Closing words of invitation: "Come."
We have closed our exposition of the plan of the book, so far as its Apocalyptic unfoldings of scenes yet to come are concerned. But we should deem our work incomplete if we did not, ere we lay down our pen, indicate in outline four homiletic studies suggested by the last six verses of this chapter, giving us as they do, a closing invitation, a closing warning, a closing aspiration, and a final benediction. First in order of these four comes the invitation. So far as the first "Come" is concerned, the word might be supposed to be the call of the Church to our Lord, entreating him to come and rule in righteousness. And so, in fact, some do regard it. But the wording of the second phrase seems to us to put such an interpretation on one side. For to him that heareth, it is said, "Catch up the sound and pass it on—'Come'!" So that it is evident that the first "Come" is addressed to the individual who is here exhorted to pass on the sound. For this reason we deem ourselves shut up to the specific interpretation we have here adopted. We, therefore, regard the verse as an invitation to every one to come and partake of those joys which are made over by Christ to all who will take them.
I. THERE ARE JOYS IN THE HOLY CITY WHICH ARE INFINITELY WORTHY OF ACCEPTANCE. The word "Come" naturally suggests the question, "To what?" or" To whom?" And if the clause stood alone, the answer would not unnaturally be, "To the Saviour," for he is the one Object to whom men are expected to come. But if we look at the close of this verse, we find it said, "Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely;" and when we read, "Let him that is athirst come," we find additional reason for supposing that the meaning of the word is, "Come to the water of life." And, so far, there is no reason for doubting the correctness of this. But, then, the next query is, "Where is this water of life?" And if we turn to Revelation 7:17; Revelation 21:6, Revelation 21:7; Revelation 22:1, we find that in heaven the blessed are seen beside the fountains of the water of life; so that, although it is true that even here Christ gives us the living water, that even here there is a river, the streams of which make glad the city of God, yet no one can study this book without seeing that there is in it a "tendency forward;" that there is a finger beckoning and a voice urging us onward to a holy city, "the New Jerusalem," of which it is said "the throne of God" is there, from which the living water is seen to flow, a pure, a crystal stream. All those who reach that city will drink thereof. And it is unquestionably with all this in view that the invitation is given. Yonder, at the end of the pilgrimage of the saints, is a land no foe can enter; there is this refreshing stream. Thousands have already reached that land, and thousands more are on the way; and the Holy Ghost, having thus set the land Beulah before our vision, will not let the apostolic seer close the book until, in the name of the Lord of the land, he has summoned our attention to it, and until, through him, "the Spirit and the bride" have said, "Come to that heavenly land, drink its living stream, and thus share its eternal joy."
II. THE JOYS OF THE HOLY CITY ARE FOR THOSE WHO WILL COME TO THEM. No one will get to heaven by chance. Nor is it by merely idling life away that we shall find ourselves there. For although the act of coming is all that is required, there must be that. This truth is one which, if analyzed into its several parts, may be put thus:
1. The eye of the soul must be fixed on this as the true goal of life. It wilt not do to have an aimless life. Life without aim is life without power. But what aim can be compared to this, of knowing God and enjoying him forever?
2. We must learn the rules by which life is to be regulated. These are two:
These are to be, not occasional acts, but the habits of a life. It is not by a rush and a leap, uncalculating and blind, that this heavenly home is to be attained, but by humbly and lovingly accepting all that Jesus says, and in his strength setting the face towards Zion.
3. This involves, evidently, coming to Jesus, who is the Lord and Leader of every pilgrim. This is imperative. The last step implies the first, and all that intervene. And whosoever comes to Jesus will at that moment take his first sip of the living water.
"Rivers of endless joys above,
And rills of comfort here below."
III. TO THESE HEAVENLY JOYS IN CHRIST WE ARE INVITED. The whole verse is an invitation. It is, indeed, a royal command. But whereas the commands of an earthly sovereign may be obeyed literally, yet with reluctance, here there are no unwilling responses. "Whosoever will, let him come." The form of invitation, however, takes for granted two things.
1. That the object to be ensured is one that is sufficiently attractive to make an invitation appropriate. And who can call this in question? Not even the stoutest unbelievers deny the attraction of the heavenly city and of the privileges of its citizens. The invitation assumes:
2. That, manifold as are the charms of the place, with its fountains of living water, God is willing to make over to the invited ones all its blessedness, wealth, and glory; provided always that men will come penitently, believingly, and lovingly, and accept all as a free gift from the heart of Infinite Love, out of the storehouse of his exhaustless wealth.
IV. THIS INVITATION IS THROWN INTO VARIED FORMS. These are four.
1. The Spirit saith, "Come." In three ways.
2. The bride saith, "Come." The bride is the Church.
3. Every one who heareth is to say," Come." Not one voice is to be mute. From the earliest to the latest, all who have responded to the call are to hand it on to others: "Come! come! come!" The student of the original will see an untranslated force in the verb "say"—even—"The Spirit and the bride are saying." The air is ringing with their voice, and every one who hears the sound is to add his voice to theirs. Then:
4. Jesus is the Leader of the mighty choir. This is seen when Revelation 22:16, Revelation 22:17 are put together. "I Jesus have sent mine angel," etc. Yea, it is as if a grandly perfect peal of bells were hung aloft, and as if our Saviour would have their chimes ever filling the air with the music, "Come! come! come!"
