"Even So, Come, Lord Jesus.”

John prayed for the return of the Lord!

Illus: When we think of the return of the Lord Jesus, we can not help thinking of the game children often play. This game is “Hide and Seek.” The children choose a place to be a “base” and then one child closes his eyes and counts to one hundred. The other children go and hide before the count is completed. The one who is IT, who counts, must cry out, “READY OR NOT; HERE I COME,’ then he tries to find the children, one by one, and beat them to the “base” before they get there and touch it without being seen.

According to God’s Word, He is going to say something like that one day, perhaps very soon! He is going to say, “Ready or not; here I come!”

Amos 4:12, tells us the purpose of life is to get ready to meet the Lord. He has told us, this way, “...prepare to meet thy God...” A lot of folks are preparing for a lot of things, but sadly, they are not preparing to meet the Lord.

In Revelation 22, John was not only prepared for Christ’s coming, He was praying that Christ would return. Before we get into that prayer, please notice that three times this chapter talks about the return of Christ for His saints!

Let’s look at these verses and look at THREE things.

(1) Look at verse 7. We see PROPHECY WITH A PROMISE. He said, “Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.”

(2) Look at verse 12. We see PROPHECY WITH A PRIZE. We are not only told that He is going to COME, but HOW He is to come.

Notice, He said, “Behold, I come quickly...” That word “quickly” refers to three things:

(a.) It refers to the events of prophecy that will occur before Christ’s return.

(b.) It refers to God’s calendar. One day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as but one day with the Lord. Whereas we may think it has been a long time since Christ was here on earth, according to God’s calendar it has only been a couple of days.

(c.) It refers to the rapture of the church that will take place in the twinkling of an eye. When the Lord comes back, people will not have time to get on their knees and repent.

Illus: I am sure everyone here knows what it was like when you were a child and your parents gave you chores to do by a certain time. Some of you goofed off and played around until you looked at the clock and it dawned on you that time was running out. Immediately you buckled down and got the chores done in just the nick of time.

Listen beloved, if anyone plans to play around in sin and then thinks he will have time to fall on his knees and get right with God when the trumpet sounds; he is in for a rude awakening. Why? Because, before your knees ever hit the carpet, the rapture will be all over with.

Verse 12 says it is going to happen “quickly.” Also, notice that verse 12 tells us something else. It tells us that when Christ returns for His church, “and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.”

A lot of people are going to be surprised when they get to heaven.

Illus: Their concept of what they will receive in heaven seems to be a bit like the experience of some children each year when it gets close to the Christmas season. Their parents tell them, “You had better be good. If you are not good, Santa Claus is not going to bring you anything!” Those children can be as mean as snakes, yet on Christmas morning they receive so many toys you can hardly walk through the house without stumbling over them.

Listen, God, the Father, is not that way! The Lord said that when He returns for His church His reward will be with Him, “...to give every man according AS HIS WORK SHALL BE.”

We are saved by God’s grace, but if we, who are saved by His grace, do not have any WORKS, we will not have any REWARDS! You can count on that!

We see PROPHECY WITH A PROMISE and also see PROPHECY WITH A PRIZE. But notice something else we see in these verses.

(3) Look at verse 20. We see PROPHECY WITH A PRAYER. John prayed, “He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”

Listen, probably one of the most revealing things about people is their prayers. That is, we can listen to people pray and learn a lot about them. For example,