The Last Word Is a Welcome: The Final Message Text: Revelation 22:10-21
Introduction: The Unsealed Scroll
We come now to the very end of the line, the final paragraphs of the final book of the Holy Scriptures. And what do we find? We find that the end of all things is not a cliff, but a door. The Bible does not conclude with a period, but with an invitation. After all the tumult, the dragons, the beasts, the bowls of wrath, and the fall of empires, the last word from God to man is not "Depart," but "Come."
Modern evangelicalism has, for the better part of a century, treated this book, and particularly its ending, like a bomb disposal manual for a future apocalypse. They have sealed it up tight with their complicated charts and newspaper headlines, making it a book about far-off events that have nothing to do with us right now. But the angel tells John the very opposite. "Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near." This book was not meant to be a riddle for the last generation; it was a letter of wartime encouragement to the first generation. It was an unsealed scroll because its contents were about to happen. The time was at hand for them. The judgment on Jerusalem, the great divorce from apostate Israel, the vindication of the saints, and the enthronement of Jesus Christ over the nations was not a distant hope, but an imminent reality.
And because these things have happened, because Christ has already toppled the great persecuting city and established His kingdom, the message for us is not one of frantic speculation, but of settled reality. The finality of our choices is established. The identity of our King is declared. The nature of His kingdom is described. And the invitation to enter it is wide open. This passage is the great culmination of all redemptive history, laying out for us the fixed realities of the new covenant age. It shows us the great divide, the great King, the great blessing, the great invitation, and the great warning. It is the final altar call of Scripture.
The Text
And he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. Let the one who does unrighteousness, still do unrighteousness; and the one who is filthy, still be filthy; and let the one who is righteous, still do righteousness; and the one who is holy, still keep himself holy.” “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to his work. I am the Alpha and the Omega, THE FIRST AND THE LAST, the beginning and the end.” Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the authority to the tree of life and may enter by the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the sexually immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying. “I, Jesus, sent My angel to bear witness to you of these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.” And 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 receive the water of life without cost. I bear witness to everyone 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. And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book. He who bears witness to these things says, “Yes, I am coming quickly.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.
(Revelation 22:10-21 LSB)
The Great Fixity (v. 10-11)
We begin with the command not to seal the book, and the startling declaration that follows.
"And he said to me, 'Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. Let the one who does unrighteousness, still do unrighteousness; and the one who is filthy, still be filthy; and let the one who is righteous, still do righteousness; and the one who is holy, still keep himself holy.'" (Revelation 22:10-11)
The angel contrasts this prophecy with Daniel's, which was sealed because its fulfillment was for a time far off (Dan. 12:4). John's prophecy is unsealed because the events, chiefly the judgment on Jerusalem in A.D. 70, were right at the door. "The time is near." This is one of the clearest statements in the book that its primary fulfillment was in the first century. To argue that "near" means two thousand plus years and counting is to do violence to the plain meaning of the word.
Because the judgment is imminent, a great sifting is at hand. Verse 11 is not a command to sin more or a statement of fatalistic resignation. It is a declaration that the time for choosing sides is over. The lines are drawn. When the moment of crisis comes, when the judgment falls, there is no more time for deliberation. Character becomes fixed. What you are is what you will be. Those who have made injustice and filth their life's pursuit will continue in that trajectory to their ruin. And those who have been made righteous and holy in Christ will continue in that path to their vindication. This was true for the generation facing the destruction of the Temple, and it is a standing principle for every man. The day is coming when your character will be set in stone. The time for repentance is now, because the day is coming when there will be no more now.
The Returning King (v. 12-13)
The reason for this urgency is the return of the King.
"'Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to his work. I am the Alpha and the Omega, THE FIRST AND THE LAST, the beginning and the end.'" (Revelation 22:12-13)
Jesus Himself speaks here. "I am coming quickly." Again, this points to the historical judgment of A.D. 70, which was a "coming" of Christ in judgment, just as God "came" in judgment on Egypt or Babylon in the Old Testament. This coming was not the final, bodily return, but it was a decisive, world-altering advent of His kingly authority. He came to dismantle the old covenant world and fully establish the new. And with Him is His reward, His wages, to pay every man according to his work. For the persecuting Jews and the faithless, that reward was judgment. For the faithful, persecuted church, that reward was deliverance and vindication.
He then identifies Himself with three sets of titles that declare His absolute deity and sovereignty over history. He is the Alpha and Omega, the A and Z of the Greek alphabet. He is the FIRST AND THE LAST, a title Yahweh uses for Himself in Isaiah (Is. 44:6). He is the beginning and the end. This means He is the author, the substance, and the goal of all history. He wrote the first page, He is writing every page in the middle, and He will write the last. There are no maverick molecules, no rogue nations, no story arcs outside of His control. All of history is His story.
