THE LAST ANGELIC SPEECH

REVELATION XXII

PROPERLY speaking, this closing chapter should begin
with ver. 6. The angel who now addresses John is the
one who had, in the former chapter, and in chap. xix.
9, asserted the truth and faithfulness of the words of God.
This assertion he here repeats for the third time. To
what words, it may be inquired, does this angel refer?
In the first place, no doubt, the reference is to what John
has seen, and been commanded to write, concerning the
marriage of the Lamb, the new heaven and the new earth,
and the glory of the eternal city. But this is not all; we
have a final declaration made here of the truth and faith-
fulness of the whole book, of all the Revelation of John,
which, in spite of the doubt and opposition that of late
have increasingly assailed the Christian's faith on this head,
certifies to us its divine origin. Harms, preaching on the
close of this book, observes," Here and there it always has
been and still is the means of awaking some hitherto careless
soul, who, being attracted by certain words of incontestable
value and beauty, says to himself,' Since I find
this there, all the rest, proceeding as it does from the same
source, must also be true, for truth and falsehood cannot
go together.'"

The general nature of the expression here used by the
angel,"these sayings" is in harmony with his first assertion
(xix. 9,"the true sayings of God "), and further enforced
by his now going on to say :" And the Lord God
of the holy prophets sent his angel to show unto his servants
the things which must shortly be done." We find Moses
describing the Almighty as the Lord, the God of the
spirits of all flesh (Numb, xxvii. 16 ; xvi. 22 ; compare
Job xii. 10). Here we have a more restricted and exalted
description, referring to the manifestation of the
Spirit of God in the prophets. For although the same
Spirit dwells and works in them all (1 Pet. i. 11 ;
2 Pet. i. 21), yet in the same way as the breath of God
individualizes itself in the persons and spirits of humanity
at large, so we read of separate and various spirits
of the prophets (1 Cor. xiv. 32). Again, in this comprehensive
conclusion of the whole book, we have another
and clearer proof afforded us of what had already been
brought forward, in what we called the general quotation,
in chap. x. 7. We are taught that in these words,
" the words of the prophecy of this book"(ver. 7, 10), God has
comprehended all former prophecies, has united all the
spirits of the old prophets in this latest, this final utterance.
In testifying this great truth, the angel verbally
refers to the expression at the commencement (chap. i. 1),
or rather John, who only began to write after the conclusion
of the visions seen and voices heard, borrowed that
expression from these last angelic words. Nor does it necessarily
follow that the angel sent by God was actually
the angel speaking at the time (one of the seven), who, in
this case, would be speaking of himself. Had this been
the case, it is most natural to conclude that he would have
simply said," The Lord God sent me." The other ex-
planation which we would attach to the angel especially
named the angel of the Lord Jesus, i.e., the message, the
announcement, appearance, and revelation of the Lord,
agrees well with the tenor of the sentence. One of the
personal angels, in speaking, designedly uses this distinguishing
word, his, to teach us the difference between himself
and "this angel"of the Lord God. " To show unto
his servants." In a general sense, these are all the brothers
and fellow-prophets with John, who are enlightened by
means of this prophecy, and themselves prophesying, or
having a clear insight into what is shortly to come to pass,
shortly to be done, as we read in the very first verse of this
book.

"Shortly," this is to be understood like the words," I
come quickly," and that other expression," The time is at
hand," according to the prophetic standard, and the prophetic
sight. All that is to come, will come, all events
ordained to come to pass will rapidly follow each other in
their necessary sequence of cause and effect. Very rapid
indeed is the course of time to the mind of the seer, fixed,
as it is, on the revealed horizon of eternity.

In the opinion of many, it is the same angel who goes on
speaking in ver. 7, i.e., says in the name of Jesus,"Behold,
I come quickly." But we must repeat our former explanation,
and point to the frequent change of persons and of
voices throughout the whole of this closing chapter. Nor
can we find, as some think they do here, a "gradual return
from a state of trance or rapture to the normal waking
condition." On the contrary, the tone is increased in sublimity
at the very last, by" the final harmonies of a general
utterance ;" as it has been well said," The Spirit and the
Bride unite their voices there for the first time"(ver. 17).
And in the closing verse we have a most intimate dialogue
between the Lord and all his saints his whole Church,
after which John indeed closes this book, with the simple
customary benediction which closes other books and
epistles.

But we must express our conviction that the 7th verse
does not rank amongst the express utterances of the Lord
Jesus from heaven. Rather we hold that the Lord is speaking
to John, by the spirit of inspiration, both in ver. 7, 12,
16-20 ; and thus sets again a threefold seal to those former
words, so often resounding throughout his epistles to the
Churches, "Behold, I come quickly" (iii. 11). It is only
in ver. 8 that John, in a simple, touching alternation,
names himself, as he did at the beginning (i. 19) :'
" And I John saw these things and heard them." Further, he
has to own his repeated human weakness : He fell
down before the feet of the angel who showed him these
things, showed him the mystic Babylon, as well as the
bride, the heavenly city ; who thus, we see, as the last of
the seven last angels, remained with him to the end ; so
that, according to the plan of the book, it is actually out
of the last vial of wrath, or rather (as we saw in chap,
xvii. 1) out of the vials collectively, that the glory has
sprung. And now we proceed to the last angelic address,
which includes ver. 9, 10, and possibly ver. 11 also.

