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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadBob Utley You Can Understand the Bible - Revelation 22:16 - 22:16
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Rev_22:16
16"I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star."
Rev_22:16 "'I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches" Notice that the term "you" is plural and the allusion to the seven churches of Revelation 2-3 is made very specific. The book begins and concludes with the genre of letter, while the visions in between are a combination of prophecy (the end viewed through the lens of the present) and apocalyptic (imaginative imagery).
▣ "My angel" Often the sender is God the Father (cf. Rev_22:6, "His angel"). Here the sender is Jesus ("My angel"). The phrase is also found in Rev_1:1, but the pronoun antecedent is ambiguous.
▣ "the churches" See Special Topic at Rev_1:4.
▣ "I am the root and the descendant of David" There are many allusions to the Davidic line of the Messiah in the OT (cf. 2Sa_7:12-16 and Isa_11:1; Isa_11:10) and in the NT (cf. Mat_1:1; Mat_9:17; Mat_15:22; Mat_21:9; Rom_1:3; 2Ti_2:8 Rev_5:5). Jesus is the fulfillment of all OT prophecies.
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▣ "the bright and morning star" This is a Messianic title (cf. Num_24:17 or Mat_2:2 or 2Pe_1:19). This may be a play on Isa_14:12 where a similar phrase referred to Satan. In Revelation evil often is a parody of the Triune God.