X. Epilogue (22:6—21)
X. EPILOGUE (22:6—21)
John rounds off his book with a series of somewhat miscellaneous observations. The connections here are so loose indeed that some commentators feel that John did not revise this last section and put it into final shape. Be that as it may, this epilogue stresses the importance of the book now concluding and assures its readers that Jesus will be coming again soon.
6. Once again we have the combination trustworthy and true (the same Greek in 3:14; 19:11). It is not clear whether this is meant to apply to the words that precede or those that follow, or, as Swete thinks, to the whole book. As we are now rounding off the whole it seems that this last is correct (cf. V.7). The whole book then is to be relied on. John goes on to speak of God as the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, an unusual expression (cf. 19:10, and for ‘the spirits of the prophets’, 1 Cor. 14:32). It links God in no uncertain manner with the prophets. John may mean that it is the God who inspired the Old Testament prophets who has given him his visions.
More probably it is the New Testament prophets who are in mind. They were being oppressed and this is a reminder to them that God is not ashamed to be called their God. In their trouble he sent his angel to show his servants things to come (cf.1:1). What was happening was not outside his control. Rather these things must (dei) soon take place. This does not necessarily mean that everything in the vision would happen very soon. The language would be satisfied if there were no delay in beginning the sequence. Torrance comments on the language of imminence, ‘The New Testament does not think of the difference between the presence of Christ here and now and His Second Advent so much in terms of a passage of time as the difference between the veiled and the unveiled. That is why the whole of the New Testament by an inner necessity of personal faith thinks of that day as imminent.’
7. That the coming is imminent is repeated. This is followed by a blessing on him who observes the words of the prophecy in this book. For blessed ..., see note on 1:3. John is clear that this book is a prophecy. We should beware of classing it otherwise.
8. There is an emphasis on I, John. The previous verses have assured us of the divine attestation. This one assures us that the human instrument vouches for what he has written. He saw certain things and heard certain things. He is not writing at second hand. John goes on to say that he prostrated himself before the angel who had shown him these things. This renewed attempt at angel-worship is curious in view of the fact that a similar impulse had been so recently rejected (19:10). It is likely that among the recipients of Revelation there were some who were tempted to this kind of worship. John may wish to make it clear that he sees its attractiveness but that it is forbidden.
9. The impulse to worship is checked sharply; the prohibition is repeated in the words of 19:10. The angel gives as the reason that he is John’s fellow-servant (syndoulos = ‘fellow-slave’!). He is linked also with the prophets and with all who keep the words of this book. It is an intriguing thought that angels tell forth the word of God like the prophets do and that they too keep such words as are recorded here. We should not miss the importance of these words for an understanding of the proper dignity of the prophets. They rank with angels as servants of God. But even the greatest of God’s servants are not to be worshipped. Worship is reserved for God alone. Further, it is salutary to reflect that even one who has seen all the visions of this book may go astray. We are warned to be alert lest we fall into temptation.
10. The angel adds another command. Do not seal up (see note on 10:4) means ‘Do not keep hidden’. The words of this book are intended for publication. They are not hidden wisdom (contrast Is. 8:16; Dn. 8:26; 12:4,9). Once again John calls his book a prophecy, and once again he stresses imminence (cf. 1:7, and note on v.6).
11. The angel continues by calling on people to pursue their characteristic course. He singles out on the one hand the doers of wrong and the vile (cf. Dn. 12:10), and on the other the doers of right and the holy. He probably means that the Lord’s coming will be so swift that there will be no time for change. As they are at that moment, so the Lord will find them. The words are clearly meant as an encouragement to believers. The evil continue to pursue their way. Well, let them. The Lord’s return is sure and soon. The last word is not with the wicked. The saying may also be meant as a challenge to repentance now. John is saying that there will be no opportunity for a last-minute repentance. The Lord will come too quickly for that. But now there is time. Let people repent while they can.
12. The promise of a speedy return of Christ is repeated from verse 7 (cf. V.20; 3:11). To it is added the thought of the exact requital he will give to everyone. The returning Christ will bring ‘wages’ (misthos, reward, means ’what is due’). The verb give (apodounai) also signifies requital. Everyone is involved. There will be no escaping in that day. As we have seen elsewhere, judgment according to works is insisted upon throughout the New Testament.
13. In 1:8 (where see note) God has said that he is the Alpha and the Omega and again in 21:6 where he adds, the Beginning and the End. Now the identical expression is applied by the risen Christ to himself, with the insertion the First and the Last (cf. 1:17; 2:8). All three expressions mean much the same and they set Christ apart from all created being. None other than God could share in these titles of God.
14. There is a change of speaker, apparently back to John, though this is not said expressly. A blessing (see note on 1:3) is pronounced on those who wash their robes (cf. 3:4; 7:14; 1 Cor. 6:11). The present tense points to a continuous washing. There is a sense in which the saved are washed once and for all (e.g. 7:14, where the tense is the aorist). But we so easily defile ourselves day by day as we live with the pressures of the world that it is necessary for Christ’s own to be cleansed continually (1 Jn. 1:7). We are reminded of the soiled robes of those in the church of Sardis. John brings out the effect of the washing in terms of two pieces of imagery he has already used: those who wash in this way have the right to the tree of life (cf. V.2), and they may go through the gates into the city (cf. 21:27).
