Blessings or Plagues

Revelation 22:12 "Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. 14 "Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. 15 Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. 16 "I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star." 17 The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life. 18 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. 19 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. 20 He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

Blessings or plagues. Which do you prefer? The answer should be obvious, yet how often don’t people play around with the teachings of Scripture and receive God’s plagues instead of His blessings?

In the fourth century, Arius taught that Jesus is not true God. The Roman Catholic Church taught and still teaches that a person must make penance and pay for sins to get out of purgatory. The Reformer John Calvin taught that once person is saved by Jesus Christ, that person is always saved and can never fall away from faith. The Anabaptists, who grew out of the Reformation, taught that infant baptism was not valid, so a person had to be baptized again (Anabaptist means “re-baptizers”).

Today we are dealing with the same old heresies that have plagued the Christian Church for generations. Only that these old heresies are newly minted for our time.

The creation account is turned into a myth. The virgin birth is disputed. The miracles of Jesus are scoffed at. Jesus and His apostles’ teachings on human sexuality, marriage, decency and morality are considered to be old-fashioned. The biblical doctrines of roles of men and women or Christian fellowship are thought to be divisive – whereas God gave them to actually be unifying.

It is remarkable what false doctrines people will believe and espouse when they listen to the devil whispering into their ears. They see their own thinking and reason as greater than God’s revealed wisdom and truth.

In order to combat the false doctrines of this age and every age, we must go back to one fundamental truth – God is the sole author of the Bible. God Himself has spoken “through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son.” (Hebrews 1:1,2) His Son has assured us that “the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” (John 14:26)

The letters written by the apostles were not their own words but words taught them by the Holy Spirit. “This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.” (1 Corinthians 2:13) No one ever decided on his own to write a book of the Bible, but the Holy Spirit led each of them to speak God's Word as He guided them ("carried them along," 2 Peter 1:21) so that none of the books of the Bible would be a writer's own interpretation of things (2 Peter 1:20). Thus all of Scripture was written by inspiration of the Holy Spirit ("God breathed,"2 Timothy 3:16).

Each of the writers of the Bible, also each of the apostles who wrote letters, spoke in these letters with "the wisdom God gave him" (2 Peter 3:15-16). For this reason, if an apostle wrote "I forbid you," that also was Christ speaking through him (2 Corinthians 13:3).

Of this divinely inspired Word, Jesus had this to say, “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. 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.” (Revelation 22:18,19)

What John said about Revelation is also true of every other book of the Bible because they are all God's words as the Holy Spirit guided the men to write. This is exactly what Jesus promised the apostles when He told them that after He ascended He would send the Spirit to them as their Counselor who would live with them, be in them, and teach them all things (John 14:16,17; John 14:26).

We as Christians can do something about holding to the truth of God’s Word without change. We can thank God for it and ask Him to preserve us in it. We can know it better by regularly hearing it in worship, Bible classes, and in our homes. We can study our Catechisms and Lutheran Confesssions since they are valuable explanations of the truths of the Bible. We can share it with others exactly as its Divine Author gave it to us.

Variations from God’s truth endanger all. They bring God’s curses. Rather, God’s Word is there to make us “wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:15). God doesn’t want us to doubt this truth, but to be sure of His promises that “these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31).