Listen:  128.6

Let’s read Revelation 22:16-17, “I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. 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.”

In Revelation 22:16, the Lord confirms to the Apostle John (and us) that He sent His angel with the message of Revelation.  He then identifies Himself in a couple of remarkable terms.  First, He says that He is the ‘root and the offspring of David.”  That means that He came from David and that David came from Him?  How could that be?  How is Jesus both the root and the offspring of David?  Quite simply, as to His humanity, Jesus is David’s descendant.  As to His deity, Jesus is David’s creator.  Jesus spoke of the mystery being David’s son, yet David’s Lord in Matthew 22:42-46where He asked, “…What think ye of Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The Son of David. He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool? If David then call him Lord, how is he his son? And no man was able to answer him a word…”

Then, the Lord calls Himself “the bright and morning star.”  It is the bright and morning star that ushers in a new day.  Christ has ushered in the day of grace in the beginning of this dispensation when He came and gave Himself for His church as we read in Ephesians 5:25, “…Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it.”  Christ shall also usher in the day where ‘righteousness shall reign’ when He comes again to the earth to establish His kingdom.

As soon as this announcement is made from the Glory, there is a reaction from the earth. Hearing Christ say that he would come quickly in Revelation 22:7 and 12, the Spirit and the bride express their earnest request that the Lord should come.  The word ‘come’ is used three times in verse 17.  The Holy Spirit of God, who has been here since the day of Pentecost, indwelling each believer, joins His voice with the Bride saying ‘Come.’  Who is the bride?  Who is this bride of Christ?  It is the church, comprised of every believer since the Day of Pentecost.  The Apostle Paul writes to the church in 2 Corinthians 11:2saying, “For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.” 

My dear friend, if you have trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior, then you are part of His church, His bride.   Both the Spirit and the Bride desire the return of the Lord Jesus.  The invitation is given for all the Lord’s people to join their voices and hearts and say, ‘Come’.  Then, for the last time in the scriptures, the invitation for salvation goes forth.  “And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.”  How gracious is our God that He accepts ‘whosoever’.  John 3:16 tells us, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  There is another ‘whosoever’ that you do not want to be a part of.  Revelation 20:15says, “And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”  I plead with you today, accept the Lord Jesus as your savior and become a part of the ‘whosoever’ of John 3:16, and not a part of the ‘whosoever’ of Revelation 20:15.  (128.6)