Revelation Chapter 22:8-21/Commentary

Revelation Chapter 22:8-21 Revelation 22:8-21 “And 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. 9And 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." 10And he said to me, "Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. 11"Let the one who does wrong, still do wrong; and let the one who is filthy, still be filthy; and let the one who is righteous, still practice righteousness; and let the one who is holy, still keep himself holy."

12"Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done. 13"I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end." 14Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city. 15Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying. 16"I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright morning star." 17And 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.

18 I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God shall add to him the plagues which are written in this book; 19and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book. 20He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming quickly." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. 21The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen”.

22:8 “I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things”: “In this concluding section both the Father and the Son testify to the authenticity of the revelation. Although it would seem that man could add nothing to such witness, John adds his testimony, saying, ‘And I John am he that heard and saw these things’. John vouches for a true record of what he saw and heard; God testifies to the divine origin, inspiration, and truth of all these things” (Hailey p. 427).

Compare with John 19:35.

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22:8 “I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed me these things”: It does seem surprising that John would do the very same thing that he was so recently reproved for in 19:10. “This may give us some notion of the extent to which to magnificence of the visions distracted him and interfered with his normal rational activity” (Gregg p. 501). I would add that this reveals that even the glory of an angel is so magnificent that men who know better are still tempted to fall down before them.

22:9 “But he said to me, ‘Do not do that. I am a fellow servant of yours and of your brethren the prophets”: Isn’t this encouraging! The mighty angels are on our side! (Hebrews 1:14). Please note that angels served the prophets in the Old Testament, they served the apostles, and they also render service for all Christians as well.

22:9 “Worship God”: Jesus taught the same truth (Matthew 4:10). “This is one sure way to get the brethren to see their hope lies in God, and in no other!

Further, if holy angels cannot be worship, much less can some blasphemous emperor or emperor’s representative! Only God can deliver; therefore, only God should be worshiped” (McGuiggan p. 337). Hailey makes a good point that when someone brings us the glorious gospel we are prone to give him reverence beyond his due, though he is merely a man and nothing more than a servant (1 Corinthians 3:5). If an angel, a personal representative of God, is not to be worshiped, then how much more is someone like the Pope not to be worshiped.

Please note that angels serve the faithful, they do not convince non-Christians with feelings that they are saved. “And of those who heed the words of this book”: That’s us! Angels assist and serve the faithful, they do not render aid to the unfaithful.

22:10 “And he said to me, ‘Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near’” Compare this to what God told Daniel (8:26;10:14; 12:4,9). When Daniel spoke he was speaking about the end of the Old Testament era, and he was told to seal up the words of his prophecy. Daniel predicted events that were 600 years in the future (2:44). If John is told the opposite than obviously John is not writing about events that were 2000 years in the future, but rather that were “near”. Therefore, we must reject the view that Revelation chapters 4-19 have never been fulfilled.

“The book was to be sent to the churches at that time, (1:11), and its content made applicable to all churches (22:16)” (Hailey p. 427). “The prophecies of Daniel were not to have an immediate fulfillment in his own time. Therefore the angel instructed him, ‘and seal the book until the time of the end’ (12:4). John is to treat his book differently than did Daniel, because in the case of Revelation, the time is at hand” (Gregg p. 501). Premillennial writers seek to get around this verse by claiming that 22:10 is not teaching that the events in Revelation were at hand, but rather that the time for the book to be read and explained was at hand.

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Yet this interpretation overlooks the fact that John was told that the “words of the prophecy” were at hand, that is, what the book described and said was at hand.

In addition, it would be silly for God to say that the time to read and interpret the book was at hand seeing that when this statement was made the book had not even been finished!

22:10 “For the time is near”: (22:6). God is trying to help us see that Revelation is not talking about events 2000 years in the future.

