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“And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” (Revelation 22:17) You cannot help but deeply appreciate the beckoning and imploring tone of our Lord herein.

It is the last promise and tender in the Scriptures.

The verse constitutes an integral part of the final conclusion of not only the Book of Revelation but the whole of the Bible. Therein you see the heart of God made bare and open to all. Prophecy may not be easy to comprehend, especially that of Revelation.

Many of the intricate predictions, patterns and judgements therein may take time to sink in.

The unfolding of the counsel of God’s eternal will in the final phase of history magnifies the infinite wisdom, omnipotence and absolute justice of Almighty God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The final prophecy and last Book of the Scriptures declares to us that our Lord will coast home as the undisputed and all conquering winner in the home stretch, even in the conclusion of world history.

In the wake of this final spurt, our Lord will leave behind all His enemies routed, devastated and completely destroyed. Would you be among those that end up “in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death”? (Revelation 21:8b) “The fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars” shall have their part therein! (Revelation 21:8a) Consider the perennial shrieking, screaming, plight and gnashing of teeth of those who are barred from entering heaven, and rather are consigned to the most dreaded, most awful, most injurious, most excruciating place ever imaginable. And to think that those who are dispatched there will be there for an endless span, without pardon, without mitigation, without clemency, without pity of any sort, without mercy and without compassion. Some of you are nearly there.

The gaping jaws of hell are waiting for your arrival. Currently your hearts may be filled with wretchedness, misery, bitterness and desolation. You are feeding on the husks meant for the swine. You are now engaged in a life of pleasure and leisure. You are keeping company with those who do not acknowledge the preciousness of our Lord Jesus Christ. You are wasting your substance and resources. You are wielding a testimony that will cause others to blaspheme the Gospel and the church.

The wicked cohorts of the evil trinity are hovering around and defiling you. “For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together” (Matthew 24:28). You allow the corrupting and unclean spirits to molest and caress your soul. You procrastinate your repentance and returning. You prefer to linger and loiter longer to wallow in the mire of this world. You think you have yet to milk out the best the world has to offer, not knowing all the promises and prospects of this world are vexation and vanity. You are being deceived by this world; you are being deluded by Satan, that wily serpent. You are on the road to everlasting damnation.

This is the final opportunity for you to get off the bandwagon headed for perdition. Yea, the entire world seems to be clamouring thereat.

It is not unlike Noah’s days. “Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous… the way of the ungodly shall perish”(Psalm 1: 5,6b).

It is the mainstream, as far as the world is concerned, yet it is the road that leads to eternal death, as God deems it.

It is the route that should be avoided at all costs.

There are some of you who think that it may be too late. You have hardened your hearts too much despite the merciful visitations and gracious dealings of God towards your soul.

There are others who may be in deep despair.

These may be buffeted by nagging doubts owing to such doctrines as that of the election, the sovereignty of God and predestination.

It is to such ones that our Lord is particularly addressing here. Yea, the true bride comprises those who have the marks of the truly regenerated and these will surely and naturally say,“Come”.

This is their impassionate call directed towards our Lord Jesus Christ. He is their blessed Bridegroom and their beloved Head. He is very precious to them. He is to them the unspeakable Gift of God. He is their benign King, the condoling and succouring great High Priest and their condescending and patient Prophet. He is their all in all. He is the vesture of their righteousness and the attire of their glory.

Wherefore they are disposed to say,“Come” because it is the bursting desire issuing from their bosoms. Why does the Scriptures say“the Spirit and the bride”? What is the bride without the indwelling of the blessed third Person of the Godhead? He is the true strength and power of the bride.

The two entities are inseparable. What is the bride without her bridal gown?

Those who can testify of the spiritual unity to like-minded brethren and manifest the characteristics of the aforementioned are those who are of the inner court of the temple (Revelation 11:1).

It is the indwelling Spirit of God that perpetually keeps them faithful to the Incarnate Word and the Written Word.

It is impossible to separate the Spirit of God and the true bride. However, there are certain of you who attend the means of grace, yea, even for a long time and yet realize with much despair that you cannot befit the description of the latter. If you have been hearing the prophecies and messages of Christ, especially from Revelation, here is an invitation to you from Christ Himself. He is encouraging you to say“Come” also. Mean it as much as you can! Leave the rest to God.

It is like the cry of the desperate father “Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief”(Mark 9:24b). You may not be naturally disposed to say “Come”. Still if you have heard and are convinced, though not yet convicted, because conviction is the work of the Spirit of God, then Christ Jesus would urge you to evoke all your affections and bowels and faculties to act rightly, responsibly and in conformity to the Word of God. “And let him that is athirst come”. If you do feel void, vexed, desolate, and frustrated at the way you live and you desperately seek for a change, then take it that this portion is meant for you. You have realized that you have played the prodigal and profligate for too long. Like Lot you are buffeted daily in an ambience that you would do anything to be extricated from. You long to be with Abraham in the plains of Mamre. You like to borrow the words of the Psalmist,“O God, Thou art my God; early will I seek Thee: my soul thirsteth for Thee, my flesh longeth for Thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is” (Psalm 63:1). You crave for the forgiveness of all your sins and iniquities and you long much for the blessed experience that follows thereafter.”Thou art my hiding place; Thou shalt preserve me from trouble; Thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with Mine eye”(Psalm 32:7,8). You would like God to “purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which Thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide Thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities” (Psalm 51:7-9). Let such as these come and drink. Let those who are athirst come and quench their parchness and satiate their longing. Let arid and dry souls come quickly. Let those who have inward spiritual cravings and holy appetites come to the Fountain of the water of life that will never disappoint them. “And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Revelation 22:17b).

