Revelation 22:9

9 And he says to me, See [thou do it] not. I am thy fellow-bondman, and [the fellow-bondman] of thy brethren the prophets, and of those who keep the words of this book. Do homage to God.

Revelation 22:9 Meaning and Commentary

Revelation 22:9

Then saith he unto me
The angel at whose feet John fell down to worship: see thou do it not;
this he said in great haste, and with much vehemence, to hinder him from doing it, as his short way of speaking shows: for I am thy fellow servant:
of God, and of Christ, and am no more the object of worship than thyself; and both of us are, and ought to be, the worshippers of God, whose servants we are: and of thy brethren the prophets;
the apostles and ministers of the word; for prophesying and preaching are the same thing; these were the brethren of John in a spiritual sense, and by reason of their function: and of them which keep the sayings of this book;
see ( Revelation 22:7 ) and this is said to encourage the observation of them, and is the character of private Christians, and shows the great condescension of the angel to put himself, not only upon a level with John, and the ministers of the word, but with common believers: worship God;
and him only, and that in a spiritual manner, with reverence and godly fear, in faith, and according to his revealed will; (See Gill on Revelation 19:10).

Revelation 22:9 In-Context

7 And behold, I come quickly. Blessed [is] he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.
8 And I, John, [was] he who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to do homage before the feet of the angel who shewed me these things.
9 And he says to me, See [thou do it] not. I am thy fellow-bondman, and [the fellow-bondman] of thy brethren the prophets, and of those who keep the words of this book. Do homage to God.
10 And he says to me, Seal not the words of the prophecy of this book. The time is near.
11 Let him that does unrighteously do unrighteously still; and let the filthy make himself filthy still; and let him that is righteous practise righteousness still; and he that is holy, let him be sanctified still.

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Or 'worship,' as ch. 3.9.
The Darby Translation is in the public domain.