Tom Lowe
2/5/18
Book of Revelation Commentary
Lesson: V.D.3: The Water of Life, Tree of Life, Throne of God and the Lamb (22:1-5)
Scripture (Rev. 22:1-5, KJV)
1 Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb,
2 in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
3 There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him;
4 they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads.
5 And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever.
Introduction
This section describes what could be called the “New Eden.” What the first Garden of Eden was supposed to be is fulfilled here. What Adam and Eve would have had if they had not fallen is what is given to God’s people. Adam and Eve lost paradise; here, God has remade it.
Commentary
1 Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb,
In concluding this wonderful chronicle of our eternal home, John gives four final impressions. He mentions the life of that city. He says, “Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb.” Most of the earth’s cities are built along the banks of important rivers which soon become polluted by the city’s to which they give rise. Here, however, is a river whose streams “make glad” the city of God. This is no muddy, filthy stream, but a pure and crystal clear “river of water of life”; containing the very essence of life itself. It flows from “the throne of God and of the Lamb.” But that throne, which is a source of terror to evildoers, is the source of life to those who know and love the Lord. The Lord Jesus likened the Holy Spirit to a river (John 7:38), and no doubt He is the reality behind the symbol. The “throne” is prominent in the concluding vision John saw. The river is pure . . . no germs, no disease, and no pollution.
This river is part of a city, a heavenly city to be occupied by a heavenly people. Therefore its waters are literal waters, of a nature corresponding to that of the city of which it is a part. This could well be the city of the psalmist’s song: “There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells” (Psalm 46:4). The life which this water symbolizes and sustains is divine life, and it is for the people of God. Someone has asked whether or not we will need water in eternity. I don’t know! But we will have access to it. Did Jesus need food after His resurrection? I don’t know! But He ate it. I find no reason to spiritualize and symbolize this river.
The river of life has been identified with the Spirit. In the fourth Gospel, Jesus says: “He who believes in me, out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.” John goes on to explain: “this he said about the Spirit which those who believed in him were to receive (John 7:38, 39).
But it may well be that there is something simpler here. Those who live in a civilization in which the turn of a tap will bring cold, clear water in any quantity can scarcely understand how precious water was in the East. In the hot lands, water was, and is, literally life. And the river of life may well stand for the abundant life God provides for His people which is there for the taking.
In numerous ways, the earthly Jerusalem corresponds to the heavenly Jerusalem during the millennium. Both cities are seats of governments, both have a river flowing from them, and both have trees full of fruit. In the earthly Jerusalem the river will flow from the temple (Ezekiel 47:1-12); and in the heavenly Jerusalem, the river flows from the throne.
A river is used in Scripture to symbolize both pleasure (Psalms 36:8) and prosperity (Psalm 1:3). These two great magnets are used by Satan at present to draw all men away from God and into many foolish and harmful lusts. It is only by the authority of the throne of God and the Lamb that true pleasure can be enjoyed.
2 in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
3 There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him;
John mentions the loyalty of that city. He says, “in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him.” This is reminiscent of the Garden of Eden where the test of loyalty had to do with a tree, the fruit of which was forbidden to men. The tree of life was not forbidden while the man was sinless. But once sin entered, the race could no longer be trusted with the tree of life. Possibly Adam and his posterity, had they remained sinless, would have been enabled to live forever by means of the tree of life. God removed that tree and thus put temptation beyond Adam’s reach, for had he eaten it in his fallen condition, he would have been doomed to live forever in his sins.
The tree of life now flourishes in glory. It graces the Celestial City, lines the banks of the river, and runs in splendor down the central boulevard. The saints in Glory can enjoy the fruits of that tree, and the nations on earth benefit from the healing properties of its leaves. We are not told what the fruit of that tree tastes like; the full delights of glory are not revealed and possibly cannot be. The throne of God is mentioned again to emphasize that it is only as we submit to the authority of God that we can enjoy anything totally. That “stolen waters are sweet” (Proverbs 9:17) is a lie of the devil. “He knoweth not that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of hell,” is Solomon’s concluding comment on the philosophy of the woman who urges fools to take what they want regardless of the consequences (Proverbs 9:18).
This is the same tree of life of which Adam would have eaten had he remained in the Garden of Eden; and now it flourishes in the streets of the New Jerusalem. This tree provided eternal life for the body. God drove Adam and Eve from the Garden in order to keep them from eating the fruit of the tree of life: “Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”— therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden, He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life” (Genesis 3:22-24).
The saints of the heavenly city will eat its fruit; the nations will use its leaves. If we desire to drink of the water of life and eat of the fruit of the tree of life, we will do so. Scripture seems to indicate that we will not have to eat, but we will be able to eat. After His resurrection, Jesus ate literal food, and I believe the tree of life is for our pleasure and enjoyment. If you ask whether or not glorified saints will have need of food, I can only answer now that it will be available to us if we want it. Access to the tree of life was promised to the overcomers (2:7). We are not told whether the fruit will be a necessity or a luxury, but it will be there nevertheless. And there will be a variety of different fruit for each month of the year.
There are those who spiritualize the tree, the fruit, and the leaves—but why should we spiritualize anything so clear, so understandable, as Revelation 22:2? In the middle of the street and on either side of the river, John saw the tree of life—rows of them. (The tree is referred to as singular, but there are many trees.) Each tree bears twelve different kinds of fruit, yields a harvest every thirty days, and the leaves are for the healing of the nations.
No further details are given to explain this statement: “and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.” Some take it to mean that the leaves have in them some medicinal value which, when applied, serves as a preservative from sicknesses and ailments. Others believe that the bodies of the earth dwellers will need renewing from time to time. This is a difficult verse and I think I will leave it for someone else to explain.
