This passage focuses on the river of the water of life flowing from God’s throne to provide life and also sustain the tree of life, which bears healing fruit every month.
Wes
Welcome to the Two Journeys Bible Study Podcast. This is Episode 31 in our Revelation Bible Study podcast entitled The River of Life, where we’ll discuss Revelation 22:1-6. I’m Wes Treadway, and I’m here with pastor Andy Davis. Andy, what are we going to see in these verses that we’re looking at today?
Andy
Well, this is a continuation of what we looked at in our last podcast, and that is a description of our eternal and our future home: the new heaven, the new earth, and the new Jerusalem. And here we focus in particular on the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God. And I would hope that it will make all believers in Jesus Christ yearn for that future heavenly rest that is ours in Christ Jesus. But also, it’s amazing the details and the imagery that come from this, and how exciting it is to consider each of those details. So, I look forward to walking through it with you.
Wes
Well, let me go ahead and read verses one through six in Revelation 22.
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, 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 with its 12 kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. 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. And he said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true. And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place.”
Andy, how does John describe the river of life? Where does the river flow from, and where is it flowing to?
Andy
Yeah. What an exciting chapter to be able to walk through this. I’ll get to the river just in a moment. I think it’s amazing how we have this angelic guide, the angel showing John all of these things. And so, the angels play a role in delivering the words of scripture to all of us. And so, John has in his vision an angelic guide showing him the new Jerusalem. And so that’s where we are. We’re in the middle of vision of the new Jerusalem. And the river of the water of life is flowing down through the center of the city of the new Jerusalem. And it flows from the throne of God and of the Lamb. And how beautiful is that? It’s described as, your translation says, “bright as-
Wes
Bright as crystal.
Andy
The clarity of all of the elements of the new Jerusalem is to allow the radiance of the glory of God to illuminate it
… crystal.” Yeah. Mine says, “clear as crystal.” Either way, it’s glowing. The clarity of all of the elements of the new Jerusalem is to allow the radiance of the glory of God to illuminate it. So, I look on it either way. It’s shining. It’s a shining river of life flowing from the throne of God. So, it’s really very beautiful and very exciting.
Wes
And as we think about this river, want to dig in a little bit how we might explain this river flowing from the throne of God. Does God constantly create more water? What’s the nature of this river? It seems unlike perhaps the Eno River not far from us here.
Andy
Yeah, it’s a complex image. We know that all of creation came from the Latin phrase, ex nihilo, that is out of nothing. God created matter from nothing, and God alone can do that. And we have in the science of physics, the conservation of mass, which says that mass and energy are conserved within a closed system. That they can change form, energy to mass, mass to energy, by Einstein’s famous formula, relativity = MC squared. Energy equals mass times the speed of light squared. Which is the basis of thermonuclear reactions, weapons, etc. Massive, massive amounts of energy coming from tiny amount of matter. So, they’re related. But I actually Googled earlier today, has science ever been able to go the other way around and create mass out of energy? Because it would take a huge amount of energy to make a tiny amount of mass. And they say they’ve done it in particle accelerators, but I think it’s very theoretical. It’s hard to understand.
But this isn’t physics. This is just God creating water. And it just keeps flowing from the throne of God. Now here’s the thing, we got to step back, and with the Book of Revelation, especially here in these last two chapters, you’re always dealing with the science of interpretation, hermeneutics. What approach are you going to take to the words you’re reading? And so, we’ve consistently sought to take both a literal and a symbolic understanding. I think it’s safe to go both ways. And so, there is definitely a spiritual sense of these words, and a sense of spiritual life and relationship with God, that transcends the physicality of drinking water. And Jesus used these kinds of analogies with his flesh being the bread of life, and out of our midst will flow the river of the water of life, etc., through the Holy Spirit. That’s in John 7. So, these are all metaphors.
But I think, also I know, that we will have resurrection bodies like Jesus. And in Luke 24:39 he says, “Touch me and see. A ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.” We’re going to have bodies made like his resurrection body. And they have to be somewhere, and they have to do something. We also believe that they will continually be upheld by the sovereign power of God. And so, we could imagine though, we might not think of eating and drinking in the new heaven, new earth in the same way we think of it now, I do believe in a sustaining of our existence. And so, I tend to think that there’s actual water flowing from the throne that we could scoop with our hands, or with a cup and drink. And the water is given for us to drink so that we may live. And so, there is that.
Yes, it’s spiritual. Yes, it’s symbolic. But it’s also physical. But if it is physical, doesn’t that not end logically in a flood covering the entire earth? I mean, if it’s just water flowing, and flowing, and flowing, and flowing. Imagine going away for the weekend and you left a faucet on, and there was a blockage. And I mean, you come back, and your kitchen’s filled with water, that’s just over the weekend. This is eternity. So, I don’t really know how to understand that, except that. And not only does the water come, but it feeds the tree of life which bears fruit continually.
So not only you have water, but you’ve got fruit coming constantly every month. And so, we’ve got all kinds of interesting questions, but the fact is, God is able to continually create. Also, you have a sense then, and I looked back in Revelation 21, he said, “Behold, I make all things new.” Well, that’s one way to translate it. It’s just a simple present indicative. But you could translate it this way. “Behold, I am creating all things new.” So, he’ll be continually creating, not just water, but all kinds of new things.
There’s nothing in the Bible that says once he has created the new heavens and new earth, it’s a set list of items, and there’s no new items that could ever be created. God’s not restricting himself that way. We have no such words. So, I would imagine that not just water coming from the throne, but God could be creating new things all the time, and we’ll be continually learning what those things are. But this is the river of the water of life. And so, it’s based on this, that we live. So, in a very spiritual and symbolic way, I get the idea of our ongoing eternal life coming from the throne of God. So cognitively, God continually wills that we exist. And so, his will, represented by the water, just keeps flowing from his throne, wanting us to live eternally. And so, in him, we will for all eternity live and move and have our being. So that’s another way to look at it as well.
Wes
Now, how does this river here in Revelation 22 compare with the one described in Ezekiel 47?
Andy
Well, thank you for asking that. And it’s just so rich and beautiful how many Old Testament allusions there are, allusions with an A, to the Old Testament. Lots of images, and cross references, and concepts. But yes, in Ezekiel 40-48, there’s a vision of a spiritualized or perfected temple in the pattern of the old Covenant, in the pattern of animal sacrifice with the Levites offering animal sacrifices. But in Ezekiel 47, the culmination of it is, “A river that flows from the threshold of the temple toward the east.” It says in Ezekiel 47, “And as the man went eastward with a measuring line in his hand,” probably an angel,
He measured off a thousand cubits and led me through water that was ankle deep. And measured off another thousand cubits and led me through water that was knee deep. Then he measured off another thousand and led me through water that was up to the waist. He measured off another thousand, but now it was a river that I could not cross, because the water had risen and was deep enough to swim in a river that no one could cross (Ezekiel 47:3-5).
So, this goes deeper and deeper as it flows further and further away, an infinite supply of water. Then as you continue in Ezekiel’s vision, we find that the river produces a vast diversity of life. “He led me back to the bank of the river.”, says Ezekiel 47:6-9. “And when I arrived there, I saw a great number of trees, many different kinds of trees, on each side of the river.” So, in our vision in Revelation 22, there is the tree of life on both sides of the river. We’ll get to that in a moment. That kind of breaks the brain to figure out how that is, but we’ll get to that.
But in Ezekiel, it’s just a lot of different trees on each side of the river. “And he said to me, ‘This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah where it enters the sea. And when it empties into the sea, the water there becomes fresh.” Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There’ll be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh. So, where the river flows, everything will live. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?
And then it says, “Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river.” This is verse 12, Ezekiel 47:12. “Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail, every month they will bear.” That’s almost literally quoted, “Because the water from the sanctuary flows to them, their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing.” It’s almost a direct quote, isn’t it?
Wes
Wow.
Andy
And so, this is an image that is connecting this beautiful image of Ezekiel 47 to the river of the water of life. Now we need to talk, obviously, about the tree of life, and the fruit, and the leaves, and the healing. There’s a lot still to talk about.
Wes
Sure. Before we get there, this language of water of life sounds similar to what we’ve heard elsewhere in scripture of living water. How does this compare with the living water that’s described in places like John 7 or John 4?
