And he said to me, It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to him that thirsts of the fountain of the water of life freely.
This verse comes at the point where God's judgments have run their full course and He announces the end. Two questions rise out of it: who is speaking here, and why is water offered to the thirsty in a scene where nothing is lacking?
One writer lists what has already happened by the time God speaks:
Our verse begins, "And He said to me, 'It is done.'" These words seem to announce the curtain coming down after the grand and terrible scene has passed before the eye. Then follows the declaration, "I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end." The end has arrived — "it is done!" The last seal had been broken, the last trumpet blown, and the last bowl poured out. The power of Satan had been crushed and the folly of man rewarded. The kingdoms of this world had become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ. The false prophet and the beast had received their doom. Satan had been thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone. The Great White Throne had pronounced its irreversible sentence on the wicked dead, and Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire.
Others read the same two words as a guarantee: "His words, 'It is done,' are final and positive. Nothing can hinder God from carrying out His purposes" (L. M. Grant).
One commentator draws out how far this title reaches:
The first and last letters of the Greek alphabet are followed by the explanatory phrase, "the beginning and the end." They show that all testimony on earth had its origin in God, and that its end is His glory. Creation, providence, promise, history, prediction, prophecy, testimony, love, and grace each have their source in God and in Him their end. Nothing on God's side ends in failure. God triumphs at the end.
The last letter carries as much weight as the first: "if Alpha gives the beginning, Omega shows not only a perfect continuance, but the seal placed on the end of all. It means the finish of the road, and the completion of the work" (J. Wilson Smith).
Commentators differ here. Some hold that God as such speaks in this chapter, and that Christ takes the same title later:
It is God who is prominent through this portion... The One who sits on the throne speaks. We do not get the Lamb mentioned. It is the glory of God in the fullest possible sense that we have here... No doubt Christ is the Alpha and the Omega too, as we find in Revelation 22:13; but it is not the Lord who acts and speaks here; it is God.
Others read both places where the title appears the same way: "in both cases the speaker is our Lord Jesus Christ" (F. B. Hole).
The new heaven and the new earth leave nobody wanting, so the mention of thirst points elsewhere:
This is present, not future. No one will hunger or thirst in the "new heaven" and "new earth." The splendid list of negatives in verse 4 rules out the thought of thirsty ones in the eternal state, except in the lake of fire. The heart of God overflows with pity and tenderness towards the needy and unsatisfied sons and daughters of men. The "fountain," the source of life itself, is promised to the thirsty. It is God's gift, and freely given, as all His gifts are.
The offer names a fountain, and one writer weighs that word:
Not of the river, or the stream, note that. The river of life will flow out in a mighty volume in the coming age, but now men are invited to the Fountain. The river has been polluted. Men's opinions and "doctrines of demons" have been poured into it, and the error has spread as the stream has flowed on.
Thirst here is not something you achieve: "This is the thirst of realizing one's own emptiness as a sinner in need and so turning to the one source of this living water, Jesus Christ, who gives freely from a heart of perfect grace" (L. M. Grant). One writer answers the reader who fears he is not thirsty enough. He uses an older translation, which says "freely" where the ESV says "without payment":
"But," you say, "how can I be sure it means me? Perhaps I am not thirsty enough, not anxious enough, for salvation." Very likely; no one ever was as anxious as he should have been... But the point is not the measure of your anxiety, but the fact of your being thirsty or willing at all... "I will give... freely." That is God's side. "Let him take... freely." That is your side. God gives; all you have to do is take what He gives.
Verse 8 names the opposite destiny:
Hear these gracious words! They are placed right beside that awful verse about the lake of fire. God has set them side by side: the fountain of living waters, and the lake of fire... But those who despise the open fountain of living waters must be thrown, with all their evil, into the lake of fire.
- Done. God speaks after the last seal, trumpet, bowl and throne. The curtain falls on judgment, and nothing can stop what He has purposed.
- Source. Creation, history, prophecy, love and grace all start in God and finish in His glory. On His side nothing fails.
- Fountain. He offers not the downstream river that men have muddied, but the spring itself — life at its source.
