Revelation 22:7

And behold, I come quickly. Blessed is he that keepeth the words of the prophecy of this book.

And behold, I come quickly ... "It is no longer possible to believe that John had a naive attitude toward this promise."[32] He did not believe that all things in Revelation would come to pass in his generation. If so, how could he have envisioned 1,000 years before the final judgment (Revelation 20:5)? It is not John who is mixed up on this but some of the interpreters.

Quickly ... can mean "soon"; but it may also mean "suddenly" or "unexpectedly"; and, "The ambiguity is no doubt purposeful in order to provide for all generations a spiritual and moral tension of expectancy and perspective."[33] No Christian should live in any other way than in a consciousness that the Lord may come at any time.

It is irreligious to ask, Who is the speaker here? Angels are the envoys and mouthpieces of God here, as in the Old Testament, and therefore entitled to speak either in their own name or that of the Lord.[34] The words, "I am coming" show that Jesus is being quoted.[35]

Blessed is he that keepeth the words of the prophecy of this book ... "In principle, this applies to all of God's book (the Bible)."[36] The book of Revelation, however, is primarily in view.

Before leaving this verse, we wish to emphasize that, "In the Christian doctrine of the last things, the imminence of the end is moral rather than chronological."[37] Each successive Christian generation, for anything that is known to the contrary, could be the last generation. "In that sense, the time is always near."[38] The achievement of this state of expectancy and uncertainty was evidently God's design in the language chosen, not only here, but throughout the whole New Testament.

"I come quickly" need not mean "I come soon," though that meaning is possible. The expression may also mean, "I come suddenly."[39]

Since some nineteen centuries have already passed since these words were written, we know that the second meaning cited here is the correct one.

[32] G. B. Caird, The Revelation of St. John the Divine (New York: Harper and Row, 1966), p. 283.

[33] George Eldon Ladd, op. cit., p. 290.

[34] James Moffatt, Expositor's Greek New Testament, Vol. V (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1967). p. 488.

[35] R. C. H. Lenski, op. cit., p. 659.

[36] James D. Strauss, op. cit., p. 288.

[37] F. F. Bruce, A New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1969), p. 665.

[38] Ibid.

[39] Edward A. McDowell, The Meaning and Message of Revelation (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1951), p. 218.