Lanse Evangelical Free Church
December 28, 2025 :: Revelation 22:20
“Come, Lord Jesus!”
That’s the very last prayer in the Bible.
It’s in the last book of the Bible. It’s on the last page, in the last paragraph, in the second-to-last verse. And we’re studying it on the last Sunday of 2025.
“Come, Lord Jesus!”
Have you ever prayed that prayer?
I think it’s a good one for us all to learn to pray and pray often. It only has three words, and I want to focus on each one in turn.
#1. COME!
You may have already noticed that this fits with our theme for Advent this year.
We’ve been focusing on this banger of a Christmas carol written by Pastor Charles Wesley 250 years ago, “Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus.” It was on everybody’s Spotify Wrapped in 1775.
We just sang it together. I love that little part where we go, “Dear Desire of ev’ry na-ai-ai-tion. Joy of ev’ry longing heart.”
That song is also a prayer. To Jesus, for Jesus to come.
That means, of course, that Jesus has not yet come.
Not again. He came once. That was what we celebrated on Thursday, the first coming of our Lord Jesus. He was born. “Born His people to deliver. Born a child and a yet a king.”
But we Christians believe that after His birth, after His life and death and resurrection, Jesus ascended to heaven to sit at the right hand of the Majesty on High. The Son of Man ascended to the Ancient of Days. The Son of God went home to be with His Father (and our Father).
So He’s not here right now. Not like He was. But He promised to come again.
On the night before the Cross, Jesus comforted His followers by saying, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” (John 14:1-3).
And that’s not the only place where He promised to return. He promised it many many times in the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), and He promised it right here in this last chapter of the Bible in the Revelation that God gave to His servant John exiled on the island of Patmos. Jesus speaks, and John quotes Him in this chapter, chapter 22, verse 7 and verse 12 and right here in verse 20...
“He who testifies to these things says, ‘Yes, I am coming soon.’”
That’s Jesus. He promises to return.
So, here’s a big question that comes up again and again:
When is Jesus going to return?
“Soon,” He says in verse 20. And that’s all we’re told. That word “soon” could be translated, “quickly,” so that when it happens, it will be all of sudden. Everything will unfold rapidly in short order.
When is Jesus going to return?
We’ve learned this year to say, “I don’t know. And...that’s okay.”
This year we’ve been focusing a lot on the return of Jesus Christ. We’ve studied the Book of Daniel together and the Letters to the Church of the Thessalonians. And the coming of King Jesus has been a key subject for our church family all year long.
And along the way, we’ve learned that the Bible emphasizes that it’s going to happen not when it’s going to happen.
And it’s better that we do not know when. That’s how He wants it. He doesn’t want us to know when. He wants us to be ready and stay ready all the time. Even if it’s a long time. A long-expected Jesus.
He wants us to wait.
And while wait, we pray, “Come, Lord Jesus!”
Now, remember, that’s a prayer. That is not a command. We don’t tell Jesus what to do. Jesus tells us what to do. He is Lord. We are not.
This is not like you calling your dog in from the cold. “Hey! Lord Jesus, come. Get over here."
No. This is a prayer, a request that, in the Lord’s perfect timing, He would keep His perfect promise to come.
“Please, Lord, come.”
This prayer here is in Greek, but the Bible also has a similar prayer in 1 Corinthians 16:22 in the language of Aramaic. “Marana tha” which means in English, “Come, Lord!” Maybe you’ve seen that word before, “Maranatha?” It is this prayer, “Come, Lord!” The Bible says that the church is to pray that prayer while we wait.
In verse 17, John the Revelator says that it’s the prayer of the Holy Spirit and the Bride of Christ. Verse 17.
“The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’”
Now, it’s possible that this is the Spirit and the bride inviting other people to come to trust in Jesus. That’s the point of the second half of the verse. It’s an invitation. It says, “Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life” (cf. Isa 55:1, Jn 7:37).
We just sang about that in the song Cody led, “Let living water satisfy the thirsty without price” (“All Glory Be to Christ,” Dustin Kensrue).
Salvation is free.
Salvation is by grace.
Salvation is satisfying our deepest thirst.
Jesus is the "joy of every longing heart."
And we are all invited to drink of Him.
That’s true!
But I hear longing in the first part of verse 17. I hear the Holy Spirit praying through the Church (the holy Bride of Christ) for the Lord Jesus Christ fulfill His promise to come.
And I hear an invitation for any and all of us who have come to Jesus to ask Him to come to us. Verse 17, “And let him who hears (believers) say, ‘Come!’”
Come!
Do you pray that prayer?
I think some people find it weird to pray for something that has already been promised and planned. If Jesus said that He would come, and He’s trustworthy, then why do we need to pray that Jesus would come? It’s not like we make Him come by praying this way.
But that’s exactly what prayer in the Bible is like. We are told to pray the promises of God back to God. If He said that He is going to do something, that gives us license to ask for it! We are authorized to pray for the return of Christ because He promised to return. And because we trust Him. V.20 again:
“He who testifies to these things (and I think that’s everything in the Book of Revelation) says, ‘Yes, I am coming soon.’”
So John says (and we say with him in response), “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.”
Come.
Second word in the prayer. Don’t miss it.
#2. LORD.
When we pray for Jesus to return, we are praying for the King to come.
