6 And he said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true. And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place.”
7 “And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”
8 I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me, 9 but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.”
10 And he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. 11 Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy.”
12 “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay everyone for what he has done. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”
14 Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. 15 Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practises falsehood.
16 “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”
17 The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.
18 I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.
20 He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!
21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.
The 'message' of Revelation finishes at 5 with the words 'and they shall reign forever and ever' - a fitting ending to the glorious unfolding of the plan of God's redemption, whereby His primal purpose for man which was vitiated in Eden by sin is now at last brought to pass, and the god-like destiny intended for Him fulfilled. What remains now is an epilogue, in which various notes are sounded, the first of these being an insistence on the authenticity of the visions of the book (6, 7, 16, 18, 19, particularly 6, 18 and 19). On the one hand there is the assertion that these sayings are faithful and true; on the other there is the warning that any who either add to, or take from, the message of the book will do so to their eternal peril. There are several points here. In the first place, we are reminded that what we are dealing with is not a series of predictions of the future by an inspired and far-sighted man, but a revelation given from above. That is to say, Revelation is not an aggregate of possible or probable events that may well take place in the future, but an unveiling of basic principles underlying human existence, an unveiling of the truth about our world, and therefore the unveiling of the certainties of things to come. These are 'things which must shortly come to pass'. In the second place, it is not without significance that this warning about the trustworthiness of God's Word should come here. We have already seen how marked the similarities are between the last book of the Bible and the first. It is striking to recall that the fall of man followed the doubt cast by Satan on the Word of God. 'Yea, hath God said?' was his fateful jibe. Small wonder that this solemn warning stands at the end of the Bible!