8 I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me; 9 but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your comrades the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God!”
10 And he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. 11 Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy.”
12 “See, I am coming soon; my reward is with me, to repay according to everyone’s work. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”
14 Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they will have the right to the tree of life and may enter the city by the gates. 15 Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and fornicators and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
16 “It is I, Jesus, who sent my angel to you with this testimony for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”
17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.”
And let everyone who hears say, “Come.”
And let everyone who is thirsty come.
Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift.
18 I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this book; 19 if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away that person’s share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.
20 The one who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.”
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!
This is the second part of the last chapter in Revelation. Here it seems Jesus is talking through an angel to John of Patmos. I was a bit confused about the speaker in verses nine through thirteen where the angel tells John not to worship him, because he is a mere messenger of God, but then he says he is the 'alpha and the omega' and 'coming soon', words that are only spoken by Christ in the Bible. In verse sixteen the speaker says "it is I, Jesus", and definitively identifies Himself to be Christ.
The verses then tell everyone who thirsts for peace and righteousness to drink of the water of life that Christ has to offer; I really love all the phrases referring to 'living water' in the Bible and these images are a beautiful way to end the chapter. I hope everyone will come to know Christ as Savior, there is some thing very peaceful and fulfilling about studying the works of scripture that can't be found anywhere else and certainly Jesus Christ is, as the Bible tells us, the name through which we can all be saved from hell and escape damnation.
The warning in verses 18 and 19 not to add or take from the writings in Revelation is similar to other passages in the Bible, for instance Deuteronomy 4:2 which conveys the same message not to add to or take away from the commands given by God. The same message is repeated in Deuteronomy 12:32. While these verses have interpreted by some to apply to the entire Bible, some scholars now posit that some books in the New Testament were written after Revelation and thus it seems the author was referring to his prophecy in Revelation with the admonition for it not to be altered.
At the end of the chapter Jesus once again tells us, "I am coming soon". After all that is predicted to transpire in Revelation in order to motivate non-believers to come to Christ and ask for guidance out of sin so that we may be saved from the Lake of Fire, I hope that everyone reading will heed this warning and turn your life over to Christ so that he can slowly and gently guide you to living by heavenly dictates instead of earthly ones. It is very easy to get mixed up in worldly values of greed and power and 'might makes right' if we are not on constant guard and in constant contact with the religious teaching in the Bible that show us how to emulate God and Christ.
When I first started writing blogs and I went through the chapter of Revelation I was very scared of this chapter of the Bible; I was still familiar with the general outline from having grown up in the fundamentalist church but overwhelmed with the thought of revisiting the specific chronology of the destruction of our present reality known as the Biblical Apocalypse. However with the last few chapters of Revelation my fear finally left me, which surprised me, because I didn't ever expect to stop being terrified of it. I now have a resignation about the fate of mankind but also great peace as I know that each of us individually has the opportunity to accept Salvation from Christ and with it the guidance out of a life lived in the world, and instead with Christ's help be guided into a life lived for God.
If you want to accept Salvation from Christ here are some resources:
A Prayer for Salvation from Christ:
Lord Jesus, I confess my sins and ask for your forgiveness. Please come into my heart as my Lord and Savior. Take complete control of my life and help me to walk in Your footsteps daily by the power of the Holy Spirit. Thank you Lord for saving me and for answering my prayer.
A more detailed step by step process:
https://www.wikihow.com/Accept-Jesus-Into-Your-Life
