Revelation 22:7-21 – Jesus Is Coming: Look Busy

This final section of Revelation offers a concluding promise and admonition. It also expresses the deep longing of Christians for Christ’s return. If you’ve ever heard the word “Maranatha,” it means “Come, O Lord” (in Aramaic, the language that first century Jewish Christians commonly used). It’s the next-to-last closing sentiment that John offers at the end of his book, but this whole passage expresses Jesus’ promise that he is indeed coming soon. For people in the midst of struggle and persecution, it’s the hope that they clung to. And are we all that different? Granted, the level of suffering that most of us are dealing with is relatively minor compared to what some people are enduring and have endured. But let’s face it: the world is a harsh place. Even if we are only experiencing what is common to all people (death, illness, a bad turn of fortunes for ourselves or for those we love), things can be lousy enough. But if we have a particularly nasty encounter with sin (our own or someone else’s), then we’re even more aware of how bad things can be for life in this world. We watch for and celebrate the ways that God is present today, and how he intervenes to save us. But let’s face it: it’s not enough. We pray for people to be healed, and they die. Nations are wracked with war and natural disaster. Addictions and destructive behavior ruin lives. Prejudice, greed, and jealousy poison our relationships and our society. And that only scratches the surface! It’s wonderful to experience God’s love, but we’re looking forward to the time when that’s all the we know. As Christians, we know that it will only happen when Christ returns. So we plead for him to come and complete his redemptive work for us.

But we don’t pray “Maranatha” for that reason alone. We want Jesus to come back, because we love him. We want to see him face to face, and to be united with our Lord. Think of a time when one of your loved ones was away from home: perhaps on a business trip or to go away to school. Think of the military families who count the days until that special someone comes marching home again. This separation that we now have from Jesus is even more painful. Sure, we have the presence of the Holy Spirit, and we know that Jesus is with us, even if only two or three of us are gathered in his name. But it’s all provisional and partial. We will only know the fullness of peace and joy when Jesus returns.

So it’s a great reassurance to hear Jesus tell us repeatedly in this passage that he is coming soon. But it’s one of our faith’s greatest challenges to deal with the fact that Jesus’ version of “soon” isn’t quite the same as ours. It’s been nearly 2,000 years. That’s only considered a short period of time if you’re dealing with geology or biological evolution. Empires have come and gone. Entire new bodies of knowledge have emerged and become passé. Even the very languages that John wrote and spoke in are “dead.” So what’s so soon about “soon”? Theologians and Bible scholars have wrestled with this issue ever since, well, about the time that John wrote this. Here are a couple of the ideas that have been floated around.
1. God keeps time differently from us. A thousand years is like a day to him. It’s the sentiment that we find in 2 Peter 8-9. So we may complain about the delay, but that’s not the way God sees it.
2. Jesus has already come. His promise has already been fulfilled: just not in the way that we thought it would. Think of first-century Jewish hopes for the coming Messiah. We Christians generally believe that they had their own conception of what this coming would be like, and they couldn’t recognize Jesus because he didn’t match their expectations. According to this line of thought, Jesus has come in some sort of spiritual or existential way. There’s no additional “coming” that we should be waiting for.
3. We will each experience Jesus’ coming at the point of our death, when we leave this world and enter his presence. So for each of us, the time is “soon,” and none of know exactly when it will take place. But Jesus’ “coming” is for each of us as individuals; the world as we know it now will continue to go along as it has for millennia.
These are just a sampling of answers that people have offered for this question. Personally, none of them satisfy me. Sort of like eating rice cakes. We feel in our bones that things just aren’t concluded until Jesus comes into the world and, once and for all, takes care of business.

On a side note, I’ve heard it said that when Jesus does come, the three major Abrahamic religions will come together. The Jews are expecting the Messiah, so when Jesus comes they will say: “You’ve finally come!” We Christians, who are awaiting his second coming, will say, “We missed you! Thank you for returning!” As for the Muslims, not only do they believe that Jesus was a prophet (but not the Son of God), but they also believe that he will come again. They also believe that the last prophet is the most authoritative. And since Muhammed was the last prophet, that’s why they follow his revelation. But when Jesus comes, he will be the new prophet that they will follow. So these divisions that we get so worked up about will come to an end.

In verses 9-10, John succumbs to the same temptation he had in 19:10, and begins to worship the angel who has been guiding him. Once again, he is rebuked and reminded that God alone deserves our worship. This is a reminder for us that it’s easy for us to worship the wrong person or thing. In Jesus’ absence, we want to direct our devotion to someone or something that we can see. The fact that John does this for a second time reminds us that we never really overcome our temptations. We must continually be vigilant, and always be prepared for God’s corrective action.

The angel tells John not to seal up his book. The word he uses here is “biblon” in the Greek, which isn’t a book like the ones we have. That would have been called a codex in those days. “Biblon” is a scroll. He’s not supposed to seal it up because the predicted events are going to happen soon; we’ve already talked about this as a problem. Don’t stick it in the archives, don’t put it on the back burner. Always keep the promises and the warnings in front of you. Verse 11 tells John, in essence, that things are going to be what they are. The wicked will keep doing evil and the righteous will continue to do good. This isn’t a sense of fatalism (“nobody’s going to change”) but simply a recognition that, after all the warnings, encouragement, and discipline, no one is going to repent anymore. Things have reached their final status.

The second nut to crack in this passage, after our struggle with why Jesus hasn’t come yet, is the promise of reward in verse 12. This isn’t the first time that we’ve encountered some language in Revelation that sure sounds like works-righteousness. It gives the impression that we get into heaven if we do good things, and verse 15 sounds as though the evil-doers never stand a chance. Some of these evil-doers certainly are the nasty people of the world, like murderers. But what about “everyone who loves and practices falsehood”? Even if we don’t love it, we would be practicing falsehood if we said that we never practiced it. The idea that you are rewarded for doing good by going to heaven, and that you can’t get into heaven if you’ve done evil, contradicts the good news of the gospel that we find throughout the New Testament. So what are we supposed to do with this?

Verses 14 and 17 set us straight. We gain the right to enter the city (or heaven) by having our “robes” “washed.” In other words, to have our sins wiped away by the redeeming work of Christ. The gift of this life-giving water that we can drink and bathe in is completely free, and available for everyone who wants it. That certainly sounds more like the good news of the Christian message that we pin our hopes upon. We are only able to do good, and to turn away from doing evil, because of God’s regenerating Spirit within us. Through Christ, we are blessed by becoming who we are meant to be as God works in us.

A fitting way to end this study on Revelation is to reflect on the way that Jesus describes himself in verses 13 and 16. These are descriptions that we’ve run into already in the book, but it’s good to remember them once again.
Alpha and Omega, Beginning and End: Everything starts with Jesus (John 1:1-4, Colossians 1:16), and as we’re seeing in Revelation, it all moves toward him as the final goal and purpose.
Root and Offspring of David: Isaiah 11:1 calls Jesus the shoot that comes from the Root of Jesse, the royal family of Israel. He is the source and the final culmination of the leadership that God provides for his people.
Bright Morning Star: The one who heralds the glory of God that breaks into our lives, just as the morning star heralds the light of a new day.