First impressions and last instructions These are the things that stick with us the longest. When John was first given this message to deliver to the churches, he had a vision of our Lord that was crucial to his comprehension of this revelation. It was a vision of our Lord different from what John had known during his few years with our Lord in His first advent. John saw a regent, glorious and powerful, yet uncrowned, for this would happen during the course of the revelation. This was much different from the picture of our Lord in the Gospels of a man who suffered and died, rejected by His own people. This revelation John was now receiving was not just of a man but of the King of kings and Lord of lords who was returning to tread the winepress of God's wrath and claim the kingdom that was rightfully His. This is how John must now view His Lord and Savior, and it is how we too must envision Him.
What were the last words of our Lord to us, His final instructions? What did our Lord want echoing in our minds as we go about our lives awaiting His return for us? In these last 16 verses, the last words of our Savior to the church, He states three times He is quickly returning and exhorts us to heed the revelation He has given to us and not to hide it or alter it in any way.
Revelation 22:6-21:
| 22:6 | And he said to me, “These words are faithful and true”; and the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent His angel to show to His bond-servants the things which must soon take place. |
| 22:7 | “And behold, I am coming quickly. Blessed is he who heeds the words of the prophecy of this book.” |
| 22:8 | I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed me these things. |
| 22:9 | But he *said to me, “Do not do that. I am a fellow servant of yours and of your brethren the prophets and of those who heed the words of this book. Worship God.” |
| 22:10 | And he *said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. |
| 22:11 | “Let the one who does wrong, still do wrong; and the one who is filthy, still be filthy; and let the one who is righteous, still practice righteousness; and the one who is holy, still keep himself holy.” |
| 22:12 | “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done. |
| 22:13 | “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” |
| 22:14 | Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city. |
| 22:15 | Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying. |
| 22:16 | “I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.” |
| 22:17 | The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost. |
| 22:18 | I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book; |
| 22:19 | and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book. |
| 22:20 | He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming quickly.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. |
| 22:21 | The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen. |
The passage can be broken down in several ways. For our study, we will examine the concluding statements in verses 6 through the first part of verse twenty and then the “amens” found in the last part of verse 20 through verse 21. The concluding statements themselves seem to be grouped into three sets; verses 6-9, verses 10-12 and verses 13-20.
The Concluding Statements – First Set
In verse 6, our Lord is speaking, which can be seen by looking at the next verse. He states, “These words,” i.e., the words of this revelation that John is recording, “are faithful and true.” You can count on them. They are accurate. Furthermore, He tells us the source of the revelation. It comes from God, who sent it by an angel to reveal to His bondservants what must soon happen.
We know what the future of our world will be. Certainly, there are very few specifics, but we know where it is headed and how it will end. We see clearly there is little hope for humanity apart from the divine intervention of God—history itself teaches us that. However, we know He will intervene. The true King will return, defeat the great deceiver and set up a utopia for those who will inherit it. Following that, we know there will be a new heavens and earth where creation will finally become all that God intended it to be.
We know our Lord is coming back. He tells us, “Behold, I am coming quickly.” This is the first of the three times He tells us this. Quickly is undoubtedly a relative term as used here. Considering the time of eternity, that the 1000 years of the Kingdom period itself will be but a day in comparison to the duration of the new creation, we can truly say the two millennia since our Lord’s departure from this earth have been but a couple of days in our God’s eyes.
Because we know He is quickly returning and that this revelation is indeed from God and is truly trustworthy, our response must be to read and study these words and, more than that, to heed them, to put into practice those things that are taught within. Our Lord tells us that those who heed the words of the prophecy of this book, i.e., Revelation, will be blessed.
John tells us his response. No doubt, not one of us would have responded much better. He states for the record that He was the one who heard and saw the things recorded by him for us. Then he tells us he fell to the ground to worship at the feet of the angelic being responsible for showing him all these things. This angel reprimands John and explains he is only a servant of John and of all the other prophets and of those who put into practice the words of the book of Revelation. Instead, John is told to worship God.
Most believers do not realize, or if they do, they do not grasp the significance of this statement. Angelic beings, who are far more powerful, are servants of the saints. God has sent them to serve and protect us. You might not ever see one this side of the resurrection or transformation of the saints; nevertheless, they exist and are there all the time. But we are not to worship and adore them; only God Himself.