We are recognizing His lordship, and we are praying that He would exercise His lordship.
We praying for the King to come and for His kingdom to come!
Come, Lord!
Come, be Lord!
It’s a lot like what Jesus taught us to pray in the Disciples' Prayer, isn’t it? He told us to pray to God as our Father, “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).
Now, John says that to Jesus, “Come, Lord. Bring your Kingdom.”
Which is, of course, the same kingdom. The Father has given the kingdom to His Son. The Ancient of Days gives the kingdom of kingdoms to the Son of Man.
We memorized Daniel 7:14 all winter and then came back to it in December.
“He [the One like a Son of Man] was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed” (Daniel 7:14).
That’s the King and that’s the Kingdom that we are praying to come when we pray, “Come, Lord Jesus!”
Does the Book of Revelation scare you? It’s got a lot of scary things in it. Just like the Book of Daniel did. We live in a scary world full of terrifying things. And God Himself has made real threats. You see the warnings in verses 18 and 19.
“I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book [Yikes!]. And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book” (vv.18-19).
Double yikes! Those are some serious threats to handle this book with care...or else.
This message is perfect. Do not alter it. Do not customize it. Do not change its message to suit your own desires. Do not add false teaching. Do not add false religion. Do not ignore God’s word or you will gain everything bad and lose everything good that could have been yours.
That’s scary, and we should take it seriously. Because the King is the One threatening to do it. Verse 20.
“He who testifies to these things (things like verse 18 and 19) says, ‘Yes, I am coming soon.'" "I’m going to bring the judgments and the blessings.”
And John prays (and we pray with him), “Amen. Come, Lord!”
Does the book of Revelation scare you?
It sure doesn’t scare John. John says, “Bring it!”
So many Christians get scared by the End-times. And the End-times are scary in the short run, but not, ultimately, for the people of God! We should be wanting the end-times to come. Because that means the King is coming! And He’s going to bring His kingdom.
Have you ever prayed, “Come, Lord Jesus!”?
I have prayed it many many times, and I think I pray it the most when I am the most aware of how broken the world is.
This world is broken. This world is not the way it’s supposed to be. Suffering. Pain. Injustice. War. Racism. Greed. Oppression. Cancer. Death. This world is incredibly broken.
And it’s not going to get all better through our efforts. Not that we shouldn’t work at improving things in our little domain. We need to live out the values of the kingdom in small ways while we wait. But we can’t fix the world. The world is cursed. We need the Return of the King!
That’s what we’re praying for when pray, “Come, Lord Jesus!”
“Come fix things. Come make everything right. Come flip everything right-side up again. Just like we saw at the end of Esther. That was a foretaste of the world to come. Remember we are living in a comedy, in the classic literary sense. There is a happy ending on the way.
“Come, Lord Jesus and reverse the curse!”
“No more let sins and sorrows grow
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found!”
- Isaac Watts
That’s what we’re praying for when we pray, “Come, Lord Jesus!”
Remember, “Every bad thing must come to an end.”
And, yes, that means all rebellion must end. All injustice must end. All rebels must be stopped and punished. That’s what Hell is. It is perfect justice. And that’s also what we’re praying for when we pray, “Come, Lord Jesus!” “Bring perfect justice.” That’s “the glories of His righteousness” that He will make the nations prove. He’s going to bring judgment, and He’s going to fix everything.
And I say with John, “Bring it! Come, Lord Jesus, come!”
#3. JESUS.
We don’t just pray that the kingdom will come. We pray for this particular King to come. Jesus. This person Jesus. The same Person Who was born of the virgin Mary. The same Child that the choir urged us all to celebrate. The One Who is “Immanuel,” God with us. The same One who died for us on the Cross.
That’s why in our statement of faith we say, “We believe in the personal, bodily and glorious return of our Lord Jesus Christ.” We don’t just believe that the kingdom will come on its own. We believe that Jesus Himself, the nail-scarred man Himself will come in His resurrected body and bring His salvation for all who are waiting for Him (see Hebrews 9:27-28). For all who have come to Him. For the thirsty (v.17). For all who have been saved by Him.
Remember what His name means. “Jesus” means, “The LORD saves.”
The angel told His parents, “You will give Him the name ‘Jesus’ because He will save His people from their sins” (see Matthew 1:20-25).
And He saves His people, not because of anything we have done, but because and through His amazing grace. That’s why the Bible ends with this benediction...
“The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with God’s people (the Bride!). Amen” (v.21).
His grace alone can save us, and His grace alone can preserve us while we wait for His return for us.
Because, you know, Heaven won’t be Heaven unless Jesus is there. Some people have the idea that the point of Heaven is being with our loved ones who have died before us. And, wonderfully, that will be true for God’s people whose loved ones knew the grace of God. But if that’s all that we have in the world to come, just our loved ones who have gone ahead of us, that’s actually Hell. Because Heaven is Heaven because Jesus is there.
And the new Heavens and the new Earth will be heavenly because the Lord Jesus will be there and will make all things new.
Jesus! That’s Whom we are praying to come.
“Come, Lord Jesus! Maranatha. Bring it! Bring Your Kingdom. Bring Yourself.”
It’s the last prayer in the Bible, and it’s the lasting prayer of our hearts.
Come, Lord Jesus!
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