Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Revelation. Tonight is study #13 of Revelation, chapter 22. We are reading Revelation 22:10-11:
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 which 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.
I will stop reading there. Verse 10 indicates that it is the time of the end that is being spoken of because it says, “Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book,” and, yet, we know that God said to Daniel, “shut up the words, and seal the book, to the time of the end.” Therefore, it is at the time of the end that God unsealed “the sayings of the prophecy of this book,” the Bible, and He opened information to the understanding of His people. The command in Revelation 22:10 to “Seal not the sayings” took effect when God opened the Scriptures at the time of the end throughout the Great Tribulation and into Judgment Day, the spiritual judgment period we are presently in and, so, God is saying, “Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book,” because it has application to the end.
The next verse confirms that the end of the world is in view and, especially, Judgment Day on the world because it says in Revelation 22:11:
He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still…
What does God mean by this? Let us begin looking into this verse by looking at the word “still.” It is used of the unjust and filthy and it is used in the last part of the verse in regard to the righteous and holy. It is used four times in this verse and we know that the number “four” points to the furthest extent or universality of whatever is in view and this would relate to God’s program during Judgment Day for all people. And all people are in one of two categories:
They are either righteous or unrighteous. The world breaks people down into all sorts of races, classes and divisions, but God is “not a respecter of persons,” and He views mankind either as “Jacob,” whom He loved or as “Esau,” whom He hated. They are the saved and the unsaved or the elect and the non-elect.
Here, God is giving us His perspective on the spiritual condition of the people of the entire world. That is why the word “still” is mentioned four times. All the people of the world are either saved or not saved and that was true at any time in history, but it is the word “still” that makes this different. If God had said, “He that is unjust, let him be unjust: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy,” that would have presented a different emphasis than when the word “still” is added to the statements because it presents the teaching that God has in mind an established and “fixed” condition that cannot change. In other words, the person that is unjust will be unjust still and the one that is filthy will be filthy still and it is making a declaration that this is their spiritual condition and it cannot change.
The Greek word translated as “still” is Strong’s #2089. It is just a little word and it is translated as “more” or “longer” or “further” in several places. It is also translated many times as “yet,” as it is in John 4:35:
Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest?
So this indicates that there is more time or there is “yet four months,” meaning harvest is still four months away. The word “yet” indicates there is more time to come.
It uses the same word translated as “hereafter,” in John 14:30:
Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.
It means, “From right now and with some time following.” This is what is in mind with the use of this word because it can also be “longer,” or “further,” indicating that which is coming or that which will follow. This word means “hereafter” or that which is to come and that is what is in view in Revelation 22:11. It is saying, “He that is unjust, let him be unjust hereafter; and he that is filthy, let him be filthy hereafter.” Or we could say, “longer” or “further,” meaning that hereafter he will remain unjust and filthy.
This is the terrible news that the Bible has for the people of the world in the Day of Judgment. Once God rose up in His righteous wrath on May 21, 2011 and shut the door to heaven, He ended His salvation program. With God’s action (not man’s action), He sealed the fate of every human being. All that were within the kingdom of God would remain within the kingdom and all “without the gate” would remain “without the gate” and each person’s spiritual condition was established. There was “a great gulf fixed” between the people that were in the kingdom of heaven and the people that were still in their sins. This is what Revelation 22, verse 11 is addressing.
The Greek word translated as “unjust” is Strong’s #91. It is found a couple of times in Acts 25:10-11:
Then said Paul, I stand at Caesar's judgment seat, where I ought to be judged: to the Jews have I done no wrong, as thou very well knowest. For if I be an offender, or have committed any thing worthy of death, I refuse not to die…
The word translated as “wrong” in verse 10 and the word translated as “offender” in verse 11 is the word translated as “unjust” in our verse. Paul is saying, “If I have offended the law of God or if I have committed wrong,” and he means that if he has done something that goes against that which is right or that goes contrary to the Law of God. It is any transgression of the commandments of God and it is sin. Therefore, we could understand the Scripture that says, “He that is unjust” to mean “He that has done wrong,” or “He that is an offender.” Who has done wrong or who has offended? It is the sinful man or the man that has broken God’s Laws.
We find the same word used in Colossians 3:24-25:
Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ. But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done: and there is no respect of persons.
