Bible Reading: Revelation 22
22:1-5. The River of Water of Life. The river comes directly from the throne; God is the source of life. It flows down the middle of main street, perhaps indicating its easy access by all. The tree of life echoes not only Genesis, but Ezekiel (47:12). All that the saints need for nourishment and well-being is provided. The healing of the leaves is for the nations; the gospel has reached all peoples. The Edenic curse is reversed, and God is again present with man. Paradise has been restored, and is now even better. Forget the sun, for the Lord God will shine on the inhabitants.
22:6-7. Revelation and Arrival. The opening of the book pronounces a blessing upon the reader (probably, the public reader in church) and upon those who hear and obey the message (1:3). The closing includes a similar blessing on the one who keeps these words. The emphasis is on hearing and obedience (22:9, 11, 12). Again and again, here at the end, emphasis is also laid on Jesus’ coming (22:10, 12, 20).
22:8-15. Blessing and Warning. The conclusion holds several parallels to the beginning of the book, such as John’s self-identification (1:9). He records his reaction to what he saw, throwing himself at the feet of the angel. His action provides the angel opportunity not only to rebuke him for his worship and identify himself as one of those who obey the words of this book, but to remind John again that the time is near, so the prophecy must be open for all. Verse 11 is not deterministic nor calvinistic, but a declaration that all is hurtling toward the end and will continue, as is, until the coming of the Lord Jesus. Each one will be manifest in his works and judged by them (22:12), another theme which runs the entire length of Scripture. (On verse 11, the Bíblia de Jerusalém comments: “The divine plan will be fulfilled, whatever the conduct of man.”) The present sharp sense of who is inside and outside of the kingdom will continue at Jesus’ coming, and become even clearer, for the washed will have access and entrance, while the sinners will be left outside (22:14-15).
22:16-21. Invitation and Warning. At the end, Jesus now declares himself the speaker behind the angel and John. All hangs on his identity as the Messianic root (5:5; Isaiah 11:10), as David’s descendant, and as the bright morning star who promises the full effulgence of divine glory. The invitation to Come! is repeated three-fold, and the bride and the attentive hearer join in as God’s instruments to extend it. In fact, the association of the Spirit and the bride attest to the former as he who instigates the missional invitation through the church (compare Acts 13:1ff). The offer is free of charge, no less than access to life. Because it is Jesus who invites and because the offer is so important, no one may tamper with this revelation. John takes up the ageless principle of respecting the Word of God and applies it to the revelation he has received. As the third of three warnings at the end (the other two at 22:11, 15), it stands both in the book and in the canon as a last warning not to add to or take away from the inspired writings (see, for example, Deuteronomy 4:1-2; 1 Corinthians 4:6). The consequences of doing so mean suffering and loss for the guilty. What is written is reliable and true (22:6) and needs no editing. Though it was “I, John” who heard and saw and wrote these these, it was “I, Jesus” who spoke (22:8, 16). The prayer, Come, Lord Jesus!, is the divinely approved prayer of human impatience, the desire to abbreviate one’s earthly existence and, if it were possible, hasten the day of the Lord (see 2 Peter 3:12). The prayer finds its basis in the promise of his coming and sees in Jesus’ appearance the final solution to suffering and the ultimate victory to be shared forever, in intimate communion with the Lord and with those who have obeyed him on earth and remained faithful under the most trying of circumstances.
