I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man, etc. In these very remarkable words we have two things - the possibility and the penalty of a great crime. The great crime is adding to and taking from the Word.

I. THE POSSIBILITY OF A GREAT CRIME. What is the possible crime so solemnly addressed to all who peruse this Apocalypse - this Apocalypse of unseen and eternal truths?

1. There is a sense in which things can be added to this book. By giving interpretation which misrepresent it. There is a sense in which things cannot be added to or taken from this book. What are those things? The absolute truth, the immutable love, the eternal rectitude, and the moral excellence of God. You cannot add to these. They are the spirit, the essence of all - the all pervading and indestructible element of the whole book. Who can destroy or add to the rudimental elements of the material universe - the elements that build up and remove mountains, that create rivers and oceans, that spread out the landscapes, plant the forest, and cause the atmosphere, the waters, and the earth itself to teem with untold millions of living things, the forms of all we see in the heavens above, and around, and beneath us? Were they all to vanish away, the rudimental element that produced all will remain indestructible - remain to produce all these objects, and ten thousand more. So in the moral domain of truth, rectitude, and love. You cannot add anything to them, nor can you take anything from them - "not one jot or tittle."

II. THE PENALTY OF A GREAT CRIME. "If any man shall add unto them, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book," etc. What does he put upon this book? Vain and fanciful glosses; makes it speak of things trifling, or, still worse, makes it speak things untrue to fact; or yet worse still, makes it curse those whom God has not cursed, those whom prejudice and party spirit alone have wilfully and uncharitably set up as foes. Does he not add to the words of the prophecy? And what, again, does he who closes his Bible at the Epistle of St. Jude, and never studies or ponders the solemn or momentous pages which follow? Does he not practically take away from the words of the prophecy, and forget, at least, the blessing of those who keep and love it? From these, and all such errors, on the right hand and on the left, may God of his great mercy preserve us all! (Dr. Vaughan). - D.T.

I. THE PERFECTION OF GOD'S WORD. Man may not intermeddle with it, either to add or to take away. Can man improve the works of God? — the mountains, rivers, flowers? — the blue sky, the stars, the sun? Even so is the Word of God too perfect for him to touch.

II. THE HONOUR GOD PUTS ON IT. He has magnified it, even above His works; so that he who disparages the Word of God is more guilty than he who disparages the works of God. It is the fullest expression of His mind, the completest revelation of His character.

III. OUR RESPONSIBILITIES IN REGARD TO IT. It is not given us for mere speculation or gratification; but for something far higher. We are responsible for the way we treat it, study it, profit by it. Its perfection makes our responsibility very great, and appeals to our consciences most powerfully.

IV. THE SIN OF TAMPERING WITH IT. Every low thought about the Bible is sin. Every attempt to touch it, either in the way of addition or subtraction, is sin.

V. THE DANGER OF MEDDLING WITH IT. The danger is exceeding great; and the punishment awarded to the intermeddlers is the declaration of the danger. God will not be mocked in this thing.

(H. Bonar, D. D.)

David, JohnPatmosAdd, Addition, Adds, Anyone, Anything, Book, Contained, Declare, Described, Ears, Heareth, Hearing, Hears, Makes, Plagues, Prophecy, Prophet's, Punishments, Scroll, Solemnly, Spoken, Testify, Warn, Written1. The river of the water of life.
2. The tree of life.
5. The light of the city of God is himself.
7. Jesus Is Coming.
9. The angel will not be worshipped.
18. Nothing may be added to the word of God, nor taken away.

Revelation 22:18

     4843   plague
     8492   watchfulness, leaders

Revelation 22:18-19

     1444   revelation, NT
     1615   Scripture, sufficiency
     4526   tree of life
     5232   book
     5959   submission
     5971   uniqueness
     8470   respect, for God

Come and Welcome
Nay, further than this, this is not only Christ's cry to you; but if you be a believer, this is your cry to Christ--"Come! come!" You will be longing for his second advent; you will be saying, "Come quickly, even so come Lord Jesus." And you will be always panting for nearer and closer communion with him. As his voice to you is "Come," even so will be your prayer to him, "Come, Lord, and abide in my house. Come, and consecrate me more fully to thy service; come, and without a rival reign; come, occupy …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 5: 1859

Sanctification and Justification (Continued).
"He that is holy, let him be holy still." --Rev. xxii. 11. The divine Righteousness, having reference to the divine Sovereignty, in one sense does not manifest itself until God enters into relationship with the creatures. He was glorious in holiness from all eternity, for man's creation did not modify His Being; but His righteousness could not be displayed before creation, because right presupposes two beings sustaining the jural relation. An exile on an uninhabited island can not be righteous nor …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

The Need of the New Testament Scripture.
"For I testify onto 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."--Rev. xxii. 18. If the Church after the Ascension of Christ had been destined to live only one lifetime, and had been confined only to the land of the Jews, the holy apostles could have accomplished their task by verbal teaching. But since it was to live at least for eighteen centuries, and to be extended over …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

