The text continues
from Chapter 21 when it says, “Then the angel showed me…” (see also
21:9). Revelation 22 is a continuation of the vision given to John in Chapter 21. We have previously seen that
this is a vision of the New
Jerusalem, which is the bride (21:2), the church of the Lord Jesus
Christ coming out of heaven. The text also continues to speak of the street
of the city, which was also mentioned in 21:21. What is new and striking in this section of the vision is the
imagery of the garden of Eden – the
first paradise of God.[1]
Vv. 1
: Then the angel showed me the river of the
water of life, (see Gen. 2:10) bright
as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle
of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of
life ( see Gen. 2:9) with
its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. Reference in the revelation to John with respect to the tree of life was previously made in
Christ’s message to the church at Ephesus (Rev.2:7) : “To the one who
conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the
paradise of God.”
We have here a picture
of the paradise that was once lost through man’s disobedience in Genesis 3 as it is now restored, and dare I say ,
improved ! Again, I would remind you
that we must not be tempted to think of
John’s vision here in terms of a literal river,
a literal tree and a literal
garden. This is all very symbolic language, and we have now seen time and again
that this all refers to the new Jerusalem – the church of the Lord
Jesus Christ, as she
now appears in her new and
glorious environment of the new paradise.
Admittedly, the word ‘paradise’ is not found here, but the details given
here are certainly drawn
from the picture of that first paradise.
This river of the water of life, which is
bright as crystal flows
from the throne of God and of the
Lamb through the middle of the street of
the city holy city, New Jerusalem. On
either side of the river, there is found
the tree of life - and note (!) not just one, but many. The river is lined with trees. This tree of
life bears twelve fruit, providing a monthly harvest. And then, we are also told that that the leaves of
the tree of life are for the healing of the nations. The nations had been
referred to earlier in Rev. 21:24 .
In order to understand the meaning
of this vision we must consider the
original paradise – the garden of Eden. It was
an idyllic garden designed and planted as a habitation by God for man. But don’t get lost in the
idea of a beautiful garden! The greater
picture here is that this garden served
as an ideal place for fellowship
and communion between God and the man whom God had created in His image[2].
This was the place where God’s Adam would serve his Creator in keeping and
cultivating the garden. That is the fundamental idea. Now if we
understand that paradise
was an ideal meeting place between God and man, then it
is not difficult to make the connection with
the New Jerusalem the church , the bride of Christ – the new paradise, the new and restored dwelling place of God with man ! This is the perfect and ultimate fulfillment
of the first paradise. In that sense the first paradise in which Adam
lived was only a shadow of the things to
come.
The second paradise is the dwelling place of all those sons and daughters of Adam, who
subsequent to the fall in Genesis 3 have
been purchased and redeemed by the
Lord Jesus Christ ! They are His
beloved bride - the church – a vast multitude that no one can
count ! This, dear brothers in sisters in Christ is the goal of our history. The city of God,
the new Jerusalem, the bride of
Christ is the grand plan of God. This
is the plan of “the
mystery hidden for ages in God who
created all things, so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might
now be made known to the rulers and
authorities in the heavenly places.”
(Eph. 3:9,10). This “… is
the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.” (Hebr. 11:10; see also v.16 ). The new Jerusalem is the fulfillment of the first paradise. The new Jerusalem is
the fulfillment of the OT
land of Canaan promised to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob
and the people of Israel.
The heavenly Paradise will not
simply be a re-make of that first paradise. It will be a fulfillment of that, and therefore it will
be even better. Think of it like this. When Adam was created
by the Tri-une God, the Lord
Jesus Christ, the second person of the
Trinity was still the pre-incarnate Son.
Then came the fall, and then Jesus came in
the fullness of time (Gal. 4:4,5)
. He came as the second Adam (1 Cor. 15:45-49) to redeem
and restore His people, chosen
before the foundation of the world (Eph.1:4),
and Paul says that
here we shall bear the image, not
of the earthly Adam, but we shall
bear the image of the heavenly man. The first Adam was a shadow of the Lord Jesus Christ. The first covenant of God with Adam was
exchanged for the better, New Covenant
in the blood of Christ. (Hebrews
8:1-13). The temporal Sabbath is
replaced by the Sabbath of eternal rest (see Hebrews
4:9-11). The first Paradise will be superseded
by something for more glorious!
It will be a place of perfect worship and fellowship
with God , and there will be no potential hindrance to that.
