Rev 22:18-19 | KingComments | STEP | . The contrast with the previous verse is great and dramatic. “Outside” the city, ‘outside’ the new world, are all who have no right to the tree and the entering of the city. ‘Outside’ is more than a geographic location alone. It is a geographic location, but it is especially a place of eternal torment ( ). The character of the people who are outside, confirms that it is justified that they are ‘outside’ the city of all blessings. It indicates that they have surrendered themselves to serving satan. 1. The first thing that marks their character is indicated by the term “dogs”. ‘Dog’ is a name for an evildoer who operates without any feeling ( ; ; ; cf. ). All categories have this characteristic. 2. “The sorcerers” want to exert power over others. 3. “The immoral persons” seek to fulfill their lust at the expense of others. 4. “The murderers” are taking other people’s lives. 5. “The idolaters” deliver themselves passively to demons. The whole is framed in the lie which they love and tell. Hell will be full of such people. . Here the Lord Jesus is speaking again. He draws attention to Himself with the words “I, Jesus”. He is the Almighty, the King of kings and the Lord of lords, the Creator of the universe and the Sustainer of all things, but He presents Himself here with the name which is typical for His humiliation. He is also the Commander of the angels. He sends them wherever He wants to with the message He wants to be sent. Through His angel He addresses the churches. Those are the local churches where believers gather and dwell together knowing that they are part of the worldwide church. Such believers desire nothing more than to make true in the local church what is true for the worldwide church. The Lord adds some aspects of His Person to His messages. He calls Himself “the root and the descendant of David”. This He is for Israel, of which He is the shoot ( ; ) from which, therefore, out the whole people proceeds. For Israel He is also the Offspring, that is, ‘Son’, of David. He came from this people, so that in Him all promises, which pertain to the kingdom of God, may become reality, with blessings for Israel and the nations. The Lord is also “the bright morning star”. That He is for His church. Israel will never know Him as such. The church will not have to wait until He appears as the Sun of righteousness. He will appear as the Sun of righteousness to Israel ( ), but the morning star precedes the rising of the Sun. This means that the morning star has risen already in your heart ( ), that is, you are eagerly looking forward to His coming for the church. . When the Lord has thus made His voice heard and pointed to Himself as the fulfillment of all promises, the Spirit and the bride cannot be silent. The Spirit is on earth, but as a temporary dwelling place. The Spirit dwells here as long as the church, the bride, is here. But He doesn’t feel at home, as the bride also does not feel at home in this world. She is still separated from her Bridegroom. But when she hears His voice, her voice sounds fully harmoniously with the voice of the Spirit and she says to her Bridegroom: “Come!” The bride is the church as a whole. The whole of the church says ‘come!’, even though not everyone who belongs to the bride longs for the Lord in the same passionate way. Therefore, the call also comes to each individual to say: “Come!” The desire of the one may have a contagious effect on the extinguished desire of the other. Then a third group is addressed. That group still is not yet part of the bride, but would like to be, because there is thirst. He who thirsts is still invited to take from the water of life and for free ( ). This water refers to the refreshment that the Lord wants to give through His Spirit to everyone who is tired of living in sin ( ). . The Lord Jesus warns in powerful words, “I testify”, to everyone not to add anything to the content of the words of the prophecy that are written in this Bible book. It is prohibited and not allowed to add anything to all the events that are described (cf. ; ). To add something means the arrogation as if God would not have said everything that He had to say. This is the sin to which satan tempted Eve ( ), which caused that the punishment of death announced to her was added to her. Satan will still try in every way to keep the prophecy of this book closed to men, or distort it in such a way that it loses its true power. If satan manages to add his lie to the words of the prophecy of this book, words in which his end is displayed, he can drag as many people with him into hell as he possibly could. But the Lord Jesus warns here not to fall into this trap. Adding something to what is perfect, means getting the plagues that are written in this book added to you. Those plagues cannot be more severe than they are described, but they can increase in number. . The order is different from the previous verse. Here it is about the completely finished message of the book as a whole. Nothing can be taken away from it. People may take away something from the Word that they do not understand. The arrogant reason of man rejects God’s Word which he considers to be unacceptable. You may think here of Bible criticism. Such an attitude marks the audacity of unbelief. However, he who deals with God’s Word in such a way, God will deal with him. Such a person receives no part of the tree and the city. Because of his attitude he indicates that he doesn’t like it at all to partake of the things that the believer enjoys. Therefore he will never get part of it. It has been presented to him, he has read about it, but he rejects it. He could have got part of it, but he refused. Therefore the part that was offered to him is taken away from him. Therefore the issue here is absolutely not taking away something to which a believer has received part of. The part of a believer can in no way be taken away from him. Therefore a believer will never take away something of the words of the book of this prophecy. That you as a believer do not understand everything and have questions about it is of a totally different order than rejecting something God has said. The latter is the point here. . The Lord Jesus concludes the book with a final testimony that the book comes from Himself. Christ is the absolute faithful Witness of the things revealed in this book. Following this, He says: “Yes, I am coming quickly!” This is the reply to the call of the Spirit and the bride in . With His “yes” He confirms that we should not have the slightest doubt about everything that is said. Then He says that He is about to come. There is no fulfillment necessary of any prophecy before He can come for His bride. The response to the promise of the Lord that He is coming quickly, is: “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.” This comes out of the mouth of all who love Him. Two times earlier the Lord has said that He is coming quickly ( ). The response to that is different from the response here. In the promise is followed by an exhortation to heed God’s Word. In the promise is followed by the promise of a reward. In this verse the promise of the Lord is followed by a spontaneous expression of longing for Himself, for His Person. This basically concludes the book. . Still, there follows a wish of blessing from John for “all” saints, which is needed as long as the Lord Jesus has not come yet. Until that moment of His coming all saints can count on His “grace”. To this, only an assenting “amen” can follow. A beautiful ending. Now read Revelation 22:15-21 again. Reflection: What does the thought of the coming of the Lord mean to you?

