Revelation 22:8

And I John saw these things... — Or rather, And I John am he who hears and sees these things. The words of the angel are confirmed by the words of Christ. Now we have the confirmatory testimony of the seer to the truth of the vision. The declaration reminds us of the opening of the Epistle of St. John: “That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you” (1 John 1:1). It is no mere dream or ingenious fancy of his own that he has recorded; it is a veritable revelation.

And when I had heard... — Or better, When I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who was showing me these things. Wonder and awe took possession of the seer, and for the second time he was about to offer unlawful homage to the angel-minister. (Comp. Revelation 19:10.) This twice offered and twice refused worship is full of teaching. To render to all their due is wise and seemly and Christ-like; to offer exaggerated homage to any is to invert God’s order, and to degrade by pretending to exalt man, whose true glory is that he is God’s creation.