In this compelling episode, we delve into the profound sentiments expressed in Revelation 22, exploring the enduring message of hope and the urgency conveyed through the words of the prophecy. We uncover the importance of living with awareness of Christ’s return and the assurance that history is moving towards God’s appointed day. Listen as David Hawking discusses the faithful and true nature of God’s Word, urging believers to remain steadfast in their faith and to eagerly await the return of the Lord.
For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, if any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book. And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the book of life and out of the holy city and from the things which are written in this book. He who testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
SPEAKER 02 :
When Jesus said, behold, I come quickly, he meant for us to pay attention, not to speculate, not to predict, but to live with the awareness that his return is real and his word is true. In Revelation chapter 22, that promise is repeated, not to create fear, but to give hope, to remind us that history isn’t drifting, it’s moving toward a day God has already appointed. God’s Word can be trusted. His timing is perfect, and His return is certain. Today, David Hawking continues our study in Revelation chapter 22, verses 6 through 21, and we’ll hear day two of his message, Behold, I Come Quickly. This is Hope for Today, and we’ll get started in just a moment. Stay tuned. First, Matt’s here, and we’re going to share something you’re going to love.
SPEAKER 01 :
Learning to praise in the Psalms is a dynamic journey through the Psalms with a special devotional for each day of 2026. And Jim, with each day’s devotion, my dad outlines a Psalm passage. Mm-hmm. brings in cross references, shares his thoughts along with applications, and highlights a special verse for meditation.
SPEAKER 02 :
And each devotion, Matt, I love this, is wrapped up with a prayer to bring the lessons, encouragement, and instruction and hope of the passage to your heart.
SPEAKER 01 :
You know, it’s my dad’s sincere desire that every person who reads this wonderful devotional in the Psalms will be encouraged to focus on God, what he has done, and what he will do.
SPEAKER 02 :
Take a powerful trek through the Psalms with this personal daily devotional today. Learning to Praise in the Psalms, $20. And by the way, if you’ve already been blessed with a copy, get another for our friend, this daily devotional by David in 2026. Learning to Praise in the Psalms is just $20. And when you purchase, please consider adding an extra amount, a donation to Hope for Today, or make a donation by itself. And please continue to pray for Hope for Today. Learning to praise in the Psalms, David’s one-year devotional. Get yours in time for the new year by calling 800-75-BIBLE. That’s in the U.S. or 888-75-BIBLE in Canada. You can also order online at davidhawking.org. That’s David, H-O-C-K-I-N-G.org. We’ll turn to Revelation chapter 22 now, and here’s David with day two of Behold, I Come Quickly.
SPEAKER 04 :
Beginning at verse 6, And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true. And the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to show unto his servants the things which must shortly be done. Behold, I come quickly. Blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book. And I, John, saw these things and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who showed me these things. Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not, for I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them who keep the sayings of this book, worship God. And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand. He that is unjust, let him be unjust still. And he that is filthy, let him be filthy still. And he that is righteous, let him be righteous still. And he that is holy, let him be holy still. And behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me to give every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life and may enter in through the gates into the city. For without are dogs and sorcerers and whoremongers and murderers and idolaters and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. 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 hear us say, come. And let him that is a thirst, come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, if any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book. And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the book of life and out of the holy city and from the things which are written in this book. He who testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. The theme, I come quickly. Behold, I come quickly. Every eye will see him, and he will set up his kingdom on earth. I think the proper meaning of it is when all these events happen, it’s going to be coming quickly. This great event about which Revelation is speaking, the return of Jesus Christ and power and great glory. The moment all this stuff starts in the tribulation period, the nations of the world lined up the way God says, the whole new world order being established and the false prophet doing his thing. It’s going to come very fast. All of history will unfold quite rapidly as God brings it to a great conclusion and climax. Now the impact of this book is not only seen in the reliability of its message and the reminder of how it was given to us and the response that we should give, but also in the reaction of John to this book. Look at verse 8. Talk about impact. And I, John, saw these things and heard them. 44 times he says he saw a vision from God in this book. