January 23, 2023 – Monday
Revelation 22:17 NIV
17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.
Revelation 22:17 KJV
17 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.
Comments
The first thing I want to do is point out that this is nothing new from Jesus, for in John 7:37 we read, 37 On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. And earlier in Revelation 21:6, 6 He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life.
With those in mind, looking at 22:17, 17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life shows us intentional choosing of the action of coming. Or as the Pulpit Commentary puts it, “And let the one who hears say, “Come!” The Church in her corporate capacity welcomes her Lord; so, also, let each member in his individual capacity, who hears this “testimony” (ver. 16), be desirous of the advent of his Master. Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life. (see above 21:6 as well). Again the active participle indicates the voluntary nature of the action; though the living water be freely given without money and without price, it is not enforced upon any.” Anybody we share the gospel with has the choice of accepting it or refusing it and some will refuse. Paul in chains tried to convince King Agrippa and he refused – Acts 26:26-30.
It is amazing to me as I read through the gospels how the Pharisees and Sadducees always ignored not only the teachings of Jesus, but His miracles as well. Their hearts were full of pride and desire to maintain their positions of power no matter what so they ignored what their eyes saw and what their ears heard. They even refused to listen to their own prophets. When Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1:23, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, it should not have been a stumbling block as Isaiah 53 is all about Him, especially verse 5, 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.
Still, after Jesus’ death and resurrection and later ascension into heaven, some priests came to see the light as we are told in Acts 6:7 and chose to believe, 7 So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith. Then there is the wonderful blessing for all who followed who never saw a miracle or heard Jesus speak. When He spoke to Thomas who doubted His resurrection, 29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Bottom Line: We are blessed to be offered the opportunity to believe and never be thirsty again. We are blessed again because we have not seen, yet we believe.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, Thank You for such a blessing for believing what we have not seen, but believe nonetheless. – In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
RileyD, nwJ
Riley D. Driver – Pastor