V. THE INVITATION IS SPECIFIC IN ITS FORM. "Let him that is athirst come" (cf. Isaiah 55:1). Thirsting spirits may be divided into two classes.
1. There are those who thirst, but know not for what. This was long the experience of Augustine. So it is of many now.
2. Some thirst, and do know for what. Even as David (Psalms 42:1).
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2. Every day the believer has to come afresh, to receive new life, freely; new strength, freely; more of God, freely. How great is the blessedness of thus living on "the water of life" day by day, getting it fresh every hour from One whose fulness no giving can diminish, whose giving no receiving can tire.
3. Thus living on free mercy while on earth, the like living on free mercy above will be heaven. The next state will be the continuity of this. Ah! we might live with music—the music of heaven—in our ears, if we were not so dulled with the sounds of earth. Every morning when we wake there is the Father ready to give us new blessing, freely. Every day, for the demands which new toil will make upon us, we may have new strength, freely. And so on till the last. And then—heaven, freely! Having lived on free grace below, we shall be well content and pleased, living on free grace, to take our place in heaven.
In conclusion? who would not respond at once to an invitation so rich, so large, and so divinely free? Would that, in our urging this, we could adequately represent the tenderness and love of our God! Let not our coldness repel thee, O thirsty one! Come now, and taste for yourself the sweetness of the living stream! What will your response be? We have given the invitation in Heaven's Name; and to him in whose Name we have spoken, you must reply.
Closing words of warning.
It would be deemed an unpardonable offence for an ambassador to add words to, or to subtract them from, any royal mandate which he was commissioned to deliverse And if any one in dispensing a physician's prescription, when the life or death of a patient trembled in the balance, were wantonly to tamper with it, what condemnation could be too severe? Yet we fear that the tendency of many in our day is to treat a message in this book far more lightly than they would any important official human document; and instead of sympathizing with the words before us, and adding their reverent "Amen," they would in all probability either condemn the severity of these words, or else pass them by as out of date and altogether effete. On this account we deem it needful, in approaching the close of our expositions, to look into these verses with special care. We will first inquire what additions to the book or subtractions from it we may suppose men to make, from what we know of human treatment of the Word of God. We propose then to see what is the threatening here denounced against such. Having done this, we will endeavour to ascertain reasons for a sentence so severe. Then we shall be prepared to see how this passage may help us in the formation of religious thought, and how it may bear practically on the life.
I. JUDGING FROM WHAT WE KNOW OF THE FACTS OF HISTORY, IN WHAT WAY MAY MEN BE SUPPOSED TO ADD TO OR TO SUBTRACT FROM THIS BOOK? The words of the text evidently embrace any kind of treatment of this Book of the Apocalypse which seemed to assume that a man was at liberty to take the book into his own hands, and to deal with it as he thought fit. Men do this:
1. If they put any merely human production alongside of it as if it were on a level therewith.
2. If they distort the book at pleasure to make it fit in with a preconceived theory about it; e.g. a preconceived and extreme theory of evolution is even now leading some to treat the old book most unfairly.
3. If they summarily reject the account which the book gives of itself, out of dislike to the supernatural, or from hostility to the principle of authority in religion.
4. If they make a human interpretation of the book of equal dignity or authority with the book itself.
5. If they deny and disown any of those great doctrines which are inwrought into the very texture of the book; e.g. the glory of Christ's Person; the meaning of his work; the reality of his administration; the freeness of his grace; the certainty of his victory. These and cognate doctrines pervade the entire Apocalypse, and to omit, ignore, deny, or condemn them, from wilful refusal to submit to Divine authority, would be to commit the sin which is here exposed to view. The words of the Apocalypse as a whole, and of these two verses in particular, are not human; they are Divine. We should hear a voice saying, "Take thy shoes from off thy feet; for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground."
II. WHAT IS THE THREATENING HERE UTTERED AGAINST THOSE WHO TAMPER WITH THE ROOK? The threatening assumes a positive or negative form according to the positive or negative form of the sin. In the one case it affirms that any actual and wilful ill treatment of, or adding to this book, will bring down the curse of God upon the guilty one's head. In the other case, it declares that any rebellious rejection of the divinely revealed doctrines of this book will incur rejection from God.
III. CAN WE DISCOVER REASONS FOR A SENTENCE SO SEVERE? Certainly we can: seven.
1. The book is Divine in its origin; it is, therefore, too sacred for human hands to mar. (For treatment of the question of the origin of this book, see our first homily in this section.) In Revelation 22:16 we have the explicit statement, "I Jesus have set mine angel," etc. In Revelation 22:18 we have the emphatic ΄αρτυρῶ ἐγὼ £ beginning the verse. It is not absolutely clear whether the speaker in the second ease is Jesus himself or his angel. If the latter, the angel testifies for Jesus. If the former, Jesus speaks for himself. Either way the testimony is divinely authorized, and therefore must ever be too sacred for the trifier's touch.
