Revelation 22:19, commentary and pictures

Anyone who takes away from the words of this prophetic book loses his share in the book of life and the holy city and in all the good things written in it.
Taking away means weakening what it means, forcing a false meaning upon it, treating any word God has spoken as unimportant, and dulling its truth with fanciful explanations and human reasoning.
It also includes leading others to set aside God's law, putting human opinion above revelation, and changing its plain wording to suit convenience, worldly conformity, or escape from unwelcome duty.
The book spoken of is Revelation as given through John, yet the warning applies in principle to every book written by inspiration, without closing the canon or silencing further light that confirms and upholds what was already revealed.
What God has revealed is therefore to be received whole, studied earnestly, believed as written, and obeyed as directed, for keeping its sayings brings blessing and everlasting life with right to the tree of life and entrance into the city.

Meaning, Scope, and Penalty

The warning is that if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things written in this book, including its blessings and promises. The prophecy is guarded as faithful and true, and its words are not to be altered by omission. The penalty guards against changing what God has revealed or commanded.

Taking away means lessening the force of its meaning and trying to change its solemn words. It means giving Scripture a forced or misleading meaning, making it say what Christ did not put there, and forcing human meanings onto it. It means treating even one word spoken by God as nonessential. It means muffling God's Word and blunting its truth with fanciful interpretations and human reasoning, weakening its warnings and turning instruction into falsehood. It means making the words of Revelation a spiritualistic mystery that robs them of solemn import and serious meaning. Such handling can lead people away from obedience into transgression and death.

Taking away includes leading others to disregard God's law and to treat it lightly. It includes putting human opinions above revelation and exalting them above Scripture. It includes altering Scripture's plain meaning to suit oneself, for convenience, or for conformity to the world. It includes changing plain words in revision so an idea is shifted or its importance lessened, so the words are not to be altered as an improvement. It includes taking a line from what is written and putting one's own words in its place, changing biblical writings to fit one's own standard, and changing wording to avoid unwelcome duties.

Taking away includes ministers and teachers who preach their own suppositions and teach for doctrine things not contained in God's Word, presenting human suppositions, traditions, and fanciful doctrines as religious teaching instead of remaining within Scripture. Confusing minds with human ideas in this way pleases Satan and places the teacher with those who add to and take away from the words of the book of this prophecy. It includes altering the words so as to engender unbelief and cause them to lose the practical application authoritatively given them, turning people from that application and bringing God's displeasure. It includes altering the words to hinder the practical working of heavenly angels combined with the imparting of the Spirit of grace and to hinder the Word God will have accomplished, lessening the efficiency of the messages ordained to come to all nations, tongues, and people.

The book of this prophecy is the book of Revelation as it came from John. The warning applies in principle to every book written by inspiration, for no one has the right to alter God's word. It does not refer to the later Bible as a compiled volume. It does not close the canon of Scripture as a whole or promise that God will never communicate through prophets again, and it does not bind God to silence or prove that spiritual gifts have ceased. Further visions may corroborate earlier prophecy and give further light without changing it, as John's visions could corroborate Daniel's prophecies, and John's later Gospel did not add to Revelation. Nothing in a published vision is intended to add to or diminish from the sure word of prophecy, and later revelations through dreams and visions do not add a new rule of faith and practice apart from the Bible, with the last days continuing until Christ appears.

Those who add human invention to God's Word or take from it come under the judgment of the last chapter of Revelation. They bring upon themselves the plagues written in the book. They face exclusion from the book of life and the holy city, with loss of share in the things written and promised in the book. Changing or diminishing the force of its solemn words brings God's judgments. Whoever alters the words to hinder their accomplishment will be visited with severest retribution and signal marks of displeasure.

Context, Study, and Obedience

The closing portion of Revelation was made known by Christ himself to John on Patmos as a solemn communication for all who live in the last days, bringing the history down to the closing scenes of this earth and revealing the last events to keep minds from confusion so that Satan cannot deceive the very elect and gain the victory. It bears the third angel's message to be proclaimed to the world now, combining the first and the second messages and binding them up with the third. It reveals the great and last warfare between two classes, those who keep the commandments of God and those who make void the law of God, and calls for lifting up the standard of truth in the last message of mercy given to the world.

The last chapter and the last four chapters must be read carefully until they impress heart and life and character. They call for a deep and thorough individual work that should have been done long ago, a thorough humbling of the soul before God, and a cleansing and refining and transforming of the heart and soul temple, especially for those carrying responsibility. They call for earnest prayer and untiring work, for thorough and heartfelt repentance with no delay, for purifying the soul, for asking God to forgive unfaithful discharge of duty, and for tarrying no longer in an unprepared state. They require removal of dim spiritual discernment, wrong spirit, mistaken and defective standard, self-exaltation and judging of others, the bringing forth of fruit in the life in proportion to the light given, and the opening of the door of the heart that Christ may enter.

All the Scriptures must be taken as guide and studied with nothing removed, and keeping the sayings of the prophecy brings blessing and life everlasting. Those who do His commandments are blessed with right to the tree of life and entrance through the gates into the city where the pure river of water of life flows and there is no more curse, while taking away forfeits part in the book of life, the holy city, and the things written in the book. The Word must therefore be believed just as it reads and obeyed as the Lord has directed, with earnest searching of the Scriptures and prayer for an opened understanding and a willing mind. It means just what it reads and no man or denomination can change it, and this applies especially to those who grow weary of hearing repeated the duties they ought to do but do not desire to do and would change the wording to avoid them, for the Sabbath remains a perpetual covenant.

The warning guards against changing what God has revealed or commanded. The revealed prophetic message is given by God for study and instruction, must be received and kept rather than rejected or altered, and must be preserved by the church without departing from the teachings of Scripture in even the slightest detail. Scripture and God's law are the standard by which every person's character and each person's character is measured. The Bible and the Bible only is the foundation of faith to be lifted up, and present truth for students and for the nations must be brought from the Word without human addition.

The warning is the testimony of Jesus, the root and offspring of David and the bright and morning star, who has united humanity and divinity and has all power in heaven and in earth. He requires that His words be put in print and stand firm as they are sent unaltered in translation to people of foreign languages, so that even former heathen worshipers are converted when the unaltered truth is given to them. Nothing is to be said or done to lessen the efficiency of the messages God has ordained to come to all nations, tongues, and people. Angels and men, divine and human instrumentalities, are to unite to proclaim the gospel invitation, with each one who has received the truth voicing His words and doing his part without changing the message. No one is free to take away from God's word or add human rules to the worship God has established, since altering His worship begins apostasy, as when Rome first imposed what God had not forbidden and later prohibited what He had commanded.