Revelation 22:16 - Exposition

I Jesus have sent mine angel. Here our Lord himself asserts what was at the very beginning set forth ( Revelation 1:1 ). The revelation proper being now ended, the epistolary form in which the book opens is now resumed. Either our Lord himself is here the speaker, or the angel speaks in his name (cf. Revelation 22:9 , Revelation 22:10 , Revelation 22:12 , etc.). To testify unto you these things in the Churches ( ἐπὶ ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις ). The Revised Version translates, for [margin. or over] the Churches (cf. the expression in Matthew 24:33 ). Probably this preposition is used as expressing the idea of motion towards, especially from above, which is contained in the fact that the message is from heaven to the Churches. Dusterdieck, Hengstenberg, and others would translate, "concerning the Churches." ἐν , "in," is found in A and some other manuscripts. Some cursives omit the preposition entirely. This gives another possible reading: "to testify these things unto you, the Churches." I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the Bright and Morning Star. Omit the second "and." (On "Root," see on Revelation 5:5 ; for "Morning Star," cf. Revelation 2:28 .) At the word "David," the manuscript 1, from which Erasmus compiled the Textus Receptus, ends. In order to supply the remainder, which is deficient, Erasmus retranslated the Vulgate Version into Greek. The Greek, therefore, of the Textus Receptus from this point onwards is the Greek of Erasmus.