15. There is a contrast with those outside. Dogs symbolize evil people (cf. Ps. 22:16,20; Phil. 3:2), but exactly which is not clear. Swete suggests the ‘abominable’ (21:8) and Sweet false Jews (as Phil. 3:2). For the other sinners here see notes on 21:8. The separate mention of loving and making lies makes up a total of seven types of sinner, quite in John’s manner. It is interesting to have this conjunction of attitude and act (cf. Je. 8:10). Precisely where these sinners were is not said; indeed, after the destruction of the evil it is hard to imagine. But John’s point is that such things are not to be found in the holy city. Let his readers be warned accordingly.
16. The emphatic ego stresses the fact that Jesus is the speaker. He tells us that the angel has spoken on his authority (cf. 1:1). That he can send an angel shows that his authority is great. The angel was sent ‘to testify’, an important concept in this book. You is plural, which is a little unexpected, for the angel spoke to John. But his message was not a private one; it was for Christians at large, and so the plural is meaningful.
For the Root ... of David see note on 5:5. Here Root is joined with Offspring to emphasize the Davidic descent. Right to the end the point is made that Christ is of David’s line. The bright Morning Star heralds a new day, a new day so sorely needed by John’s hard-pressed readers; cf. Beckwith, ‘It seems to denote the one who is to bring in the perfect day of God.’ Some see a reference to the coming of ‘a star ... out of Jacob’ (Nu. 24:17), an idea taken up in later Jewish writings (e.g. Test. Levi 18:3; Test. Judah 24:1).
17.
The Spirit presumably means the Holy Spirit, here speaking through the prophets. The bride is the church. Farrer is impressed by the linking of the two: ‘The Spirit and the bride are one voice—what inspiration prompts, the body utters.’ These then say, Come! But to whom are they issuing the invitation? And who is meant by him who hears who is urged to say Come? Taking the latter point first, the expression ought to apply to unbelievers, because believers are all included in the bride. But if this were the case the response would surely be ‘I come’, not an invitation to Christ or to other believers to come. It may be best accordingly to take the expression as referring to the individual church member. And who is invited to come? It would harmonize with the emphasis on the second advent in these closing verses (cf. V.20) for the invitation to be addressed to Christ to return. But that would mean a sudden change, for there can be no doubt that the end of the verse has to do with unbelievers.
It seems best accordingly to understand the invitation as issued by the church and every member of the church to the outsider. This is made specific with Whoever is thirsty, let him come (cf. Jn. 6:35; 7:37) and the further invitation to anyone who wills to take the free gift of the water of life. People’s deepest needs will be met, though those needs must be felt.
18—19. Now comes a solemn warning that the words of the prophecy of this book are not to be tampered with. Notice that it is called the prophecy. It is more than the product of human genius. It comes from God. Some hold that these two verses are an instruction to future scribes who will copy out the book. They are not to tamper with these God-given words. This kind of instruction seems to have been not uncommon, a well-known example being in the Letter of Aristeas, with reference to the translation of the LXX: ‘And when the whole company expressed their approval, they bade them pronounce a curse in accordance with their custom upon any one who should make any alteration either by adding anything or changing in any way whatever any of the words which had been written or making any omission. This was a very wise precaution to ensure that the book might be preserved for all the future time unchanged’ (311).
Yet we should notice that John does not address the words to copyists, but to everyone who hears the words. It seems likely that we should take the exhortation as addressed to the same hearer as in the previous verse. In other words, they are a strong exhortation to heed what is written. It is not to be modified or evaded (cf. Dt. 4:2; 12:32; Pr. 30:6; Je. 26:2). If anyone adds to the book’s teaching, John says, God will add to him the plagues described (gegrammenas, ‘which stands written’; there is an air of finality about the perfect) in this book. If anyone takes away part of the book’s teaching God will take away ... his share of the blessings the book has so glowingly depicted. The same verb is used of the man’s taking away from the words of the prophecy as of God’s taking away his share. There is a fitness about it all. The punishment fits the crime.
20. Again we have the thought of testimony, an important concept in this book and in the Johannine writings generally. The Witness here is plainly the Lord Jesus. He affirms that he is coming speedily, and his words are greeted with the fervent prayer that he will do just this. Amen is the transliteration of a Hebrew or Aramaic participle with a meaning like ‘confirming’. It indicates assent to what the previous speaker has said. This is reinforced with the prayer, Come, Lord Jesus. Charles points out that the Greek here is the equivalent of the Aramaic transliterated as Maranatha in 1 Corinthians 16:22. There is an air of certainty and of eager longing about the references to Christ’s coming. The designation Lord Jesus is found in the whole book only here and in the next verse.
Preston and Hanson see significance in the fact that the last note struck in this book, a note that resounds in many places in the New Testament, is the longing for the Lord’s return. John’s confidence is finally not in human efforts for the betterment of mankind, but in ‘an active, living God, whose love and whose wrath are alike revealed in the events of human history, a God who has played the decisive part in that history when he sent Jesus Christ among us’. They add, ‘Only if we hold this faith can we retain any real hope in this present world.... It is the only faith that can dare to hold its own in the atomic era.’
21.
The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people is unusual as an end to an apocalypse, but the normal close to a first-century Christian letter. There is some doubt about the concluding word or words, for the MS evidence is sharply divided. Some read ‘with the saints’, some ‘with all’, some ‘with all the saints’, some ‘with you all’ (and there are other variants). On the whole ’with all’ seems the most probable reading. It puts the emphasis on universality. John looks for grace for all God’s people. He closes his book by reminding us that all Christians, not just some, depend on God’s free grace.