Be encouraged!

6 And he said to me, “These words are faithful and true”; and the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent His angel to show to His bond-servants the things which must soon take place.

7 “And behold, I am coming quickly. Blessed is he who heeds the words of the prophecy of this book.” Revelation 22:6-7 (NASB) 

Here is v7 in Greek:

7 καὶ ἰδοὺ ἔρχομαι ταχύ. μακάριος ὁ τηρῶν τοὺς λόγους τῆς προφητείας τοῦ βιβλίου τούτου. Revelation 22:7 (NA28)

The words “behold, I am coming soon” in Greek are ἰδοὺ ἔρχομαι ταχύ, which literally says, “Behold, I come quickly.” The word ταχύ, quickly, can also mean “without delay” or “by surprise” or “suddenly.” If we look at the context, we see that this part of Revelation follows the central visionary section of the book. From v6 on, we see promise, exhortation, and confirmation all with the goal of stirring up hope for the coming of the Lord Jesus. However we translate ταχύ, we must remember that our Lord spoke these words and He meant them to be an encouragement to us. Therefore, as we look at the hostile takeover of the visible church by the wicked, instead of being discouraged, we should look to the soon return of our Lord, who will settle all accounts. Therefore, our part must be to remain faithful regardless of what these evil people are doing. Even if every church in our town goes hard after these new “missional” and “spiritual formation” teachings, we do not have to be part of that nor can we. We must not follow after these things even if we become quite lonely and separate from the crowd. God knows all about this and will sustain us. View article →