It happens all the way through the Bible. Especially (I’ve noticed) in the Book of Revelation! Of all places, I might add. A Portion of Scripture that is normally considered harsh, full of judgment!
What happens, Preacher Bagwell?
An invitation from our Lord, an offer of the saving Grace of God!
Let me show you what I mean, today’s verse, Revelation 21:6. It is beautiful!
“And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.” Revelation 21:6
Here we have our Lord (Jesus Christ, God’s Son) talking to John the Disciple, while the latter is exiled on a small body of land known as “Patmos,” in the Aegean Sea. East of Greece but just off the west coast of what’s today called the nation of Turkey. “And he said unto me …” What sweet communion this must have been! (Yet I believe that in a sweet, definite way “He walks with me and talks with me” too! Via His Holy Spirit!)
The clause “It is done” translates a verb that 82 times in the New Testament means “to come to pass.” But, what things are “done?”
I believe this refers to the previous verse, studied yesterday and archived on the website here. “And he that sat upon the throne (again, this is Jesus) said, Behold, I make all things new.” Wow! Our great Creator has been at work again! Know what? Michael the Archangel can’t create! Nor can Gabriel! Even Einstein couldn’t (“Matter can be neither created nor destroyed!”)!
But Jesus can, “create!” Earth, Heaven, the eternal Capitol City! “All things,” really! All sin’s “fingerprints” are gone! Burned away, melted! Yes, Second Peter 3:10 will have been fulfilled, literally and completely! “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.”
Then the re-creation, “all things new.”
Back to today’s verse now. “And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.”
Jesus is “Alpha” and “Omega.” He has said this before, in both Revelation 1:8 and 1:11. And will say it again, Revelation 22:13. But what do these terms mean? Jesus immediately tells us, an appositive follows. The “beginning” and the “end,” the in Greek “arche” and the “telos.” And, as most of you know, “Alpha” is the first letter of the alphabet (in John’s culture) and “Omega” is the last letter! What a way to describe the Creator! We’ve just sped from Genesis to Revelation, folks, from the beginning to the consummation! He created thousands of years ago … and will so so yet again! Hallelujah!
But now the invitation, given because of Who Jesus is! Creator! Eternal God! Merciful Saviour! I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.”
Jesus, the Giver!
Because He died on the cross to forgive sins!
Only those who are “thirsty” need ask! Or perhaps only those who are thirsty will ask! Longing for the Water of Life! Remember John 4:11-14, Jesus at the well of Jacob, near the town of Sychar, talking to a Samaritan woman? “The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”
Jesus IS that Water of life!
And Jesus “gives” this “freely!”
The adverb “freely” is spelled “dorean” in Greek, meaning “undeservedly!” Once translated “without a cause,” John 15:25.
Yes, soul salvation is a Gift of God!
Listen to Paul the Apostle in Ephesians 2:8-9. This is classic! “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the GIFT OF GOD. Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
To which I can only say, “AMEN!”
May I today testify? The Lord Jesus Christ has freely given me that Water of Life! I spiritually thirst no more! If you’re reading here today and do not personally know Jesus … I strongly recommend him to you!
He is STILL saying: “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.”
— Dr. Mike Bagwell