Revelation 22:20–21

He has kept the best wine until last. He had already spoken of His coming in judgment, and of His coming for the church in full grace. Now He could not leave us on a note of sorrow. He must bring our hearts back to gladness and joy at the thought of His coming again... At once John answers for the church, "Come, Lord Jesus." It is the ready reply of his heart to the Lord.

This announcement of penalty is Christ's own word: "He who testifies these things says, 'Surely, I come quickly.'" When His Word is treated this way, may we not expect Himself more than ever? When people invalidate and deny the testimony of Scripture, is that not when we may most expect the Faithful and True Witness to testify in person?

Perhaps we have taken this word too much as a matter of time and centuries. Its main meaning here may be swiftness — no gradual unfolding when He comes, but swift as a flash of lightning! When He comes, He will bring everything to a triumphant conclusion.

"Quickly" He comes. Ah, it seems long. But by God's reckoning the Lord has not been away quite two full days (2 Peter 3:8). "The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise."

"Surely, I come quickly," is again the word (v. 20). This is a simple promise. It is neither a warning nor an encouragement. Nothing comes with it, as in the other cases. It is simply a promise to bring Himself with Him on His coming again. But it is the highest and the dearest thing. The heart may be silent before a warning and before an encouragement... But this promise of the simple personal return of Christ gets its answer from the saints.

The Yea and Amen, Greek and Hebrew affirmatives, are united in the introduction to the book (Rev. 1:7). Here they are separated. The Lord assures us that His Coming is certain: "Yea, I come." The Church rejoices that His word never changes: "Amen; come."

It is the last time our Lord speaks from heaven. The next time His voice sounds will be on the day He descends out of heaven with a shout... It is the Church which answers His positive and certain announcement. It is the last word recorded in the Bible coming from the lips of man.

It is as though He said, Nothing will satisfy Me until I have you with Myself. It is His love that makes Him say that, and so we must read words like that not with the head but with the heart... From the heavens there sounds this great "Amen," and then, "Even so, come Lord Jesus."

The Lord considers it important that His people should always expect it as a present thing, and wish for it as a present thing. I say expecting it as a present thing, not knowing when it will come... Now, if we knew for certain that it must be two or three thousand years off, would that not affect this state of mind?

The better rendering of the last verse is, "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with all the saints." The last word of Malachi is "curse," but there is no curse as we close Revelation. The grace of the New Testament replaces the curse of the Old. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ will of course be with all the saints, and it will never fail, since it is absolute grace that takes us all to glory. But we are also meant to be conscious of that grace ourselves.

Now finally in verse 21 we have the closing benediction from the Lord through the Apostle John, who was the vessel of these communications. The better attested reading is, "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with all the saints." His full title is used here, and the closing note that is struck is that of His well known grace. This grace is to rest on ALL the saints and not on a few only, who may be specially faithful. And it will rest upon them ALL the time while we wait for Him.

It is just like the heart of Christ. His unclouded favour rests upon "all the saints." The strongest and the weakest, the father and the babe, are equally objects of His grace. Irrespective, too, of the ways of His people, His grace rests upon them. Through clouds and sunshine, by night and by day, in all times and circumstances, His unfailing grace is their support and strength. It is grace from beginning to end, from otherwise hopeless ruin till complete redemption.

The Roman Catholic church has its saints, but they have been dead for centuries; it has no living saints. Among Protestants the word is usually given to people who look serious and live clean lives apart from the world. But the Bible gives it to all who are in Christ Jesus, to all the children of God on earth. They are all sanctified in Christ Jesus and are saints by calling (1 Cor. 1:2). Think of the father of a large family — a true father, who loves and cares for all his children alike. He makes sure they are all inside before he bars the door at night. So the Holy Spirit does not close the divine Word upon a divided family, some inside and some outside. He gathers all within the sacred enclosure and puts this great benediction upon all.

But this victory of God has not come without cost to Himself. Power alone could not have won it. God's bright designs sprang from His heart of love. He wanted all His saints for Himself because He loved them — and love must suffer... God — the beginning, "all the saints" — the end, and the cross of Christ between. Yes, the cross is the heart of the Bible, throbbing with love. No one can write that lesson clearly and leave the cross out.

The apostle in his turn takes his leave of the saints. In the love of the Spirit he commends them to their only provision for the way, until the journey ends. Till He comes — come when He may, bringing His glory with Him — they must stand in His grace. For the Lord gives both, and grace leads to glory.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is to be with us all as we travel on to His coming, through the present scenes of toil and trouble, strife and desert life. It rests on our spirits, forms our characters, shapes our thoughts, enters our hearts, and comes out in the way we live. The whole church of God needs it. The saints of God — you and I and all the rest of us — greatly need it. Blessed be God, it rests upon us, and is available for us in every conceivable emergency.

First the voice of the Lord: "I come quickly." Then the voice of the Church in her glad response: "Amen. Come, Lord Jesus." And finally the voice of the Holy Spirit in the blessing: "The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you all." No sweeter close to the Book of God could be imagined. "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ" is what the Church has had to live on while toiling, suffering, and witnessing here. The storehouse has never failed.