Revelation 22:6-10

We have been through a lot with John in the Book of Revelation — his vision of a future yet to be seen. Now we come to the closing of his book. These last sixteen verses are the closing statements of God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the angel, John, and the Bride: warnings and blessings, verification and authentication, and urgency.¶

And he said to me, "These words are trustworthy and true. And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place."

Revelation 22:6 (ESV)¶

Trustworthy and true¶

Jesus makes sure John, and every reader, knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that what is written here is trustworthy and true. Why both words — why not just true? True can mean the meanings are true, that the symbols and allegories point to truth. But trustworthy means the things revealed are reliable: we can look forward to them and trust that they will be just as he said. A ship that is trustworthy will not sink when you ride upon it; a person who is trustworthy can be counted on. So the visions and prophecies given to John, and to us, can be relied on and looked forward to. I don't believe Revelation is to be taken as purely allegorical, metaphorical, or merely spiritual — it is an account of things that will take place and have not yet taken place, which is how most of the church throughout history has read it. And it is how Jesus encourages us to read it: "the God of the spirits of the prophets has sent his angel." This is the same God who gave Noah the plans for the ark, who told Abraham he would make him a great nation and did, who told Moses he would set his people free and did, who told Daniel the dreams of the king, who told David his son would sit on his throne forever and did. That same God has now told his servant John what must soon take place. Just as his words have always been trustworthy and true, so they are here.¶

"And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book."

Revelation 22:7 (ESV)¶

What "soon" means¶

Our kids got on our case the other day: when they ask when we will be home, or when we will do some fun thing, we often say "soon" — and yet there are still several streets to go. That is exactly how this "soon" works. We are closer now than ever, and yet there are still avenues to travel before we arrive. But look at the timeline: about four thousand years passed before Christ came, and only about two thousand years since. In reference to all of history, we are nearer now than ever before.¶

Why two thousand years? The creation week¶

I wondered why two thousand years have passed between Jesus' death and his second coming — what biblical relevance the gap might have. I believe the timeline of the earth follows the creation timeline: six days for creation and one for rest; so six thousand years for creation to operate, and a thousand years in the millennium for rest. Several verses stress that the time of Christ's first coming was intentional and necessary: "at the right time Christ died for the ungodly" (Romans 5:6); he came "to redeem those who were under the law" (Galatians 4:5); and Jerusalem fell "because you did not know the time of your visitation" (Luke 19:43-44). So I looked at the creation story to see if his timing connected to it. Jesus was born near the end of what would be the four-thousandth year since creation — corresponding to the fourth day. And what was made on the fourth day? The sun, the moon, and the stars. It was a star that the wise men followed: "we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him" (Matthew 2:2). Jesus is "the light of the world" (John 8:12), "the morning star" that rises in our hearts (2 Peter 1:19). The fourth day is when Genesis tells us God separated the light from the darkness, the day from the night — and we are now "children of light, children of the day" (1 Thessalonians 5:4-5); "the night is far gone; the day is at hand" (Romans 13:11-13); "in him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it" (John 1:1-5). Jesus came when he did because it was the day the light was separated from the darkness, the day the light shone in the dark.¶

And it makes sense why two thousand years have passed since. The next things made in creation were the sea creatures and the flying creatures, and then man, and then rest. In roughly the last two thousand years, man populated the entire world — mastering the ocean, then the sky — and then filled the earth more than at any other time in history, most of that growth in just the last two hundred years: fewer than a billion people in 1800, nearly eight billion today. The timing makes perfect sense when looked at through the eyes of creation. So when Jesus says he is coming soon, in light of creation he really is.¶

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, but he said to me, "You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God." And he said to me, "Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near."

Revelation 22:8-10 (ESV)¶

A single moment¶

The angel tells John not to seal up these prophecies, because the time is near. And something interesting about verse 8: it makes the entire vision seem to have lasted only a moment — "when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship." Everything we spent years discussing seems to have been a flash before John's eyes, a single moment in his mind. God showed him all that must take place over an extended period in just a split second. That is how life is for us: we think it lasts a long time, when in reality yesterday is already gone, and tomorrow will be too before we can take hold of it. That is why Paul wrote, "Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation" (2 Corinthians 6:2). As we look to a future already laid bare before us, we can live today in hope and peace — because our yesterday, today, and tomorrow are held by the same person.¶