Andy
Sure. So, in John 4, he’s speaking to the Samaritan woman, and she’s surprised that he talks to her. And he says, “Would you give me a drink?” And, “How can you ask me for a drink?” And he said, “If you knew who you’re talking to and the gift of God, you would have asked him, and he would give you living water.” And she’s wanting to know what this living water is. And she says, “Are you greater than our father, Jacob?” Which is just such a great one. You read the account of Jacob and he’s no great shakes at some point. He’s a con artist and he’s all that, but he is one of the patriarchs, one of the great men of the Old Testament, certainly. The father of the 12 tribes, no doubt. But she thought, “Surely you can’t be greater than Jacob who gave us the well.”
Nothing satisfies like clean water when you are dying of thirst. And so, God meets those deepest needs and does it from within.
It’s like, all right, well let’s just focus on the well. Jacob’s well, and the water I give. All right? “Everyone that drinks of Jacob’s well will thirst again. But everyone who drinks of the water I give will never thirst. And indeed, the water that I give will become within him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:13-14). Same image in John 7 of a river of life flowing from within us by the Spirit. So, there’s this internal drinking that we do. And there’s a lot of images in the Old Testament, for example, “As the deer pants for water, so my soul thirsts for you” (Psalm 42:1). So, there’s that sense of, there’s few needs that there ever are as there is for water when you’re desperately thirsty. Imagine someone crawling across the Sahara Desert and then comes to an oasis. Nothing satisfies like clean water when you are dying of thirst. And so, God meets those deepest needs and does it from within.
And so now, we’ve got the image of from without, from external to us, a throne, the throne, the throne of God, and of the Lamb. I want to say something about that in a moment. But from the throne of God and of the Lamb comes the sustaining life. As I mentioned a moment ago, God continually willing that we be alive, and giving us what we need for that life. So that’s life-giving water. It’s a beautiful image.
Now concerning the throne, it’s really important that we understand this single throne of God and of the Lamb. This is a clear ascription of deity to Jesus. And I think in John 17:5, when Jesus says, “Now Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.” At least part of that glory is a shared throne. Equal authority to rule heaven and earth. And so, from that one throne, and we also had that image of the Lamb in Revelation 5, standing in the midst of the throne, or basically I think, even on the throne. And so, it shows the deity of Christ. And so, the throne of God and of the Lamb provides life for all of us.
Wes
Now we’re almost to the tree, but Andy, we’ve talked about how every phrase in Revelation seems packed full of detail. In verse 2, we’re told that this river is flowing through the middle of the street of the city. How would we describe this great street of the city?
Andy
So, this is the new Jerusalem, and we’ve got already, the streets are described as gold, clear, transparent gold, which is somewhat of a mystery, but we also have this water. And so, I think you just have a sense of the basic needs of a city, and foundational to that is water. They’ve got to have water. And so, the Romans created aqueduct systems that could deliver water to their people. We know that the great city of Babylon had the Euphrates River that flowed right down under the walls. And so, you could never starve that city out, because they had crops within that were being nourished by the water that flowed. And so, the idea here is a continual provision of life for the entire city. And who lives in that city? Well, a multitude greater than anyone could count from every tribe, language, people, and nation. They need plenty of water, and there will be plenty of living water coming.
So, it comes in the middle of the city, and also, it’s beautiful, sparkling. And so, imagine going down to the riverbank, kind of like the river Seine. I remember when I was in Paris one time, I was on my way… This is great- I was on my way to Cameroon to minister to some missionaries there, missed my flight, not my fault. But there was a technical difficulty with the flight from Raleigh-Durham to Paris, and so missed the flight by 40 minutes. So, I had to spend a day in Paris at the airline’s expense.
Wes
Bummer.
Andy
Bummer. So, they put me up in a hotel, and I had basically a day in Paris. And I remember walking on the Seine and it’s so beautiful in the river there. And then you’ve got the Thames in London, same kind of thing. You’re walking on each side of the river. So, it gives a sense of beauty to the city, but also life.
Wes
Now, verse 2 also gives us this picture of the tree of life on each side of the river, bearing 12 crops of fruit, yielding fruit every month, with leaves that are for the healing of the nations. What’s the significance of this tree of life, and how does its presence in the eternal city really help to complete the story of scripture?
Andy
So, I feel like we’re back into the garden of Eden now. And we remember that there was a river that flowed from Eden and broke into four headwaters, and they went out to different parts of the world. And so, there was a sense when God put Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, that was their starting point, and they were going to fill the earth, subdue it, rule over it. And there were two trees, special trees in the garden. There were many trees in the garden, fruit-bearing trees. And Adam was given the freedom to eat from any of them except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And then we find out that there’s another tree called the tree of life. And once he sinned, once Adam sinned and Eve sinned, they were forbidden to eat from the tree of life and live forever.
And so, there was a cherubim put with a flaming sword, flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life saying, “You’re not getting through.” And so, the idea there is, living forever was taken away from us. The wages of sin is death. But now we have the right to eat, as was said earlier in the Book of Revelation, the right to eat from the tree of life. And so, the way has been opened for us by the one who paid the death penalty, which is Jesus. And so yes, we’ve come full circle now back to the garden of Eden, and now we have full access to the tree of life, and we can eat from it forever.
I also believe we have access to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil as well, because as I mentioned in my book on heaven, Glory Now Revealed, is we will have learned the lessons we learned from that education of good and evil. We will remember what good is and how it’s contrasted with evil. And we will love righteousness and hate wickedness. We’ll have the benefits, if we could say it that way, of 6,000 plus years of an education in good and evil. And we will, as I said, like Christ, hate evil. But now we also have the full access to this tree of life, and we’ll be able to eat from it.
So yeah, it brings us back to Eden. Now let’s talk about the tree itself. And it says that it bears because it’s being constantly fed by the river of the water of life. And it reminds me of the image in Psalm 1 (paraphrase), “Blessed is a man who meditates day and night on his law. He’s like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf never withers. Whatever he does prospers.” So, you get a sense of rich fruitfulness and prosperity in the city because of life flowing. And so, it’s said in the exact same language of Ezekiel, that it will bear fruit every month to feed the nations. So, there’s a sense of constant fruit-bearing and life flowing from that. And also, we’re told, “The leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nation.” I want to say something about that. But first, you had the position of the tree. The tree of life is on each side of the river.
You got a couple of options on that. First, it’s like, all right, there’s one tree with a vast root system that extends to both sides of the river. Or just a really huge tree, like some of these trees you see in mangroves trees or swamps, and you see these big roots and the water’s flowing under them, I guess. Or you have a disrespect for the word of God, and say, “Revelation is a mess.” I heard one commentator say that, and this is clear proof. How could one tree be on both sides of a river? And then you say, “Look, there’s some aspects here that I really don’t fully understand. But I’m not going to rewrite Scripture, because I can’t quite understand it.”
So, I tend to think of it as a vast root system that’s on both sides of the river, and maybe a very large tree in any sense. Then we’re told that, “The leaves of the tree are for medicine,” really for healing for the nations. Now this is obviously problematic, because we’re told in Revelation 21:4 that, “There’ll be no more death, mourning, crying or pain.” But I don’t think of it as problematic. I think it could be cause and effect. That because we’re eating from the tree of life, we’ll never die. And so, I think the idea is, we will never have an independent life apart from God. We need the water that flows from the throne, and we need to eat what he feeds us. And we need to be protected from disease, and death, and sickness, forever, and we will be.
I think it also has to do with the fact that our resurrection bodies are just pulsating with life and with health. And so, it is strange, because I remember when I was writing the sermon on this saying, it’s like saying, “Look, the hospitals and the funeral parlors in the new Jerusalem will be top-notch. And be like, well that’s completely foolish. We don’t need hospitals. But rather, I think it’s more like a healthful diet or a healthful way of life, a very healthy pattern of life. That’s what it’s more like. It’s just like, frankly, all disease and all injury is forestalled by this tree of life.
So, the way I think of it is this way. You may be clumsy in this life and bump your head, or sprain your thumb, or do all these kinds of clumsy things. I remember thinking about, how can we not experience pain in heaven? I remember, I was trying to make one of my kids’ beds, and the bed was up against the wall. And I was pulling hard on the sheet and my hand released, and I smashed my hand full force into the wall, spraining my thumb, and it hurt for like a week. But I was thinking about heaven when I was doing that. And it was like, “I guess that won’t happen. I won’t be clumsy when I make a bed.”
No, I think it’s more this. Remember when Jesus healed the leper in Mark 1? “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” And he said, “I am willing, be clean.” And he touched him, and health flowed from Jesus to the diseased cells and made them perfect. And so, I just think health is going to flow through our body all the time. So, if we were to smash anything, it wouldn’t cause us any cellular damage. It will be just immediately regenerated. Or like Malchus’ ear that Jesus created when Peter cut it off in the garden when he was arrested. So, there’s a continual life and health coming from the river of the water of life and the tree of life.
