Rev 22:12-21
11th verse makes the connection to our final segment of Revelation.
11 Let the one who does wrong continue to do wrong; let the vile person continue to be vile; let the one who does right continue to do right; and let the holy person continue to be holy.”
Clearly this verse confirms that if anyone dies without Christ, he/she will be without Christ forever – once we cross the line there is no going back – that line is one’s own physical death.
We are reminded that our eternal destiny is decided when we are still alive and breathing.
Verse 12 talks about rewards to the believer.
Lord Jesus gives rewards to the believer for living out their salvation.
When we accept Lord Jesus as our savior we not only receive forgiveness for our sins but also the promise of eternal life with HIM.
Verse 12 specifies the rewards for doing good works as result of our faith in Lord Jesus.
13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.
Lord Jesus describes Himself with three pairs of titles and they all affirm HE is eternal God. 
Those who were redeemed and saved; live out their life in obedience to HIS written Word, will have the opportunity to eat from the tree of life and also enter New Jerusalem in eternity.
Author Jeff Lasseigne records five ways where we can identify a believer:
1) We walk in the light
2) We keep His commandments
3) We love other people
4) We do not practice sin
5) We put our faith into action
Verse 15 clearly mentions everyone who is not saved, rejected the Gospel and followed the ways of this world will remain as outsiders destined to go to eternal punishment which is hell.
“I am the Root and the Offspring of David” means that Lord Jesus is both man and God.
“As God, Jesus was Root or source of David, in that HE created him. The lineage of Jesus traces back through the line of David”
The name David is the 1st and the last name recorded in New Testament
The reference to the ‘Morning Star’ is to tell us that HE will lead us to a new day in eternity.
Three times we come across the word ‘come’ in 17th verse – a compelling invitation for the unsaved to come to Lord Jesus.
Here the Holy Spirit is calling people to salvation and to receive the gift of eternal life.
To tamper with the Word of God is to reject God Himself. 
When someone rejects any part of the book of Revelation, God will take away his/her part from the Book of Life.
20 He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen.
The last recorded words of our Lord Jesus Christ is “I am coming soon”
It means that HE is going to come in a matter of seconds and coming swiftly
Lord Jesus confirms His coming and assures us that HE will keep promise of HIS return.
Apostle John responds by saying to this word of assurance with an “Amen.” 
He echoes Christ’s promise. Even so, come, Lord Jesus
We also join him to watch for HIS return any time in our life time or after our death.

Worldwide Christmas is celebrated with joy, happiness, and with much excitement.
The children enjoy the most – business world makes more money.
But the real Christmas is not what it became today.
The real Christmas story cuts through all Christmas glitters.
It is one and only act of God’s grace that provides human redemption from sins.
So God became flesh like any other human and died on the cross and rose again on 3rd day.
Virgin birth of our Lord Jesus is the most important factor in the Christmas story.
Lord Jesus Christ must be born to a virgin woman to remain sinless in HIS incarnation.
HE must be sinless to die on the Cross to pay the price for our sins.
On Christmas day we should not fail to see the cross of Good Friday in every Christmas tree.
HIS birth happened in most humble circumstances- Unmarried teenager was chosen – most humble cattle shed was chosen – Illiterate stupid shepherds were chosen to announce HIS birth.
It was just an ordinary day in remote village in Israel – at HIS birth it became the most extra-ordinary day in human history.
But the most surprisingly a human factor, fear was gripping the events at Christ’s birth.
THE FEAR FACTOR
Matthew’s account: 
The fear factor in Joseph 
Joseph was afraid to take Mary as his wife because she was already pregnant.
He was a good man did not want to disgrace her publicly – decided to divorce her secretly.
Then an angel tells him “Joseph, Son of David, do not be afraid”
We see the fear factor in Joseph, the normal human response to a complex situation.
The fear factor in Wise men
The wise men were afraid to go back to King Herod and tell him where Jesus was born.
The wise men were gripped with fear for the safety of the new born King.
They took a different route to go back to their country.
The fear factor in Joseph
Herod decreed to kill all baby boys under the age of two.
An angel warned Joseph in a dream to escape to Egypt with Mary and baby Jesus 
He was afraid for the life of the baby Jesus and his wife.
The fear factor is so visible in Matthew’s account.
Luke’s account:
The fear factor in Mary
Mary was greatly troubled when Gabriel told her that she is going to have a baby by the Holy Spirit. 
