"Come, Jesus, Come" -- Revelation 22: 1-5, 16-21 (8th Sunday After Pentecost)

Photo credit: Karl Frederickson, used with permission via Unsplash

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The Book of Revelation ends with a big “Amen.”^[1]

Some translations and some of the Greek manuscripts end Revelation with the actual word “Amen!” But even for the translations that don’t, those last two verses of Chapter 22 wrap up John’s Revelation – and the whole Bible – with a blessing and an Amen.^[2]

²⁰ The one who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.”

Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

²¹ The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen.

So that’s got me thinking: What are we saying when we say Amen?

What does the word Amen mean? [congregation offers answers]

Yes – those are good. (I’m grateful that none of you said that Amen means, “Prayer’s over.”)

Amen is a Hebrew word that got absorbed into the Greek and then into Latin and into a host of other languages – absorbed without being re-translated.^[3] Amen has stood on its own – across languages and cultures.

At the most basic level, the word Amen is used to mark agreement with what has just been said (or written). It is a Yes. Amen also can mean “true” or “truly.”^[4] In the King James, when Jesus says, “Verily, I say unto thee” – or “Truly I tell you.” That’s Amen in the Greek. Jesus is saying, “Amen Amen, I tell you.” (And in the New Testament, only Jesus uses that construction.) One writer has said that saying Amen, is basically like shouting, “True!”^[5] If I had to narrow down one English translation, I’d start with “so be it.” Amen is a response that calls into being what was just said – so be it – may what was just said come to life. Amen.

But there’s more to it than that. As I followed this question – What do we mean when we say, Amen? – I looked through commentaries and Hebrew and Greek dictionaries – but what really stuck with me was how one young theologian explains it: “Amen is both response-seeking and self-involving.”^[6] When we pray and say “Amen” at the end of the prayer, we are saying, “OK, God, now help – get to it” – we seek a response. And, at the same time, we are calling on ourselves to act with God. In prayer, we have expressed our deep yearning and “our willingness to partner with God in bringing about the help/ the change we seek” – Amen –  “OK, let’s do this.” That young theologian says, “Amen is not merely liturgical punctuation. It contains a challenge, an invitation to live in a new way, to truly partner with God” in what God is doing in the world^[7].

If I had to translate Amen I think I’d go with “so be it in me” – “so be it in us.” That’s at the heart of what we are doing when we say Amen – saying something to God... or about God... praising – thanking God – expressing the help that is needed for the deep hurt of the world. And then we are saying Yes – True! – “so be it in me.”

So... what are we saying when we say Amen at the end of Revelation? Revelation doesn’t just end with an Amen; it invites our Amen. Did you notice that? There’s all this mutual invitation. The Spirit says, Come! Those who hear it say, Come! And then the whole world responds, Come! We are all inviting each other. And then, we all respond together. Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!

Revelation ends in an Amen, and invites our Amen. So be it. So be it in me... in us. At the end of Revelation – and all that it has... revealed... will we say Amen? To all that. Amen to all what?

Well, let’s think of where we’ve been. The main point of Revelation –what John of Patmos wants most to convey to these hurting communities whom he loves – is the sovereignty of God in Jesus Christ. That’s what John of Patmos most wants this hurting people to know. God is sovereign in Jesus Christ, and not the powers that daily do you harm. God is sovereign not by violence and harm – but by entering into the suffering of the world – bridging every separation – and saving the world from there – God’s power is sovereign over every power that does us harm. God is Sovereign... and not Caesar, not the powers. Jesus is Lord... not Caesar.

And John of Patmos is clear about what the 7 churches already know. When you say that to Caesar – to the powers – they don’t like that. And they will come for you. And we don’t need to look far in our world to get that, in this week where labor statistics come in, and the powers don’t like what they hear, and so they fire the public officials who supply the data. Or where they prosecute those who have challenged their wrongdoing. Or think of how the powers are coming for media outlets that are critical of the authoritarian regime. Or think of Dietrich Bonhoffer or Martin Luther King, Jr. writing from jail. It’s what the powers do.

John of Patmos says what the seven churches know to be true. When he invites them (and us) to say Amen at the end of Revelation, he invites us to say “so be it” to a world where God is sovereign in Jesus Christ... and to the cost of living that out.

Amen. So be it. So be it in me. So be it in us.

When we say Amen at the end of Revelation, we are saying Amen to all that Revelation has said about what God is doing in the world. And there are two aspects of that: “So be it” to that new heaven and new earth. Oh yes. All of us living in God’s own city, where the gates are always open, where there is no separation – God and all creation living together – a new heaven and a new earth – where there is no more death, or suffering or pain – where God wipes away every tear – where a river flows with living waters so that everyone can thrive.

Yes, yes. Amen. So be it in me. So be it in us.

But remember – Revelation is also clear about the world as it is now – and the ways that the domination powers imagine and are working to create a world that they control – through systems of violence, power, and economic injustice. Saying Amen to God’s new heaven and new earth necessarily includes saying no to the way things are – the ways that systems of power are working to maintain their power. That necessarily includes saying no to the ways that we benefit from those systems – and to the ways that we are complicit. It means not being lukewarm and comfortable, when so many in the world suffer and starve. It means saying “so be it” – to letting go of ways we benefit from the way things are. Are we ready to say Amen to that?

