The Return of the King Video

Chapters 14 - 22

Chapters 14 and 15: Heaven Prepares for War

Introduction: Chapters 14 and 15 begin the third and final section of the Trilogy, The Return of the King.  As a reminder, in the first section of the trilogy, The Fellowship of the King, we watched as God sealed God’s own people and vowed to protect them, even as they struggled to be faithful.  In the second section of the trilogy, The Two Powers, we watched as the force opposed to God created an Unholy Trinity, whose intent was to deceive humanity into turning toward them and away from God, as well as to destroy the people of God who could not be deceived.  And just as the people of God had been sealed God’s people, the Unholy Trinity marked its people with the mark of the beast, 666.  This final section of the trilogy concerns God’s plans for battle, the battle itself, and the restoration of creation.  Chapters 14 and 15 focus on the heavenly preparations for war with the powers of evil.
The Story: the scene opens with the Lamb on Mt Zion. Along with the Lamb are the 144,000 who not only have been sealed, but have two names on their foreheads, the name of the Lamb and of God.  This is opposed to the 666 which is the name of the beast on the foreheads of those who oppose God and the Lamb.  The appearance of the Lamb is a reminder that the Lamb (Jesus) is central to God’s saving activity.  He is the one who was worthy to open the scroll and unleash the future because he sacrificed himself on the cross.  The 144,000 who appear with him are those who have been named and claimed by God. And the number itself, 144,000 simply represents the perfect number of believers (12x12x1000).  These persons alone can know the new song, meaning the new reality that is coming in and through the work of Jesus, because they have been redeemed by God and because they faithfully follow the Lamb (as opposed to those who follow the beast). 
At this point an angel appears halfway between heaven and earth. The angel announces to all humanity that God is about engage in war with the powers of evil and that there is still time to be saved by worshipping God.  Note that God’s desire is for repentance and restoration, not death.  A second and third angel then appears.  The second angel states that, even though the battle is not yet joined, Babylon has fallen. Babylon here represents all those nations and people who have opposed God and oppressed God’s people. For the original readers, this would have been Rome.  
The third angel pronounces judgment upon all of those who received the mark of the beast. This pronouncement is not for gloating over the destruction of the beast but is instead a call for endurance of the saints who may be tempted to give in and allow the beast to mark them. This is followed by a voice from heaven offering a benediction over those who died because of their faithfulness to Jesus.  The image now shifts to that of a sickle used for reaping those destined for God’s wrath. The sickle will be used by Jesus to enact justice upon the earth.  The image of this justice making is the clipping and gathering of grapes which will be trodden in the winepress of God’s wrath.  This winepress is outside the city (Jerusalem of which we will read more later) and the blood flows deep and wide.
Chapter 15 opens with the final grouping of seven; seven angels with seven plagues.  These plagues will be the end of God’s wrath.  This is followed by the song modeled on the song of Moses in Exodus 15:1-8, which was sung in ancient synagogues to remind God’s people that God would indeed set them free.  The preparations are concluded when the tent of witness in heaven is opened and the seven angels, dressed like priests, prepare to pour out the wrath of God on the beasts and their allies.
Reflection: by the time D-Day was over in June of 1944 and the allies had broken out from the beaches and the Russians were on the move, the outcome of the Second World War was no longer in doubt.  The Third Reich’s days were numbered.  This reality is at the heart of this chapter.  In other words, as soon as God prepares for battle, God’s enemies are essentially defeated.  They do not have a hope or a prayer.  Even so, just as in the Second World War, there is much fighting and death ahead.
Questions:
  1. What have you been taught about the 144,000?
  2. What do you make of the “new song”? Have you ever heard a “new song”?
  3. Where do you see the battle for the hearts and minds of humanity continuing today?

