Verse 12 says, “Behold, I come quickly, and My reward is with Me to render to each one according to his work.” “I come quickly” is the Lord’s repeated warning that we may consider His reward at His coming back. The Greek word translated reward means “wages.” At the Lord’s coming, this reward will be rendered to each one of the believers, after their rapture, at the judgment seat of Christ (2 Cor. 5:10; 1 Cor. 4:5; Rom. 14:10; Matt. 16:27).
Verse 13 says, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the beginning and the end.” This is the Lord’s declaration at the close of this book, corresponding to what God declared in the opening of this book (1:8). This indicates that the Lord Jesus is the very God. The very Lord whom we serve is the Alpha and the Omega. He is the first letter, the last letter, and all the letters in between. This means that He is able and qualified to accomplish all that is spoken concerning Him in this book. We should not excuse ourselves and say, “This vision is marvelous, but it is too high for me. I cannot attain it.” The Lord is the Alpha and the Omega to back up and to carry out His word. We must exercise our entire being to believe in His word. Do not look at yourself, reckon on yourself, or consider yourself. We all are nothing. If we look at ourselves, we shall not be able to do anything. Therefore, we must turn our eyes to Him, set our eyes upon Him, and believe in His word. No matter how far beyond us His word is, we must say “Amen” to whatever He says. Whenever we say “Amen” to His word, we are strengthened and we have a living faith. Faith is not derived from us; it originates with Him. If we look away from all things unto Him, we shall enjoy Him as our Alpha, as our Omega, and as our everything. And He will certainly accomplish everything He has promised in this book. All we need to do is exercise faith in Him.
According to verse 13, the Lord Jesus is not only the First, but also the beginning, not only the Last, but also the end. The first indicates that none is before Him, and the last, that none is after Him, whereas the beginning means that He is the origination of all things, and the end, that He is the consummation of all things. Hence, the indication here is not only that there is nothing before or after the Lord Jesus, but also that there is neither origination nor consummation without Him. This assures us that the Lord is strong to promise, encourage, and strengthen us. He will accomplish whatever He has spoken in this book.
Because the Lord is everything to us and because He is so strong, we should not excuse ourselves and say, “Oh, I am weak, my family situation is difficult, and my environment is against me.” The more difficult our environment, the richer the Lord will be to us. The more trying our circumstances, the stronger the Lord will be to us. We must exercise our faith in this all-inclusive One, the One who is the Alpha, the Omega, the First, the Last, the beginning, and the end. With Him, there are no problems. Thus, we need to dive into Him, believe in Him, and rest in Him.
In verses 14 and 19 we have the Lord’s promises related to the tree of life and the holy city. The tree of life is for life supply, and the holy city is for dwelling and serving.
Verse 15 says, “Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the fornicators and the murderers and the idolaters and everyone who loves and makes a lie.” “Outside” means outside the city, where the lake of fire keeps all the perished sinners. All the filthy, sinful persons will be cast into the lake of fire, the universal “trash can.” We all must be warned by this.