‏ Revelation of John 22:18-19

Yes, I Am Coming Quickly

Rev 22:15. The contrast with the previous verse is great and dramatic. “Outside” the city, ‘outside’ the new world, are all who have no right to the tree and the entering of the city. ‘Outside’ is more than a geographic location alone. It is a geographic location, but it is especially a place of eternal torment (Rev 21:8). The character of the people who are outside, confirms that it is justified that they are ‘outside’ the city of all blessings. It indicates that they have surrendered themselves to serving satan.

1. The first thing that marks their character is indicated by the term “dogs”. ‘Dog’ is a name for an evildoer who operates without any feeling (Psa 22:16 ; 20; Isa 56:10; Phil 3:2; cf. Deu 23:18). All categories have this characteristic.

2. “The sorcerers” want to exert power over others.

3. “The immoral persons” seek to fulfill their lust at the expense of others.

4. “The murderers” are taking other people’s lives.

5. “The idolaters” deliver themselves passively to demons.

The whole is framed in the lie which they love and tell. Hell will be full of such people.

Rev 22:16. Here the Lord Jesus is speaking again. He draws attention to Himself with the words “I, Jesus”. He is the Almighty, the King of kings and the Lord of lords, the Creator of the universe and the Sustainer of all things, but He presents Himself here with the name which is typical for His humiliation.

He is also the Commander of the angels. He sends them wherever He wants to with the message He wants to be sent. Through His angel He addresses the churches. Those are the local churches where believers gather and dwell together knowing that they are part of the worldwide church. Such believers desire nothing more than to make true in the local church what is true for the worldwide church.

The Lord adds some aspects of His Person to His messages. He calls Himself “the root and the descendant of David”. This He is for Israel, of which He is the shoot (Rev 5:5; Isa 11:1 ; 10) from which, therefore, out the whole people proceeds. For Israel He is also the Offspring, that is, ‘Son’, of David. He came from this people, so that in Him all promises, which pertain to the kingdom of God, may become reality, with blessings for Israel and the nations.

The Lord is also “the bright morning star”. That He is for His church. Israel will never know Him as such. The church will not have to wait until He appears as the Sun of righteousness. He will appear as the Sun of righteousness to Israel (Mal 4:2), but the morning star precedes the rising of the Sun. This means that the morning star has risen already in your heart (2Pet 1:19), that is, you are eagerly looking forward to His coming for the church.