Wes
Now verse 3, we’re given three more descriptors that help fill out this picture of this heavenly city and existence. We’re told that there’s no longer any curse there, that God’s throne will be in the city, and that his servants will, my translation says, “worship him,” but I think we want to talk a little bit about that, and the fact that his servants will serve him. So, help us understand verse three, and these three images we’re given here.
Andy
Wow. I introduced this sermon by the Count of Monte Cristo and a big treasure box. And in the actual story he does an inventory of what’s in the treasure. And he’s got all this gold, he’s got these precious gems, and he’s counting them. And he just is fabulously wealthy, but he has to categorize the precious items in the treasure chest. All right? So, in this every phrase, it’s like there’s some different aspect of some treasure here.
And so, this one is, “No longer will there be any curse.” So, it’s a double negative. Curse is a negative thing and it’s negated, so there won’t be any curse. But we know that the ultimate curse is death. So, there won’t be any death. We know that. But we also know that there are other aspects of the curse. Before Adam died, the ground would be cursed because of him, and it would produce thorns and thistles. So that will not be the case. So, any kind of work that we do will be lavishly blessed in the new Jerusalem. All of the things that we grow or the things that we make will not suffer the curse on our labor. There won’t be any procreation in heaven. So, the woman’s curse is not really needed to be addressed, where he said, “I will greatly multiply your pain in childbearing,” there won’t be any pain at all.
So, I think when we go to that beautiful fourfold statement, we hear it at funerals, there’ll be no more death, mourning, crying or pain. All of those things are aspects of the curse. No sense of loss, no sense of waste. None of the things that makes the writer of Ecclesiastes, Solomon I think, lament vanity of vanities, everything is vanity, none of that. Because death is obsolete, death is removed. And so, there won’t be any curse. Everything we put our hands to. And the opposite of cursing is blessing. In the old Covenant, curses, blessings and curses. So, everything we do will be blessed. So, imagine, Wes, working on something in your resurrection body and having a skill or a talent, and everything you do has the blessing of God on it. And how awesome will that be? So, there won’t be any curse. But especially, most importantly, no death. So, there won’t be aging or death. We will live forever.
Wes
We can go ahead and take the other two as well. “The throne of God and the Lamb will be in it and his servants will…” Mine says, “worship and serve him.”
Andy
All right, next we have the statement that the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city. And so, what’s important for that is, right now, the throne is high and exalted above us. It is separated from us. There’s this big gap between God and us. And in some sense that will always be there. God will always be God the creator and we’ll always be creatures. But here, there’s a sense of immediacy and intimacy and closeness. I think what it is, is there’s no separation. We’re told to draw near to the throne of grace. And we’re told to draw right in, the curtain in the temple torn in two; we’re told to draw very close to God.
And so, he will do his ruling immediately and intimately with us. So, it’s the consummation of Immanuel, of the word became flesh and made his dwelling with us. And of the repeated statement and the prophets, “I will be their God, and they will be my people.” He wants to be intimately close to us. And yet for all of that, he’s still King. And so, the concept is, he will do his reigning in intimate closeness to us. And so, we’ll be very, very close. And again, that same phrase, “The throne of God and of the Lamb.” The one throne for the Father and the Son will be in the city.
And then it says, “His servants will serve him.” So now I want to deal with the first word, servants. Douloi really could be translated slaves, that’s what it is. And most of the translations just go with servants because that’s a sweeter word. But I remember as I was preaching through both Ephesians and Colossians, I had to deal with the master/slave passages. And very much we were thinking a lot about racial issues, justice, chattel slavery in America, and the heritage, the devastating heritage of slavery in our country. And the question came, which we pastors who teach the word of God, and have to honor and protect the word of God from scurrilous attacks; and the question is, why isn’t emancipation taught very plainly and clearly in the Bible? Why is the institution of slavery managed in the epistles, in Ephesians? Masters do this, slaves do that. Why doesn’t he say, “Master, set your slaves free?”
Well, to some degree in Philemon, he basically does that. So, there’s one answer. And there are themes like the two great commandments and the Golden Rule, which have proven to be very destructive to slavery. You don’t want to be a slave? Then don’t enslave someone else. It’s that simple. And in the end, Christianity led the way in getting rid of slavery all over the world. Now there’s illegal slavery, there’s sex trafficking and things like that. But the question stands, why not clear emancipation? And Revelation 22:3 is my answer. It’s because slavery is permanent. There will be slaves in heaven. We will be slaves. We will be bond slaves of Christ.
And this, right there, this is after the resurrection. This is in our resurrection body; we are called slaves of God. So that’s one answer I would give to it. But we know we’re not only slaves, we’re also sons and daughters of the living God. We’re also bride where he’s bridegroom. And we’re friends. Like Abraham was called the friend of God. All of these images are part of it. But we’re also slaves. So, it says right here, going to say, No, it doesn’t say slaves, it says servants. It’s the Greek word, douloi. It’s what we are. And so, what does it mean? Well, he’s the master and we do his will. That’s what it is. And so, I had to think, “All right. Well, what’s the difference between a slave and an employee?” So how would you answer that question, Wes? What’s the difference between being a slave and being an employee?
Wes
One of those is voluntary.
Andy
Okay.
Wes
Yeah, one of those, there’s a sense that you could walk away from this obligation.
Andy
So, here’s my question. Can you walk away in the new heaven, new earth?
Wes
No.
Andy
No. The walking away has been tried, okay? Satan did it.
Wes
Yeah.
Andy
And then we joined him in walking away.
Wes
Right.
Andy
So, we are not walking away. And one image of can’t walk away I think is the strongest, is working on the ark during the flood. All right, that’s it. I’m done.
Wes
I’m out.
Andy
It’s really, I’m out. Where are you going? There’s nowhere to go. And so, it is in a very beautiful way. All right, that was an image of death and judgment. Here, where would you want to go? This is the beautiful, perfect world that you’ve always wanted, and God is king, and we are made to serve him.
This is the essence of being a human. We’re made to be God’s servants.
This is the essence of being a human. We’re made to be God’s servants. We’re made to be God’s slaves, and so for all eternity. Yet, he is a beautiful and a good master. And he also serves us. And Jesus is called a doulos himself in other places. And so, there’s nothing menial about this at all.
Also, another difference between an employee and a slave is wages. And we don’t get any wages. We don’t need any wages. I look at it more like a family business. You don’t get paid to work in the family business, you just all share in the good outcome of the labor you’re doing. So, I think it’s pretty beautiful. So, his slaves will serve him or worship him.
The reason that there are different translations is that the word is usually in a religious sense, but this is the way I think of it. There will be work to do in the new heaven, new earth and in the new Jerusalem. And that work will be worship. And there will be worship to do, and we’ll be working at it. We’ll be giving our full energy and all, every fiber of our being. We’re going to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. And everything we have to give, we’ll give in worship. So, we’ll be working at it, but it will be delightful work. And so, work and worship will be become one. And so, I don’t mind how it’s translated. I actually would like to kind of slash it, and his servants will work and worship. Serve and worship him for all eternity. So, it’s a beautiful verse.
Wes
It really is a beautiful fulfillment of doing all for the glory of God with thankfulness in our hearts to him. Verse 4, following right on the heels of this, contains what may be just the greatest blessing of the Gospel, in the fact that it says, “They will see his face.” It also goes on to say, “His name will be on their foreheads.” What’s the significance of verse 4?
Andy
All right. So, Revelation 22:4, many of our Christian brothers and sisters who were mystics, meditating deeply on God, say this is the highest and greatest blessing there is ever, for us as people to see the face of God. There could be nothing more satisfying, nothing more thrilling, nothing more delightful than seeing his face. First of all, we need to understand the history of it. God withheld a full display of his true nature. His face represents the truest revelation of his nature. He withheld it from Moses on Mount Sinai, because Moses said, “Show me your glory.” And he said, “No one can see me and live. You cannot see my face and live.” It says in 1 Timothy 6:16 that God dwells in unapproachable light. So, we cannot see, in our present condition, the face of God. It’s impossible.
