about the bride of Christ, bride of the Lamb here. They ingest that purest physical water, no impurities, to diminish their physical being.

They also ingest the purest spiritual water with no impurities of thoughts or impurities of spirit, inclinations, dispositions, or anything that would diminish union with God. And this accords very well with what has already been stated in chapter 21 and verse 3. Remember when John first sees the new heavens, new Jerusalem coming down?

It says, verse 3: Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and he will dwell among them, and they will be his. People and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will no longer be any death, no longer any mourning or crying.

First things have passed away. There will be no death, there is nothing leading to death, there is no diminishment of life, physical or spiritual, or in any sense. All of that is necessary for eternal life. And last verse of chapter 21, verse 27, notice it says, And nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination, lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life.

It's a place of pure environment and pure spirit. Union. Now, just as I think about this, you know, I've got a little background in water. I like to study water. That's what I did. And think about this. There's no sea in it. There's no sea in the new earth.

And you know what this implies? If you really give your thought to it, no hydrologic cycle. How do we get water now? That rain that dropped on us this morning made a long journey the ocean to get here. God in His wisdom has been able, He's able to evaporate and carry water right above our heads and transport it all over and drop it wherever.

Wants. It's an incredible system. But where there is no sea, there is no hydrologic cycle. But there's a need for water, a different water supply. So you see these abundant waters that come from this new city. They seem to be sufficient to water the whole new earth. So think about this.

Think about the prominence of this new city. He talks about how God's going to make the new Jerusalem a place of blessing. It's the source for light. There's no need for the sun. The nations are going to walk by its light. It's also the source of water. Paul will take note.

You're not going to miss this holy city. But another observation, just thinking about the water, it flows. Guess what that implies? Gravity. So it's not going to be just floating around out there. There's something that's very similar to the world we live in now, yet distinctly different, but relatable.

And this river takes our minds back to Eden. You remember going way back, Genesis chapter 2 and verse 10 says this: now a river flows. Flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it divided and became four rivers. Think about that for a moment. It's an underground river that comes into Eden.

It's like a massive Artesian spring just coming up out of Eden, and it becomes four rivers. That's a lot of water. You know, in Ezekiel 47, there is this temple. And Ezekiel sees a temple and he sees water coming out of the temple. And that water goes out of the temple and it goes down into the dead sea and it makes it alive.

Every place where that water goes, it becomes fresh. Listen to what it says, Ezekiel 47, verse 9. It will come about that every living creature which swarms in every place where the river goes, this is the river that he's speaking about coming out of the temple. Every place where the river goes will live, and there will be very many fish, for these waters go there, and the others become fresh.

So everything will live where the river goes. This river of life goes out from the temple. And as I said before, we're not in the millennium. Nor have we ever been in the millennium. No one has ever been fishing in the Dead Sea. You can go there today.

They're not fishing there. Ezekiel 47, it's very clear, is talking about something, but it's clear that it's not talking about the river we're seeing in chapter 22 of Revelation. How do I know that? How do we know that? There is no sea, there is no temple, but there are both in Ezekiel 47.

So, what we're looking at is something beyond that. But as a precursor, Ezekiel's temple, water comes out. Now, in the eternal state, it's no longer just bubbling up out of the ground like it did in Eden. It's not just coming out of the temple. The location is far more specific in our text this morning.

In Revelation 22, it comes from the throne of God. That's the source of this living water, water of life. It's the Spirit's supply. It depicts the ministry of the Spirit of God to sustain eternal life, both physically and emblematically, spiritually. Both are essential, and God's source, God's source.

Throne is the source for both. You can be sure you're looking upon a people as we look at this bride. The first characteristic is that she drinks from this water of life. This is her source, her source for her physical well-being and the source for her spiritual union and well-being.

I would love to take some moment and just go down a, go deep with this idea of the water of life, because it is very prominent in John's writings. It is one of the key elements in John's pneumatology, his understanding of the Spirit's work. But we'll suffice, maybe we'll do that on our revelations on Revelation night.