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who showed me these things. Do you ever feel convicted when you’re studying the Bible to preach or teach or to share with somebody? Do you ever feel convicted? I’ve often thought that study is a lot more pressure than preaching. I thought about this, you know, having heard the book of Revelation, having seen all these wonderful things, I wonder how many of us would respond like John. He fell down and worshiped him. Powerful, isn’t it? Most of us continue to go on our way, and we should be. We’re looking forward to the coming of the Lord, but having seen all this, having heard all this, having known all this, this wonderful future, and having just told us about the heavenly city and everything that God has for us, what should be our response? Fall down and worship Him. That should be our response. And it just shows me somehow that kind of the superficiality of our worship. Not that we’re not sincere and meaningful when we’re doing it, but maybe the whole issue hasn’t hit us to the point that there’s just total abject humility in his presence. Where we’re so broken, we just fall on our faces, say, God, this is too amazing for me. He fell down And worship. Without thinking, he’s falling down at the feet of the angel who’s showing him. Oh, I thank you so much for what you have done in showing me. I can hardly believe this. And he falls down and worships, but he’s worshiping the angel. And I like the rebuke of the angel here in verse 9. The impact of this book is certainly seen in the rebuke of the angel when the angel said to him, See thou do it not, for I am thy fellow servant and of thy brethren the prophets and of them who keep the saying, I’m just like any of them in importance. You worship God. Worship God. Turn back to Hebrews chapter 1. Do you believe you’re only to worship God? Is that what it says? Look at Hebrews 1. Verse 6, Hebrews 1, 6. And again, when he bringeth in the first begotten into the world, he saith, and let all the angels of God, what? Worship him. Who is Jesus? Got to be God. If you’re only to worship God, here he tells all the angels, worship him. And to those cult people who say he’s nothing more than an exalted angel, or even making him Michael the archangel, that is an abomination and a blasphemy against Jesus our Lord. No, he’s greater than that. He’s God Almighty. All the angels of God, including Michael, are to worship him. That’s what it says, Hebrews 1.6. King of kings and Lord of lords, God of very God. Back to Revelation 22 again. Now let’s take a look at the importance of the book in verses 10 to 15. And it’s revealed to us in about four ways here. In verse 10 and 11… It reveals the climax of God’s plan of the ages. And there’s a very interesting statement here when he says, seal not. In the book of Daniel, he says, seal up. Here he says, don’t seal it anymore. Don’t keep it from people. I want everybody to know it. Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand. And he that is unjust, let him be unjust still. And he that’s filthy, let him be filthy still, or yet. And he that is righteous, let him be righteous still. He that is holy, let him be holy still. This wonderful book is revealing the climax of God’s plan of the ages. And I point out two things to you here. One, in the little word still in verse 11, whoever is unjust, stay that way. Whoever is righteous, stay that way. It shows the, listen carefully, the impossibility of any changes in the eternal state of believers and unbelievers. Read it again. He that is unjust, let him stay that way. He that’s filthy, let him stay that way. He that’s righteous, let him stay that way. He that’s holy, let him stay that way. The little word still shows us the impossibility of any changes in the eternal state of believers and unbelievers. Friends, to put it another way, what you intend to do with Jesus Christ, you better do now before he comes or before you die. There will be no changes at And that is really an awesome thought. Another thing that really struck me is the enormous contrast between the believer and the unbeliever in terms of final destiny. Let me just lay this out in a simple way. The word unjust is obviously an antonym to the word righteous. The word filthy is obviously an antonym of the word holy. The exact opposite. the enormous contrast in God’s eyes between a believer and an unbeliever in terms of final destiny. We already learned about the destiny of the wicked at the end of chapter 20. Then we learned about the destiny of the righteous in chapter 21 and the opening verses of 22. Now, showing us this is God’s plan, coming to a conclusion, there will be no more changes, and there’s an enormous contrast between between the destiny of believer and unbeliever. It’s like an awesome preparation, a warning to accept the final invitation of the book, last chance. It’s quite a statement. But this book not only reveals the climax of God’s plan, stating very clearly the destiny of believer and unbeliever, but it also reveals, as we well know, the coming of Jesus Christ. And that’s what it’s all about. That’s why verse 12 enters in. And in addition to this fact that the destinies of believers and unbelievers will not be changed