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REV. XXII, 18, 19

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Feb 23, 1869

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 33, No. 9.

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REV. XXII, 18, 19.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

“For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book; and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.”
By some it is claimed that these words teach that after the book of Revelation was given, God would never give any more revelations to men. If a prophet should now come with revelations from God, they say it would be adding to the words of this book, and hence he would bring the curse upon him as stated in the text. In this we think that they greatly mistake the meaning of the text. It warns against adding to, or taking from, the words of that particular book; that is, they must not be altered in any way. If God should give another revelation, and have it written out, it would not be adding to the words of this book. It would be another book entirely.
Similar language is used with reference to other portions of the Bible. Thus, Moses, in the book of Deuteronomy, says, “Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of theLord your God which I command you.” Chap. iv, 2. Would any one argue from this that all the Bible which was written after Moses wrote these words, was spurious because it was adding to the words of Moses? By no means. What was written after this, was not adding to Moses’ words, nor altering them in the least. Yet the objection which is brought against all revelations from God after the book of Revelation was closed, may with equal reason be brought against all revelation after Moses wrote his books. So I read again in Deut. xii, 32, “What thing soever I command you, observe to do it; thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.” Again, in Prov. xxx, 5: “Every word of God is pure; he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.” Has every revelation this side of Proverbs been adding unto the words of God? No one will take such a position; neither can we say so any more truthfully about the words in Rev. xxii, 18, 19.
D. M. CANRIGHT.