Chapters 16: The Final Battle Begins

Introduction: This chapter follows the pattern set in chapter 8, which is a series of plagues that are unleashed upon the earth.  There are, however, two major differences between these and the previous plagues. First, these plagues not only affect creation (earth, sea, rivers and sky) but they now impact human beings.  Second, the destruction is not partial (one quarter or one third) but is complete.  It is as if when God comes in final judgment, though repentance is possible, the central purpose is no longer to bring about repentance, but justice, meaning sentencing those who refused God’s offer of love and peace, and instead chose to follow the beast in the way of evil and destruction.
The Story: The final battle begins with a voice from the Temple telling the angels to move out on their mission of judgment.  The angels obey their orders and begin to pour out their wrath upon those with the mark of the beast. Angel one pours out sores on those who worship the beast.  Angel number two pours out the plague of death upon the seas. Angel three pours out the plague of turning fresh water to blood, which forces those who have shed blood of the prophets and saints to drink blood rather than water.   The altar itself proclaims this to be true justice because those who are evil “get what they deserve.”  The fourth angel pours out his bowl upon the sun, allowing it to scorch people on earth. The response of those affected is predictable. Rather than repenting, they curse God and do not give God glory.  In a sense, the enemy is willing to suffer rather than change. 
The fifth angel pours out his bowl on the throne of the beast, plunging the beast’s kingdom into darkness.  This is God taking the battle to the very heart of the enemy king, very much like Allied air raids over Berlin or Tokyo during the Second World War.  God intends to discourage the enemy and cause them to surrender.  The result of these attacks is that there is darkness over the kingdom. Yet again, the people refuse to give in and surrender to God.  They would rather suffer and curse God.
The sixth angel pours out his bowl on the river Euphrates, drying it up, allowing the enemy to bring in reinforcements.  These will include kings from the east (the location of all previous oppressing empires; Assyria, Babylon and Persia) and three foul spirits who are produced by the beast.  These spirits once again imitate the Holy Spirit by performing signs.  The purpose of these sign performing spirits is to entice the kings of the earth to join the Unholy Trinity in their battle with the God and the Lamb. Following this recruiting drive, there is an aside from heaven in which the faithful are warned not to let their guard down and join the enemy, because God is coming like a thief in the night.  The enemy then assembles for the final battle at Armageddon, which simply means in Hebrew, the place where the armies gather.
The seventh angel pours out his bowl and in a dramatic moment, the forces of God defeat the forces of the Unholy Trinity.  Notice that at this moment there is no God’s army, though we will encounter one later, but that it is nature/God’s creation (lighting, earthquakes, hailstones) which destroys the enemy.  This connects creation’s role in the conflict with its protection of the woman in the desert, when the earth swallowed up the chaos unleashed by the beast.
Reflection: for those who are Lord of the Rings fans, this chapter can be viewed as the final battle at the gates of Sauron’s fortress of Barad-Dur. In that battle, as soon as the Ring of Power is destroyed, the earth gives way under Sauron’s forces and the fortress itself is destroyed by an earthquake. In other words, the end comes not in a long-protracted series of battles, but in one decisive moment. This is how early Christians and Second Temple Jews envisioned God’s final victory over evil. It would be an instant defeat and destruction of the enemy because ultimately God holds all power.
Questions:
  1. Why do you think that evil would often rather suffer than repent?
  2. Where do you see powers in this world continuing to successfully recruit Christians who are lured more by power than faithfulness?
  3. Why do you think that power is so alluring? 