Verse 3 is refreshing: “There will no longer be any curse.” This could mean that nothing accursed will be in God’s presence. That is to say, there will be no more of the pollutions which harm the Christian life. This would fulfill Zechariah 14:11: ”It will be inhabited; never again will it be destroyed. Jerusalem will be secure.” But more likely, this refers to God lifting the curse that had been placed on Eden (Genesis 3:17-18). This is another consequence flowing out of a perfect state, for there shall be nothing in the holy city to require the curse of God. The first Paradise was perfect until sin entered it. But after man had yielded to Satan, God said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat from it,' "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life.” (Genesis 3:17). “Cursed is the ground,” out of which man was taken; that is, the soil outside of the garden. The language does not necessarily imply that now, for the first time, in consequence of the fall, the physical globe underwent a change, "becoming from that point onward a realm of deformity and discord, which before it was not. . ."; simply it announces the fact that, because of the transgression of which he had been guilty, he would find the land beyond the confines of Eden lying under a doom of sterility: “For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope” (Romans 8:20).
The idea of God’s cursing a thing always grows out of man’s obstinacy in refusing to obey the divine will. This is why the earth on which we live bears the scars of sin. But in the New Jerusalem, every restraint will be placed upon evil so that sin and its subsequent curse cannot enter. In the first Paradise, the wicked Cain was cursed (Genesis 4:11) as were all who subsequently broke God’s Law (Galatians 3:10). In the heavenly city, the curse will be done away with, because no accursed thing will be there.
The phrase “the throne of God and of the Lamb” indicates the oneness of God and the Lamb, as well as God’s presence among His people. “His servants will serve Him.” This indicates that our relationship to God in eternity will involve service. While most translations say, “worship him,” there may be more service to do in our worship. While all of our service will be focused on worshipping God, there may be ongoing caretaking responsibilities given to us as we reign with Him.
The throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in the paradise of God, and His servants shall serve Him throughout eternity. “They shall see God’s face and His name shall be in their foreheads” (Revelation 22:4).
4 they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads.
Here John tells of the Lord of that city. He says, “They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads.” Here is the climax of everything! John has learned from His Master; he keeps the best wine until last! “They will see His face,” he says. We may better understand the greatness of that promise by remembering that the Christian is promised a privilege which was denied even to Moses to whom God’s word was: “You may not look directly at My face, for no one may see me and live” (Exodus 33:20). The face of God had not been seen by anyone since Adam and Eve sinned. Even Moses, the great lawgiver who went up on the mountain to meet with God, had only been able to see God from the back. But God had told him, that here in heaven God’s people will see Him face-to-face. Jesus had promised, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (Matthew 5:8). John, in another of his books, wrote, “Dear friends, now we are children of God but what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2). To be able to see God’s face suggests an intimate personal relationship. God will not be a king on a throne in a remote castle; he will be among His people.
The sight of God produces two things. It produces the perfect worship; where God is always seen, all life becomes an act of worship. It produces the perfect consecration; the inhabitants of the city will have the mark of God upon their foreheads, showing that they belong absolutely to Him. God’s people had been “sealed” (7:3), and this seal had previously been described as being in the form of the Father’s name: “Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads” (14:1). The point is that this is the same group—God will bring His own safely to His eternal kingdom.
5 And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever.
Last, of all, John mentions the light of that city. He says, “And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever.” Verse 21:25, also tells us that there will be no night there . . . no darkness but; eternity will be one long, endless day of brightness. There will be no need for the sun, for the Lord Jesus [the uncreated light] will be the light of God’s creation forever and ever. The apostle John in his Gospel, and the prophets Isaiah and Zechariah in the Old Testament said practically the same thing as John does here:
• Zechariah had prophesied, “On that day, the sources of light will no longer shine, yet there will be continuous day” (Zechariah 14:7).
• “The sun will no more be your light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you, for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory” (Isaiah 60:19). Sun and moon may still shine, but, as in Revelation 21:23 (obviously derived from this), they shall not be needed in the radiance of the greater glory of the presence of Jehovah. Here on earth the sun sets and the moon diminishes, but in that Divine glory, there is no diminishing and no setting.
• “Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John 8:12). Christ is the Light of the world. God is light, and Christ is the image of the invisible God. One sun enlightens the whole world; so does one Christ and nothing more is required. What a dark dungeon would the world be without the sun! So would it be without Jesus, by who light came into the world. Those who follow Christ shall not walk in darkness.
The created lights of God and of men are as darkness when compared with our blessed Lord. The light He defuses throughout eternity is the unclouded, undimmed glory of His own holy Presence. In consequence of the fullness of that Light, there shall be no night. Think of it! No darkness forever!
When Saul of Tarsus met the risen Christ on the Damascus road, he was blinded by a light above the brightness of the noonday sun. The glory of it never left him. To Paul, the Lord was never “Jesus of Nazareth;” he was always “the Lord from heaven” (1 Corinthians 15:47). Paul walked in that light to the end of his days. The saints in heaven look into the face of Jesus, the same wondrous face that captivated Paul, and in the light of that shining countenance, they live in endless bliss. They reign with that glorious One forever. The millennium comes and goes, but they rein on and on. So long as Christ is on the throne, so long as He endures, they endure sharing His position and His power. They “reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.” (Romans 5:17). Joy unspeakably and full of glory awaits us on the other shore (1 Peter 1:8).
The vision ends with the promise that the people of God will reign forever and ever. In perfect submission to Him, they will find perfect freedom and the only true royalty.
