Revelation 22:8 - Printer Friendly

ESV: 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,

NIV: 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.

NASB: 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 me these things.

CSB: I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. When I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had shown them to me.

NLT: I, John, am the one who heard and saw all 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.

KJV: And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things.

NKJV: Now I, John, saw and heard these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who showed me these things.

This is another curious instance were John seemingly does something foolish by attempting to worship an angel (Revelation 19:10). Whether this was a matter of mistaken identity, or simple error, the angel is quick to correct John's mistake (Revelation 22:9). John knew that the first commandment forbade the worship of anyone or anything but God. He should have realized—or remembered—that worshiping an angel is sin. However, whether out of shock, confusion, or simply an overwhelmed spirit, he was ready to worship the angel who showed him scenes in Revelation. One possible explanation is that John mistook the words of verse 7 as coming from the angel: he might have thought "I am coming soon" meant that Jesus had taken the form of that being while speaking to John.

Authors seldom disclose their faults—especially when they're inventing stories. Yet John admitted this mistake, adding credibility to his writing. Biblical authors, like John, wrote about their sins in spite of risking a lower opinion of themselves. For example, Moses admitted that he was reluctant to represent God before Pharaoh. He claimed he could not speak, and he asked God to send someone else (Exodus 4:10–13). King David committed his sins of adultery and murder, but, after covering them for a while, he wrote about those sins and confessed them to God (2 Samuel 11:2–27; Psalm 51). It is evidence of biblical inspiration that the authors of inspired Scripture laid bare their sins.

Revelation 22:6–13 moves on from the description of life in New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:9—22:5) and focuses on Jesus' return. This marks the end of John's visions of the future, returning to more immediate instructions for Christian believers; this is the epilogue to the book of Revelation. Both the beginning and closing of Revelation offer a blessing (Revelation 1:3; 22:7). Both stress the importance of keeping the prophecy being given (Revelation 1:3; 22:7). And both identify Jesus as the Alpha and Omega (Revelation 1:8; 22:13).

John sees additional images of New Jerusalem. The city's depiction stands in contrast to the ruin experienced during the tribulation, and evokes comparisons to the garden of Eden from the book of Genesis. After this, John relates several commands and messages from Jesus Christ. Among these are a dire warning not to manipulate the words of this message. Revelation, along with the canon of Scripture, ends with a benediction and prayer for Jesus to return.

This passage completes the description of New Jerusalem. Earlier chapters in Revelation described the final judgments against sin and death. Genesis chapter 3 described humanity's loss of paradise; Revelation 22 describes paradise regained. Concluding remarks by Jesus begin in verse 6 and continue through verse 20. Verse 21 records the apostle John's benediction, which marks the end of the New Testament canon.

The word ''revelation'' means ''an unveiling or disclosure.'' This writing unveils future events such as the rapture, three series of judgments that will fall on the earth during the tribulation, the emergence of the Antichrist, the persecution of Israel and her amazing revival, as well as Jesus' second coming with His saints to the earth, the judgment of Satan and his followers, and finally, the eternal state. This content, combined with the original Greek term apokalypsis, is why we now refer to an end-of-the-world scenario as ''an apocalypse.''