Chapters 17: The Enemy Unmasked

Introduction: Chapter 17 is one of the pivotal chapters of the Revelation and its interpretation will control the interpretation of the rest of the book.  Historically, most commentators have interpreted the whore/Babylon as Rome.  The seven mountains (vs. 9) are the Seven Hills of Rome.  The seven kings (vs. 9) are the emperors from Agustin to Domitian.  The ten kings (vs. 12) are client states that desire freedom.  The difficulty with this interpretation, meaning linking this chapter directly to Rome, is that it limits God’s judgment to only the Roman Empire.  It once again makes Revelation a time limited book…only good for historical information.  However, regardless of how one tries to tie Rome to this and the following chapter there are issues that are not easily resolved.  One must strain credulity to make it all work as referring only to Rome. 
The other way to view this chapter is to allow it to refer to the battle between good and evil which is always around us.  This would mean that this vision connects Revelation not only with the Old Testament prophetic visions of an evil city which can be found in Jeremiah 50-51, Ezekiel 16, Nahum and Isaiah 14, with Rome in the first century, but also with the common characteristics of evil cities/civilizations across the centuries. These characteristics include royal splendor combined with prosperity, overabundance and luxury; self-trust, boastfulness, power and violence against God’s people leading to oppression, injustice and idolatry. These evil cities then become the archetype for evil besetting the world. 
The Story: In some ways this chapter is a digression in the story line.  At the end of the last chapter we read of the destruction of Babylon.  Yet, we are now given an inside look at the evil empire/city.  The city is referred to as a “whore”, meaning one who leads people away from wisdom/God/life and toward folly/evil/death. This concept can be found in Ezekiel 16:15 ff, Nahum 3:4, Isaiah 23:16-17 and Proverbs.  The woman is seated on many waters, meaning her foundation is chaos. 
John is then carried into the wilderness where he sees another woman on a scarlet beast which has seven heads and ten horns and is covered with blasphemous names.  The woman is obviously wealthy and powerful because she is clothed in scarlet and crimson and holds a golden cup.  
The cup, unfortunately, is filled with abominations and on her forehead was “Babylon the great, mother of whores and of earth’s abominations.” The woman is also drunk with the blood of the saints. In other words, the evil city/empire is built on the oppression of God’s people, and it is drunk with its own power.
The angel then offers John an explanation of the beast.  First John writes that the beast “was, is now and will ultimately be sent to the pit.”  This simply means it once had power, no longer does because it has been defeated and then will ultimately be judged. The mountains and kings are smaller powers who are willing to ally themselves with the evil city/empire.  Some of these kings are already present, while others are still to come.  These kings will war with the Lamb, but as we read at the end of Chapter 16, the kings will be defeated.
This leads to one of the most interesting and yet predictable portions of the chapter, which is that evil, when it finds itself losing, will turn on itself. “And the ten horns that you saw, they and the beast will hate the whore; they will make her desolate and naked; they will devour her flesh and burn her up with fire.”  This is the way of evil. There is no loyalty or real friendship. There is only a lust for victory and power.
Reflection: Evil is ultimately a self-defeating proposition.  Throughout history, evil, repressive empires have always fallen to those desiring freedom, or have been destroyed from within by individuals unwilling to share power.  The leaders of these empires believed that they were all powerful and that their own cunning and ability would sustain their empires. Ultimately though God always won out.  Those empires fell onto the ash heap of history, while God’s people survived and continued. It is never easy for the saints to remain faithful in the face of evil, yet God’s faithfulness across time has allowed the story of the Lamb to continue to be told even in the most difficult of times.
Questions:
  1. Where have you seen the lust for power in the world around you?
  2. Where have you seen people in power who become drunk with its benefits?
  3. Where have you seen evil turn on itself as it is cornered by those who would defeat it?

