Alcuin of York — on Rev 1:3 (COMMENTARY ON REVELATION)

“Blessed is he that readeth and they that hear the words of the prophecy of this book, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is at hand. Here it is made clear how great this book's authority is, since it is the only one among all prophecies to promise blessedness in return with a promise that is in some way specific. In saying he that readeth and they that hear, he indicated the persons of the teachers and of the listeners. What is said after that, and keep those things, pertains to both, because not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. [Rom. 2:13] Then, in order to stimulate the minds of both to observe those things, he added, for the time is at hand; namely the time either for the just to be rewarded after their observance of the commandments or for the unjust to be punished after their negligence of them.”