But it's clear: living water in John's ministry and in John's gospel depicts the ministry of the Holy Spirit and him. Certainly, his ministry and the work coming from the throne necessary for physical and spiritual life. Eternal life. Let's just leave it at that. Necessary for eternal life. Well, there's another characteristic of the bride.

Not only does she drink from the water of life, but she eats from the tree of life. Look back in verse 20, or look at verse 2. In the middle of its street, on either side of the river, was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month, and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

So, this woman is alive. Of course, this is a metaphor for the people of God. These people are alive. Not only do they are their names written in the book of life, and they drink from the water of life, but they also eat from the tree of life.

And that's where John's attention goes. He goes from the river to the tree. Then he describes its location. It's in the middle of this broad thoroughfare, this street. It's like in the middle of this thing, and we looked at it and looked at some of the dimensions of 1,500 miles, 1,500 miles, 1,500 miles.

Through the middle of that, you have this broad thoroughfare, something like a super-highway, very large. The Greek, it's just the broad, in the broad of the city, the broad thoroughfare. And notice that this tree of life is on both sides of the river. And it's so you get this idea there's probably many trees.

It would be like saying it like. You'd say it like this, that singular collective, like you would say, and the pecan tree was there, or the cashew, whatever. The walnut tree was there. By the way, I just heard a great joke. I thought I'd start a diet eating only pecans, cashews, and pistachios.

But then I decided, you know what? That's just nuts. Cut it out. Thank you for. I've been hearing all kinds of wonderful, good jokes lately, our guests. But you get the idea that the tree of life was there. It's a singular collective. It doesn't have to be just one tree, or maybe it is one tree with one root system, however you look at it, with one, but there's many.

They're on both sides. The point is access. Access is throughout this city. John talks about its fruit, 12 kinds, yielding every month. It seems to say that all 12 seem to yield every month. I mean, it could be maybe one fruit every month, 12 fruit, 12 months. But it could be 12 every month.

The point is, it's yielding every month. What is needed, it supplies. Now, just think for. A moment, just again, make an observation here: months. What do months imply? Time, yes, time, and in some way, like the way we measure time today, doesn't have to be an exact association, or but there's a parallel there, something we can relate.

Clearly, different, doesn't have the sun or no need of the sun, yet relatable. Also, notice the water's flowing. So, you have this, like you have the you have the river going down the middle, you've got like you've got the banks of the river on each, so picture this aisle right here, the river, and you can picture on this side the banks of the river, trees, all the people being trees.

Okay, think of you, owl tree, whatever, no, that's maybe too big. But anyway, then further out, you have the street, you have the street, so you have you have this big, broad streets on each side, and large, it's this major thoroughfare, and so you can imagine that you've got these trees access, and also just think about you've got this flow of water, and so it seems like it has to be a perfect flow, never too much, that would flood the whole thing, never too little, the hydrologist concerns.

About these things. Okay, who's regulating that flow there? Making sure. But it certainly implies gravity, but also a perfect flow. Whatever is necessary, that water of life to supply whatever is necessary to the tree of life that then goes to those who are written in the book of life.

There's no flooding, no drought. Notice he also talks about the leaves. The leaves are for healing. Continued care of the nations. The word for healing, and this has caused some to think, well, now we must be talking about the millennium. The problem with that is that it breaks the prophetic narrative, where this is going.

The word for healing here is the word for therapy, therapeutic that we get. The idea is continued care. And those who have come through and been part of this new heavens and the new earth, they are whole. There is nothing deficient. But these leaves are for the continued care, necessary, continued serving care of the nations.

And again, that's necessary for physical reality, the body, but also implicit. Of the soul, the eternal spiritual vitality and health and well-being, physically and spiritually supplied in this image. Think about the tree of life. Remember in Eden, not only was there a river flowing out of it, but in Genesis 2:9, it says, Out of the ground the Lord God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food.

The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden. But then what happened? Man sinned. And what did God do? He drove the man out so that he wouldn't take hold of the tree of life and live forever in his fallen state. And so he stationed an angel to guard the way to make sure that man wouldn't have access to it.

