NOTES for Rev 22:17

For a desert dweller, the image of water has always been a symbol of life. In the biblical books this image received additional meaning: it became a symbol of the Kingdom of God, or the messianic Kingdom, as it was revealed to the prophets.

Ezekiel sees a river of living water flowing from beneath the Temple he saw in a vision. It was revealed to him that the Second Temple, which the repatriates returning from the Babylonian captivity would build in due time, would meet the Messiah and see the beginning of the Kingdom that the Messiah would bring into the world. The righteous person, as the author of the First Psalm testifies, will come to the blessed land where rivers of living water flow: the path of righteousness ends in the Kingdom.

John also speaks of this same water of life: he sees it flowing straight from the Kingdom, whose triumph was revealed to him in his apocalyptic vision. The apostle testifies that this water, the life of the Kingdom, is available to everyone. The very breath of the Kingdom testifies to this life and calls people to share in it, and the Church, called in the text "the bride," as the other apostles often called her as well, bears witness to it too.

Here, as in few other places in the New Testament books, what formed the basis of the early Christian Church's teaching about salvation is clearly reflected: the Kingdom has already entered the world, its history began on the day of Pentecost, it is no longer future but present, and one can share in its life right here and now.

At the same time, its history has only just begun. The Kingdom is taking only its first steps in the world; an entire age still lies ahead of it, and by the standards of this old world it will last a long time. But an individual person does not need to wait for its completion and for the triumph of the Kingdom, the day when it will be revealed in all its fullness.

The possibility of living its life is available to everyone who desires it, even now, when the history of the Kingdom has only just begun. For its fullness is always the same; it is only revealed to the world in different measure at different stages of its becoming and entering the world. Therefore a person seeking the Kingdom can always find it in all the fullness he can contain. The history of salvation has begun, and the apostle calls every seeker to join it so that the day of the Messiah's return and the triumph of the Kingdom will become his day too.

John worships the angel, but the angel stops him. Yes, the apostle, and we together with him, witnessed the great power of angels. But like us they are only servants of the One who sends us a warning about how we must conduct ourselves in the coming trials and what we should be prepared for. The Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end—He is everything. Every person is capable of recognising that he is weak and feeble, and that he is a rather unpleasant being when one looks at everything that fills him within. Yet at all times—both now and when the apostle John wrote down what he had seen without hiding anything—people were equally weak and sinful. But every day can begin with the words with which Holy Scripture ends: “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.”

John's vision ends with the words of God's messenger, who tells the apostle that everything he has seen must happen "soon" (vv. 6-7). He insists that John not hide what has been revealed to him precisely because "the time is near" (v. 10). Of course, this is not about any specific dates, about which even Jesus Himself refused to speak, referring to the fact that they are known only to His heavenly Father (Matt. 24:36). The issue is different: the times have come when nothing separates us from the Kingdom. We live in the age of the coming Kingdom; the spiritual processes whose meaning was revealed to John, who saw their completion, are already going on in the world. After the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, a historical stage began that can be considered the home stretch on the way to the Kingdom. Yet how long this home stretch will last is known to God alone, possibly also because its length is determined not only by Him but, to no lesser, if not greater, degree by people themselves. It depends on each person's choice how much time will be needed before the day comes when the final accounting can be made. It is no accident that Jesus again reminds His apostle of the choice between the path of righteousness and the path of sin, the choice that faces everyone and that now, in the age of the coming Kingdom, is no less important than before (vv. 11-17).

It is also no accident that the book says nothing should be added to it, just as nothing should be taken away from it (vv. 18-19). Indeed, everyone knows the numerous interpretations of the Book of Revelation that often only distort its spiritual meaning, reducing everything to "scare stories" in the spirit and style of the catastrophism so widespread today in literature and film. Literature of this kind, however, did not appear today or even yesterday; authors of earlier times also liked to frighten readers with terrifying "apocalyptic" pictures. Quite a lot of literature of this sort existed in the time when John received his revelation as well, which happened in the 80s or 90s of the first century CE. Meanwhile, such books do not help their readers spiritually prepare for the events spoken of in the Book of Revelation; they only agitate and frighten the reader.

John's main task in writing down what he saw was to give the faithful spiritual orientation and prepare them for the new challenges they would have to face in the times in which they were to live, the times of struggle and confrontation between the Kingdom and the forces of darkness. That struggle does not always look as spectacular as it is shown in mystical thrillers, but it does not become any less serious or frightening because of that. The Book of Revelation is not a "scare story"; it was written to become a map and compass for those for whom it is important not to lose the road leading to the Kingdom and not to be deceived about those who are trying to hinder the faithful from moving toward the goal.