2 A Last Impressive Warning of Exhortation, Ch. 22:18-19
“If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues which are written in this book: and if any man shall take away ... God shall take away his part from the tree of life, and out of the holy city.” These are the authoritative words of a messenger conscious of divine authority, and are intended to preserve the integrity of his message.[592] They are similar in form to the warning given in Deuteronomy (Deut. 4:2; [pg 238] 12:32), guarding against the deliberate falsification, or misinterpretation, of a divine message.
3 A Last Assuring Promise of Hope, Ch. 22:20a
“Yea: I come quickly” is the final and repeated assurance of Christ to the church of his personal coming. The promise of the Lord Jesus that he will come again quickly, which was introduced almost at the beginning of the book, and which recurs at intervals throughout, is thus solemnly emphasized and repeated once more at the close, a clear indication of the place which it occupied in the mind of the Apostle. As before it is not “quickly” in the earthly sense, else Christ would have come long since, but from the divine point of view, for God's plan is never slow in its accomplishment.[593]
4 A last Ecstatic Prayer of Yearning, Ch. 22:20b
“Amen: come, Lord Jesus”, is the Apostle's closing rejoinder of rapturous faith and hope. “In this final assurance of the Lord, ‘I come quickly’, the Book of Revelation finds its keynote again, and so sinks to rest with the acquiescent [and triumphant] reply of faith, ‘Amen: come, Lord Jesus.’ ”[594]