Furthermore, we’re told in 1 Corinthians 15 that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. So, you put “cannot inherit,” means you won’t survive. If you try to see the face of God who dwells in unapproachable light, you can’t. But there, we are told we’ll see his face. And so, this is such a beautiful promise here. It’s called by the mystics, the beatific vision, or the vision of blessedness. And so, the idea here is, now we see through a glass darkly, then 1 Corinthians 13, “We will see him face to face.”
We’re also told in Colossians that when we see him, we’ll be like him, for we will see him as he really is. So, it transforms us into our resurrection bodies. It is what makes us glorified is to be able to see his face, but we’ll forever be able to see the face of God. Now, I did have to argue against a sense that that is all we would ever want to do, is to see the purest, best, brightest display of glory, which is the face of God.
So, I would put it this way. God wants us to see both of the maximum glory and his lesser glories. So, I’ve argued from his statement, “Consider the lilies of the field. They don’t labor or spin. Yet, I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of those. If that is how God closed the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow’s thrown in the fire, will he not much more clothe you?” (Matthew 6:28-30). So, the logic is, there is beauty in the smallest thing that God makes. And so, we will want to look at the lesser glory, the greater glory, the maximum glory, all of it. And actually, that will make it delightful, the range of glories. But the greatest glory of all is to see the face of God.
Wes
It also says, “His name will be on their foreheads.” What’s the significance of that for us?
Andy
It’s a sense of ownership. We know that Aaron wore a nameplate on his turban, and there’s a sense of us being holy to the Lord. He owns us. And he has written his name on us, and we belong to him. You know, Wes, earlier in Revelation 13, we saw the mark of the beast. And we’re told that the Antichrist will make everyone who is swearing allegiance to him to wear his mark on his right hand or on his forehead. So, it’s a sense of complete ownership. And I have a sense here that that’s the same thing here. God is saying we are not our own. We’re bought at a price. He owns us and we are his. So, there’s a sense of ownership, but in a beautiful way. Also, in Isaiah 49:16 it says that “He has graven our names in his hand.” So, there’s a sense that our names are on his body as well. So, it’s a sense of complete intimacy and love and affection. His name will be on our foreheads.
Wes
Verse 5 gives us language similar to what we’ve seen elsewhere, with the idea of the glory of God lighting the place. But also, it says that “The night will be no more.” How should we understand verse 5 in relation to the brightness of this place that we’ve been describing, even in previous episodes?
Andy
Well, some people find… Well first of all, to answer the question the way you asked at the end, the whole new heaven, new earth, and new Jerusalem is illuminated and radiant with the glory of God. So, when it says God created light, “And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. [And God saw that the light was good. And God] he separated the light from the darkness.” He called the light good. He didn’t call the darkness good. And so frequently darkness is portrayed as evil. But we know that in this world, when God created the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light, the moon, to govern the night, he created beauty. And he created tremendous beauty in the starry skies. Like if you’ve ever seen the Milky Way, or you go away from the light pollution of the city. And you get out to some mountainous area where the air is clear and cold, and you just see more stars than you ever thought even existed.
And the nighttime can be beautiful. I remember when I preached this sermon, I wrote these words, “Nighttime can be beautiful if the harvest moon is rising over a field big and orange and full at the edge of the horizon. Nighttime can be beautiful if the stars are vivid in the cool mountain air, and you can see the Milky Way in clarity and intensity, like a cloudy streak across the darkness of the night sky. Nighttime can be beautiful if it’s summer, and you can see a moon shadow, and hear the chirping of the crickets in a peaceful, energetic chorus. Nighttime can be beautiful if you’re on a boat on a placid sea, and the moonlight glistens on the quiet waters. Nighttime can be beautiful if you see the dark silhouettes of trees in the winter, and the radiant cool blue whiteness of a snow-covered valley illuminated by the distant moon.
“But God has plans for the beauty of the lesser lights of the moon and the stars to replace them with his own varied levels of glory. And also, he has plans to crush all the terrors that stalk at night unseen and malicious. The terror of demons and assassins and burglars and wicked people. The terror of nighttime predators like lions and bats.”
So, in any case, yes, there is a beauty to nighttime. Don’t worry, the place that we’re going to will be beautiful, and you won’t be missing anything. So, it says, “There’s no longer any night.” It’s similar to the statement, “There was no longer any sea.”
Wes
Let me give the same language here that we had in chapter 21, or very similar to chapter 21, verse 23, where it says, “They’ll need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever,” it says at the end of verse 5. Which is just this in contrast with being servants. It’s again, one of those images that you said, we get all of that. We are forever serving God, but also reigning with him. An incredible picture here.
Andy
Yeah, it is. And this is a statement made very powerfully in Daniel 7. And I remember when I was doing scripture memory in Daniel, and I was so surprised by that. But we have these four beasts coming up out the sea, one after the other. And we’re told that the power was given to the fourth beast to rule over the saints and to defeat them. And kill them. But we know that, because of resurrection, our death is temporary. And so, despite that fact, that the fourth beast was given power to oppress his saints, and the saints would be handed over to him for time, times and half a time. It says, “The court will sit, and his power will be taken away and completely destroyed forever” (Daniel 7:26). Then the sovereignty, power and greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be handed over to the saints, the people of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will worship and obey him.
So that’s the consummation of this statement, King of kings and Lord of lords. We will be given authority to reign over subdomains. And so, the new heaven, new earth, will be divided into regions and realms, and people will be given the right to rule over them. As Jesus said that “You will sit on 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel” (Luke 22:30). And so, there is authority.
And I think it’s similar to the centurion’s statement, “I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and that one, “Come,’ and he comes, and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” That’s going to be in heaven too. But the difference is, there won’t be any tyranny on the part of those who rule, and there won’t be any insurrection or rebellion on the part of those who are ruled. And so, where we will be? Well basically, you’re in your job interview right now, by how you live your life. And so, those places of authority, sitting at Jesus’s right and his left or wherever you sit in the kingdom, are given to those who are willing to drink from Christ’s cup and willing to serve others. So, the greatest among us will be those that serve us the most. So, if you want some high place in the kingdom, then serve your brothers and sisters. So, it says, “They will reign forever and ever.”
Wes
As we wrap up, Andy, we discussed a little beforehand that there’s some variation as to where this passage gets broken. We’ve included verse 6 in our podcast, but I know when you preached this, you stopped at verse 5. How does verse 6 function in this passage, and what final thoughts do you have for us as we’ve looked at these verses today?
Andy
Well, what verse 6, the angel says, “These words are trustworthy and true.” So, they extend over the whole Book of Revelation, and indeed, over the whole Bible. And so, it’s that assertion that the words of God are trustworthy, you can bank on them. Our hope does not disappoint. The things that we have studied here, the meticulous details, Wes, that we’ve gone through in this podcast, they will be true. The words are true. And so, it’s worth us meditating and studying these things.
And so, we can trust these things and build our lives on them. They are trustworthy. And then it says, “The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place.” So, I think the reason why I chose when I preached to end at verse 5 and then to begin a sermon with verse 6, is that from verse 6-16, it’s almost like an inclusion, or a parenthesis. And there’s a lot of similar language here at the end in Revelation 22 that we get at the very beginning of the book. And then a lot of statements about these words. These words, they’re trustworthy, the ones who take the words to heart and all of that. But we can go both ways. So, I’ll go verse 6 in connection with verse 1-5 and say, everything we’ve studied in this podcast is trustworthy and true. And then we could maybe pick up at verse 6 next time, and have it serve double duty.
Wes
Sure. Any final thoughts on this passage today?
Andy
Oh, I would just, brothers and sisters, I would take these words that we study, especially verse 1-5, and just meditate on them and think, “How rich are we! How great is our inheritance!”
One thing that it doesn’t even talk about here, but we have talked about before, and that is, as Paul says, “I pray that you would know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and the incomparably great power for us who believe” (Ephesians 1:18). We are rich in our inheritance. But there in Ephesians 1, it talks about in the saints. And so, we’re going to be rich in each other. And that wasn’t even mentioned here. We have all these other riches that we’re talking about, the water of life, and the tree of life, and the throne of God, and seeing his face, and no more night, and all of this, we also get each other. We’re not going to be alone. We’ll be enjoying this together. And it’ll be like, “Hey, did you see that?” And we’ll be spurring each other on in worship. How awesome will that be? So, it’s exciting. So, I would just say, meditate on these things and let them fill you with joy and hope.
Wes
Well, this has been Episode 31 in our Revelation Bible Study Podcast. We want to invite you to join us next time for Episode 32 entitled, Preparing Immediately for The Imminent Return of Christ, where we’ll discuss Revelation 22:7-16.
