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Echoes of Revelation
Revelation never quotes the Old Testament outright, yet no New Testament book refers to it more. See both texts side by side, why they don’t match, and what John does with them.
Revelation 22:20, surely I am coming soon
Malachi's promise that the Lord will send his messenger and come suddenly may lie behind Jesus' sending his angel and his promise to come soon.
Revelation 22:20; Revelation 22:7; Revelation 22:16, in every translation this tool compares.
A host who says he is on his way after a long wait sounds like the guest an old letter promised. Malachi said God would send his messenger, and then the Lord would come suddenly to his temple. In John's last chapter Jesus has sent his angel, and he says three times that he is coming soon. The order of events matches Malachi.
A messenger sent, then the Lord coming quickly. The Greek of Malachi 3:1 has idou … erchetai, look, he comes; John has idou erchomai tachy in 22:7. Jesus sent his angel (aggelos) in 22:16; Malachi's God sends his messenger (aggelos).
In Malachi God sends the messenger and the Lord comes to his temple. In John Jesus sends the angel and Jesus comes. Malachi's coming is to judge; John's is to judge and reward. Malachi says suddenly; John says soon. The sources give no reason beyond applying the Lord's coming to Jesus.
The coming of the Lord that Malachi promised is the coming of Jesus. Beale reads the use of Malachi as another sign of Christ's divinity. Wright hears the long hope of God's return to his temple, fulfilled in Jesus and still awaited.
Not a firm link. Beale writes that verse 20 echoes Malachi and that verse 16 may be modeled on it; the link rests on a shared sequence, not shared sentences.
Beale says verse 20 echoes Malachi 3:1, where the Lord's coming quickly as a witness against falsehood is foretold, and that the link is strengthened by 22:16 (I will send my angel) and 22:7 (look, he is coming), and by the sin list of Malachi 3:5 recalled in 22:15. The Greek of Malachi 3:1 has idou exapostello ton angelon mou, look, I send my messenger, and exaiphnes hexei, he will come suddenly. Wright reads Malachi's promise that the Lord would come suddenly to his temple as the hope Jesus fulfilled and the book still awaits. The grade is possible: two sources name the link, and the wording is only generally similar.
Beale and Wright hear Malachi. The other sources read 22:20 against 1 Corinthians 16:22, the Aramaic prayer marana tha, and name no Old Testament text.
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- G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation (New International Greek Testament Commentary), comment on 22:15, 22:16 and 22:20
- N. T. Wright, Revelation for Everyone, comment on Revelation 22:8-21
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Revelation 22:20
- Septuagint, Malachi 3:1, Interlinear Greek-English Septuagint
- SBL Greek New Testament (MorphGNT), Revelation 22:7, 22:16 and 22:20
