REVELATION 22:1-8

 

THE TREE OF LIFE 22:1-5

 

vs 1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb.

 

The pronoun he refers to the angel who has the task of revealing to John the holy city. Central to the city is the throne that is depicted as the source of life.

 

The throne belonging to God and the Lamb is the source of the river that supplies the water of life.

 

Sparkling clear water surges forth not from the temple but from the throne—there is no temple in the holy city. The stream initiates from the throne of both God and the Lamb.

 

vs 2  down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.

 

John’s description is clear; his focus is not on the street but on the river. On either side of the river are rows of trees, which he presents collectively as the tree of life.

 

With the river and the tree of life, John paints a picture of a renewed Paradise to complete the biblical account of human history. Adam and Eve driven from the Garden of Eden were prevented from touching the tree of life, but in the garden of the holy city all God’s elect have a right to that tree.

 

The tree of life bears twelve kinds of fruit, one for each month of the year. John resorts to chronological divisions of time to express to human beings what otherwise would be incomprehensible.

 

The curse that rested on the human race because Adam and Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil brought sickness, pain, and death. But the tree of life in the renewed Paradise provides healing for the nations, which means that its inhabitants can enjoy eternal life free from physical and spiritual needs.

 

vs. 3  No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and His servants will serve Him.

 

After Adam and Eve sinned in Paradise, God pronounced a curse on creation and the human race (Gen. 3:17–19). And this curse remains in effect until the restoration takes place and everyone can freely take fruit from the tree of life. Then the sad history of sin and its consequences will have ended, never to be repeated. The curse will forever be lifted through the sacrificial death of the Lamb on Calvary’s cross.

 

God and the Lamb occupy one throne, while the citizens of the holy city will serve them. John expresses similar wording in 7:15, “Therefore, they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple, and he who is seated on the throne will spread his tent over them.”

 

vs. 4 They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads.

 

No one has ever seen God, but here John writes that the glorified saints will see His face. God has a relationship with His people that is the same as before the fall in Paradise when He walked and talked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day.

 

It is through Christ that the saints have the privilege of seeing God in eternity. The imprint of the divine name on the foreheads of the saints signifies that as residents of the New Jerusalem they belong to God, bear His image and likeness, and are citizens of His kingdom.

 

vs. 5 There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign forever and ever.

 

There will always be light in the holy city, which means that everything belonging to the old creation has vanished.

 

In the renewed world God’s people will never need to rest and sleep; they will have boundless energy to serve God and praise His name forever and ever.

 

John again stresses the equality of God and the Lamb by stating that each of them serves as a lamp to His people. In the words of Isaiah, “The LORD will be your everlasting light” (60:19).

 

 

CONCLUSION 22:6-21

 

vs. 6 The angel said to me, "These words are trustworthy and true. The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place.“

 

Both the angel and John testify to the genuineness of the book, which is absolutely trustworthy because God is its author.

 

 

God sent his angel to John to show his servants what was coming, “What must soon take place.” But from a divine perspective, the things that have been predicted are taking place even now, so that the consummation itself is imminent.

 

The term soon expresses the sober reality that the consummation is at hand. When the last of God’s elect are brought into the kingdom, then the cup of wrath is full and the end has come.

 

vs. 7 Behold, I am coming soon! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy in this book.

 

The early Christians in the first century when celebrating the Lord’s Supper would conclude with a prayer that ended with the word Maranatha (Our Lord, come!). They knew that Jesus was with them spiritually, but their desire was to have him return physically.

 

“Blessed” (approved by God) is the one who continues to keep (present participle) the words of the prophecy (divine revelation) of this book (the contents of Revelation).

 

vs. 8  I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I had heard and seen them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been showing them to me.

 

John is a witness by ear and eye. Therefore, his testimony is not based on human imagination but on divine revelation.

 

John has now recorded in Revelation all that he has heard and seen, and that is not limited to the vision of the new Jerusalem. The Book of Revelation includes his vision of Jesus, the letters to the seven churches, the seals, the trumpets, the plagues, the final judgment, and the new Jerusalem. John testifies to the trustworthiness of what he personally has written down.