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” Please note the black and white character of the above verse, one is either saved or lost, practicing evil or righteousness, and is either holy or filthy. As in the gospel of John, we find those in darkness and those in light (3:18-20). Earlier in the book Jesus does call upon people to repent (chapters 2-3). Hailey believes that the above verse stresses the fact that no one is standing still, either one is growing in grace and knowledge (2 Peter 3:18), or one is sinking deeper and deeper into sin (2 Timothy 3:13). The verse is not indeed to encourage people to stay in sin, for God never encourages evil (James 1:13) and is always desiring that one repent (2 Peter 3:9). God may be saying that despite the warnings of this book, many who are wicked will simply remain wicked and will be unmoved by His pleas and threats. Notice the emphasis on “doing”, “practicing” and “keeping himself”, one is what he practices (1 John 3:7). The reward for sin—is sin, and the reward for holiness is holiness.

22:12 “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done” God rewards people on the basis of what they truly did and not on the basis of unfulfilled motives or good intentions (2 Corinthians 5:10). One is not rewarded if they merely viewed themselves as good. Compare with 1 John 3:3-7. Notice how this verse and many others go against the idea of predestination, where supposedly God arbitrarily selected eternal rewards for all men without any consideration of their works, see also Romans 2:6-11. In addition, there is no salvation by grace-alone in this verse. “My reward is with Me”: The rewards have already been determined, there will be no changing of God’s mind concerning the nature of heaven and hell.

22:13 “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end” First, this speaks of the eternal nature of God and Christ (1:8,11,17; 2:8; 3:14). It reminds us that the God of the New Testament is the same as the God of the Old Testament (Isaiah 41:4; 43:10; 44:6; 48:12). The terms “Alpha” and “Omega” are

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the first and last letters in the Greek alphabet. In addition, this reminds us that God is the source of all things, the originating cause, and that everything was also created to serve His purposes. He is the goal of all creation as well (Colossians 1:16 “all things have been created through Him and for Him”). It should also remind these and us Christians that before there was any creation— God was there, and God will be there after the creation is gone, as well.

Persecutors will come and go, religions will come and go, philosophies and fads will come and go, cultures will come and go, but God remains. After everything has been heard, the conclusion is to fear God and keep His commandments (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14), because at the end of the day—we still must meet God in judgment and all the opinions of men will never change this fact of life.

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” One washes their robe by being baptized into Christ, coming into contact with the blood of Christ and then living faithfully thereafter (Acts 2:38; 22:16; Revelation 1:5; 5:9). Because of man’s sin, he was driven from the Garden of Eden and away from the tree of life, now, because of man’s obedience to the gospel, he will be granted entrance to the tree of life once more and into the eternal city (Hebrews 5:8-9). Some versions here have the expression, “Blessed are they that do this commandments”, in the Greek language this is very similar to the statement, “Blessed are those who wash their robes” (hoi poiountes tas entolas) verses (hoi plunontes tas stolas). And, the expressions basically mean the same thing. Keeping God’s commandments is how we keep our lives pure, see 19:8.

This statement is also in the present tense, emphasizing the ongoing duty of obedience.

22:15 “Outside”: That is, outside of the heavenly city. Please note that on this earth, such people sometimes are members of the church on earth (1 Corinthians 5:1), but in reference to this city, such people are never allowed to enter.

22:15 “Are the dogs”: This is very strong language, yet this is how God sees the unfaithful. Like animals, they fulfill their lusts without any moral restraint (Deuteronomy 23:17-18). The term was used in the Old and New Testaments to describe those who reject God’s ways (Psalm 22:16,20; Philippians 3:2; 2 Peter 2:22). “In our part of the world a ‘dog’ speaks of a lot of nice things. We think of a boy and his dog; a man and his dog; a shepherd and his dog. Dogs in the east, however, mostly ran in packs and were scurvy, mangy, and altogether unpleasant” (McGuiggan p. 339). Thus sinners are viewed by God as being unmanageable and unclean.

22:15 “And the sorcerers, and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying”

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Compare with 21:8; Galatians 5:19-21; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11; Ephesians 5:3ff.

How many times does God have to repeat the same truth for people to believe it?

