Come to Jesus (Revelation 22:17)

It is possible that the first half of verse 17 is a call to Jesus, urging him to come as a response to his statement in verse 12 that he is coming soon. Yet I would suggest that the use of the verb ‘come’ in the second half of verse 17 indicates that it is coming to Jesus by sinners that is in focus here.

The use of the word ‘come’ obviously points to an invitation. Yet there is also an urgency in it, expecting an immediate response. It is the kind of word that requires an additional explanation if it is not immediate. So the various uses of the word in our text have this sense of immediacy about it.

We may ask why there is this sense of immediacy? What is so important that causes it to be necessary to have such a response? The answer to this question is that we have to come Jesus now because he offers salvation whereas if we don’t come to Jesus we will experience what he describes in verse 12.

There is a threefold unity here in those who are calling come. One of them is a divine Pers0n – the Holy Spirit, the second is a very large group – the Bride, and the third is an individual – the Hearer. All of them, whether together or individually, share the same message. So heaven and earth unite, as it were, to proclaim the gospel invitation to sinners. 

We can also ask, Who is speaking in this verse? Given that Jesus is the speaker in verse 16, describing himself, and in verse 18 where he warns of serious judgement, it looks that he is the speaker in verse 17, giving a wonderful invitation to any who read his words or listen to him.

The call of the Spirit

John informs his readers that the Holy Spirit has a message for them. We know that in a real sense the Spirit is the author of the Bible. So here he is at the end of the Bible account with this urgent message. Sometimes an interviewer will ask an author what the message of his book is and how he would like people to respond to it. Here we have what the Holy Spirit wants his readers to do. He wants them to come to Jesus individually for salvation.

The Spirit gives this invitation as one who knows the heart of God perfectly. He is aware what the Father and the Son think about this matter and what they want to happen to sinners. We can regard the Holy Spirit here as the spokesman for the Trinity and he informs us that the Father and the Son, as well as himself, want us to come to Jesus for salvation.

Further, the Spirit gives this invitation as one who has had this offer refused millions of times. He has given this invitation repeatedly down the centuries to countless numbers of people. Some of them received the invitation only once whereas others received it innumerable times. Yet although he has been refused so often, he still comes again and invites us to come to Jesus for salvation.

Moreover, the Spirit gives this invitation even although those to whom it is given have grieved the heart of God. Remember how God’s response to the wickedness practised before the flood is described. Moses tells us in the Book of Genesis that God was grieved that he had made man because of the sins they were doing and thinking. Yet once again, the invitation comes to us from the author of the Bible who knows the heart of God and gives it to us even although we have rejected it previously many times.

The Call of the Bride

Here we have a description of the people of God. They are described as those who have a relationship of love with the Saviour, Jesus Christ. Why do they love him? They love him with a responsive love because he first loved them. In the gospel they heard about the sweet story of the Saviour’s love, how he came from the world of glory in order to deliver sinners from the state of sin and from facing judgement that they deserved. As they reflected on what Jesus did, they found their hearts warming to the Saviour and eventually they embraced him. Of course, ‘eventually’ can mean five minutes or five hours or five days.

The love of the Bride is a grateful love. We have all heard the love of Jesus illustrated by the story of a noble prince who loves a pauper and makes her a queen. We can imagine how the lowly girl felt at the amazing kindness of her Lover. She would be full of gratitude at the expressions of love that she discovered and of the efforts made by the Lover to find her and exalt her. Yet what is such an experience in comparison with what Jesus can do for sinners. He gives to them his salvation, which basically means all that he has for them – forgiveness, a great future and fellowship with him along the way through life.

The love of the Bride is also a generous love because, unlike other brides, she wants others to share her Husband and come to experience this love for themselves. She knows that his love extends far beyond what this life can give. We can say that she uses the language of Moses to Hobab long ago when he said, ‘Come with us, and we will do you good because the Lord has spoken good concerning Israel.’ She knows that her Bridegroom is going to give heaven to her and her response is that she wants as many as possible to have that amazing future experience. Therefore, she says to others, ‘Come.’

We can also say that the love of the Bride is a glad love. She is not inviting others into an experience that is only a theory to her. She has tasted in her heart the sweetness of the love of her Husband and she knows that others would find it to be the same if they were to taste it. At times, her experience of Jesus gives her such joy that words cannot describe. But she knows that even her strongest experience is only a fraction of what she will have on the other side. And because she is so glad, she invites others to come.

The Call of the Hearer

Earlier we mentioned the fact that the word ‘come’ usually carries the idea of immediacy, and we can see that is the case in the third person that participates in the process of giving a call. Here is an individual who has just heard the invitation and we can see his response in the fact that he is now urging others to come. No doubt there are many features that could be said about his coming to Jesus. One of them is that his respond is marked by freshness. So what will a fresh response to the invitation look like?

Such a person would have come to Jesus penitently. By this we mean that his coming is marked by repentance, the emotional and intellectual awareness that he has sinned against the good God of heaven. Repentance includes sorrow for sin and a determination to forsake it. But it is an expression of love. It is more like the regret that a husband or wife says to their spouse than the regret we might say to a policeman when we have been caught.

Moreover, such a person will come to Jesus expectantly. He will have heard some of the amazing promises of God connected to what salvation includes. The first one in estimation may be that of full forgiveness, and there are many more. A new Christian looks at them with a sense of wonder as well as love.

The invitation to come

The verse now takes a turn and describes the kind of people who can come. The first type described are the thirsty. A person is thirsty if he has not drunk the right liquid, usually water. He may be thirsty even if he has tried other all alternatives or he may be thirsty because he has tried any of the alternatives. What makes a person thirsty in a spiritual sense is a failure to drink the water of life, that is the salvation supplied by God through Jesus. Some people try all kinds of alternatives and discover after a while that they do not bring a sense of satisfaction to the heart. Others, perhaps from a church background don’t try those things, but they also discover eventually that such a lifestyle brings no joy or peace. With both kinds of people, they become aware of the cause of their thirst by the teaching of the Holy Spirit. So if you are aware of your sense of thirst, you are invited to come to Jesus.

The second type of person is one who simply wants the water of life. He may not be able to give a reason why he wants it, yet the fact that he wants it can be evidence that the Holy Spirit has been working secretly in his heart. So if that describes you, you are invited to come to Jesus.

How are such meant to come to Jesus? It means to speak to him, to express your longing for what he has to offer, to try and see if he keeps his promises, to depend upon him, to ask for his help, to focus on him and what he did.