Thank you for listening to the Two Journeys podcast. And may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
Wes
Welcome to the Two Journeys Bible Study Podcast. This is Episode 31 in our Revelation Bible Study podcast entitled The River of Life, where we’ll discuss Revelation 22:1-6. I’m Wes Treadway, and I’m here with pastor Andy Davis. Andy, what are we going to see in these verses that we’re looking at today?
Andy
Well, this is a continuation of what we looked at in our last podcast, and that is a description of our eternal and our future home: the new heaven, the new earth, and the new Jerusalem. And here we focus in particular on the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God. And I would hope that it will make all believers in Jesus Christ yearn for that future heavenly rest that is ours in Christ Jesus. But also, it’s amazing the details and the imagery that come from this, and how exciting it is to consider each of those details. So, I look forward to walking through it with you.
Wes
Well, let me go ahead and read verses one through six in Revelation 22.
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, 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 with its 12 kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. 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. And he said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true. And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place.”
Andy, how does John describe the river of life? Where does the river flow from, and where is it flowing to?
Andy
Yeah. What an exciting chapter to be able to walk through this. I’ll get to the river just in a moment. I think it’s amazing how we have this angelic guide, the angel showing John all of these things. And so, the angels play a role in delivering the words of scripture to all of us. And so, John has in his vision an angelic guide showing him the new Jerusalem. And so that’s where we are. We’re in the middle of vision of the new Jerusalem. And the river of the water of life is flowing down through the center of the city of the new Jerusalem. And it flows from the throne of God and of the Lamb. And how beautiful is that? It’s described as, your translation says, “bright as-
Wes
Bright as crystal.
Andy
The clarity of all of the elements of the new Jerusalem is to allow the radiance of the glory of God to illuminate it
… crystal.” Yeah. Mine says, “clear as crystal.” Either way, it’s glowing. The clarity of all of the elements of the new Jerusalem is to allow the radiance of the glory of God to illuminate it. So, I look on it either way. It’s shining. It’s a shining river of life flowing from the throne of God. So, it’s really very beautiful and very exciting.
Wes
And as we think about this river, want to dig in a little bit how we might explain this river flowing from the throne of God. Does God constantly create more water? What’s the nature of this river? It seems unlike perhaps the Eno River not far from us here.
Andy
Yeah, it’s a complex image. We know that all of creation came from the Latin phrase, ex nihilo, that is out of nothing. God created matter from nothing, and God alone can do that. And we have in the science of physics, the conservation of mass, which says that mass and energy are conserved within a closed system. That they can change form, energy to mass, mass to energy, by Einstein’s famous formula, relativity = MC squared. Energy equals mass times the speed of light squared. Which is the basis of thermonuclear reactions, weapons, etc. Massive, massive amounts of energy coming from tiny amount of matter. So, they’re related. But I actually Googled earlier today, has science ever been able to go the other way around and create mass out of energy? Because it would take a huge amount of energy to make a tiny amount of mass. And they say they’ve done it in particle accelerators, but I think it’s very theoretical. It’s hard to understand.
But this isn’t physics. This is just God creating water. And it just keeps flowing from the throne of God. Now here’s the thing, we got to step back, and with the Book of Revelation, especially here in these last two chapters, you’re always dealing with the science of interpretation, hermeneutics. What approach are you going to take to the words you’re reading? And so, we’ve consistently sought to take both a literal and a symbolic understanding. I think it’s safe to go both ways. And so, there is definitely a spiritual sense of these words, and a sense of spiritual life and relationship with God, that transcends the physicality of drinking water. And Jesus used these kinds of analogies with his flesh being the bread of life, and out of our midst will flow the river of the water of life, etc., through the Holy Spirit. That’s in John 7. So, these are all metaphors.
But I think, also I know, that we will have resurrection bodies like Jesus. And in Luke 24:39 he says, “Touch me and see. A ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.” We’re going to have bodies made like his resurrection body. And they have to be somewhere, and they have to do something. We also believe that they will continually be upheld by the sovereign power of God. And so, we could imagine though, we might not think of eating and drinking in the new heaven, new earth in the same way we think of it now, I do believe in a sustaining of our existence. And so, I tend to think that there’s actual water flowing from the throne that we could scoop with our hands, or with a cup and drink. And the water is given for us to drink so that we may live. And so, there is that.
Yes, it’s spiritual. Yes, it’s symbolic. But it’s also physical. But if it is physical, doesn’t that not end logically in a flood covering the entire earth? I mean, if it’s just water flowing, and flowing, and flowing, and flowing. Imagine going away for the weekend and you left a faucet on, and there was a blockage. And I mean, you come back, and your kitchen’s filled with water, that’s just over the weekend. This is eternity. So, I don’t really know how to understand that, except that. And not only does the water come, but it feeds the tree of life which bears fruit continually.
So not only you have water, but you’ve got fruit coming constantly every month. And so, we’ve got all kinds of interesting questions, but the fact is, God is able to continually create. Also, you have a sense then, and I looked back in Revelation 21, he said, “Behold, I make all things new.” Well, that’s one way to translate it. It’s just a simple present indicative. But you could translate it this way. “Behold, I am creating all things new.” So, he’ll be continually creating, not just water, but all kinds of new things.
There’s nothing in the Bible that says once he has created the new heavens and new earth, it’s a set list of items, and there’s no new items that could ever be created. God’s not restricting himself that way. We have no such words. So, I would imagine that not just water coming from the throne, but God could be creating new things all the time, and we’ll be continually learning what those things are. But this is the river of the water of life. And so, it’s based on this, that we live. So, in a very spiritual and symbolic way, I get the idea of our ongoing eternal life coming from the throne of God. So cognitively, God continually wills that we exist. And so, his will, represented by the water, just keeps flowing from his throne, wanting us to live eternally. And so, in him, we will for all eternity live and move and have our being. So that’s another way to look at it as well.
Wes
Now, how does this river here in Revelation 22 compare with the one described in Ezekiel 47?
Andy
Well, thank you for asking that. And it’s just so rich and beautiful how many Old Testament allusions there are, allusions with an A, to the Old Testament. Lots of images, and cross references, and concepts. But yes, in Ezekiel 40-48, there’s a vision of a spiritualized or perfected temple in the pattern of the old Covenant, in the pattern of animal sacrifice with the Levites offering animal sacrifices. But in Ezekiel 47, the culmination of it is, “A river that flows from the threshold of the temple toward the east.” It says in Ezekiel 47, “And as the man went eastward with a measuring line in his hand,” probably an angel,
He measured off a thousand cubits and led me through water that was ankle deep. And measured off another thousand cubits and led me through water that was knee deep. Then he measured off another thousand and led me through water that was up to the waist. He measured off another thousand, but now it was a river that I could not cross, because the water had risen and was deep enough to swim in a river that no one could cross (Ezekiel 47:3-5).
So, this goes deeper and deeper as it flows further and further away, an infinite supply of water. Then as you continue in Ezekiel’s vision, we find that the river produces a vast diversity of life. “He led me back to the bank of the river.”, says Ezekiel 47:6-9. “And when I arrived there, I saw a great number of trees, many different kinds of trees, on each side of the river.” So, in our vision in Revelation 22, there is the tree of life on both sides of the river. We’ll get to that in a moment. That kind of breaks the brain to figure out how that is, but we’ll get to that.
But in Ezekiel, it’s just a lot of different trees on each side of the river. “And he said to me, ‘This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah where it enters the sea. And when it empties into the sea, the water there becomes fresh.” Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There’ll be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh. So, where the river flows, everything will live. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?
And then it says, “Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river.” This is verse 12, Ezekiel 47:12. “Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail, every month they will bear.” That’s almost literally quoted, “Because the water from the sanctuary flows to them, their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing.” It’s almost a direct quote, isn’t it?
Wes
Wow.
Andy
And so, this is an image that is connecting this beautiful image of Ezekiel 47 to the river of the water of life. Now we need to talk, obviously, about the tree of life, and the fruit, and the leaves, and the healing. There’s a lot still to talk about.
Wes
Sure. Before we get there, this language of water of life sounds similar to what we’ve heard elsewhere in scripture of living water. How does this compare with the living water that’s described in places like John 7 or John 4?