For a Jewish virgin girl it is certainly a death warrant to become pregnant before marriage.
Her initial response was just plain fear and she was scared to death.
But angel Gabriel says, “Nothing is impossible with God”.
The fear factor in Joseph
Joseph was troubled and scared as he could not find any room in Bethlehem.
His wife Mary was ready to give birth to baby Jesus.
He must be definitely in panic mode
I am sure he requested everyone and searched every place – all he got was a cattle shed.
The fear factor in Shepherds
The illiterate shepherds minding their own business in the middle of the night outside the village were suddenly visited by an angel.
The whole place was lit up like 1000 times of 4th of July and they were in shell shock.
The angel came to tell them the birth of the Savior 
In all these accounts the initial human response was plain fear.
Out of fear God provided good news of great joy and brought peace thru the birth of Jesus
We are always afraid of many things everyday – the fear of this the fear of that
But the most important fear we face is death reality in one’s own life.
Eccl 7:2 “for death is the destiny of everyone; the living should take this to heart.”
We don’t think about it, we don’t want to think about it, and definitely we try to avoid it.
The fear of death is the most horrible feeling than any fear that we face in life.
But we don’t have to fear death anymore.
I have good news for you on this Christmas day.
Good news of great joy to all people that a Savior is born some 2 thousand years ago.
In spite of our technological advances, the status never changed – we still fear death
Christmas good news is more appealing and appropriate to us than 1st century people.
Only Lord Jesus Christ can bring peace in the midst of fear and chaos.
Only Lord Jesus forgives our sins thru HIS sacrifice on the cross.
Only Lord Jesus gives the hope of eternal life as free gift to those who believe in HIM
John 14:6 Jesus says “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
There is no fear of death for those who accepted HIM as Lord and Savior.
Christmas expels all darkness in our hearts and fills with the light of Jesus love, mercy, kindness, and hope of eternal life.
May you all have a blessed Christmas of great joy that we are forgiven and saved by HIS grace.

Second Advent Candle represents the Angels
Angels are servants and messengers of the Most Holy God.
Angels visited Planet Earth three times before the birth of Lord Jesus and three times after HIS birth.
They appeared to Zechariah in the temple; Gabriel appeared to Mary; he also appeared to Joseph, Mary's betrothed;
They appeared to Shepherds in the field; last but one to Joseph to warn him about the impending danger from King Herod; and lastly to Joseph asking him to go back from Egypt.
We should not worship angels because they are created beings to serve the Lord God.
Rev 22:1-11

These verses show us glimpses of the inside perspective of the New Jerusalem city.
Apostle John describes the stark differences between heaven and earth.
He explains to us in our human terms the blessedness of eternity by peeling off layer after layer.
1st verse clearly tells that there is water in heaven just not an ordinary stream/river but water of life.
 Its source is the throne of God/Lamb.
God took the tree of life from Garden of Eden because of the first couple.
God restores the tree of life in New Jerusalem city which bears fruit every month and its leaves have healing effect.
The question is why we need the leaves for our healing in eternity.
I presume that only Christ has the pure glorified body unlike ours – HE was God, HE is God and HE will remain God – Christ does not eat fruit from the tree of life – HE is the life.
Those who joined HIM in the glorified bodies will still need nourishment to sustain them as immortal.
1. WE WILL BE REMOVED FROM THE CURSE
In Genesis 3rd chapter we come across the word curse.
Since then the entire humanity was under the curse that resulted in death.
The scripture says that wages of sin is death and it separated the human from God.
In eternity God removes the curse as there will be no sin and nor its consequences.
2. WE WILL SEE CHRIST FACE TO FACE
Since there is no curse there is no separation from God’s physical presence in Christ.
The true ultimate joy of being in heaven is to see God face to face.
People in eternity will have the privilege of seeing God/Christ’s face whenever they wish.
Not only that we will serve HIM as HIS servants – as HIS priests –worship HIM
It can be that we return to the original intent of God to take care of HIS creation.
That was meant to be in the Garden of Eden but Adam/Eve messed it up.
We will serve HIM by taking care of HIS creation whatever it is in eternity.
3. WE WILL BASK IN GOD’S GLORY
5 There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.
This verse once again confirms that there is nothing like a sun to give sunshine.
Since there is no sun there is no night also in eternity.
Those who will be in eternity enjoy the natural light that emanates from God’s glory.