Rev 22:17. When the Lord has thus made His voice heard and pointed to Himself as the fulfillment of all promises, the Spirit and the bride cannot be silent. The Spirit is on earth, but as a temporary dwelling place. The Spirit dwells here as long as the church, the bride, is here. But He doesn’t feel at home, as the bride also does not feel at home in this world. She is still separated from her Bridegroom. But when she hears His voice, her voice sounds fully harmoniously with the voice of the Spirit and she says to her Bridegroom: “Come!”

The bride is the church as a whole. The whole of the church says ‘come!’, even though not everyone who belongs to the bride longs for the Lord in the same passionate way. Therefore, the call also comes to each individual to say: “Come!” The desire of the one may have a contagious effect on the extinguished desire of the other.

Then a third group is addressed. That group still is not yet part of the bride, but would like to be, because there is thirst. He who thirsts is still invited to take from the water of life and for free (Isa 55:1). This water refers to the refreshment that the Lord wants to give through His Spirit to everyone who is tired of living in sin (Jn 4:10-15 ; Jn 7:37).

Rev 22:18. The Lord Jesus warns in powerful words, “I testify”, to everyone not to add anything to the content of the words of the prophecy that are written in this Bible book. It is prohibited and not allowed to add anything to all the events that are described (cf. Pro 30:6; Deu 4:2 ; Deu 12:32). To add something means the arrogation as if God would not have said everything that He had to say. This is the sin to which satan tempted Eve (Gen 3:1-3), which caused that the punishment of death announced to her was added to her.

Satan will still try in every way to keep the prophecy of this book closed to men, or distort it in such a way that it loses its true power. If satan manages to add his lie to the words of the prophecy of this book, words in which his end is displayed, he can drag as many people with him into hell as he possibly could. But the Lord Jesus warns here not to fall into this trap. Adding something to what is perfect, means getting the plagues that are written in this book added to you. Those plagues cannot be more severe than they are described, but they can increase in number.

Rev 22:19. The order is different from the previous verse. Here it is about the completely finished message of the book as a whole. Nothing can be taken away from it. People may take away something from the Word that they do not understand. The arrogant reason of man rejects God’s Word which he considers to be unacceptable. You may think here of Bible criticism. Such an attitude marks the audacity of unbelief.

However, he who deals with God’s Word in such a way, God will deal with him. Such a person receives no part of the tree and the city. Because of his attitude he indicates that he doesn’t like it at all to partake of the things that the believer enjoys. Therefore he will never get part of it. It has been presented to him, he has read about it, but he rejects it. He could have got part of it, but he refused. Therefore the part that was offered to him is taken away from him.

Therefore the issue here is absolutely not taking away something to which a believer has received part of. The part of a believer can in no way be taken away from him. Therefore a believer will never take away something of the words of the book of this prophecy. That you as a believer do not understand everything and have questions about it is of a totally different order than rejecting something God has said. The latter is the point here.

Rev 22:20. The Lord Jesus concludes the book with a final testimony that the book comes from Himself. Christ is the absolute faithful Witness of the things revealed in this book. Following this, He says: “Yes, I am coming quickly!” This is the reply to the call of the Spirit and the bride in Rev 22:17. With His “yes” He confirms that we should not have the slightest doubt about everything that is said. Then He says that He is about to come. There is no fulfillment necessary of any prophecy before He can come for His bride.

The response to the promise of the Lord that He is coming quickly, is: “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.” This comes out of the mouth of all who love Him. Two times earlier the Lord has said that He is coming quickly (Rev 22:7 ; 12). The response to that is different from the response here. In Rev 22:7 the promise is followed by an exhortation to heed God’s Word. In Rev 22:12 the promise is followed by the promise of a reward. In this verse the promise of the Lord is followed by a spontaneous expression of longing for Himself, for His Person. This basically concludes the book.

Rev 22:21. Still, there follows a wish of blessing from John for “all” saints, which is needed as long as the Lord Jesus has not come yet. Until that moment of His coming all saints can count on His “grace”. To this, only an assenting “amen” can follow. A beautiful ending.

Now read Revelation 22:15-21 again.

Reflection: What does the thought of the coming of the Lord mean to you?