Andy
Sure. So, in John 4, he’s speaking to the Samaritan woman, and she’s surprised that he talks to her. And he says, “Would you give me a drink?” And, “How can you ask me for a drink?” And he said, “If you knew who you’re talking to and the gift of God, you would have asked him, and he would give you living water.” And she’s wanting to know what this living water is. And she says, “Are you greater than our father, Jacob?” Which is just such a great one. You read the account of Jacob and he’s no great shakes at some point. He’s a con artist and he’s all that, but he is one of the patriarchs, one of the great men of the Old Testament, certainly. The father of the 12 tribes, no doubt. But she thought, “Surely you can’t be greater than Jacob who gave us the well.”
Nothing satisfies like clean water when you are dying of thirst. And so, God meets those deepest needs and does it from within.
It’s like, all right, well let’s just focus on the well. Jacob’s well, and the water I give. All right? “Everyone that drinks of Jacob’s well will thirst again. But everyone who drinks of the water I give will never thirst. And indeed, the water that I give will become within him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:13-14). Same image in John 7 of a river of life flowing from within us by the Spirit. So, there’s this internal drinking that we do. And there’s a lot of images in the Old Testament, for example, “As the deer pants for water, so my soul thirsts for you” (Psalm 42:1). So, there’s that sense of, there’s few needs that there ever are as there is for water when you’re desperately thirsty. Imagine someone crawling across the Sahara Desert and then comes to an oasis. Nothing satisfies like clean water when you are dying of thirst. And so, God meets those deepest needs and does it from within.
And so now, we’ve got the image of from without, from external to us, a throne, the throne, the throne of God, and of the Lamb. I want to say something about that in a moment. But from the throne of God and of the Lamb comes the sustaining life. As I mentioned a moment ago, God continually willing that we be alive, and giving us what we need for that life. So that’s life-giving water. It’s a beautiful image.
Now concerning the throne, it’s really important that we understand this single throne of God and of the Lamb. This is a clear ascription of deity to Jesus. And I think in John 17:5, when Jesus says, “Now Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.” At least part of that glory is a shared throne. Equal authority to rule heaven and earth. And so, from that one throne, and we also had that image of the Lamb in Revelation 5, standing in the midst of the throne, or basically I think, even on the throne. And so, it shows the deity of Christ. And so, the throne of God and of the Lamb provides life for all of us.
Wes
Now we’re almost to the tree, but Andy, we’ve talked about how every phrase in Revelation seems packed full of detail. In verse 2, we’re told that this river is flowing through the middle of the street of the city. How would we describe this great street of the city?
Andy
So, this is the new Jerusalem, and we’ve got already, the streets are described as gold, clear, transparent gold, which is somewhat of a mystery, but we also have this water. And so, I think you just have a sense of the basic needs of a city, and foundational to that is water. They’ve got to have water. And so, the Romans created aqueduct systems that could deliver water to their people. We know that the great city of Babylon had the Euphrates River that flowed right down under the walls. And so, you could never starve that city out, because they had crops within that were being nourished by the water that flowed. And so, the idea here is a continual provision of life for the entire city. And who lives in that city? Well, a multitude greater than anyone could count from every tribe, language, people, and nation. They need plenty of water, and there will be plenty of living water coming.
So, it comes in the middle of the city, and also, it’s beautiful, sparkling. And so, imagine going down to the riverbank, kind of like the river Seine. I remember when I was in Paris one time, I was on my way… This is great- I was on my way to Cameroon to minister to some missionaries there, missed my flight, not my fault. But there was a technical difficulty with the flight from Raleigh-Durham to Paris, and so missed the flight by 40 minutes. So, I had to spend a day in Paris at the airline’s expense.
Wes
Bummer.
Andy
Bummer. So, they put me up in a hotel, and I had basically a day in Paris. And I remember walking on the Seine and it’s so beautiful in the river there. And then you’ve got the Thames in London, same kind of thing. You’re walking on each side of the river. So, it gives a sense of beauty to the city, but also life.
Wes
Now, verse 2 also gives us this picture of the tree of life on each side of the river, bearing 12 crops of fruit, yielding fruit every month, with leaves that are for the healing of the nations. What’s the significance of this tree of life, and how does its presence in the eternal city really help to complete the story of scripture?
Andy
So, I feel like we’re back into the garden of Eden now. And we remember that there was a river that flowed from Eden and broke into four headwaters, and they went out to different parts of the world. And so, there was a sense when God put Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, that was their starting point, and they were going to fill the earth, subdue it, rule over it. And there were two trees, special trees in the garden. There were many trees in the garden, fruit-bearing trees. And Adam was given the freedom to eat from any of them except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And then we find out that there’s another tree called the tree of life. And once he sinned, once Adam sinned and Eve sinned, they were forbidden to eat from the tree of life and live forever.
And so, there was a cherubim put with a flaming sword, flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life saying, “You’re not getting through.” And so, the idea there is, living forever was taken away from us. The wages of sin is death. But now we have the right to eat, as was said earlier in the Book of Revelation, the right to eat from the tree of life. And so, the way has been opened for us by the one who paid the death penalty, which is Jesus. And so yes, we’ve come full circle now back to the garden of Eden, and now we have full access to the tree of life, and we can eat from it forever.
I also believe we have access to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil as well, because as I mentioned in my book on heaven, Glory Now Revealed, is we will have learned the lessons we learned from that education of good and evil. We will remember what good is and how it’s contrasted with evil. And we will love righteousness and hate wickedness. We’ll have the benefits, if we could say it that way, of 6,000 plus years of an education in good and evil. And we will, as I said, like Christ, hate evil. But now we also have the full access to this tree of life, and we’ll be able to eat from it.
So yeah, it brings us back to Eden. Now let’s talk about the tree itself. And it says that it bears because it’s being constantly fed by the river of the water of life. And it reminds me of the image in Psalm 1 (paraphrase), “Blessed is a man who meditates day and night on his law. He’s like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf never withers. Whatever he does prospers.” So, you get a sense of rich fruitfulness and prosperity in the city because of life flowing. And so, it’s said in the exact same language of Ezekiel, that it will bear fruit every month to feed the nations. So, there’s a sense of constant fruit-bearing and life flowing from that. And also, we’re told, “The leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nation.” I want to say something about that. But first, you had the position of the tree. The tree of life is on each side of the river.
You got a couple of options on that. First, it’s like, all right, there’s one tree with a vast root system that extends to both sides of the river. Or just a really huge tree, like some of these trees you see in mangroves trees or swamps, and you see these big roots and the water’s flowing under them, I guess. Or you have a disrespect for the word of God, and say, “Revelation is a mess.” I heard one commentator say that, and this is clear proof. How could one tree be on both sides of a river? And then you say, “Look, there’s some aspects here that I really don’t fully understand. But I’m not going to rewrite Scripture, because I can’t quite understand it.”
So, I tend to think of it as a vast root system that’s on both sides of the river, and maybe a very large tree in any sense. Then we’re told that, “The leaves of the tree are for medicine,” really for healing for the nations. Now this is obviously problematic, because we’re told in Revelation 21:4 that, “There’ll be no more death, mourning, crying or pain.” But I don’t think of it as problematic. I think it could be cause and effect. That because we’re eating from the tree of life, we’ll never die. And so, I think the idea is, we will never have an independent life apart from God. We need the water that flows from the throne, and we need to eat what he feeds us. And we need to be protected from disease, and death, and sickness, forever, and we will be.
I think it also has to do with the fact that our resurrection bodies are just pulsating with life and with health. And so, it is strange, because I remember when I was writing the sermon on this saying, it’s like saying, “Look, the hospitals and the funeral parlors in the new Jerusalem will be top-notch. And be like, well that’s completely foolish. We don’t need hospitals. But rather, I think it’s more like a healthful diet or a healthful way of life, a very healthy pattern of life. That’s what it’s more like. It’s just like, frankly, all disease and all injury is forestalled by this tree of life.
So, the way I think of it is this way. You may be clumsy in this life and bump your head, or sprain your thumb, or do all these kinds of clumsy things. I remember thinking about, how can we not experience pain in heaven? I remember, I was trying to make one of my kids’ beds, and the bed was up against the wall. And I was pulling hard on the sheet and my hand released, and I smashed my hand full force into the wall, spraining my thumb, and it hurt for like a week. But I was thinking about heaven when I was doing that. And it was like, “I guess that won’t happen. I won’t be clumsy when I make a bed.”
No, I think it’s more this. Remember when Jesus healed the leper in Mark 1? “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” And he said, “I am willing, be clean.” And he touched him, and health flowed from Jesus to the diseased cells and made them perfect. And so, I just think health is going to flow through our body all the time. So, if we were to smash anything, it wouldn’t cause us any cellular damage. It will be just immediately regenerated. Or like Malchus’ ear that Jesus created when Peter cut it off in the garden when he was arrested. So, there’s a continual life and health coming from the river of the water of life and the tree of life.