The Concluding Statements – Second Set
The second set of concluding statements, like the first, begins with a word about this book of Revelation and includes the promise of our Lord’s soon return. John is instructed not to seal up the words of the prophecy of this book. He is not to set what he has written aside and hide it. Instead, he is to send it as instructed to the believers in the seven churches in Asia (modern-day western Turkey) and through them to all believers in the church from that day until He returns for His bride. This message is meant for us. We are to read it, study it and put it into practice in our lives today.
However, for many, the book of Revelation is a closed book. Some think it does not apply to them, but only to believers living in a past era of history in a faraway land or to believers yet to live at a future time. Others believe it is too difficult to understand, so why even try. However, John was explicitly told not to seal it up, that is, not to hide it. By direct implication, he was to make it known to us. Our Lord intended us to read it, study it and then apply it to our lives because, as our Lord says, “the time is near.” If it was near then, how much more so today!
Verse 11 of this chapter can sometimes confuse readers. The instruction is to let the one who does wrong still do wrong, and the one who is filthy still be filthy. Let the one who is righteous go on practicing righteousness, and the one who is holy go on keeping himself holy. If this verse is separated from the context, it might seem that our Lord is saying go on doing what you are doing and do not change. However, that is not the intent at all. This verse must be read along with verse 12. The idea is: (You may) Go on doing whatever you are doing, (but know this) I am about to come back and reward you for what you are doing.
Our Lord is addressing those in the church in the last days before His return. Not everyone in this group is expectantly awaiting His return; in fact, probably most have ceased to look for it at all. Many have adapted to the present world system, taking on its goals and attitudes. Many are doing wrong; many are filthy. Yet there are those who are faithful to their Lord, even in the midst of culture worse than that of Sodom and Gomorrah. To the church in these days, He says, “Go one doing whatever you are doing, but understand this: I am coming quickly! Not only that, when I come, I will bring my reward with Me. And I will give to every person that which they have earned by their actions.”
This indeed is, or at least ought to be, a very sobering statement. How would you change your life if you knew Our Lord would be coming this next week to call you to account for your life, what you have done and what you have neglected to do? I will dare to say each of us would make many changes. But this message is exactly what He is saying to us. “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me.”
The Concluding Statements – Third Set
The third set of concluding statements by our Lord begins with a statement of His deity and ends with the promise of His soon return. He begins with the assertion that He is the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. Alpha and Omega is a designation used by the Lord God in Revelation 1:1. Here our Lord claims the same designation. He is truly eternal God!
A blessing is given to those who wash their robes. Those that do are blessed, for they gain the right to the tree of life and the right to enter the city. To wash one’s robes means to place one’s faith in our Lord as the perfect sacrifice and payment for their sin. The issue is not, of course, the cleanliness of the outward garment but the cleanliness of the inward soul. The garment is symbolic of what has happened to the person wearing it. Having placed one’s faith in the Savior, a person is forgiven, cleansed, and granted the righteousness of Jesus Christ Himself. This person has the right to the tree of life.
Does one need to eat the fruit of this tree to gain life, or is this a figurative way of saying a person has eternal life similar to stating a person must wash his or her robes? Is it a one-time event, or does one need to eat at certain intervals? These are not questions that we have answers to at this point. We do know that those who place their trust in Him and have been resurrected or raptured will never face death again. Nor will anyone who has not been written in the Lamb's book of life enter into the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:27).
That all may know the certainty of this prophecy, Our Lord places His personal testimony upon it. He speaks and states that He, Jesus, was indeed the one who has sent His angelic messenger to show John these things for the churches. He states that He is the root and the descendant of David and the bright morning star. He is, therefore, the one who has the right to rule as the chosen one, the Messiah. This was not just a prophecy written by John; John was not the authority behind it. This came directly from the Lord.
In the first part of verse 17 is found one, if not the shortest but most important prayers found in the Scriptures. It is a prayer for the return of the King, for Him to COME! The Spirit is uttering this prayer even now. From Romans 8:26, we know He intercedes on our behalf, and He also is praying for our Lord’s return. The bride, the church, also prays or at least some do. This prayer, for our Lord to return, is not one we often hear prayed, but it is one that we should continually be making. The instruction or command given is indeed for the one who hears to say, “Come.” The one who heard this message (Or today the one who reads this!) was to also pray for the return of the Lord.