- Free. The only qualification is thirst — a sense of your own emptiness. God gives; your part is to take.
- Or fire. Verse 8 names the alternative. God sets the open fountain and the lake of fire side by side.
He that overcomes shall inherit these things, and I will be to him God, and he shall be to me son.
God turns from describing the new creation to speak to one person at a time: the one who conquers. Two questions follow: who counts as a conqueror, and what is the "heritage" He promises?
The promise is not for a spiritual elite. Every believer is already in this fight, and Scripture names how to win it.
All God's people must be overcomers. They are passing through a hostile world, open to every trick and all the malice of a powerful enemy. An earlier chapter gives us a glimpse of a faithful remnant in conflict, and of them we read, "They overcame him [Satan] by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives even unto death." (Rev. 12:11) As to the world, John writes, "This is the victory that has overcome the world — our faith." (1 John 5:4) These two scriptures give us the means of victory. The passage in front of us brings encouragement while the fight is still on.
Verse 6 offers the water of life free to the thirsty; verse 7 speaks of conquering. The order matters, and both rest on a victory that was not ours.
From the grace of verse 6 we pass to the overcoming of verse 7. At first sight it looks like a complete change. But no one overcomes except those who have received the grace. This is the last mention of overcoming, or victory, in the book of Revelation, which is the book of victory. The victorious saint will enter into full possession of the inheritance. But no saint at all would overcome if the Lamb had not prevailed (the same word), as we see in chapter 5.
The earlier promises in Revelation 2 and 3 fitted each church. This one is wider. It points back to what the chapter has just described — then goes further.
The promises to the overcomer in the early part of the book (Rev. 2 and 3) concern special circumstances, and have special rewards in view. But here the encouragement to keep going to the end in the general battle of life is fuller. The rewards are fuller too than the ones mentioned earlier. "The one who conquers will have this heritage" — the things just named. But a still deeper and richer blessing is in store for the overcomer, one of a personal kind: "I will be his God." He gives Himself to the conqueror over life's sorrows. In our judgment this remarkable statement goes even beyond Paul's triumphant words, "the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me" (Gal. 2:20). But the tale of grace is not finished, for we read, "he will be my son." Sonship, then, is an eternal relationship. The overcomer has God, and God has the overcomer as son.
The past struggle is not wiped out in eternity. God remembers it differently than we do.
The conflicts of the past are over for ever now. We recall humbling failure and defeat on our part, but His only memory of them is the final overcoming, the fruit of His grace and power. "And I will be his God, and he will be my son," in all the intimacy of an individual relationship enjoyed by all.
Older translations read "inherit all things" where the ESV has "this heritage." John normally writes of believers as children of God. Here alone he uses a different word.
The overcomer will inherit all things (v. 7), for he becomes by faith a joint heir with Christ, into whose hands the Father has entrusted everything (Rom. 8:17, John 3:35). This is the only time in John's inspired writings that the believer is said to be a son ("huios") of God. "Son" indicates a position of dignity, liberty and trust. John's usual word for believers is "children." This one exception fits, because eternity is in view. It stresses the dignity of having part with God in eternal glory, not just the family relationship.
The next verse names the opposite crowd, and the two ends stand side by side.
The list of those who fall under this doom teaches a sad lesson. It begins with the fearful and unbelieving. Being without faith, they feared man and did not confess Jesus as their Lord. The overcomers of verse 7 are sons of God. The damned of verse 8 proclaim themselves sons of the evil one. They share his doom.
- Grace starts it. The free water of verse 6 comes before the conquering of verse 7. Only those who have received grace overcome, and only because the Lamb prevailed first.
- Faith fights it. Every believer passes through a hostile world. The means of victory are the blood of the Lamb, the word of testimony, and faith.
- The heritage crowns it. The heritage is the blessings just described in the chapter, received as a joint heir with Christ.
- God Himself exceeds it. The personal word "I will be his God" goes deeper than any reward. He gives Himself to the one who came through life's sorrows.
- Sonship seals it. John's one use of "son" for the believer marks dignity and a share with God in eternal glory. Verse 8 shows the opposite family and the opposite end.
