Revelation 22:7-14

Jesus Is Coming

7"Behold, I am coming soon! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy in this book."

8I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I had heard and seen them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been showing them to me. 9But he said to me, "Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers the prophets and of all who keep the words of this book. Worship God!"

10Then he told me, "Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, because the time is near. 11Let him who does wrong continue to do wrong; let him who is vile continue to be vile; let him who does right continue to do right; and let him who is holy continue to be holy."

12"Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. 13I 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.



Dig Deeper

The other day I wanted my son to clean his room. This is always a source of contention because we have very different ideas of what "clean" is. I would like his room to look like something that a human being might actually be able to inhabit, while he is quite comfortable with a level just above nuclear disaster. He wanted to go over to his friend’s house where a bunch of boys from church were hanging out. I told him that he had to clean his room first and that I was going to come up soon and check it out. At that point, I would make my decision on whether he could go or not. He didn’t know precisely when I was coming, but he did understand that "soon" meant that he needed to be about his business. It was going to happen in a reasonably short time so he had better get to working.


So what does that have to do with today’s passage? Simply this: even a young teen-age boy understands the meaning of the word "soon." It is not a precise word, but it does get its point across. There are still many people today who prefer to read Revelation as a book primarily about what is still in the future for us. Yet, despite attempts to explain how "soon" can mean "over 2,000 years in the future," these explanations usually wind up making a mockery of the word "soon." If John was writing the Revelation in the late 60’s AD, which I contend, then calling events that took place in and around 70 AD is reasonable. If, however, these events are still to take place 2,000 years down the road then the word "soon" here basically loses any meaning at all.


22:7 - Apparently the last section is declared by an angel who is speaking on behalf of Christ, but it is clearly stressed that the words come straight from Him. He repeats a primary theme of the prophecy, behold, I am coming soon! (cf. 1:7; 2:5, 16; 3:11; 16:15). The word come or coming, erchomai in the Greek, is used seven times in this chapter alone, stressing the urgency of the message. We will miss a great deal of the intent of the New Testament if we miss the expectation of the apostles that Jesus would come soon (in judgment, not the Second Coming). Revelation’s sixth beatitude is both a promise and a warning: Blessed is who keeps the words of the prophecy in this book. This is an encouraging statement to those who do keep the prophecy, but implied in that, is ‘cursed are those who do not’.


22:8-9 - I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. John, in using language similar to 1 John 1:1-3; 4:14, takes care, as he often does, to stress his reliability as a an eyewitness. He continues, and when I had heard and seen them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been showing them to me. But he said to me, ‘Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you. As this is the summary section of the book, it is likely that John has included this scene again to stress its importance. It is unlikely that John has made the same mistake twice in so short of a time. John goes on: and with your brothers the prophets, that is, the other members of the Christian Church, and of all who keep the words of this book. Because Christians are a member of the age to come, they have the ability to truly worship God! This once again demonstrates that the blessings of the book are not reserved solely for the full consummation of the age to come but can be realized in the present age.


22:10 - Daniel was told to "close up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end." For him the prophecy spoke of a time in the distant future, so he was ordered to seal it up. In contrast, the prophecy is of an immediate nature for his readers, so he is told: Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, because the time is near.


22:11 - Let him who does wrong continue to do wrong; let him who is vile continue to be vile; let him who does right continue to do right; and let him who is holy continue to be holy. Although this may seem shocking at first, what the angel is offering up is a prayer that the line between the righteous and wicked might be black and white, and thus, ripe for the judgment. As the prophet Ezekiel wrote concerning Gods judgment of rebellious Israel: "Whoever will listen let him listen, and whoever will refuse let him refuse" (Ezek. 3:27). What is being called for here is the self-consciousness that always precedes judgment.


22:12-13 - Jesus, again, promises that his coming judgment on Israel is coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done (cf. 2:23; 20:12-13). This is precisely what Jesus promised: "For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done. I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom." (Matt. 16:27-28). Don’t miss the point that Jesus promised then that this would happen during the lifetime of some of those present while he was speaking. The promise of His coming is confirmed by an oath, He swears by Himself as there is none greater to swear by: I am the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.


22:14 - Continuing on, John is told, blessed are those who wash their robes, in the blood of Jesus Christ, making them righteous and holy. This stresses the importance of obedience and being righteous, or as the writer of Hebrews put it, "without holiness, no one will see the Lord" (Heb. 12:14). Only these will have the right to the tree of life (already promised to the overcomers in Rev. 2:7) and may go through the gates into the city.



Devotional Thought

The Bible is never apologetic about calling sin, sin, and making it clear that those who engage in that type of behavior will have no part in the age to come. Do you have the same type of convictions? We should always be respectful, but at the same time, have the biblical convictions of those who are in and those who are out of the Kingdom? The world will try to tell you that ‘real’ love is characterized by accepting people just as they are; real love, however, is telling someone where they really are before God. That’s a truth that we cannot afford to forget.