This is a further elaboration and explanation of the earlier sentence.

Our Lord is very condescending. He is attempting to dispel any nagging doubt or confusion that you may still harbour. He would have those prohibitions that bar you from coming be removed.

It is all in your mind, these stratagems and strongholds of unbelief that continually make objections, impediments and qualifications against the gracious invitation and loving overture of Christ. Behold Christ’s outstretched hands. Behold the palms of His hands, for they bear the marks of the crucifixion He had suffered as a proof of His unspeakable love. And now with those palms He beckons you to come nigh to Him and to move away from the dung and excretion of this world. “Whosoever will”: would any dare deny the absolute sweep of His offer?

We all do affirm the doctrine of the bondage of the will.

But the issue today is, are you volitionally ready to respond even by advancing towards, drawing nigh and arriving at Christ’s presence? Are you made willing in the day of His power (Psalm 110:3a)? Would you desperately have Christ deliver you from the bondage? If you come to Christ Jesus today; or rather if you come to the place where you can find a felt sense of His sweet presence; whether it be your closet or in the midst where the Word of God is honoured or where Christ is given the pre-eminence; if you come contritely and brokenly, if you come as you are, naked and without any mitigation and plea, convinced as a sinner, then our text asserts that you are very welcome to draw nigh to this ambience where the presence of Christ is. Then the Spirit of God may well quicken you and the Word of God may come alive in your soul. Then preaching, the Holy Scriptures, the place of prayer, the Psalter, the promises of God and the fellowship with like-minded brethren will become things so precious and cherished. They will be prized and treasured in your hearts.

These bouts of spiritual encounters and communions are rare and hard to come by! They alone can gratify and satisfy your soul in this world, which all too often seems a place of protracted drought and a heap of smouldering debris. Such spiritually refreshing and replenishing experiences of faith are like an oasis in a wide swathe of barren tracts. They are waters breaking out in the wilderness and the streams in the deserts (Isaiah 35:6b).

Our Lord cried out in the days of His flesh,“If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water”(John 7:37b,38). Let those wonderful words of our blessed Lord echo again and again in the corridors of your soul.

Christ Jesus is the Fountain of living water. Whosoever comes to Him and drinks of this water will have the excruciating parchness quenched and the debilitating pangs of his soul healed.

These waters would slake and gratify your soul. Are we as yet convicted all the creature comforts cannot pacify and satiate the desires and demands of the innermost recesses of our being?

It is like those who hasten to the wells, creeks and rivers in sultry seasons.

It is like the hart that “panteth after the water brooks”(Psalm 42: Ia).

It is when we have the deep sense of how frustrating this creature life is that we run to Christ for eternal life.

It is then that we realise only the living waters can assuage and mollify our uttermost needs. Little wonder the prophet averred concerning those who would come,“Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation” (Isaiah 12:3).

It is like the patriarchs Abraham and Isaac who were constantly digging and finding for wells in the days of their sojourn.

We too like them should be looking frantically for our “Rehoboths”(Genesis 26:22b). To further encourage and comfort you to come just as you are, our Lord adds “freely”.

It reminds us of what Isaiah the prophet had published when he summoned us,“Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money” (Isaiah 55:1a). Your task today is to come quickly to Christ Who promises,“If thou knewest the Gift of God… thou wouldest have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water… whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him… shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life”(John 4:10b,14a, b).

There is no qualifications; no requisites; no rules; no litany of criteria to fulfil; it is entirely unconditional.

The second advent of Christ is at hand.

It is imminent and impending. You may feel you are unprepared. You have messed up your lives. Your soul is in chaos and mayhem. You are altogether nigh unto destroying yourself.

While others have surged ahead on the road to salvation you have been shackled and fettered in the bondage of your lusts and sins and the power of Satan. Yet Christ Jesus, Who would not break a bruised reed nor quench a smoking flax (Isaiah 42:3, Matthew 12:20)would have you deliver yourself and come to Him absolutely unconditionally. He would heal and satisfy your soul. What a priceless blessedness and that without any cost! Here in the peroration of the Scriptures and the final prophecy, you have a compassionate gesture from the Lord Jesus Christ beckoning you to come to Him for the eternal salvation of your soul.

It is offered to one and all:“whosoever will’.

It is not for you to debate and analyze how the Spirit of God moves and works (Ecclesiastes 11:5).

It is not for you to infer and deduce the personal implications and pastoral corollaries of the doctrines of sovereignty and election and predestination. Let the scribes of the day indulge in that.

It is for you to repent and respond quickly to His gracious overture. Do not spurn His loving offer! Wherefore, my dear brethren and friends, come quickly, come truly and drink the water of life freely from Christ the Saviour until your soul is gratified. Amen and Shalom,