Saying "Amen" at the end of Revelation means (1) saying “so be it” to the sovereignty of Jesus, even if we have to say no to the powers. It means (2) saying “so be it” to what God is doing in the world, even if it means letting go of privilege and comfort we hold at the expense of others.

And (3) it means saying, “so be it”... now.

I’ve mentioned that there’s a prevalent way of reading Revelation these days that looks at it as some coded blueprint for the end times in some distant or not-too distant future. The wild hope of imagination we find in Revelation is so much more than that. To be sure, Revelation offers wild hope for the world that God is creating forever in Christ – the one who was, and is, and is to come. But John of Patmos is writing a word of immediate comfort and help.^[8] God is with you right now. As the powers do what they do – God is with you now – with you in your suffering – more powerful than all the powers that do you harm. As one writer puts it, Revelation places Jesus “firmly ahead of us,” and at the same time right by our side.^[9] It’s like we say at Advent – God is present right here and right now, and always on the way.

I learned a new kind of prayer this week – and I came across it in, of all places, my French studies. It’s an exclamatory prayer. It’s not far from what we’ve called our morning mantras. It’s a short prayer a phrase or two. But an exclamatory prayer is one that wells up in the moment and bursts forth. Like an interjection: Lord have mercy! or Christ have mercy! or Help me, Jesus!  A prayer that rises up – in the moment – for the moment.

John of Patmos punctuates his Amen with an exclamatory prayer. Amen! Come Lord Jesus! All of these images – every bit of this vision – the Lamb Sovereign on the throne – all the powers coming down – a new heaven and a new earth – so be it now – Amen! Come Lord Jesus!

It’s a prayer the likes of which has been on the lips of those who have suffered down through the generations. The people held in slavery in Egypt – Come, God, and set us free!The people in captivity in Babylon – Come, God, and bring us home. The lament of the psalmist – How long God? How long? And here in Revelation – Come, Lord, Jesus! It’s a prayer that wells up, in the moment and for the moment.

There’s this gospel song by Cece Winans that sings this out – Come, Jesus, Come.^[10]She starts, out of the daily ache of the world: “Sometimes I fall, to my knees and pray, Come, Jesus, Come, Let today be the day.” She sings of hope, “Sometimes I feel like I’m gonna break, but I’m holding on to a hope that won’t fade. Come, Jesus, Come, we’ve been waiting so long.”

It’s a prayer the likes of which has been sung – in one way or another – since our ancestors first gave voice to the experience of what it is to be human. It is a prayer that echoes on down through our tradition – that sings our wild hope in the saving, healing power of God’s love for us – for the whole world in – Jesus Christ.

Over the past few weeks, I have grown quite fond of this John of Patmos, who sits there on that desert island and – through the Spirit-given power imagination – sees and conveys a wild hope in Jesus Christ – a hope bigger and more powerful than the suffering of those he loves. And says "Don’t you dare take away one word of this, or add to it" – it is enough. And "Don’t seal it up." It is for this moment. For right now. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

Revelation ends with this Amen – and an invitation:

To all this – Will you say Amen? So be it in me. So be it in us.

As our something to do – for this week – I want to give us one question beyond that. Yes, there’s the question - Will we say Amen? But also this:

How? In the life we live, how will we say Amen – to all that we have experienced in Revelation – to God’s saving love in Jesus Christ at work in the world to resist and bring down the powers who oppress, to wipe away every tear, to build together a new heaven and earth?

How will we say Amen – so be it – so be it in you --so be it in me – so be it in us?

Amen. Come, Jesus, come. “Let today be the day.”

© 2025 Scott Clark

^[1] For background on the Book of Revelation and this text, see Brian K. Blount, Revelation: A Commentary (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009); Catherine Gunsalus González & Justo L. González, Revelation (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1997); Eugene H. Peterson, Reversed Thunder: The Revelation of John and the Praying Imagination (San Francisco, CA: HarperOne, 1988); Barbara R. Rossing, The Rapture Exposed: The Message of Hope in the Book of Revelation(New York, NY: Basic Books, 2004); Christopher C. Rowland, “The Book of Revelation,” New Interpreters’ Bible Commentary, vol. xii  (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1998).

^[2] See Blount, p.416.

^[3] See, e.g., W.  Bauer, W.F. Arndt, F.W. Gingrich, F.W. Danker, A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament and other early Christian literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2d ed, 1979) (BDAG); Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon(1906, 2005) (BDB). 

^[4] See BDAG, p.45.

^[5] Blount, p.415-16.

^[6] See Alex Rowe, “Why Christians Should Stop Saying “Amen,” at https://medium.com/the-coffeehouse-clerics/why-christians-should-stop-saying-amen-71006a8fd72 (accessed 8/1/25)

^[7] See Rowe, supra.

^[8] See Blount, p.415.

^[9] See Peterson, p.191.

^[10] See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lq4PXLxTuVU for Winan’s video of the song