God’s glory shines every corner of 7800 layers and 1500 square miles each.
We all will bask in glory of God in timeless existence.
God Himself guarantees that we can believe the words of the book of Revelation. 
God’s Word depends on God’s character. God never goes back on His Word.
7th verse re-affirms HIS coming back soon – John wrote these words some 2000 years ago.
The beginning of the Revelation John clearly starts with a powerful statement. (Ch 1:3)
“Behold’ or ‘Look’ is to grab our attention to these words. “I am coming soon”
Here the angel instructs John to keep the scroll open for everyone to read.
In the book of Daniel, he was asked to seal up the prophecy as the time has not come yet.
11th verse comes as a warning to those who continue to reject the Gospel message and do not respond to the book of this prophecy.
Apostle John was writing this book to 1st century hearers and the message is same after 20 centuries.
It is a warning and a challenge to us who live in 21st century.
The words of the book are trustworthy and true.
Lord Jesus is coming soon even to the people of our time.
The message is very clear for everybody – which side of the fence are we today – doing wrong and continue to be wicked or doing right and obeying the Lord.

The first Sunday of December is the beginning of Advent season
The first candle is called the prophecy or hope candle
700 years before Christ was born, the prophets in the Old Testament foretold many things about Lord Jesus Christ.
They prophesied about HIS birth, His mission, HIS death, and HIS resurrection.
These prophesies are called messianic prophesies.
Micah 5:1-2 (735 BC) talks about the birth place of the Lord Jesus.
Isiah 9:6 "For to us a child is born, to us a SON is given, and the government will be on HIS shoulders. And HE will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
So the first candle begins the Advent Season with hope of HIS presence in everyone's life.
Rev 21:1-27
Apostle John sees a glorious glimpse of eternity after the conclusion of Lord’s millennial rule.
He starts with describing to us that God created a new earth and new heaven.
The old known creation just disappeared in thin air and was replaced with a brand new earth and a brand new heaven.
Old creation had to be removed as sin polluted and corrupted it.
In the previous chapters we studied that God uncreated whatever HE had created in Genesis.
The transformation took place in matter of few seconds before the eyes of Apostle John.
First Characteristic: No sea in the eternity – No more known seas around the globe.
We have no idea how this earth looks like but in the eternity there will be a literal earth mass.
Second characteristic: God dwells with HIS people
In eternity there is no sin barrier between people and God – HE literally dwells with them – Emmanuel – God with us - realized completely – Lord Jesus dwells physically with HIS redeemed people.
Third characteristic: The new order of things
Prophet Isiah did prophesy in chapter 65:17-18
The past is past
In the new order there is no past
“The heaven is the place of living while this world is the land of the dying”
No pain or crying or no fear of death – no mourning because of our loved ones who did not make it to the eternity – we will never remember our past
The new future
Free supply of springs of water of life – God will be with HIS people
It is God who is promising the new order and HE says “it is done”.
8th verse once again reiterates the fate of those who did not make it to the heaven – they all will be in the lake of fire that is their second death – The redeemed will never taste second death.
Fourth characteristic: The New Jerusalem, the holy city
The physical structure: Described in verses 9-21
The holy city descends from heaven towards the earth – never said it rested on earth
It is so bright with the glory of God –it is like a square with outer walls with three gates on each side – each gate has the name of 12 tribes of Israel – The wall of the city has12 foundations – each is named after each disciple of Lord Jesus Christ –the height of the wall is 200ft
Foundation of the wall decorated with every kind of precious stones mentioned in verses 19-20
Each of the 12 gates is made out of single pearl.
Inside, the city is also like a cube length and breadth and height are the same –measuring 1500 miles
One author describes that the city has 7800 layers or stories each of 1500 mile square
If they were spread in single layer, they will occupy the whole universe.
It is so humongous and beyond human comprehension as it accommodates few billion people in the city 
City walls made of Jasper – the city is of pure gold (shining like gold) 
Fifth characteristic: Verses 22-26
No Temple, No sun or moon, no night, no shutting of the gates
No temple because Almighty God and Lord Jesus Christ are the temple
No sun or moon required as the glory of God shines all around and Lamb becomes its lamp. 
No separation of gentile and Israel – Gentile believers come under God’s rule first time
The gates will never be shut for the fear of enemy
There will be no night there because there is no darkness at all. 
All who live in it are people chosen by God 
Sixth characteristic: The Redeemed live there
27 Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.