This is very clear cut. God speaks of those that receive the reward and that would be those God has saved and they have the imputed righteousness of Christ and, therefore, His works are counted for them. But those that do wrong receive for the wrong they have done. They have gone against the Law of God and committed evil deeds. That is what makes a man “unjust.” He is a sinner and at this time, He that is unjust and has offended will remain in his sins and there will be no change in that individual.
This is a saying a very big statement because throughout the history of the world there was at least a hope (from man’s perspective) that in the day of salvation God, perhaps, might save a person. No matter how much evil a man had done, God could have saved him. The Gospel went forth and any human being could go to God and beseech Him for mercy and ask God to save him. From man’s perspective, there was that possibility God would save him and you would just have to wait upon God. But the program of salvation has ended and now one who is “unjust” cannot be made “just” and translated out of darkness and into the kingdom of God’s dear Son. He cannot have his sins forgiven and he cannot be made holy. The one that is an offender will remain an offender still.
The word translated as “filthy” is Strong’s #4510 and it is only found here in our verse, but it is derived from another word, Strong’s #4509, that is used one other place in the Bible. It says in 1Peter 3:21:
The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:
The key phrase here is “the filth of the flesh.” The flesh identifies with sin because when we fall into sin our spirits die and we walk in the flesh and God views the flesh as filthy. Spiritually, it means that man is still in his sins and, therefore, he is in a dirty spiritual condition.
Mr. Camping used to refer to mankind as “dirty, rotten sinners,” and that is a very accurate statement. A sinner is dirty and rotten and filthy. That is Biblical language, as it says, “He that is filthy, let him be filthy still,” or let him continue hereafter to be filthy.
We read in the Old Testament that it says in Job 15:16:
How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water?
Iniquity is sin. It is the transgression of the Law of God and man drinks it like water. How much water does man drink? We need water to live and we must drink water often and that is what man does with sin. He is so filthy. He is so dirty and rotten and corrupt in his sin condition that he drinks iniquity like water every day, in thought, word and deed. Man is going away from God and he is going after his lusts and serving sin as he tries to satisfy his evil desires. This is the nature of fallen mankind. It says in Psalm 14:2-3:
JEHOVAH looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
All men are filthy and we are not picking on anyone in particular. It is not just “terrorists” or serial killers that are filthy – all sinners are filthy. There is not one good among all of mankind. We have all sinned and come short of the glory of God, but only God’s elect have been cleansed and made pure and holy and righteous. Christ purified them and paid for all their filthy deeds and washed them of their filthiness and, therefore, they can stand in God’s sight.
But the rest of mankind have not had their sins paid for by the blood of Christ. They bear their filthy iniquities and their sins are upon them and that is what God sees when He looks at unsaved mankind. God does not see a cute, adorable, pure little baby, but He sees a filthy sinner. He sees filthy sinners of all ages, races and classes. God is no respecter or of persons. He sees a world of rebels that have rebelled against Him and the wrath of God is now upon them all and the judgment of God that began on May 21, 2011 was to shut the door and end salvation. Therefore, the “unjust” remain “unjust” and the “filthy” of the world remain, as God said, ““He that is filthy, let him be filthy still.” From this point on and until their destruction, they will remain in that condition.
Tell me. At what other point in history could that Scripture apply? What other time did God make this kind of statement? Did He make this statement in the Garden of Eden after man fell? No, He did not, because the filthy could still be cleansed through salvation. Did God make this statement in another Old Testament time? No, He did – there was always the possibility then that God could cleanse a man from his sins. What about during the church age? No, God was saving the firstfruits in the New Testament churches. Even when God ended the church age, any unsaved person within the congregations could have come out and, potentially, he could have been saved outside the churches where God was pouring out the Latter Rain and he could have had his sins washed away.
The only time this Scripture takes effect is at the end of the world during the final judgment of mankind. Now there is a final pronouncement concerning the destiny of each human being to “Let it be so, from this point on. The Day of Judgment has come.” God has judgment without mercy at this time. There is no mercy available. There is no “water” available. There is no “light” available. There is no opening of the door, ever again, for anyone outside the door. This is what God has done. This language fits only our present time of Judgment Day.