Rivers in the Desert
T. P. Rev. xxii. I Glorious River of God's pleasures, Well of God's eternal bliss, Thirsting now no more for ever, Tread we this waste wilderness. O for words divine to tell it, How along that River's brink, Come the weak, the worn, the weary, There the tides of joy to drink! "Drink abundantly, beloved," Speaks the Voice so sweet and still; "Of the life, and love, and glory, Freely come and drink your fill." Every longing stilled for ever, As the face of God we see-- Whom besides have we in heaven, …
Frances Bevan—Hymns of Ter Steegen, Suso, and Others

Letter xix (A. D. 1127) to Suger, Abbot of S. Denis
To Suger, Abbot of S. Denis He praises Suger, who had unexpectedly renounced the pride and luxury of the world to give himself to the modest habits of the religious life. He blames severely the clerk who devotes himself rather to the service of princes than that of God. 1. A piece of good news has reached our district; it cannot fail to do great good to whomsoever it shall have come. For who that fear God, hearing what great things He has done for your soul, do not rejoice and wonder at the great …
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux—Some Letters of Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux

Wesley at Sevenoaks
Monday, October 16.--I went to Tunbridge Wells and preached to a serious congregation on Revelation 22:12. Tuesday, 17. I came back to Sevenoaks and in the afternoon walked over to the Duke of Dorset's seat. The park is the pleasantest I ever saw; the trees are so elegantly disposed. The house, which is at least two hundred years old, is immensely large. It consists of two squares, considerably bigger than the two quadrangles in Lincoln College. I believe we were shown above thirty rooms, beside …
John Wesley—The Journal of John Wesley

The Water of Life;
OR, A DISCOURSE SHOWING THE RICHNESS AND GLORY OF THE GRACE AND SPIRIT OF THE GOSPEL, AS SET FORTH IN SCRIPTURE BY THIS TERM, THE WATER OF LIFE. BY JOHN BUNYAN. 'And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.'--Revelation 22:17 London: Printed for Nathanael Ponder, at the Peacock in the Poultry, 1688. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. Often, and in every age, the children of God have dared to doubt the sufficiency of divine grace; whether it was vast enough to reach their condition--to cleanse …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

The Jerusalem Sinner Saved;
OR, GOOD NEWS FOR THE VILEST OF MEN; BEING A HELP FOR DESPAIRING SOULS, SHOWING THAT JESUS CHRIST WOULD HAVE MERCY IN THE FIRST PLACE OFFERED TO THE BIGGEST SINNERS. THE THIRD EDITION, IN WHICH IS ADDED, AN ANSWER TO THOSE GRAND OBJECTIONS THAT LIE IN THE WAY OF THE THEM THAT WOULD BELIEVE: FOR THE COMFORT OF THEM THAT FEAR THEY HAVE SINNED AGAINST THE HOLY GHOST. BY JOHN BUNYAN, OF BEDFORD. London: Printed for Elizabeth Smith, at the Hand and Bible, on London Bridge, 1691. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

The Last Words of the Old and New Testaments
'Lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.'--MALACHI iv. 6. 'The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.'--REVELATION xxii. 21. It is of course only an accident that these words close the Old and the New Testaments. In the Hebrew Bible Malachi's prophecies do not stand at the end; but he was the last of the Old Testament prophets, and after him there were 'four centuries of silence.' We seem to hear in his words the dying echoes of the rolling thunders of Sinai. They gather up the …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

God's Will and Man's Will
The great controversy which for many ages has divided the Christian Church has hinged upon the difficult question of "the will." I need not say of that conflict that it has done much mischief to the Christian Church, undoubtedly it has; but I will rather say, that it has been fraught with incalculable usefulness; for it has thrust forward before the minds of Christians, precious truths, which but for it, might have been kept in the shade. I believe that the two great doctrines of human responsibility …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 8: 1863

The Properties of Sanctifying Grace
By a property (proprium, {GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH PSILI AND OXIA}{GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA}{GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA}{GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON}{GREEK SMALL LETTER NU}) we understand a quality which, though not part of the essence of a thing, necessarily flows from that essence by some sort of causation and is consequently found in all individuals of the same species.(1155) A property, as such, is opposed to an accident (accidens, {GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA}{GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON}{GREEK …
Joseph Pohle—Grace, Actual and Habitual

Of Love to God
I proceed to the second general branch of the text. The persons interested in this privilege. They are lovers of God. "All things work together for good, to them that love God." Despisers and haters of God have no lot or part in this privilege. It is children's bread, it belongs only to them that love God. Because love is the very heart and spirit of religion, I shall the more fully treat upon this; and for the further discussion of it, let us notice these five things concerning love to God. 1. The …
Thomas Watson—A Divine Cordial