Chapters 18: The Collapse of the Enemy


Introduction: This chapter is the description of the previously announced judgment of the prostitute (17:1).  Babylon has been described as a city/empire which was drunk with power and oppressed the saints.  What we discover in this chapter is a broader description of the city/empire.  It is depicted as a great commercial enterprise whose wealth was shared by the world. This city/empire made many rich even as it oppressed others.  This description would have fit Rome, but also fits all other city/empires across history.  What we will find in this chapter is a variety of responses to the collapse and defeat of the city/empire.  Each from a different perspective. All of this shows the complex nature of evil and how it works in the world.
The Story: The chapter begins with an angel offering the famous words, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great.” These words echo Isaiah 21:9 and Jeremiah 51:8 in which we read about the fall of the original Babylon. It is a reminder that all the city/empires that had or would, oppress God’s people (Egypt, Assyria, Persia, Greece and Rome) would one day fall.  And not only would they fall, but they would become no more than a wasteland…which is made clear with the references to being a haunt of foul spirits, birds and beasts.  The reason for this fall, according to the text, is because the city/empire has led the nations away from worshipping God and caused them to worship not only the city/empire but the wealth and power it offered.
What follows this declaration of destruction is an invitation for people to flee the city even while it is falling.  People are invited to “come out of her so that you do not take part in her sins…” which once again reminds us that God desires life and not death.  In some ways this is an invitation to believers who had become too enmeshed in the city/empire to extricate themselves from its temptations before it is too late; before God measures out an appropriate punishment for the crimes the city/empire had committed.  As an aside the text reminds its readers of the attitude of the city/empire that led to this judgment, that the city/empire believed it would be eternal as the living God. “I rule as a queen; I am no widow and will never see grief.”  This belief is in some ways the original sin of Adam and Eve, to be like God.

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The focus of the chapter now shifts to a lament offered by those who had been made wealthy by the city/empire.  “And the kings of the earth, who committed fornication and lived in luxury with her, will weep and wail over her when they see the smoke of her burning…and the merchants of the earth (and ships’ captains) weep and mourn for her, since no one buys their cargo anymore…” This mourning is followed by a long list of the articles that will no longer be traded.  Almost all those items listed are bought and sold by and for the wealthy, including slaves…or as the writer points out…human lives…which belong in the end only to God.  One of the fascinating things about this section is that those who grew wealthy from trade with the city/empire are smart enough to stand far off and watch it burn, while they weep and mourn.
Once again, the perspective of the response to the city’s fall shifts from earth to heaven. Now, rather than mourning there is rejoicing! “Rejoice O heaven, you saints and apostles and prophets! For God has given judgment for you against her.”  And with that rejoicing, the end for the city has come, as an angel throws a great millstone into the sea to unleash a tidal wave of chaos upon the city bringing about its final and ultimate destruction.
Reflection: The memory that this chapter brings to my mind is of visiting Rome.  When my wife and I visited the remains of the forum, it was made clear to us that the ruins we saw had been excavated after being lost in the mists of time. In other words, what was once the heart and soul of the city that once ruled the Mediterranean world ultimately become no more than a haunt for birds and beasts, emptied of trade and void of the sounds of life.  It was no more than a pasture upon which shepherds grazed their cattle and sheep.  It was a powerful reminder that human arrogance believes that what it creates is eternal, when it is not.  Only God and God’s people are eternal.
Questions:
  1. Where and how do you see God calling us out of the city/empire in which we live?
  2. Where do you see the arrogance of those who believe what they are creating is eternal?
  3. Where do you see people today trading in human lives?