And now you remember what we saw in this city? Now we have something else. We have in verse 12 of 21, speaking of the city, it had a great high wall with 12 gates, and at the gates, 12 angels. 12 angels there. Ensuring, it's a sharp contrast to the angels that were, the angel that was stationed to keep man from the tree of life.

Now you have this city with access points, all and angels stationed, and they are providing these gates, providing access to the city and to the tree of life. And so it's in this final scene of heaven: the flesh and blood bride of the Lamb is seen having full access to the tree of life.

And the implication is, of course, she eats from it. And that's made clear in chapter 22, verse 14. Blessed are those who wash their clothes that they may have a right to the tree of life. Idea is eating, same in verse 19. The bride has everything she needs.

This is the people we're looking upon. Everything they need for eternal life with God. And this is in very sharp contrast to those who are in the lake of fire. Very sharp contrast. Those who served the beast, those who got caught up in the way of the world.

Very sharp contrast. And a good reason to stand firm and stay loyal to Christ. So again, I'd like to spend some more thoughts on the tree of life. But again, maybe under Revelations on Revelation, we'll look more into that. Third characteristic of the bride that I want you to see this morning: not only does she drink from the water of life, not only does she eat from the tree of life, but she is devoted to God.

As any loyal wife is devoted to her husband, so she is devoted to God. Notice verse 3: There will no longer be any curse in the throne of God, and the Lamb will be in it, and his bondservants will serve him. No curse. There's nothing that is accursed, is there.

There is no residual curse of God on any one thing in the new heavens and the new earth. That's the environment in which she lives in. Completely removed. And this is another reason why we know these things have not been fulfilled today. In fact, these things aren't even going to be fulfilled in the millennium.

That thousand years described in Revelation chapter 20, verses 1 through 6, where Satan is bound. Clear that we're not even talking about that, because the curse isn't entirely removed there. The curse isn't entirely removed until death itself is thrown into the lake of fire and the new Jerusalem descends.

Heaven. So think about this. Think about what's not there. There's no sea. There's no need for the sun. Doesn't say the sun isn't there, technically, but there's no need, so the sun would be superfluous. But no sun, no need for the sun, no sea, no need for the sun, no temple, no evil, no sin, no curse.

Logical connection, no evil. No evil, no sin, no sin, no curse. There is nothing to curse. I said, there's nothing left to curse. All conditions have changed. But notice, as we're looking upon how we will be in heaven, and yes, we will be among this number. It is coming.

One day you'll look back, and earth gone, and knowing the God who has given us so many blessings and fond memories of the past has nothing but good going forward to eternity. We will be there. But this is the depiction of humanity in this presence of God in heaven.

Their bonds. Servants. Look back. The throne of God and the Lamb will be in it, and his bondservants will serve him. The throne, God, the very place of God's physical and authoritative presence. And you can expect when in that presence, you can expect deference to his opinions, service to him, worship to him, all that is appropriate in that place, and that's exactly what they do.

They are bondservants and they serve him. They're referred to as slaves. Bondservants. They live in the presence of God. They delight being in the presence of God. They love to worship the God whom they are devoted to, like a loyal bride to the perfect husband. That's her. These are the people who delight in devoting themselves to God and everything that He desires because His desires are so over-the-top good and lovely and beautiful.

So, if that's how we're going to be, shouldn't we start looking like that now? That's who we are. That's where we go and see yourself. If you're in Christ, this is you. Your name's written in the book of life. You will drink from the water of life. You will have everything you need to sustain these.

Eternal life with God in his presence, joyfully forever. Guess what? He's with us today. Let us delight in him now. That is our destiny. Let us devote ourselves to him now. But this is her. He's devoted to God in every sense of the word, pure devotion. He's the perfect husband.

She's now the perfect bride. Beautiful union. It's important to note that such devotion and worship must come out of an intimate knowledge of God. And so, fourth characteristic of this bride is that, oops, got an old, sorry, didn't get the updated one. But anyway, it's fine. We'll go with that.