After the prayer for the Lord to “Come,” our Lord makes a plea for anyone to come. Anyone who is thirsty is counseled to come and drink the water of life without any cost. The offer, not of physical water, but of that which quenches the thirst of the soul is freely available through faith in the person of the Messiah, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Following the promise of life comes the warning of severe judgment. Those that hear—and today we would add read—the words of the prophecy of this book have a responsibility to keep the message unaltered, neither adding to them nor subtracting from them. To those who would embellish these passages adding to it, to them, God will add all the plagues which are written in this book. To those who would minimize the text, taking away from it, from them, God would take away their part from the tree of life and access to the holy city.
The raises the question then, if one does alter this message by taking away some of the words, would that one lose their salvation by taking away their part or access to the Holy city and the tree of life? The answer to this question is similar to the question of can one lose their salvation by receiving the mark of the Beast? Can one truly lose that which one never possessed? Salvation by faith in or reliance upon the person and work of Jesus Christ, the King of kings and Lord of Lords, is an open option for all people. However, there does come a point when a person willing chooses to deny the clear and evident testimony and convicting ministry of the Holy Spirit attributing it to something lesser, i.e., blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. This is the unforgiveable sin for, having done this, they will never come to place their reliance or trust in the Savior and are lost. That open option to salvation now becomes closed. While we do not humanly know when that point is reached in most instances, two cases, at least, are revealed to us in the Scriptures. One is receiving the mark of the beast when it has clearly been revealed to do so means eternal condemnation. A second would be intentionally altering this particular message from God. Having this warning and denying the truth removes the option that they will later turn and repent if they so choose to continue in their action of altering this book. Their part in the tree of life and in the Holy City is taken away. While they never really possessed it, their option to gain it is gone.
From these three sets of concluding statements, one cannot but realize that our Lord considers this part of Scripture to have an extraordinary significance. He instructs that those who read it and heed it are blessed and that it must not be hidden away or altered in any way. He wants His people to know what is coming and how to live both in the days that precede the time of testing and during those dark days as well. He also wants His people to realize that He is coming quickly. For the third time, one in each of the three sets of statements, He tells His people this. Our Lord concludes His words with, “He who testifies to these things says, ‘Yes, I am coming quickly.’”
The Amens
John ends his book with two “Amens.” This word, coming to us from the Hebrew, means “Let it be!” His first amen follows our Lord’s statement that He is coming quickly. John adds, “Amen” or “Let it be so!” then he prays, “Come, Lord Jesus.” His second amen follows a short benediction or closing prayer. John asks that the grace of the Lord Jesus be with all those to whom he writes, adding as his last word, “amen” or “Let it be so!”
We have come to the last passage in the study of this last book of the New Testament. In our first chapter in our study, the main idea was that this book was both a profitable and a ‘prophetable’ book to study. It is indeed, although many people do not even consider it for a variety of reasons. It was and is the last words our Lord delivered to His people. It has a promise of blessing for those who will read and heed it.
In his closing statements, our Lord makes it plain that He is quickly returning, and we are to heed the words of this book, not to hide them or alter them in any way. Is this an important book then to study? Judging from what our Lord says about it, it is undoubtedly one He wants all His people to study and put into practice. Furthermore, as John concluded, so also do we, AMEN! LET IT BE SO!
First impressions and last instructions These are the things that stick with us the longest. When John was first given this message to deliver to the churches, he had a vision of our Lord that was crucial to his comprehension of this revelation. It was a vision of our Lord different from what John had known during his few years with our Lord in His first advent. John saw a regent, glorious and powerful, yet uncrowned, for this would happen during the course of the revelation. This was much different from the picture of our Lord in the Gospels of a man who suffered and died, rejected by His own people. This revelation John was now receiving was not just of a man but of the King of kings and Lord of lords who was returning to tread the winepress of God's wrath and claim the kingdom that was rightfully His. This is how John must now view His Lord and Savior, and it is how we too must envision Him.
What were the last words of our Lord to us, His final instructions? What did our Lord want echoing in our minds as we go about our lives awaiting His return for us? In these last 16 verses, the last words of our Savior to the church, He states three times He is quickly returning and exhorts us to heed the revelation He has given to us and not to hide it or alter it in any way.