Chapters 19: Victory – Part 1

Introduction: This chapter stands in stark contrast to the previous one.  Here, rather than listening to mourning, we hear rejoicing over the fall of the city/empire.  In some ways this is an expansion on the brief word of celebration in Chapter 18.  What we notice in this celebration is that it is not the celebration of the 144,000 but of the multitude.  In addition, this chapter offers a description of the first phase of God’s victory over the powers of evil in and through the work of Jesus and the saints. 
The Story:  The chapter begins with the great celebration in heaven and moves from the outer circle to the inner circle.  It begins with praise emanating from the great multitude of saints that cannot be numbered, then moves to the twenty-four elders, then to the four living creatures and finally to the throne of the lamb. The song that is sung is based on Exodus psalms reminding the people that God is a liberating God. They are a reminder that God is the only one with the power to save the saints because their captivity is both physical and spiritual.  The command to fear God does not mean to be afraid, but to be in awe of this liberating God.
The next section of praise has to do with preparation for the arrival of the new king.  This is made clear in that the language references the final Hallel Psalms (Psalms 93:1; 97:1; 99:1) which were used at the arrival and coronation of a king.  These words of praise are pronouncing that not only has the enemy been defeated but that the new king will take his place on the throne.  The writer then speaks of the marriage of the Lamb and the bride that is ready for the ceremony.  Note how this image of marriage contrasts with the image of the prostitute language describing Babylon; it is faithfulness to God versus unfaithfulness to God. 
What follows is the fourth of seven blessings, or beatitudes, in Revelation, “Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” The previous three beatitudes can be found in 1:3, 14:13 and 16:15.  
These three beatitudes focus on faithfulness (those who hear and keep this vision; who die in the Lord; and who stay awake and is clothed…meaning in holiness).  This fourth benediction is the culmination of those three benedictions in that those who have been faithful are blessed to be invited to the marriage feast where they will find new life.  At this point, John, upon learning that these are the words of God and not an angel, falls down to worship the angelic messenger.  A warning is given that such worship is inappropriate because only God and not the messenger is to be worshipped.
At this point the narrative shifts from heavenly praise to heaven’s new assault on the forces of evil.  Once again the heavenly curtain is drawn back far enough to allow the Jesus, the one who is faithful and true, who judges and makes war, whose eyes are filled with the Spirit (fire), who holds all power (many diadems on his head), who is clothed in a white robe dipped in blood (the crucifixion) and who is the Word of God (from the Gospel of John) to launch his assault.  He leads the armies of heaven who confront the armies of the beast. In an instant the first battle is over, the beast and the false prophet are captured and thrown into the Lake of fire and the rest are killed with the word of God.
Reflection: The images in this chapter, though unfamiliar to us, would have been overly familiar to their original audience.  War, violence, death and corpses in the fields were part and parcel of life in the Roman Empire.  The enemies of the Empire would have been humiliated and executed.  The difference here is that Jesus comes as liberator of the innocent and a dispenser of justice.  He is not conquering for the sake of conquest, but instead defeats the forces of evil so that life in all its fullness might reign.
Questions:
  1. Where in your own life have you experienced Jesus as a liberating power?
  2. How do you understand the image of the marriage feast of the Lamb?
  3. How do you hold in tension the images of Jesus as warrior and Jesus as sacrifice?

Chapters 20: Victory – Part 2

Introduction: This chapter contains some of the most controversial aspects of Revelation, including the 1000-year era of peace and the binding of Satan.  The 1000-year reign has posed problems for commentators for centuries.  When is the 1000 years?  Is it a real 1000 years?  Is it a metaphorical (numerological) 1000 years?  Does the 1000 years come before Jesus returns?  Does it come after Jesus returns?  Is it the age of the church?  Why bother with 1000 years of peace if we are only going to let Satan loose again?  What does it mean for Satan to be bound?  All these questions and more face those who venture into Chapter 20.
The Story: The chapter begins with the binding of Satan.  An angel seizes the “ancient serpent, who is the Devil and Satan”, binds him and then throws him in a bottomless pit. However we are told that before the final judgment of the world Satan must be let out again. This imagery tells us a couple of things about Satan.  First, Satan has no real power.  Notice that even an angel of God, and not God in God’s own self, can bind Satan.  In a sense, this means that Satan only has the power that God allows, and that people give to him.  What I mean by this is that as Revelation has made clear, human beings have the capacity to follow the Lamb and not Satan.  We are not predisposed to reject God’s messiah in the world. Second, there will be a time when Satan is not present to tempt people.  This idea, that Satan is the tempter, is one that grew in Judaism following the Persian period. Prior to that time, Satan worked for God as God’s district attorney. 
Once Satan is bound, there comes the first resurrection.  Yes, there is more than one resurrection of the dead in Revelation.  This first resurrection is of the martyrs, those who died for their faith without having worshipped the beast.  They are raised and reign on thrones with Christ for a thousand years.  These saints are guaranteed that they will not die again (more about this later) and that they will be priests of God.
​The story now returns to Satan’s release from prison.  Once again, he will deceive the nations. This implies two things. First, that God allows people to make their own decisions about following.  Second, that people, even after a thousand years are easily duped by Satan’s deception, which if we return to the whole Biblical story, means they are duped into believing that they can be like gods knowing good and evil, and that wealth, power and privilege are more important than living as servants of the Christ.  The number of this army is as numerous as the sands (recall that Abraham is promised descendants that are more numerous than the sands) and they surround the camp of the saints and the beloved city. But fire came and consumed them, and Satan is thrown into the Lake of fire.
The chapter concludes with the final judgment in which heaven and earth meet as one new reality.  All the dead come before the throne and are judged according to their works as recorded in the Book of Life.  Finally, death and hades are destroyed along with those whose names are not in the Book of Life.
Reflection: The promise of Revelation is that God and God’s followers win. The promise is also that along with God’s victory there will be judgment, giving some eternal life and others death…though Revelation hedges its bets on the basis for this judgment. For Christians who face persecution, this story holds out hope, that faithfulness will be rewarded and so they are not to give into the beast of their generation.  It is also a reminder that our choices have eternal consequences should be made carefully. 
Questions:
  1. How do you interpret the 1000-year reign of Christ and the martyrs?
  2. Why do you suppose that Satan is bound and then loosed?
  3. How do you interpret the images of the two books on which a final judgment it made?