Wes
Now verse 3, we’re given three more descriptors that help fill out this picture of this heavenly city and existence. We’re told that there’s no longer any curse there, that God’s throne will be in the city, and that his servants will, my translation says, “worship him,” but I think we want to talk a little bit about that, and the fact that his servants will serve him. So, help us understand verse three, and these three images we’re given here.
Andy
Wow. I introduced this sermon by the Count of Monte Cristo and a big treasure box. And in the actual story he does an inventory of what’s in the treasure. And he’s got all this gold, he’s got these precious gems, and he’s counting them. And he just is fabulously wealthy, but he has to categorize the precious items in the treasure chest. All right? So, in this every phrase, it’s like there’s some different aspect of some treasure here.
And so, this one is, “No longer will there be any curse.” So, it’s a double negative. Curse is a negative thing and it’s negated, so there won’t be any curse. But we know that the ultimate curse is death. So, there won’t be any death. We know that. But we also know that there are other aspects of the curse. Before Adam died, the ground would be cursed because of him, and it would produce thorns and thistles. So that will not be the case. So, any kind of work that we do will be lavishly blessed in the new Jerusalem. All of the things that we grow or the things that we make will not suffer the curse on our labor. There won’t be any procreation in heaven. So, the woman’s curse is not really needed to be addressed, where he said, “I will greatly multiply your pain in childbearing,” there won’t be any pain at all.
So, I think when we go to that beautiful fourfold statement, we hear it at funerals, there’ll be no more death, mourning, crying or pain. All of those things are aspects of the curse. No sense of loss, no sense of waste. None of the things that makes the writer of Ecclesiastes, Solomon I think, lament vanity of vanities, everything is vanity, none of that. Because death is obsolete, death is removed. And so, there won’t be any curse. Everything we put our hands to. And the opposite of cursing is blessing. In the old Covenant, curses, blessings and curses. So, everything we do will be blessed. So, imagine, Wes, working on something in your resurrection body and having a skill or a talent, and everything you do has the blessing of God on it. And how awesome will that be? So, there won’t be any curse. But especially, most importantly, no death. So, there won’t be aging or death. We will live forever.
Wes
We can go ahead and take the other two as well. “The throne of God and the Lamb will be in it and his servants will…” Mine says, “worship and serve him.”
Andy
All right, next we have the statement that the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city. And so, what’s important for that is, right now, the throne is high and exalted above us. It is separated from us. There’s this big gap between God and us. And in some sense that will always be there. God will always be God the creator and we’ll always be creatures. But here, there’s a sense of immediacy and intimacy and closeness. I think what it is, is there’s no separation. We’re told to draw near to the throne of grace. And we’re told to draw right in, the curtain in the temple torn in two; we’re told to draw very close to God.
And so, he will do his ruling immediately and intimately with us. So, it’s the consummation of Immanuel, of the word became flesh and made his dwelling with us. And of the repeated statement and the prophets, “I will be their God, and they will be my people.” He wants to be intimately close to us. And yet for all of that, he’s still King. And so, the concept is, he will do his reigning in intimate closeness to us. And so, we’ll be very, very close. And again, that same phrase, “The throne of God and of the Lamb.” The one throne for the Father and the Son will be in the city.
And then it says, “His servants will serve him.” So now I want to deal with the first word, servants. Douloi really could be translated slaves, that’s what it is. And most of the translations just go with servants because that’s a sweeter word. But I remember as I was preaching through both Ephesians and Colossians, I had to deal with the master/slave passages. And very much we were thinking a lot about racial issues, justice, chattel slavery in America, and the heritage, the devastating heritage of slavery in our country. And the question came, which we pastors who teach the word of God, and have to honor and protect the word of God from scurrilous attacks; and the question is, why isn’t emancipation taught very plainly and clearly in the Bible? Why is the institution of slavery managed in the epistles, in Ephesians? Masters do this, slaves do that. Why doesn’t he say, “Master, set your slaves free?”
Well, to some degree in Philemon, he basically does that. So, there’s one answer. And there are themes like the two great commandments and the Golden Rule, which have proven to be very destructive to slavery. You don’t want to be a slave? Then don’t enslave someone else. It’s that simple. And in the end, Christianity led the way in getting rid of slavery all over the world. Now there’s illegal slavery, there’s sex trafficking and things like that. But the question stands, why not clear emancipation? And Revelation 22:3 is my answer. It’s because slavery is permanent. There will be slaves in heaven. We will be slaves. We will be bond slaves of Christ.
And this, right there, this is after the resurrection. This is in our resurrection body; we are called slaves of God. So that’s one answer I would give to it. But we know we’re not only slaves, we’re also sons and daughters of the living God. We’re also bride where he’s bridegroom. And we’re friends. Like Abraham was called the friend of God. All of these images are part of it. But we’re also slaves. So, it says right here, going to say, No, it doesn’t say slaves, it says servants. It’s the Greek word, douloi. It’s what we are. And so, what does it mean? Well, he’s the master and we do his will. That’s what it is. And so, I had to think, “All right. Well, what’s the difference between a slave and an employee?” So how would you answer that question, Wes? What’s the difference between being a slave and being an employee?
Wes
One of those is voluntary.
Andy
Okay.
Wes
Yeah, one of those, there’s a sense that you could walk away from this obligation.
Andy
So, here’s my question. Can you walk away in the new heaven, new earth?
Wes
No.
Andy
No. The walking away has been tried, okay? Satan did it.
Wes
Yeah.
Andy
And then we joined him in walking away.
Wes
Right.
Andy
So, we are not walking away. And one image of can’t walk away I think is the strongest, is working on the ark during the flood. All right, that’s it. I’m done.
Wes
I’m out.
Andy
It’s really, I’m out. Where are you going? There’s nowhere to go. And so, it is in a very beautiful way. All right, that was an image of death and judgment. Here, where would you want to go? This is the beautiful, perfect world that you’ve always wanted, and God is king, and we are made to serve him.
This is the essence of being a human. We’re made to be God’s servants.
This is the essence of being a human. We’re made to be God’s servants. We’re made to be God’s slaves, and so for all eternity. Yet, he is a beautiful and a good master. And he also serves us. And Jesus is called a doulos himself in other places. And so, there’s nothing menial about this at all.
Also, another difference between an employee and a slave is wages. And we don’t get any wages. We don’t need any wages. I look at it more like a family business. You don’t get paid to work in the family business, you just all share in the good outcome of the labor you’re doing. So, I think it’s pretty beautiful. So, his slaves will serve him or worship him.
The reason that there are different translations is that the word is usually in a religious sense, but this is the way I think of it. There will be work to do in the new heaven, new earth and in the new Jerusalem. And that work will be worship. And there will be worship to do, and we’ll be working at it. We’ll be giving our full energy and all, every fiber of our being. We’re going to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. And everything we have to give, we’ll give in worship. So, we’ll be working at it, but it will be delightful work. And so, work and worship will be become one. And so, I don’t mind how it’s translated. I actually would like to kind of slash it, and his servants will work and worship. Serve and worship him for all eternity. So, it’s a beautiful verse.
Wes
It really is a beautiful fulfillment of doing all for the glory of God with thankfulness in our hearts to him. Verse 4, following right on the heels of this, contains what may be just the greatest blessing of the Gospel, in the fact that it says, “They will see his face.” It also goes on to say, “His name will be on their foreheads.” What’s the significance of verse 4?
Andy
All right. So, Revelation 22:4, many of our Christian brothers and sisters who were mystics, meditating deeply on God, say this is the highest and greatest blessing there is ever, for us as people to see the face of God. There could be nothing more satisfying, nothing more thrilling, nothing more delightful than seeing his face. First of all, we need to understand the history of it. God withheld a full display of his true nature. His face represents the truest revelation of his nature. He withheld it from Moses on Mount Sinai, because Moses said, “Show me your glory.” And he said, “No one can see me and live. You cannot see my face and live.” It says in 1 Timothy 6:16 that God dwells in unapproachable light. So, we cannot see, in our present condition, the face of God. It’s impossible.
Furthermore, we’re told in 1 Corinthians 15 that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. So, you put “cannot inherit,” means you won’t survive. If you try to see the face of God who dwells in unapproachable light, you can’t. But there, we are told we’ll see his face. And so, this is such a beautiful promise here. It’s called by the mystics, the beatific vision, or the vision of blessedness. And so, the idea here is, now we see through a glass darkly, then 1 Corinthians 13, “We will see him face to face.”