Again, John is ready to worship ; again the angel forbids
it, repeating his former words, though, as we shall
see, with some alteration. Let it be duly observed how
impressively this second refusal to be worshipped occurs
here. In the last words uttered by an angel in holy writ,
he places himself on a perfect equality with us, in the sight
of that God whom he and we alike worship.

" See thou do it not ; for I am thy fellow-servant, and
of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the
sayings of this book : worship God." Instead of those
who have the testimony of Jesus, we have here the more
brief expression, akin to ver. 9, the prophets, whereby this
future-revealing angel modestly intimates that he also may
be classed among the prophets, among those whom John calls
his brethren the prophets. But, in order to extend as widely
as possible this fellowship and equality in the sight of God,
he adds, and of those who keep, hold fast, and more (as a
consequence), obey, put into practice the words of this book,
which again reminds us of the interpolated words of the
Lord in ver. 7. Thus the whole chapter is one chain, with
alternate voices as its separate links. We now see how correctly
we interpreted the angel's speech in chap. xix. 10,
as including the understanding of the prophecies in the
testimony to Jesus. But, finally, we have also to learn
that this prophetic understanding must spring from the
keeping, the keeping close, the cherishing the words which
are written here ; or to speak with still greater precision,
that this book of the Bevelation of John is the key to all
the prophets, and that thus they who read it correctly are
made brothers to those former prophets, and to John also.

Again we have," And he saith unto me ;" because each
word is now a special termination. If in chap. x. 4 we
heard the voice from heaven command the exceptional
sealing up ; the angel, on the other hand, has twice reminded
John not to seal up, i. e., to write. It is announced
with regard to this book, that all seeing and hearing is now
at an end, that, according to the injunction given at first,
and often repeated, the writing down may begin. But to
the threefold command already given (see chap. xiv. 13 :
xix. 9 ; xxi. 5), the angel will not add the same word
write. Rather, he will express the same meaning by a
reference to the end of that prophetic book of the Old
Testament, which is more closely related to this book of
Revelation than any other, i.e., the book of Daniel. As we
find there, in chap. xii. 4, 9, that the angel commanded
the prophet to seal up the words till the time of the end,
so here, on the contrary, this New Testament end of time
being come, the angel now says :" Seal not the sayings of
the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand." To
Daniel it is said," Shut thou up the vision, for it shall be
for many days" (viii. 26) ; but here we read, the time is at
hand, in what sense we have already explained.

There remains now the following verse, respecting
which it is not easy to decide very positively whether it is
a continuation of the angel's speech, or whether it belongs
to that of the Lord Jesus in the twelfth verse. If the
word and which we find both in the German and English
translations were correct, there could be no doubt upon
the subject, but we believe it to be an erroneous reading,
and that in point of fact, ver. 12 begins with "Behold," in
the same way as ver. 7 ; to which it may be added, that
ver. 11 as well as ver. 6, both appear to accord with Daniel,
whereas ver. 12 seems to have its origin in Isa. xl. 10 ;
lx. 11.

According then to this exposition, we have as the last
words recorded in holy writ as spoken by an angel to
the sons of men : He that is unjust, let him do injustice
still; and he that is filthy, let him be filthy still ; and he that
is righteous, let him do righteousness still ; and he that is
holy, let him be holy still. This in its fundamental idea
resembles Dan. xii. 10, and although its close connexion
with the following verse, which has led to the introduction
of the word and, is such as to occasion some perplexity,
we believe, as we have before said, that the angel is permitted
to go on speaking these words till the Lord himself
finally breaks in with might in the twelfth verse. The
wicked who will not be converted will wax worse and worse
(2 Tim. iii. 13), in like manner as the righteous and the
holy will become increasingly so by doing righteousness.

In this last expression we have an idiom peculiarly
characteristic of John's own style (1 John ii. 29 ;iii. 7).
That the pure angel should speak of sinful men as impure,
filthy, seems to be exceedingly natural, and in so doing,
he probably intends to contrast them with the cleanliness,
the purity which we find specially dwelt on in chap. iii.
4, 5 ;vii. 14. The unrighteousness, which at first appears
to refer more especially to offences against others, is at
the same time impurity with regard to its influence on
a man's own character ; he who doeth unrighteousness
stains and defiles himself reflectively, just as he who doeth
righteousness purifies himself, sanctifies himself still further
thereby. The meaning of the whole passage may
be summed up in the words of the parable (Matt. xiii. 30),
"let both grow together until the harvest !" Not indeed, that
it is to be regarded merely in the light of a prophecy, for the
two last clauses doubtless contain both exhortation and
encouragement for the righteous. Yet, on the other hand,
the sinner is not to suppose that he is any way here exhorted
to go on sinning, although the words contain an
intimation that the unrighteous and impure, who will not
turn, will be suffered to go on in their own way, left to reap
the punishment which is the inevitable consequence of sin.

In like manner we find the apostle Paul writing (1 Cor.
xiv. 38)," If any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant !"
That John himself uses this language ironically, we cannot
for a moment suppose. But the holy severity, the uncom-
promising truth of the words in the mouth of the gracious
and condescending angel, afford us a most decisive testi-
mony to the freedom of the human will, and so to the
righteousness of God's judgment. This is also illustrated
on its brighter side by the appeal in the seventeenth verse,
where the loving invitation of Jesus given at the last to all,
whosoever they be, who will come and take freely, harmon-
izes with, and completes the significance of the solemn
words that close the angelic sayings.