Chapters 21 – 22:5: The New Creation

Introduction: The final two chapters of Revelation close not only the book itself but the entire Biblical narrative.  They bring the reader full circle from God’s creation of a perfect world to God’s recreation of the same.  They fulfill the promise to Abraham that through his family all the nations of the world would be blessed; meaning in and through the work of Jesus on the cross, to defeat the power of sin, and Jesus’s work as the rider on the white horse in which the final vestiges of evil are vanquished and the blessings of God are made complete.  This portion of the book also brings together themes from virtually every other section; contains a myriad of OT references and archetypal images; and uses numbers, dimensions and colors to complete the mix.  Finally, we see the completion of God’s work of redemption as we return to a state of Eden where God is with God’s people and all is right with the world.
The Story: this chapter opens with a new heaven and a new earth.  The Greek word used in this case for new, is not new, as in a new car.  New here is in the sense of an old car being renewed.  So, the image is that God has recreated the heavens and the earth in such a way that all that is old has been renewed. The idea that the sea is gone is code language for there is no more chaos as there was at the beginning of creation where the earth was covered with oceans of chaos.  This is possible because the Unholy Trinity and their deception is gone.
A renewed creation needs a new city/empire and Revelation does not disappoint. This new city, the new Jerusalem (the holy city in which once stood the Temple of God) comes down from heaven, again as a bride adorned for her husband…meaning she is ready to take on her role in the renewed creation.  And once again, just as God’s home was in the Jerusalem Temple, God’s home is now in the new Jerusalem without the need of a Temple.  God will dwell with the saints and there will be no more tears, death, mourning or crying because this is the renewed creation as it was intended to be; one of joy, love, life and peace.
The theme of renewal is now taken up from the throne itself.  The pronouncement is made that all things are being made new.  This is followed by a description of rewards for those who are faithful which are that they will drink from the spring of the water of life and will inherit the new creation.  There is also a warning for those who choose not to follow God but choose the way of chaos; to be thrown into the lake of fire, which is the second death. This warning once again seems to suggest that somehow, even after the initial judgment, people can choose the way of life rather than the way of death.
John, then can see the new Jerusalem in all its splendor.  It is perfect.  It is a cube, with twelve gates made of twelve pearls, each inscribed with a name of one of the twelve apostles, whose foundations are twelve jewels, meaning it is all perfect.  Inside the perfect city there is no need for light because God and the Lamb provide all the light it needs. There is also the river of the water of life flowing from the throne of God. The city also contains the tree of life which can heal the nations. Only those who worship God and are marked by the Lamb will be found there. These images come directly from Genesis and the original garden of Eden, meaning that Eden has been restored.
Reflection:   As was mentioned in the introduction, Chapters 21 and 22 complete the Biblical narrative. This narrative is that 1) God creates a wonderful creation in which love of God and neighbor are at its heart; 2) human beings rebel and warp this good creation; 3) God covenants with a family through which creation will be restored; 4) God sends God’s Son Jesus to make restoration possible; and 5) the restoration occurs and God returns in all God’s fullness to restore creation to its original condition. This restoration includes a place in which God and human beings can live in intimate communion.
Questions:
  1. What does your image of Eden look like?
  2. Where do you see God at work renewing the world?
  3. What do you make of the gates of the New Jerusalem never closing?

