Revelation 22:21; The Grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ Be With You All

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Revelation 22:21 (KJV)  The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. 

John closes his Apocalypse on the note of transforming grace that enables the recipients to be faithful to Christ – The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. 

A benediction of this type is quite unusual at the conclusion of an apocalyptic writing, but it is quite fitting for this one which incorporates epistolary features for the churches and is to be read in them (Revelation 1:3-4).

Revelation 1:3-4 (KJV)  Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand. John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne; 

This farewell word of grace corresponds to the initial one at the book’s beginning (Revelation 1:4). “Grace” is Paul’s unvarying benediction in his letters as it is also in Hebrews 13:25.

Revelation 1:4 (KJV)  John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne; 

Hebrews 13:25 (KJV)  Grace be with you all. Amen. Written to the Hebrews from Italy by Timothy.

It is an appropriate close for the description of God’s gracious provision for His people in heaven and on earth.

John’s usual way of referring to believers in Christ is by “the saint”, but here he uses “all”. Perhaps he chooses a broader term here in hopes that many in the churches who have not yet attained to the standing of the “saints” in God’s eyes will respond to the repeated pleas of this book through repentance, faith, and washing their robes in the blood of the Lamb. It is possible for them to do this through the enabling “grace of the Lord Jesus”.

[Robert L. Thomas, Revelation 8-22 – An Exegetical Commentary, 521-522]