Please notice that the new paradise
has no tree of the knowledge of good and
evil! Only the tree of life grows there.
There will be no challenge as was
connected with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the first
paradise. The possibility for man to
sin is now banished, for
through the Lord Jesus Christ,
sin and its wages , death,
has been banished and thrown into the lake of eternal fire.
The river of the water of life,
crystal clear, pure, undefiled is symbolic of
the constant flow of life by
which the glorified people of God shall
now live with the perpetual help of the Holy Spirit . In
that regard we are reminded of the words
of the Lord Jesus in John
7:37-39 : “On the last day of
the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to
receive, for as yet the Spirit
had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”
This river flows from
the throne of God and of the Lamb. It is a Trinitarian source. The source is from God
through Christ and through the Holy Spirit. This life-giving water
flows perpetually into the
church – the New Jerusalem. This river
of life flows through the midst of the
street of the city. It flows through the heart of the glorified church sustaining her with
the grace of God.
The tree of life: In
the first paradise the tree of life had
a two-fold significance. (i)
it gave earthly life to man (see Genesis 3:22). Apparently the tree had the power to supply Adam with continual life even after he had sinned. The tree
not only sustained Adam’s physical
life, but it also represented the spiritual nourishment by which Adam y lived in fellowship with God. But, as a result of sin, this
heavenly fellowship was
interrupted, and the Lord God cut off
the way to the tree of life, and Adam died both
physically and spiritually, being
no longer sustained by that tree of
life. Such was the significance
of the earthly tree of life.
Now if we bear that in mind , then
we can easily make the connection with the tree of life
in Revelation 22. The tree of life here symbolizes the
life of true heavenly fellowship with God restored forever and ever.
The tree of life is said to bear
twelve kinds of fruit. By now
we know that 12 is the number of perfection and completion.
There are twelve OT patriarchs, twelve tribes, twelve
apostles, two times twelve ( 24 ) elders,
twelve times twelve thousand (144 000) saints. This tree bears a fullness of fruit, and it bears it
continuously and so the church is well
supplied and nourished and never lacking
by the food she receives from
this tree.
Furthermore we read : “The leaves of the
tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything
accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants
will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their
foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun,
for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.”
Finally, the text tells us that the leaves of the tree are for the healing
of the nations. This cannot mean
that there will still be sickness in the New Jerusalem. 21:4 makes that clear. This is simply a figurative way of saying
that no sickness of any kind can ever enter into the city of God and afflict
the nations there. Sickness and death will not exist in the New Jerusalem because of this constant life which
flows from God in Christ through the Spirit into the church.
In the rest of this passage the glory and bliss of the New Jerusalem are
further spelled out.
1.
The church finds its central significance in God and the
Lamb: the throne of God and of the
Lamb will be in the city; God will be
worshiped ; they will see His face ;His name
will be on their foreheads ; the Lord God will be their light !
2. Verse 3 : There will be nothing accursed in that
city. Sin and death and all the enemies of God and are conquered. The kingdom of heaven which Jesus came to announce
and proclaim is here. The will of God is
now done by all. And where the will of God is done, there can be no curse.
3. verse 4: "And
they shall see his face." In
the new creation there shall be the revelation of God in the face of Jesus
Christ in the most direct and highest possible sense of the word. Now, we see dimly, by faith in the Scriptures – like through a dark glass.
There, however, we shall see face to face ![3]
John says : “Beloved, we are
God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that
when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” (1
John 3:2) This means
that we shall see Christ as He is, and we shall see Him always, and through Christ we shall see the face of
God forever. We shall never forget God again . This is implied in the fact that His name
shall be in their foreheads.
4. verse 5: see also Rev 21:23 & 25. In our present world we live
so to speak by the light of the sun, or even, as the text reminds us, by
the artificial light of man, the light of a candle. Without light there is no
possibility of knowledge. But in the new creation, there will be no need of
physical or artificial light to help us
to study and gain knowledge. As we said in connection with Revelation
21, the point of the text is not that there will be no natural night, or no
natural sun or moon. The point is that
these will not be necessary as a medium
of knowledge. God Himself God gives us the light of understanding - the light
according to which we shall know and walk directly, in every sense of that
word. Knowledge will not be a hidden
thing. It will be direct !
And so , finally, our text speaks of the everlasting reign of the saints : "and they will reign for ever and ever". This is our hope of the saints whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.Breath taking! AMEN !
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