People who practice such things and refuse to repent of such things will not make it to heaven regardless of how “nice” they appear to be on a given day or moment. “Everyone who loves and practices”: Here are people who take pleasure in sin (2 Thess. 2:12). “A man acts out of love. If he loves truth, he will seek for and walk in it; if he loves a lie, he will have no problem finding and walking in it. Each man walks after that which he loves” (Hailey p. 431). Honestly ask yourself, “What do you really love?”

22:16 “I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches” Now the Lord Himself gives His own personal endorsement of this book, compare with 1:1. The plural “churches” would include all the brethren.

22:16 “I am the root and the offspring of David”: Jesus is both the Creator of the Jewish race, and thus the Creator of David himself, He is also the descendant of David at the same time. Thus He is both the “source and the culmination of the Davidic line” (Chilton p. 578). Which means that Jesus is the One who preserved the Jewish race all those years, and Jesus is the one who inherited the position as the ruler over God’s people (Acts 2:31).

22:16 “The bright morning star”: Compare with Numbers 24:17; Revelation 2:28. “And as the morning star, He heralds the approach of eternal day” (Hailey p. 431).

22:17 “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come’”: Is this an invitation for Jesus to come or for men and women to come to Jesus? The rest of the verse seems to favor the view that this is an invitation for people to come to partake of the water of life. In this book the Holy Spirit who revealed this communication is inviting all to come to this heavenly city, “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches” (chapters 2-3). In addition, the bride is also inviting men and women to “come”. The bride would be the church, which spread the teachings found in this letter (1 Timothy 3:15), and yet this might be an invitation from heaven, for the churche’s invitation to come seems to be in the next verse.

The glorious condition of the church in eternity is also inviting men!

22:17 “And let the one who hears say, ‘Come’”: Let those on the earth who read this letter also admonish and encourage people to come (Matthew 28:19).

“And let the one who is thirsty come”: Thirsty people are people who realize that nothing can meet their spiritual thirst and hunger except Christ (Matthew 5:6; John 6:35; 4:10-11). “Let the one who wishes to take the water of life without cost”: Compare with Isaiah 55:1. “Though the water is free, the Lord forces none to drink” (Harkrider p. 261). Notice the universal offer, “the one who wishes” (Mark 16:15-16; Revelation 5:9).

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22:18 “I testify to everyone”: God is no respecter of persons (Romans 2:11).

“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”: The same truth is taught in other places in the Bible as well, Deuteronomy 4:2; Proverbs 30:5-6; Galatians 1:6-9; 2 John 9). “This solemn warning against tampering with God’s word should not be taken lightly” (Harkrider p. 261). This section infers that God knew that people would try to misapply and misinterpret what is taught in this book. Here is a stern warning for all those who come to Revelation and want to use it as their own personal speculation about the end of the world.

22:19 “And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy”: Editing the word of God will result in the loss of salvation! Groups like the Jesus Seminar needs to read such passages and so do the Mormons who claim that the Bible is filled with error. These verses also infer that every word in the book of Revelation is God’s word, for if the book were a combination of truth and error, then it would be inconsequential if one added more error to it, for it would already be corrupted.

22:19 “God will take away his part from the tree of life”: Clearly this is a warning that includes Christians who might tamper with the book. Notice that one can lost their “part” in the tree of life and the holy city.

22:20 “He who testifies to these things says, ‘Yes, I am coming quickly’”: Here Jesus is speaking (22:16). From history we learn that Jesus did come quickly. The candlesticks of unfaithful congregations were removed, the cause of the martyred saints was vindicated (6:9), and the beast and the false prophet were destroyed. “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus”: To what Jesus has just said, John adds his own personal and urgent cry for Jesus to exercise His authority, for John was suffering as well (1:9).

22:21 “The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen” “This is a fitting benediction pronounced upon the saints of God who were facing the vicissitudes, hardships, and suffering of persecution. The grace of the Lord Jesus involves His gracious favor and constant good will, which provides for every need in every hour. Only one word remains to be said: Amen—be it so!”

(Hailey pp. 433-434).

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