anymore… And in addition to that, behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me to give every man according as his work shall be. In Revelation 4.4, it says of the 24 elders that they had on their heads crowns of gold. In 1 Corinthians 3.8, it tells us that some plants, some water, God gives the increase, and every man will receive according to the labor that he has done. In 2 Corinthians 5.10, it says we will all appear before the judgment seat of Christ to receive the things done in the body, whether good or bad. That’s what it says. In Romans 2.6, it says that God’s judgment is not with partiality or respect to persons, and he will meet it out in absolute justice and holiness. Do you believe that you are going to be rewarded? Now, you know, there are several attitudes that come into play here. One is the attitude of a Christian who in sincere humility says, I don’t like to think of that. I don’t deserve it. I’ll just be glad to be there. Anybody ever had that thought? Amen. Many of us have. So when you say, are you going to be rewarded? Well, I don’t know. I have to leave that with the Lord, and I’m just going to be glad to be in heaven, frankly. And so if I don’t have any crowns that will suit me fine, I’ll enjoy walking the streets of gold. A lot of us have done that, haven’t we? Then we know there’s the extreme of people who, in their efforts to work for the Lord, appear to be trying to score points and keep track of them. We see that? Maybe you’ve been of that spirit at times. And there are those of us who try to evaluate who will be at the front of the line or not. I don’t even know if there’s going to be a line. There are millions of people involved. The Lord just needs to say the word and plop, the crown’s going ahead. You know, I mean. And there are those of us who think, well, you know, I have not done as much. So send me to the back of the line somewhere. Isn’t it interesting our reactions to the whole subject of reward? It’s so bad that you know that some Bible teachers say there aren’t going to be any. How do they get that? Well, they say the crown of life is simply a symbol for receiving eternal life. The incorruptible crown is simply the fact that we will live forever. The crown of rejoicing is simply saying that we’re going to be happy when we get there. So all the five crowns that are listed in the Bible are simply facts about receiving eternal life. They aren’t. But you know, that doesn’t answer anything. Jesus said, I come quickly, and what is with me? My reward. He is going to reward you. It doesn’t answer what he said in Matthew 25, when he says, you be faithful in a few things, I’ll make you ruler over many. He even spoke in a parable about ruling over many cities as we rule and reign with Jesus Christ, according to how faithful we have been here. He apparently is not judging you and me on the basis of what anyone else does. It’s not a comparison thing. We won’t get in the line and say, well, John, I just had Jack here, and man, he did quite a bit. Now, you obviously haven’t. So in the light of that, no reward for you. That isn’t true at all. We’re going to be evaluated on the basis of the opportunities, the responsibilities, gifts, abilities, all of that, that God has given us. We know the principle, to whom much is given, much is required. So the person you think has all these abilities and opportunities and talents, watch out. Be careful what you think. You see, we are all to be faithful to what God has given to us. And if we are faithful in just a few things, isn’t it interesting the Lord keeps encouraging us? No, you don’t have to do a lot. Just be faithful in a few things. He even puts it down to saying, if you just give a cup of cold water in my name, you’ll get a reward. Isn’t that sweet of him to do that? In Hebrews 6.10, the Lord is not unjust to forget your work or your labor of love that you’ve shown in ministering to saints and the fact that you still do minister. He knows that we want to give up. He says, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. Why? For as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. He chooses a word which means you’re exhausted. Labor to the point of exhaustion. You can’t take another step. You say, I had it. I’m not going back there again. I’m done. I’m finished. Give me a permanent rest. I’m out of here. And God says, oh, by the way, I’ll never forget that you got tired. Is that great or what? Is there anybody here who’s just a bit tired? You can’t even hardly lift your hand. You’re so tired. Is that not a beautiful thing of our gracious Lord to say to us, I even know when you’re absolutely worn out and you’re tired, and I will never forget you. Ever. And Mark, he tells us, whatever you’ve done, I’m going to do a hundred times more in the future to reward you. It’ll be bigger than anything. Oh, and by the way, you don’t deserve it either. It’ll be grace from beginning to end. God giving us what we don’t deserve. How interesting that when Jesus would talk himself and say, behold, I come quickly, that he would say, my reward is with me. You just wait. You’re not going to believe what I’m going to do for you. Do you think he only has a hundred out of a thousand in his mind? No. Do you think he’s only going to reward just a certain amount? No. Every man, every woman, every one of us will receive a reward. Every one of us. Praise the Lord. and it will be far greater than we have ever believed or imagined.