"The Lord Hath Need of Him. " Mark xi, 3
What! of an Ass? Yes, "God hath chosen the foolish things of the world." He gets renown to Himself by "using things which are despised." Let us never despair of the most foolish of men, if he become the servant of Jesus. It is said of the great John Hunt, that when a young man, he gave no promise of the talents he shewed in the work of the Ministry. We have spoken with one who knew him before his conversion, who made us smile as he described his gait and style of life. Yet this ungainly ploughboy …
Thomas Champness—Broken Bread

Luke's History: what it Professes to Be
AMONG the writings which are collected in the New Testament, there is included a History of the life of Christ and of the first steps in the diffusion of his teaching through the Roman world, composed in two books. These two books have been separated from one another as if they were different works, and are ordinarily called "The Gospel according to Luke" and "The Acts of the Apostles". It is, however, certain from their language, and it is admitted by every scholar, that the two books were composed …
Sir William Mitchell Ramsay—Was Christ Born in Bethlehem?

Three Inscriptions with one Meaning
'Thou shalt make a plate of pure gold, and grave upon it ... HOLINESS TO THE LORD.'--EXODUS xxviii. 36. 'In that day there shall be upon the bells of the horses, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD.'--ZECH. xiv. 20. 'His name shall be in their foreheads.'--REV. xxii. 4. You will have perceived my purpose in putting these three widely separated texts together. They all speak of inscriptions, and they are all obviously connected with each other. The first of them comes from the ancient times of the institution …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Thirty-First Day. Holiness and Heaven.
Seeing that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of men ought ye to be in all holy living and godliness?'--2 Pet. iii. 11. 'Follow after the sanctification without which no man shall see the Lord.'--Heb. xii. 14. 'He that is holy, let him be made holy still.... The grace of the Lord Jesus be with the holy ones. Amen.'--Rev. xxii. 11, 21. O my brother, we are on our way to see God. We have been invited to meet the Holy One face to face. The infinite mystery of holiness, the …
Andrew Murray—Holy in Christ

All are Commanded to Pray --Prayer the Great Means of Salvation
CHAPTER I. ALL ARE COMMANDED TO PRAY--PRAYER THE GREAT MEANS OF SALVATION, AND POSSIBLE AT ALL TIMES BY THE MOST SIMPLE. Prayer is nothing else but the application of the heart to God, and the interior exercise of love. St Paul commands us to "pray without ceasing" (1 Thess. v. 17). Our Lord says: "Take ye heed, watch and pray." "And what I say unto you, I say unto all" (Mark xiii. 33, 37). All, then, are capable of prayer, and it is the duty of all to engage in it. But I do not think that all are …
Jeanne Marie Bouvières—A Short Method Of Prayer And Spiritual Torrents

That Worthy Name.
James ii:7. IN the second chapter of the Epistle of James the Holy Spirit speaks of our ever blessed Lord as "that worthy Name." Precious Word! precious to every heart that knows Him and delights to exalt His glorious and worthy Name. His Name is "far above every Name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come." (Ephes. i:21.) It is "as ointment poured forth" (Song of Sol. i:3); yea, His Name alone is excellent (Psalm cxlviii:13). But according to His worth that blessed …
Arno Gaebelein—The Lord of Glory

The Apostles Chosen
As soon as he returned victorious from the temptation in the wilderness, Jesus entered on the work of his public ministry. We find him, at once, preaching to the people, healing the sick, and doing many wonderful works. The commencement of his ministry is thus described by St. Matt. iv: 23-25. "And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness, and all manner of disease among the people. And his fame went throughout …
Richard Newton—The Life of Jesus Christ for the Young

An Essay on the Mosaic Account of the Creation and Fall of Man
THERE are not a few difficulties in the account, which Moses has given of the creation of the world, and of the formation, and temptation, and fall of our first parents. Some by the six days of the creation have understood as many years. Whilst others have thought the creation of the world instantaneous: and that the number of days mentioned by Moses is only intended to assist our conception, who are best able to think of things in order of succession. No one part of this account is fuller of difficulties, …
Nathaniel Lardner—An Essay on the Mosaic Account of the Creation and Fall of Man

Gregory the Great, Bishop of Rome.
IT pleased God, to whom all his works are known from eternity, to prepare Gregory by a twofold process, for the great and difficult work of the guidance of the Western Church, then agitated by so many storms. Destined to be plunged into the midst of an immense multitude of avocations of the most varied character, he was trained to bear such a burden by administering, until his fortieth year, an important civil office. Then, yielding to a long-felt yearning of his heart, he retired into a monastery, …
Augustus Neander—Light in the Dark Places

Christ's Prophetic Office
'The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet,' &c. Deut 18:85. Having spoken of the person of Christ, we are next to speak of the offices of Christ. These are Prophetic, Priestly, and Regal. 'The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet.' Enunciatur hic locus de Christo. It is spoken of Christ.' There are several names given to Christ as a Prophet. He is called the Counsellor' in Isa 9:9. In uno Christo Angelus foederis completur [The Messenger of the Covenant appears in Christ alone]. …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

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