But to the fearful and unbelieving, [and sinners], and those who make themselves abominable, and murderers, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, their part [is] in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone; which is the second death.
Revelation 21 has just shown a world made new and God living with people. Then, with one word, the chapter turns to those who have no share in it. Why does the list of them start where it starts? And how final is the sentence it announces?
This verse does not describe a passing phase of judgment. It belongs to the same eternal scene as the new heaven and the new earth.
God is the Speaker here, as in the earlier statements. In those earlier declarations God speaks as love. In this final statement of eternity He speaks as light. God never gives up His character as Judge of evil. The lake of fire is an actual and eternal place of punishment. We do not know where in the universe it is. Some today deny eternal punishment. This solemn passage gives them no support. It gives absolute condemnation. The eighth verse is as distinctly eternal as the first or the second.
Readers expect a list of criminals. It opens instead with fear. Older translations read "the fearful" and "the unbelieving" where the ESV has "the cowardly" and "the faithless."
Who praises the coward? Sadly, he stands at the head of the dark list of the lost in Revelation 21:8. "The fearful" here means those who are afraid to confess Jesus as Saviour and Lord, from fear of the consequences. They are cowards when it comes to Christ. In God's sight this is a sin of the meanest and blackest character. Such people know something of Christ and of His goodness, and yet they are ashamed of His name before others.
The next word in the list explains how a person ends up in that company.
"The unbelieving" are those who refuse God's testimony. That testimony was the only thing that could have kept them out of the company of "the abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters and all liars." Every unbeliever chooses such company, and he or she will have a part with them in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone. This is the second death — not annihilation, but separation (the basic meaning of death) — separation from God in eternal torment.
The sins named trace a family likeness.
The list of those on whom this doom falls is sadly instructive. It begins with the fearful and unbelieving… Next come those who bore the character of the devil, who is a murderer. They were marked by lust and dealings with the powers of darkness. The list finishes with "all liars." Lying is another characteristic of the devil, and deceit takes many subtle forms. The overcomers of verse 7 are sons of God. The condemned of verse 8 show themselves to be sons of the evil one. They share his doom.
One word on the list sounds quaint today.
Sorcerers are those who claim to have dealings with spirits. Death was the appointed penalty under the law for those who practised spiritualism in those days (Deut. 18:10-12). The lake of fire is God's appointed doom for all who practise witchcraft, spiritualism, devil worship, and other forms of sorcery.
The phrase points back to the death everyone already knows.
The "lake" burns. Its fire is never exhausted. "Fire and brimstone" symbolise torment and agony of a fearful kind (Isa. 30:33)… "Which is the second death." The first death separates soul and body. It is not the ending of existence, and not unconsciousness, as many imagine. Luke 16:19-31 is not said to be a parable. Both it and Revelation 6:9-11 show that the spirit is conscious and active in that state. The lake of fire in its never-ending agony is the second death.
Some hope the sentence might one day end, or that a fire after death might purify.
The misery of the unbeliever is brought in again here, as it seems to me, so that there might be no room for a question about how long their condemnation lasts. Can anything be more conclusive? Be assured, there is no coming out of that pit. It is impossible, for divine judgment and righteousness have put them there. Scripture gives no warrant for a purifying fire after death. Would the blessed Lord have repeated five times within a few verses, "where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched," if He had not meant to show the final and eternal doom awaiting the guilty and lost?
- Two shares. One eternity holds both: the overcomers of verse 7, and the part in the lake of fire given in verse 8.
- Fear first. The list opens with people afraid to own Christ before others, not with murderers. They knew something of His goodness, yet were ashamed of His name.
- Unbelief picks the company. God's testimony was the only thing that could keep a person out of that company: the detestable, the immoral, sorcerers, idolaters and liars.
- Family likeness. The sins listed — murder, lust, dark powers, lying — are the character of the devil. Verse 7 shows sons of God; verse 8 shows sons of the evil one, sharing his doom.
- Second death, no exit. The first death separates soul from body, but existence goes on. The second death is conscious and lasting. There is no coming out of that pit, and no purifying fire after it.