SPEAKER 02 :
That’s David Hawking, and this is Hope for Today. David will return shortly to close out our time in the Word, so do stay with us. First though, Matt and I have a special Christmas Bible study resource that may just be the perfect gift for a friend or a loved one.
SPEAKER 01 :
Matt? What evidence does the Bible give us that Jesus is in fact the Almighty God?
SPEAKER 02 :
David Hawking takes readers to that evidence with his concise, encouraging, and hope-filled compact book, Jesus Christ the Reason. And Matt, this book really broadens and deepens our appreciation for Christmas.
SPEAKER 01 :
You know, Isaiah 9-6 says, and we hear this. And when we dive deep into the scriptures to study our Savior, Christmas becomes brighter, more vibrant, overflowing with hope. And that’s just what Jesus Christ, the reason, brings. To readers. Which is exactly why we’re offering it as part of a special Christmas 2025 Hope for Today Christmas package for our listening family. The 2025 Christmas package also contains a three-message audio miniseries taught by my dad that also carries the title Jesus Christ, The Reason. And the complete package is just $20.
SPEAKER 02 :
Your purchase today will make the holidays that much more meaningful for years to come, and it will help the ministry of Hope for Today. We are a listener-sponsored radio and online ministry. And as you consider year-end giving, please prayerfully consider Hope for Today as the Bible teaching here ministers to you. Help others to hear the same with a generous year-end donation. And please continue praying for Hope for Today. To get your copy of the 2025 Hope for Today Christmas Package, Jesus Christ the Reason, which includes David’s 87-page book, Jesus Christ the Reason, plus his three-message audio series, Jesus Christ the Reason, the complete package, just $20. And listen, this will be great for this Christmas season and for every Christmas season in the years ahead. Call 800-75-BIBLE in the U.S. or 888-75-BIBLE in Canada. Or you can get the package online at DavidHawking.org. Oh, and by the way, don’t forget David’s devotional, Learning to Praise in the Psalms. This is also available for just $20. Get it in time to have January 1st in the Psalms with David by ordering today. And just before David returns, Christmas, it’s right around the corner, isn’t it? So before you head out of town or you hunker down for your family celebrations, may I have just a few seconds to ask you something very important? If these teachings on Hope for Today have steadied your heart this year, if you found strength, clarity, and comfort through the Word of God as David preaches, wouldn’t it make sense that others, maybe people you’ll never meet until eternity, might need the same encouragement in the year ahead? Folks have told us that they assumed someone else was supporting the ministry. Sometimes, though, you are the one God uses. Sometimes your gift is what keeps the message of hope going out to homes, to prisons, to hospitals, to people who are hurting and hanging on by a threat. They need to hear God’s word. If that resonates with you, if you feel the Lord nudging you to be a part of what he’s doing here on Hope for Today, you can give securely at DavidHawking.org or call us at 875-BIBLE in the U.S., or 888-75-BIBLE in Canada. If you prefer to write, you can send your gift to Hope for Today, Box 3927, Tustin, California, 92781. That’s in the U.S. In Canada, write to Hope for Today, Box 15011, RPO7OAKS, Abbotsford, B.C., V2SHPU1. Your support right now at the close of this year means more than you know, and we’re thankful. Let’s get back to David for his closing words.
SPEAKER 03 :
I love this chapter, and it’s wonderful when it says in verse 4, they shall see his face. Wow, what’s that going to be like, to see the face of our Lord? literally for the first time. Wow. It says there’s no night there. It’s going to be light. The Lord God gives the light, and it tells us we’re going to reign forever and ever. Wow. These sayings, he says, are faithful and true. Wow. You can trust it. And once again, behold, I come quickly. Well, it’s just an exciting time to read that. Behold, I come quickly, and verse 7 says, Blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book. Well, John got so excited, he fell down to worship the feet of an angel. And, of course, the angel told him, Don’t do this. I’m your fellow servant. The only one you should worship is the Lord God Himself. Boy, how important that is. And It’s important to understand that the sayings of the prophecy of this book are not to be sealed up. They’re to be heard. And he tells us again in verse 12, Behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. And how about these words? I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Oh, praise the Lord. Well, stay tuned. We’re going to need another broadcast on this one.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, thank you, David. And next time on the program, it’s day three of Behold, I Come Quickly. So we’ll see you then right here on Hope for Today.