We’re also told in Colossians that when we see him, we’ll be like him, for we will see him as he really is. So, it transforms us into our resurrection bodies. It is what makes us glorified is to be able to see his face, but we’ll forever be able to see the face of God. Now, I did have to argue against a sense that that is all we would ever want to do, is to see the purest, best, brightest display of glory, which is the face of God.
So, I would put it this way. God wants us to see both of the maximum glory and his lesser glories. So, I’ve argued from his statement, “Consider the lilies of the field. They don’t labor or spin. Yet, I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of those. If that is how God closed the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow’s thrown in the fire, will he not much more clothe you?” (Matthew 6:28-30). So, the logic is, there is beauty in the smallest thing that God makes. And so, we will want to look at the lesser glory, the greater glory, the maximum glory, all of it. And actually, that will make it delightful, the range of glories. But the greatest glory of all is to see the face of God.
Wes
It also says, “His name will be on their foreheads.” What’s the significance of that for us?
Andy
It’s a sense of ownership. We know that Aaron wore a nameplate on his turban, and there’s a sense of us being holy to the Lord. He owns us. And he has written his name on us, and we belong to him. You know, Wes, earlier in Revelation 13, we saw the mark of the beast. And we’re told that the Antichrist will make everyone who is swearing allegiance to him to wear his mark on his right hand or on his forehead. So, it’s a sense of complete ownership. And I have a sense here that that’s the same thing here. God is saying we are not our own. We’re bought at a price. He owns us and we are his. So, there’s a sense of ownership, but in a beautiful way. Also, in Isaiah 49:16 it says that “He has graven our names in his hand.” So, there’s a sense that our names are on his body as well. So, it’s a sense of complete intimacy and love and affection. His name will be on our foreheads.
Wes
Verse 5 gives us language similar to what we’ve seen elsewhere, with the idea of the glory of God lighting the place. But also, it says that “The night will be no more.” How should we understand verse 5 in relation to the brightness of this place that we’ve been describing, even in previous episodes?
Andy
Well, some people find… Well first of all, to answer the question the way you asked at the end, the whole new heaven, new earth, and new Jerusalem is illuminated and radiant with the glory of God. So, when it says God created light, “And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. [And God saw that the light was good. And God] he separated the light from the darkness.” He called the light good. He didn’t call the darkness good. And so frequently darkness is portrayed as evil. But we know that in this world, when God created the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light, the moon, to govern the night, he created beauty. And he created tremendous beauty in the starry skies. Like if you’ve ever seen the Milky Way, or you go away from the light pollution of the city. And you get out to some mountainous area where the air is clear and cold, and you just see more stars than you ever thought even existed.
And the nighttime can be beautiful. I remember when I preached this sermon, I wrote these words, “Nighttime can be beautiful if the harvest moon is rising over a field big and orange and full at the edge of the horizon. Nighttime can be beautiful if the stars are vivid in the cool mountain air, and you can see the Milky Way in clarity and intensity, like a cloudy streak across the darkness of the night sky. Nighttime can be beautiful if it’s summer, and you can see a moon shadow, and hear the chirping of the crickets in a peaceful, energetic chorus. Nighttime can be beautiful if you’re on a boat on a placid sea, and the moonlight glistens on the quiet waters. Nighttime can be beautiful if you see the dark silhouettes of trees in the winter, and the radiant cool blue whiteness of a snow-covered valley illuminated by the distant moon.
“But God has plans for the beauty of the lesser lights of the moon and the stars to replace them with his own varied levels of glory. And also, he has plans to crush all the terrors that stalk at night unseen and malicious. The terror of demons and assassins and burglars and wicked people. The terror of nighttime predators like lions and bats.”
So, in any case, yes, there is a beauty to nighttime. Don’t worry, the place that we’re going to will be beautiful, and you won’t be missing anything. So, it says, “There’s no longer any night.” It’s similar to the statement, “There was no longer any sea.”
Wes
Let me give the same language here that we had in chapter 21, or very similar to chapter 21, verse 23, where it says, “They’ll need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever,” it says at the end of verse 5. Which is just this in contrast with being servants. It’s again, one of those images that you said, we get all of that. We are forever serving God, but also reigning with him. An incredible picture here.
Andy
Yeah, it is. And this is a statement made very powerfully in Daniel 7. And I remember when I was doing scripture memory in Daniel, and I was so surprised by that. But we have these four beasts coming up out the sea, one after the other. And we’re told that the power was given to the fourth beast to rule over the saints and to defeat them. And kill them. But we know that, because of resurrection, our death is temporary. And so, despite that fact, that the fourth beast was given power to oppress his saints, and the saints would be handed over to him for time, times and half a time. It says, “The court will sit, and his power will be taken away and completely destroyed forever” (Daniel 7:26). Then the sovereignty, power and greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be handed over to the saints, the people of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will worship and obey him.
So that’s the consummation of this statement, King of kings and Lord of lords. We will be given authority to reign over subdomains. And so, the new heaven, new earth, will be divided into regions and realms, and people will be given the right to rule over them. As Jesus said that “You will sit on 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel” (Luke 22:30). And so, there is authority.
And I think it’s similar to the centurion’s statement, “I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and that one, “Come,’ and he comes, and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” That’s going to be in heaven too. But the difference is, there won’t be any tyranny on the part of those who rule, and there won’t be any insurrection or rebellion on the part of those who are ruled. And so, where we will be? Well basically, you’re in your job interview right now, by how you live your life. And so, those places of authority, sitting at Jesus’s right and his left or wherever you sit in the kingdom, are given to those who are willing to drink from Christ’s cup and willing to serve others. So, the greatest among us will be those that serve us the most. So, if you want some high place in the kingdom, then serve your brothers and sisters. So, it says, “They will reign forever and ever.”
Wes
As we wrap up, Andy, we discussed a little beforehand that there’s some variation as to where this passage gets broken. We’ve included verse 6 in our podcast, but I know when you preached this, you stopped at verse 5. How does verse 6 function in this passage, and what final thoughts do you have for us as we’ve looked at these verses today?
Andy
Well, what verse 6, the angel says, “These words are trustworthy and true.” So, they extend over the whole Book of Revelation, and indeed, over the whole Bible. And so, it’s that assertion that the words of God are trustworthy, you can bank on them. Our hope does not disappoint. The things that we have studied here, the meticulous details, Wes, that we’ve gone through in this podcast, they will be true. The words are true. And so, it’s worth us meditating and studying these things.
And so, we can trust these things and build our lives on them. They are trustworthy. And then it says, “The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place.” So, I think the reason why I chose when I preached to end at verse 5 and then to begin a sermon with verse 6, is that from verse 6-16, it’s almost like an inclusion, or a parenthesis. And there’s a lot of similar language here at the end in Revelation 22 that we get at the very beginning of the book. And then a lot of statements about these words. These words, they’re trustworthy, the ones who take the words to heart and all of that. But we can go both ways. So, I’ll go verse 6 in connection with verse 1-5 and say, everything we’ve studied in this podcast is trustworthy and true. And then we could maybe pick up at verse 6 next time, and have it serve double duty.
Wes
Sure. Any final thoughts on this passage today?
Andy
Oh, I would just, brothers and sisters, I would take these words that we study, especially verse 1-5, and just meditate on them and think, “How rich are we! How great is our inheritance!”
One thing that it doesn’t even talk about here, but we have talked about before, and that is, as Paul says, “I pray that you would know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and the incomparably great power for us who believe” (Ephesians 1:18). We are rich in our inheritance. But there in Ephesians 1, it talks about in the saints. And so, we’re going to be rich in each other. And that wasn’t even mentioned here. We have all these other riches that we’re talking about, the water of life, and the tree of life, and the throne of God, and seeing his face, and no more night, and all of this, we also get each other. We’re not going to be alone. We’ll be enjoying this together. And it’ll be like, “Hey, did you see that?” And we’ll be spurring each other on in worship. How awesome will that be? So, it’s exciting. So, I would just say, meditate on these things and let them fill you with joy and hope.
Wes
Well, this has been Episode 31 in our Revelation Bible Study Podcast. We want to invite you to join us next time for Episode 32 entitled, Preparing Immediately for The Imminent Return of Christ, where we’ll discuss Revelation 22:7-16.
Thank you for listening to the Two Journeys podcast. And may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