Let me just say this: she knows God. She knows God forth. Look back at verse 4. They will see his face. Why don't you guys, if you can update that, that would be great. Verse 4, that intimate knowledge of her being devoted to God comes out of an intimate.

Intimate knowledge of him. Being devoted to him comes out of intimate knowledge of him. Look at verse 4. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. So the bride here is described by who she sees and the name she bears.

Who does she see? Well, the occupants, heaven, they see his face. You see, to serve well, you must know well. If you're going to serve God well, you're going to be the perfect responder to who he is and what he has done, then you must know well. And so her knowledge of her husband is acute because she sees his face.

I think about after being married 30 years, Nancy can tell what I'm, many times she can tell what I'm thinking and feeling by my facial expressions or my lack of facial expressions. Look across the room. We can tell how one another is doing just because we know each other.

And think about this. They see his face. These people, this bride. This metaphor, these people of God see his face. And so she, they know how to respond. You see the lamb's face. And the lamb's face is the light and the knowledge of the glory of God and the face of Christ.

God and of the lamb. They see. You remember what happened in the garden, Genesis 3:8? Adam, after sinned, what do they do? They ran from the presence, same word, face of the Lord. They hid themselves from the face of the Lord. That's what spiritual death looks like. Running from God, what sin does, what death looks like, not wanting to see the presence, the face of God, and not able.

You remember in Exodus 33, 18, Moses says, Show me your glory to God. And God says, This, you cannot see my face, for no man can see me and live. Remember what John said. John 1:18, no one has seen God at any time, the only begotten God who is in the bosom.

Of the Father, he has explained him. Remember what John recorded when Jesus prayed in John 17:24, Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me be with me where I am, so they may see my glory. What is that glory? Very radiance of God unveiled. And so here, these people see the face of God.

Salvation's complete. A personal and intimate connection to the physical, spiritual presence of God. So she knows God. You can tell that because she sees his face. But also, you can see by the name she bears. Notice that. And his name will be on their foreheads. Like a bride who takes the name of her husband, this bride, plural, they, people of God, in this context, take on the name of God.

Take on the name of her husband. What is that name? Well, don't know. You know, in Revelation 19, 12, when Christ comes, And glory on his white horse. Revelation 19:12 says this: His eyes are a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written on him which no one knows except himself.

I think that will be the name. I think that's that name is not for always to be a mystery. We will know him in a new capacity, and such warrants a name change. Revelation 2:17 and 18 speaks of a new name being written on the faithful. We will receive new names.

And this is in stark contrast to those in Revelation 13:17 who have the name of the beast written upon foreheads for the number of his name. But his name, do you see the loyalty? To whom are you married? What spiritual entity are you in union with? Are you in union with Christ or one of the many spirits anti-Christ?

Well, characteristics of the bride. First of all, she drinks from the water of life. He eats from the tree of life. She is devoted to God. Fourth, she knows God. And fifth, she radiates his light. She radiates his light. Look back at verse five. And there will no longer be any night, and they will not have need of the light of a lamp, nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them, and they will reign forever and ever.

So, there's no sea, need for a sun, no temple, no evil, no sin, no curse, and no night. Now, this almost sounds redundant because if you looked at Revelation 21, 23, you can look back up there, and it says this: And the city has no need of the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the lamb.

You'd almost think there's something redundant happening here, but in Revelation 21, 23, the emphasis is upon the city. But here in 22, in verse 5, it's upon the people. They need no light of a lamp or a sun either. Why is that? Because the Lord God will illumine them.

The Lord God will shine upon them. And think about what's just been said. They will see his face. And guess what's going to happen as a result of seeing his face? They're going to radiate his light. They will be illumined by him and radiate his light. You remember Moses way back in Exodus 24 and 23 when he, the skin of his face, after being long in the presence of the Lord and receiving the commandments, his skin of his face shone.