2. The book is a Divine manifesto to the Churches; therefore no others can have any right to touch it. It was given at first to those who loved our Lord, that they might keep and shield it. And any one professing to be an ambassador for God, who wilfully tampers with it, is false to his commission from the throne. What nation would bear with its sovereign's legate, if he were known to add, alter, or delete a word issued from the throne? He would be visited, and rightly, with penalties of terrible severity. Is God's sanction to be less stern?
3. The book is a disclosure of the future; and no one can possibly be competent to alter a single word of his who sees the end from the beginning. To disclose in a succession of parabolic or symbolic settings the future scenes which are to appear, and that in their order, is a task to which none but God himself can possibly be equal. Therefore the visions must remain untouched.
4. The book is a declaration of doctrine—of doctrines on which souls live and grow and thrive; and therefore it is a very serious thing to meddle therewith. By contrary teaching, men may be led astray and ruined for time and for eternity. If there be a reservoir which supplies a town with water, or a well springing up in a barren land, the only one from which a traveller could drink, what curses would be—yea, ought to be—pronounced against him who should poison either the one or the other? Is it a less serious thing to poison the wells from whence the living water is drawn?
5. The book abounds in words of consolation; of the supports of which men may not be deprived. Few books in the Word of God are richer in consolation than this closing one; and who can estimate the guilt of depriving millions of souls of the words of solace uttered from the eternal throne? To strike a thousand men at once with paralysis would be nothing to such a crime as this!
6. The attempt to substitute human words for the Divine is unspeakably rash. For our part, we have ever felt that it would be a sheer impertinence if we were to take it upon ourselves to guide men through this life to the life to come, if we had not a "Thus saith the Lord" forevery direction we gave. But if, when the Lord has spoken, any man deliberately substitutes words of his own, this is an action which no words of ours can adequately characterize.
7. There is desperate wickedness in that disloyalty and rebellion which would play fast and loose with the words of this book. We may not lose sight of the fact that this censure is here pronounced, not merely because of an evil act, but on account of the wickedness of heart which can consent to an act so evil. Any one who can deliberately handle the Word of God deceitfully commits a crime in sacred things, which society would absolutely refuse to tolerate in the common affairs of life. What place could such a one possibly find in the holy city? So far, then, from thinking the sentence even seemingly severe, we deem it one of the clearest proofs of Divine kindness and care that he has thrown the guard of so solemn a sanction around words which are meant for our guidance through this life to that which is to come. For the fact is that God's severity to the trifler is the outcome of his care for us all.
IV. LET US SEE WHAT BEARING THIS PASSAGE HAS ON THE FORMATION OF THOUGHT AND ON THE DIRECTION OF LIFE.
1. It should lead us to admire the wonderful concern of God for our guidance and safety in thus guarding for us his own message of love. We ought not for a moment to forget that for our sakes these words were written; for our sakes they have been preserved till now through fire and flood, and all the vicissitudes of earth. We can quite imagine a man under the influence of unbelief or hostility, taking fire at such a passage as this, deeming it a flash of fiery wrath directed against himself. But in so doing he would totally misapprehend the words. They are fraught with terror only to those who wilfully pervert them. And we have no hesitation in saying that menace to such is mercy to the rest. Is it no safeguard to the people to be told that the enemy shall not be permitted with impunity to poison the wells of living water? Whoever robs a people of their dearest treasure will have to smart for it. God's goodness to us ensures that.
2. The words should lead us to admire and adore the far seeingness of the great Inspirer in inditing such words as these. For who does not know that one "Church," at any rate, has heaped words on words, and added them to the faith, to be accepted under pain and penalty of "anathema sit"?
And not content with this, but as if in order to prevent the discovery of her own fraud, she debars the people at large from free access to the book which would expose it, which is at once the charter of the people's freedom from man, and defines the extent and the limits of the "true sayings of God."
3. The words which are so stern a guard around the Book of the Apocalypse do also apply with equal force to whatsoever writings stand on an equal footing of Divine authority (cf. Deuteronomy 4:1-24; Jeremiah 18:16, ad fin.; Galatians 1:6-9; Matthew 15:9). Hence we should learn
4. The words before us show how an expositor of the holy book is to treat it in his teachings to the people. His task is at once grand in its simplicity, yet awful in its responsibility. He has, by every possible means,
5. We here see also how the people are to regard an expositor of God's Word, viz. as one whose work is to teach them, not his own thoughts, but the thoughts of God; and they are ever at liberty to appeal from the human speaker to the book. They must not be pulpit Christians, but Bible Christians.
6. Finally, we learn with what state of mind we ought to study the book in which is contained what the Lord hath spoken. There should be humility, readiness of mind to hear what God the Lord will speak, and also unswerving loyalty to the God of truth in every point in which we see the truth of God (1 Peter 2:1, 1 Peter 2:2). And in practical obedience to what the Lord teaches us in his Word, we shall come to know its glory as our truest guide, and our glory in having such a guide.