“The days are long, but the years are short.” This proverb succinctly captures our experience of time. On one hand 4 years, or 18, or 44 are a long time, and yet in hindsight they are gone in a flash. The same must be true of our Lord Jesus’s coming: 2000 years is a long time, yet when he comes it will be “like an evening gone.” Revelation 22:6-21 promises that this time is near, that he is coming soon—to bless and to judge. 

Revelation promises that God will bless his people with eternal life in the New Creation (14:13, 19:9. 22:14, etc.). Verse 7 contains one of these promises: God will bless those who “keep the words of this book.” We “keep the words” by worshipping God alone, in prayers, songs, rituals, but also when we resist the false worship of the Dragon, Beast, and False Prophet (Rev 13) who seek to seduce us with money, sex, power, comfort, and the praise of man.

The last blessing of the book is found in v. 14: “blessed are those who wash their robes.” This is a symbolic depiction of the Gospel – the blood of Jesus cleanses his people giving them access and right standing with God (7:14). We need this forgiveness because if we are honest, we do not worship God as we ought, often falling into idolatry in our hearts.

Finally, Revelation exhorts us: “Do not add or take away from the words of this book.” These words are “Trustworthy and True” (v. 6) just as Jesus is “Faithful and True (3:4, 19:11). God’s promises will come to pass, and only these words will get us where we want to go: to eternal life with God. Only God can fill the deepest longings we use idols to imperfectly fill, and only these words lead to Him.

Taking it Home:

What idols of the heart do you need to repent of?

Have you “washed your robes in the blood of the Lamb”?

What should you do or believe in light of “trustworthy and true” words of God?