The Great Divide (v. 14-15)
This sovereign King presides over a great separation, an ultimate division between two kinds of people.
"Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the authority to the tree of life and may enter by the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the sexually immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying." (Revelation 22:14-15)
Here is the seventh and final beatitude of Revelation. The blessing is for "those who wash their robes." This is not about moral self-improvement. We cannot scrub our own robes clean. Earlier in this book, we are told exactly how this washing happens: they "washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb" (Rev. 7:14). This is a picture of justification by faith alone. We are cleansed only by the substitutionary death of Jesus. The result of this cleansing is authority. We are granted the right to the tree of life, reversing the curse of Eden, and access to the holy city, the New Jerusalem, which is the Church, the bride of Christ.
But there is an "outside." The kingdom has walls, and the gates are guarded. And outside are those whose character is fixed in unrighteousness. "Dogs" was a term of contempt for the unclean, for those outside the covenant. The list that follows sorcerers, the sexually immoral, murderers, idolaters, and liars describes the character of those who reject Christ. This is not a list of isolated sins that might cause a believer to stumble; it is a description of a settled lifestyle, a love and practice of falsehood. They are outside because their nature is antithetical to the nature of the city, which is a city of truth and light. Heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people. Those who love the darkness would be miserable in the light.
The King's Self-Attestation (v. 16)
Jesus now identifies Himself in a way that gathers up all the promises of the Old Testament.
"'I, Jesus, sent My angel to bear witness to you of these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.'" (Revelation 22:16)
He puts His personal name on this entire revelation: "I, Jesus." This is His testimony, delivered by His messenger, for the benefit of the churches. Then He gives two titles. He is the "root and the descendant of David." This is a glorious paradox. As the descendant, He is David's son, the rightful heir to the throne of Israel, the fulfillment of the Davidic covenant. But as the root, He is David's source, David's Lord. He is the one who created David. This is the very puzzle He posed to the Pharisees, "If David then calls Him 'Lord,' how is He his son?" (Matt. 22:45). The answer is that He is both God and man.
He is also the "bright morning star." The morning star appears just before the dawn, heralding the coming of a new day. In the context of Revelation, Jesus is the star who rises to signal the end of the long night of pagan tyranny and old covenant shadows, and the dawning of the great day of the gospel, the day of His kingdom's advance across the whole earth.
The Great Invitation (v. 17)
Because the King has come and established His city, the invitation now goes out to all.
"And 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 receive the water of life without cost." (Revelation 22:17)
This is the climax of the Bible's message. The invitation is threefold. First, the Holy Spirit and the bride, the Church, speak with one voice. The mission of the Church in the world, empowered by the Spirit, is to say "Come." Second, every individual who hears and has accepted this invitation is to echo it. "Let the one who hears say, 'Come.'" Evangelism is not a specialist activity; it is the natural reflex of a saved soul. Third, the invitation is directed to the needy. "Let the one who is thirsty come." It is for those who recognize their spiritual bankruptcy. And the offer is utterly gracious: "receive the water of life without cost." It is a free gift. You cannot earn it, you cannot deserve it, you cannot buy it. You can only receive it.
The Great Warning and Final Amen (v. 18-21)
The book concludes with a solemn warning, a final promise, and a benediction.
The warning in verses 18 and 19 is stark. Anyone who adds to or takes away from "the words of the book of this prophecy" will face covenant curses. This refers specifically to the book of Revelation, not the entire Bible as a yet-to-be-compiled canon. It is a hedge of protection around this specific revelation. To add to it is to claim a new, unwarranted revelation. To subtract from it is to diminish God's authoritative Word. The principle, however, applies to all of Scripture. We are not to be editors of God's Word, but students and servants of it. To tamper with the book is to be removed from the blessings of the book: the tree of life and the holy city.
Then comes the final, definitive promise from Jesus: "Yes, I am coming quickly." He says it one last time to seal its certainty. And John, speaking for the entire church throughout all ages, responds with the cry of faith and longing: "Amen. Come, Lord Jesus." This is the great hope of the saints. We long for the final consummation, the day He returns bodily to judge the living and the dead. But we also pray for His "coming" in our own lives, in our churches, and in our nations through revival and reformation.
And the very last sentence of the Bible is grace. "The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen." It all begins with grace, it is sustained by grace, and it ends in grace. The entire Christian life, from the first word to the last, is lived under the canopy of the undeserved favor of God in Christ. This is the final word, and it is a word of profound comfort and peace. God's posture toward His people is one of grace. Come.