The passage
      v12. Jesus announces his coming return, a return which he will complete quickly. When he comes again to this earth, he will come to reward us on the basis of what we have done. This reward is either a blessing or a curse. The essential command that must be obeyed is the call to faith in Christ.
      v13 Christ again takes to himself the titles which rightly belong to the Ancient of Days. He is The Lord God Almighty, cf.21:6. We are again shown that Jesus is divine, he is God, the beginning and the end.
      v14-15. A new speaker now responds to the words of Christ. Blessed are those who "wash", for they will be rewarded by Christ - justified by grace through faith, cf.7:14. The washing image refers to washing in the blood of Christ, being covered by Christ's sacrificial death through repentance and faith. Those who wash have the right to feed on the tree of life, cf.22:2. For the unwashed, cursed are those who reside outside the city; they will be judged.
      v16. Jesus speaks again. He announces that the revelation to John through the angel, and thus to "you" (the church), is a direct revelation from himself; it is his word. This revelation comes from the anointed one of God: i] the root of Jesse, of the Davidic line, the Davidic King; ii] the "star" of Jacob, Num.24:17.
      v17. Both the Holy Spirit and the "bride" (the church) call on humanity to "come" into God's presence and unite with him for eternity. The word "come" is obviously the gospel invitation to enter the kingdom of God. Those who hear are also to convey the invitation to others.
      v18-19. John now gives a warning to those who hear. Don't fiddle with this prophecy on pain of judgment. The warning could be to copyists, but is more probably for those who would teach and apply the truths of the book.
      v20. Jesus again gives witness and affirms that he is coming soon. The response to this truth is "Amen" - we agree and affirm this truth. This response is then followed by a prayer - Maranatha, which is Aramaic for "Come, O Lord", 1Cor.16:22. Our burning desire should be for the return of Christ and thus, our union with him.

Maranatha
      Jesus has ascended to glory from where he will come soon and we are to call for his coming; "Come, O Lord."
      It's very easy to work ourselves into a cycle of guilt. We continually fail our Lord, and so when we start to think about his return and our need to be faithful, we can end up with increased feelings of guilt. Christ is coming soon to reward the faithful. Yet, how uneasy we feel, for if he were to come today, how would we stand with him? How secure are we if we had to stand before the judge of the universe this very day?
      We may not "practice magic arts" as such, we may not be into palmistry and the like, but it's very easy to be into power games. Magic is the art of manipulation - the manipulation of individuals and of circumstances. We don't need a voodoo doll to destroy our enemies, we just need to know how to play the "game". We might not have committed "sexual immorality", in a literal sense, but we have all flirted with someone's feelings. We may not be "murderers" as such, but we have all hated. All of us have despised, even a brother. We have justified it by working up a good long list of their "sins and offenses", never hesitating for a moment to deny any evidence of the "log" in our own eye. None of us may be "idolaters" as such, but all of us hold tightly to our possessions. How do we answer our Lord in that last day when he asks us why we thought the things of this world were so important? When we see all that we kept to ourselves and the so little we gave to him, how then will we answer? "He who loves and practices falsehood", surely not us Lord? Lie, deceive, hide the real me.... never.
      Yet, Jesus says to us "come", whoever is thirsty, whoever wishes. He invites us to wash our robes in his mercy and enter the gates of the Holy City. There is no hesitation in this offer, no qualifications. "He is the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End". He has the right to make the offer and the power to make it stick.
      So yes, we come, before he comes, and in his goodness we hide. As for our goodness, change us Lord Jesus, renew us. Make us loyal and brave rather than cowardly, faithful rather than unfaithful, gentle and kind rather than nasty, loving rather than hateful, honorable in all our relationships, servants rather than manipulators, simple livers rather than complex wasters, honest and open rather than deceptive.
      So now you can come Lord Jesus, we are waiting. "Yes, I am coming soon" is his reply.

v13
      Christ is the beginning of all things and the end of all things. John is here repeating a concept he has already developed, cf. 1:8, 17, 2:8, 21:6.

v14
      oiJ plunonteV (plunw) pres. part. "those who wash" - the ones washing. The washing image is used in the Bible to describe being immersed in the sacrificial death of Christ by means of which Jesus takes our punishment on himself and thus secures our acquittal, cf.7:14. So it means, blessed are those who repent. It is not just repentance at the time of our conversion, for the washing is a present continuous action. The washing involves a repentance with ongoing eternal consequences. Note the alternate reading found in some manuscripts, "do his commandments" - the Judaizers live on!
      iJna "that" - This clause my be read as final (purpose, "in order to") or consecutive (consequence - result, "with the result that"). Result seems best, NRSV, NEB.
      hJ exousia .... epi "the right to" - the authority to [eat of]. Presumably the right/authority is for us to feed on the fruit of the tree of life. The image of feeding from the tree of life comes from the book of Ezekiel and harks back to the "tree of life" in the garden of Eden. It is an image of "eternal life", of eternal sustenance in union with Christ.
      eiselqwsin eiV thn polin "into the city" - they may enter into the city. It is those who wash who have the right to go through the gates and enter the city, not those who eat from the tree of life, given that the tree is in the city. Here again is a strong Old Testament image. It pictures our coming into the kingdom of God, our coming into the presence of the living God, and our being blessed and ruled by him. cf. Zechariah.

v15
      exw adv. "outside" - Outside the city gate, those not allowed to enter.
      oi kuneV (wn unoV) "dogs" - The term was used by Jews to describe unclean Gentiles, those without God. This may be the sense here = "unbelievers". John takes time to describe these unwashed. Note the full list in 21:8. They are: i)"cowardly" - they run from the battle and do not stand with Christ; ii) "Unbelieving" - unfaithful; iii) "Vile" - nasty; iv) "Murders" - haters; v) "Sexually immoral"; vi) "Practice magic arts" - into power games; vii) "Idolaters" - worship the creation rather than the Creator; viii) "Love to lie" - full of deceit. These unwashed may also be pseudo-Christians, "dogs" as in Philippians 3:2. They are possibly those who bear the outward marks of religion.

v16
      uJmin pl. dat. "you" - to you. Note the "you" is plural, so the revelation is not so much for John, but the church.
      marturhsai (marturew) inf. "to give [you] this testimony" - to bear witness [to you]. "To bear witness" here has the sense of declaring or announcing the revelation.
      See notes for messianic titles

v17
      oJ diywn ercesqw (ercomai) imp. "whoever is thirsty, let him come" - the one thirsting let him come. John is probably repeating the general invitation to "come" rather than directing the invitation to a new group of people. None-the-less, some commentators argue that it is a new invitation directed to those who have accepted the first invitation to "come" and are now invited to pass on the invitation. It should be noted that there is a slight possibility that the invitation to "come" (ie. "come Lord Jesus") is our response to Christ who has just announced "I am coming", although the second part of the verse seems to wo