And it scared people, and they had to put a veil over his face because the skin of his face shone. Well, this is what happens. The Lord will illumine them. They have no need. They become luminaries themselves as reflecting the glorious image of the face that she sees.

You remember Aaron's blessing, Numbers 6. Say it often, Numbers 6, 25. The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. And so here you have this last scene in Revelation: the people of God looking upon the face of God and God's face shining upon them, and they therefore radiate his light.

Sixth characteristic is that she reigns forever. Look at the end of verse 5. And they will reign forever and ever. The bride reigns with God and the Lamb forever. She has everything. Her name's in the book of life. She drinks from the water of life, eats from the tree of life.

She's completely devoted to God. She knows God intimately. She radiates his light. So, guess what? Of course, she is his bride. She is his people, or his, we should say that she is his people forever. They are his people forever. Christ doesn't divorce. God doesn't divorce his people.

It's interesting to note that this bride reigns with God and the Lamb forever. It's like the bookends of the Bible are now complete. Do you remember how this whole thing got started? Genesis 1:26. God gets this idea. Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

God's purpose. Is then realized. The end of Revelation 22:5, and they will reign forever and ever. See, God's purpose realized the bride will reign forever with her husband, using the metaphor: the people of God will reign forever with God, and this is in sharp contrast to those who serve, follow the beast, follow the prince of the air, those who follow the dictates of fallen man and the fleshly appetites to which they are drawn.

Sharp contrast. And this book is written to churches there in seven churches. They were facing all kinds of pressures, external and internal, to defect. And the exhortation is: stay loyal to Christ. Be faithful to Him. All of this will quickly come to pass. But it's that which remains forever.

You need to give your attention. He is King of kings. He is Lord of Lords. And so God, in order to encourage those churches, and every church since then has given us an image, a prophetic. Prophetic narrative of what's going to happen in days ahead. We know how it ends, and it's important for us to know how it ends because it has bearing on how we live today.

We can endure. We can endure anything knowing these truths because they are temporary. He is eternal. The work of the devil and all of his lies and all of his temptations have one thing in mind: the destruction of its host. That's where satanic influence goes. That's where it wants to take you.

Destruction. Satan hates God, and because he hates God, he hates the image-bearer of God. You'll never be anything but hated by Satan, and that's why he seeks to destroy you. Why? Because he hates God. You bear his image, and you cannot get away from that. And so, the call, the message to churches: be faithful to Christ.

Avoid all external pressures and internal temptations to compromise loyalty to Christ. Well, it's fitting that the last scene of Revelation. The last scene of the Bible is a picture of God's people. And a beautiful image it is. A virtuous people, a devoted people, a holy people belonging to God.

And this is just the beginning of the beauty, the wife of the Lamb. I wanted you to see all this this morning. God wanted us to look at this. Why? So that we would join ourselves to the Lamb. What made this woman so beautiful? It didn't come from herself.

Look at Revelation 22:14. Blessed are those who wash their robes so that they may have right to the tree of life and enter by its gates. Why are they clean? Why are they spotless? It's because of the work of the husband, because of the work of Christ. That is why this woman, this bride, the people of God, are so radiant and so beautiful, is because He has done this.

It is He who made her beautiful. By the way, there's an application to all of us husbands. Love your wives in such a way to make her beautiful. But far beyond that is this picture, picture of God making his people beautiful by the work of his spirit and applying the sacrifice of his son.

And all are invited to this. Are you not part of the bride today? You're invited. You're invited. Come. Spirit and the bride say, come. Verse 17. Let the one who hears say, Come. You're invited this morning. You're invited. You don't know Christ, you're invited to know him today.

Call out to him. Repent of your sins. Put your faith and trust in him. If you do, be devoted to him more. Be devoted. Cast your eyes upon him, for it is he who makes the bride beautiful. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word and the truth that looking upon you transforms us.

As we see your glory, we're transformed into that glory and raised. That glory. So, Father, we ask by your grace that you would let us see you, let us hear your voice, let us marvel at your wonderful ways, and let your ways transform us. Father, thank you for our time this morning.