Revelation 16:15

and keeps his garments
Keeping one’s garments refers to the avoidance of sinful behavior and the continuance in the faith with confession in the event of sin (1Jn. 1Jn. 1:9). Christ told the church at Sardis, “You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy. He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments” (Rev. Rev. 3:4-5+). See commentary on Revelation 3:4.

lest he walk naked and they see his shame
Shame is ἀσχημοσύνην [aschēmosynēn] : Rev. 16:15+ for spiritual unpreparedness.”⁶ Christ told the lukewarm church at Laodicea to “buy from me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed” (Rev. Rev. 3:18+). This speaks of the internal reality of a person’s walk being exposed for all to see (Isa. Isa. 47:1-3; Nah. Nah. 3:5). See commentary on Revelation 3:18.

Those who fail to watch were never true believers (Mtt. Mat. 24:42, Mat. 24:51). They are ones who will not “be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass” (Luke Luke 21:36), they will not participate in the Rapture . Like Jezebel in the church at Thyatira who is a type of apostate believers of the end (Rev. Rev. 2:22+), they will find themselves in the Great Tribulation. Having proclaimed faith in Christ prior to the Rapture yet remaining on earth, their hypocrisy will be revealed for they will not be among those who are taken to the Father’s house (Rev. Rev. 14:1-3+).

Either this warning is meant parenthetically for readers prior to the time of the bowl judgments (the Church, to be taken at the Rapture before the wrath begins) or, if meant for believers on the earth at this time of the end, it may speak of the gathering of the elect shortly before the Second Coming—although clear indications of a separate coming for the Tribulation saints ahead of His physical Second Coming are difficult to establish.⁷

See commentary on Revelation 16:15.

Notes

¹ Alan F. Johnson, Revelation: The Expositor’s Bible Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1966), Rev. 16:15.

² J. A. Seiss, The Apocalypse: Lectures on the Book of Revelation (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1966), 379.

³ Robert L. Thomas, Revelation 8-22 (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1995), Rev. 16:15.

⁴ The Gregorian chant is named after St. Gregory, the watching one.

⁵ Concerning the need for watchfulness: Mtt. Mat. 24:42; Mat. 25:13; Mark Mark 13:33, Mark 13:35, Mark 13:37; Luke Luke 12:36-40; Luke 21:36; 1Cor. 1Cor. 1:7; 1Cor. 16:13; Php. Php. 3:20; 1Th. 1Th. 1:10; 1Th. 5:6; 2Ti. 2Ti. 4:8; Tit. Tit. 2:13; Heb. Heb. 9:28; 2Pe. 2Pe. 3:12; Rev. Rev. 3:2-3+; Rev. Rev. 16:15+.

⁶ Timothy Friberg, Barbara Friberg, and Neva F. Miller, Analytical Lexicon of the Greek New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2000), 80.

⁷ The scenarios which involve one will be taken and the other left (e.g., Mtt. Mat. 24:40-44; Luke Luke 17:34-37) appear to speak of being taken in judgment at the time of His second advent.