Revelation 22:8-11 I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I had heard and seen them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been showing them to me. 9 But he said to me, “Don’t do that! I am a fellow servant with you and with your fellow prophets and with all who keep the words of this scroll. Worship God!”
10 Then he told me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this scroll, because the time is near. 11 Let the one who does wrong continue to do wrong; let the vile person continue to be vile; let the one who does right continue to do right; and let the holy person continue to be holy.”
John’s response to the words of the angel show the significance of the what he saw. The only type of response one can give when hearing about the closure of time and God’s plan for new creation can be worship. The problem is that John’s worship was of the wrong entity. We find out something else about angels. They too worship God. Worship is a choice. Angels to some degree have a choice to worship God. There is a lot of speculation about what angels look like or what they do. There are many legends that try to explain angels. Revelation gives us some hints of both the appearance and activity of angels.
John is told to seal up the words of this prophecy. “Seal up” could be a reference to making this book complete so no one can change it. We have to wonder about the time being “near.” We must be ready because each day the time gets nearer. One of the last exhortations of the book is given in verse 11. It is an odd statement because it tells the bad person to continue to do bad instead of repenting. This statement needs to be taken in the broader context of the closure of this book. People will be set in their ways. This book shows that even after many cataclysmic events, people refuse to repent. The offer is given but people’s hearts are hardened. The reality is that they will not repent because they have rejected God. The offer is given and there is always opportunity. This book challenges us not to let our hearts get so hard that they are beyond repentance.
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