- Worship God: (22:8-9): Worship God for His awesome purpose and plan for the humanity. There is no one like Him.
- Proclaim God: (22:10-11): The Apostle John was instructed not to seal up the words of Revelation. Immediate proclamation of this book is needed because of the imminent coming of Jesus Christ for every generation from John’s day until the present. The angel again said, “Let him who does wrong continue to do wrong, let him who is vile continue to be vile, let him who does right continue to do right and let him who is holy continue to be holy” (22:11). The person’s response to the proclamation of the truth will fix their eternal destinies which is either heaven or hell.
- Serve God: (22:12): The speaker is again the Lord Jesus Christ. “Behold I am coming quickly” means His coming is imminent. Jesus will bring reward with Him to render to every man according to what he has done. Yes, believers eternal rewards will be based on their faithfulness in serving Christ in this life. The rewards believers enjoy in heaven will be capacities for serving God. The greater their faithfulness in this life, the greater will be their opportunity to serve in heaven (Matt. 25:14-30). The coming of the Lord Jesus will be at any moment. This should make the believers to be alert, diligent, obedient and with the attitude of urgent proclamation of the Gospel.
God’s special invitation and our response: (22:13-21)
- God is alpha and omega and the offspring of David: (22:13,16): God is the beginning of everything. He has created the world, heavens, all life including and now He re-created the Heavens and earth. This expresses Christ’s infinity, eternity and boundless life transcending all limitations. Whatever God starts, He would finish it because He is the beginning and the end just like the Greek first and last alphabets. Jesus declares that “He is the root and descendant of David” which pictures that in His deity He is God and in His humanity He is David’s root (Mk.12:35-37). Further He is also the described as “the bright morning star.” As the morning star announces the day’s arrival, so Jesus’ coming will announce the end of darkness of humanity and the glorious dawn of His Kingdom. He is the “Light of the world” (Jn. 8:12).
- We must keep our lives clean: (22:14-15): The seventh and the last beatitude in Revelation is found here. The blessing is pronounced on those who wash their robes. Those who are saved by the blood of Jesus will have the right to eat from the tree of life which is located in New Jerusalem. Again in (2:7), “to him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tee of life which is in the Paradise of God.” Obedience to God’s Word is a mark of true salvation.
Heaven is exclusively for those who are cleansed from their sins by faith in the blood of Christ and whose names have been written in the book of Life. In contrast all others would remain forever outside in the lake of fire. In the lake of fire, we find all those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices false hood. It is not all who have ever committed any of these sins who are excluded from heaven (1 Cor. 6:11), rather it is those who love and habitually practice any such sins and refuse Christ’s invitation to salvation who will be cast into the lake of fire.
- Open invitation and expectation: (22:17): The Spirit of God through the Church must say “Come.” Because His coming is near, the church must be ready to welcome Him. Every believer must keep alert not indulging in sins or the ways of the world, but always live with an expectation of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. God wants to give this sinful world opportunity to repent and be saved (2 Pet.3:1ff).
- Warning to those who tamper: (22:18-19): The Lord Jesus testifies the prophecy of this book. Because Revelation describes the entire sweep of history from the close of the Apostolic age to the eternal state, any alteration or tampering would be serious. Jesus says: “if anyone adds anything to the prophecy, God will add to him all the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which is described in this book.”