(6) And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly be done. (7) Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book. (8) And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things. (9) Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.
I beg the Reader to be very particular in observing, the different speakers. Here, we have the Person, from whom John was now receiving intelligence, concerning the Church, in her happy state, declaring that what he had delivered, were faithful, and true sayings. And he saith, as plain as words can make anything, that the Lord God of the holy Prophets, that is, Christ Jesus, had sent his angel, meaning himself, to show these things unto his servant John. But you will say, how is this proved? I answer. In the opening of this book, (and the opening, from beginning to end, is like a letter, but one thing), the very first verse, like the direction to a letter, runs thus: The Revelation of Jesus Christ - mark that! - which God gave to him to shew unto his servants (meaning the Church) things which must shortly come to pass. Now mark And he sent and signified it, by his Angel, unto his servant John. Now, if ever anything of plain, common sense, is to be found, it is here. God the Father gave to his dear Son a revelation, to come forth, and communicate. This Jesus hath done. And he sent, and signified it, by a messenger, or angel, to John. So then, this messenger, this angel, was the person, which this Lord God of the holy Prophets, Jesus Christ, sent to inform John. And John was so much struck with the account, that in the moment of the exstacy of his mind, he would have worshipped the angel. But the angel suffered him not. And he gave this reason. I am thy fellow servant; that is a fellow servant of God, and of the Lord God of the Prophets, Jesus Christ: worship him!
But perhaps it will he said by some, is there not some little difficulty in this sense, in respect to the words in the seventh verse, behold I come quickly! blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book. To which I answer, No! Nay, so far from it, they are rather a confirmation. The Angel reminds John of what had passed at the opening of the interview, between Jesus and John, as related in the first Chapter (Revelation 1:1-3), Jesus had before said, behold I come quickly, Revelation 3:11. Therefore, the Angel repeats those words, to remind John of what Christ had said. And also to remind him, of what John had himself said, concerning blessedness, to those who kept the sayings of the prophecy of this book. Revelation 1:3. Hence, therefore, it is as plain as words can make it, that this Angel now conversing with John, was a fellow servant with John and not Christ and therefore, he could be no object of worship.