Chapter 22:6-21: Epilogue

Introduction: As with any good story there needs to be an epilogue in which all the loose ends are wrapped up and the main characters can deliver their final messages.  This is what occurs in this portion of Chapter 22.  We will hear from angels, God, Jesus and John.  They will offer final thoughts which assist the reader in remembering who they are, what they are planning to do and what is required of the reader. These words will also offer a final word of hope for those who find themselves in difficult times because of their faithfulness to Jesus.
The Story: The first statement concerns the testimony that John gives in this book.  Though we are not sure who is speaking to John (the assumption is that it is the Lamb/Jesus speaking to him) it is apparent that the message  he delivers in this book is “trustworthy and true, for the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place.”   In other words, people can stake their lives on the fact that God is in the process of saving the saints in the here and now and will one day offer them a place in the renewed creation. This first promise is followed by a second promise that God is coming soon and will bless whoever stays faithful.
 The second affirmation of the truth of these words comes from John himself. In a sense he adds his byline to the text when he writes, “I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them…” This statement is intended to carry weight because as an Apostle in the early church, and the supposed writer of the Gospel and letters of John, he is respected within the early church.  Unfortunately, even at this point in the revelation process, he still does not fully understand what he has seen and heard because he falls down and worships the messenger (the angel) and not the one who sent the message. The angel then, once again, must remind John that angels, prophets and John are not greater than ordinary believers. That they are all comrades in this great salvation epic.
The angel then gives John instruction on what to do with the words and vision he has received. John is not to seal them up because people need to be reminded that of their call to remain faithful because God is at work and that God’s arrival is imminent. This affirmation is then followed by a rather odd statement, that the saints are to concern themselves with their own faithfulness and not the faithfulness of others, because people will be who they will be.  All the saints need to do is to let others know what is in the book. The urgency of the letter is made clear when God, the Alpha and Omega says that he is coming soon and that only those who wash their robes (in the blood of the Lamb) will be allowed into the new city that contains the tree of life. This warning, however, is followed by an invitation from Jesus, the Spirit and the church. This invitation is for all to come and drink of the waters of life.  Again, please note that Revelation is a book of both encouragement and invitation.
The book concludes with one more warning, promise and benediction.  The warning is to not add anything to or take anything from the words John has recorded. To do so will cause a person to either receive the plagues in the book or to lose one’s share of the tree of life.  The promise is that Jesus is coming soon. The benediction is that God’s grace goes with the saints.
Reflection:  The church has long struggled with the book of Revelation. In many early editions of the canon (the official list of Biblical books), Revelation was omitted.  John Calvin refused to write a commentary on it because he wasn’t sure what to do with it.  Even today pastors often avoid it because of its images and ancient metaphors. The hope of this series has been to help readers see that this is a book of promise for the faithful intended to remind them that in the end God wins, and that we should never forget that reality.
Questions:
  1. What do you make of the open-ended invitation to come to the water of life as a gift?
  2. At the same time, what do you make of the idea that there are outsiders and insiders?
  3. How do you reconcile the idea that Jesus is coming soon and yet he has not yet arrived?
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