Concluding the Vision - Reflections on Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21, Easter 7, Year C

by John C. Holbert on Sunday, April 6, 2025

          It is easy to forget that the book of Revelation is couched in the form of a letter, or perhaps better a series of letters. The seven letters to the churches of Asia Minor (contemporary Turkey), which we have not examined in these seven essays (see Rev.2-3), represent communication to all the churches that include the Christian communities in the late 1st century CE, since seven is a number of wholeness, a number used in numerous places in the book. As a letter in general form, it is no surprise that John concludes the book in a similar manner. As an epilogue, John repeats his beginning: “These words are trustworthy and true. The Lord God who inspires the prophets has sent an angel to show God’s servants what must soon take place” (Rev.22:6). Vs.6b echoes 1:1, “The revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave him to show to his servants what must soon take place; God made it known by sending an angel to God’s servant John.” The content of the book we have been reading is precisely John’s enunciation of “what must soon take place,” and what “God’s servants” must do to prepare for the continual coming of the Lord.

         This epilogue to the book summarizes several of the themes that have been portrayed throughout. 22:6-7 is an echo of the beginning as found in 1:1-3: “I am coming soon! Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.” The tribulation that John predicts, that is, the necessity of true followers of Jesus Christ to walk in his footsteps to the cross, in the face of the lure of Roman power and success, and to hold fast to the words of the book, urges all Christians  in every way possible to avoid the “mark of the beast,” that is the inducements of Rome that are always richly attractive. Then, too, John announces at the end the fact of who he is; he is John and is not afraid to stand against the Roman power, even though we are told that his preaching/teaching has led him to be imprisoned on the island of Patmos (Rev.1:9), some sort of Roman prison off the southwest coast of Asia Minor. (One may still see the supposed cave on Patmos wherein John experienced and wrote down the vision enshrined in the book of Revelation.) It is not uncommon in apocalyptic books to hide the name of the author, but here John is forthcoming about who he is.

         In Rev.22:16 it is now Jesus himself who speaks to John, Jesus who has “sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the root and offspring of David, the bright morning star.” John here reaches back into the long history of Judaism and its scripture to describe just who the speaking Jesus is. He is both the “root of David,” that is, he precedes David, and is at the same time the “offspring of David,” that is, David’s heir. The hold that the memory of King David has on both Jews and the early Christians is extraordinary, the foul deeds of his later life in Jerusalem apparently forgotten in the light of his symbolic representation of the very height of Israelite power, though over ten centuries in the past. Isaiah 11:1 is one of the most potent texts that inform the understanding of Jesus for the Christians. And Jesus, again like David, is “the bright morning star,” based on Num.24:17, a passage often employed for messianic depictions.

         Rev.22:17 includes language of spirit and of bride, both of whom say to John, “Come! Let the hearer say, ‘Come!’ Let the thirsty come. Let whoever wishes receive the water of life without charge.” The spirit is the spirit of Jesus who inspires the prophets (see 2:7; 14:13; 19:10). The bride is the church (21:2, 9). “Come” is a part of the famous address marana tha, “Our Lord, come,” made famous in later liturgies of the church. In this way, by use of this language, expectations of the coming of Jesus are made immediate for the worshipper. And when Jesus says, “Let the thirsty come,” careful hearers recall John 6:35; 7:35-38; Rev.21:6; 22:1, and when the thirsty are told that they may receive the water of life without charge,” hearers are reminded of Is.55:1: “Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; the one without money, come, buy and eat.” In short, in place after place, the promises of the Jewish scriptures are fulfilled in John’s wonderfully expansive vision. (One scholar has counted the references to the Old Testament to be found in John’s Revelation and discovered no fewer than 550 places that quote or echo in John’s work.) 

         John’s conclusion makes his concerns plain once again. “He who testifies to these things (Jesus) says: Yes, I am coming soon! Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!” (Rev.22:20). The need for keeping watch, for following the slain lamb, is immediate, for his coming is always soon. And the book ends with a very Pauline conclusion: “The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all” (Rev.22:21). The book opens with an epistolary formula (1:4) and closes with a final greeting customary for letters. And at the last, John calls on God’s favor, God’s continuous desire for human salvation, as that is embodied in Jesus, the slain lamb, which is offered to all. God’s salvation is withheld from no one. 

         Our brief 7-week sojourn through the wonderful book of Revelation can only hint at the riches to be discovered in its complex but superb pages. Let me repeat what I said as we began our survey: Revelation, far from a book of fear, is instead a book laced with hope and the possibility and certainty of universal salvation. All will, at last, find themselves in the Heavenly City, the New Jerusalem, because the work of the slain Lamb has been performed for everyone, and everyone will then come into the Holy City of John, which is forever coming down out of heaven for all who have eyes to see and ears to hear. John’s final word is this: Rome (Babylon) loses and we all win! That is God’s promise for all.