It's Near Rev, 22:1-11

This morning we're going to be turning to Revelation 22. It's kind of amazing to think back. It's September of last year we started our study in the book of Revelation. And as we've looked at this, it's just been amazing to see John's prophetic masterpiece. John has written this book of Revelation, and as I hope you've gathered as we've gone through the study, John is an amazingly consistent writer. He has also woven through it some just phenomenal patterns from front to back. He has, as we'll see further this morning, he has already kind of brought up issues and topics that were addressed in the first few chapters of Revelation and now addressed them again in these last few chapters. Furthermore, he's brought things from the first chapters of Genesis. and brought those to a point of completion and contrast here in these last couple chapters.

So anyway, we'll be proceeding there. And one of the things that we'll be looking at as we look at this is just, I think it's important to keep in mind, as John is writing, he is writing about the New Jerusalem. This is, as we showed on the first slide to start our time this morning, This is a time when the old heaven and old earth have been replaced. They have passed away and have been replaced.

So John is writing about something that stretches the limits of human language to describe. And I think we'll see that as we go through this. He is describing, as best he can, what he's seeing. He's using, sometimes, some pictorial language to seek to convey the truths that are laid out before him.

Nonetheless, I think it's important to keep in mind there may be lots of questions we might have about heaven, about what is going to take place, and frankly we may not get the answers for those until we get there. Because the ability of human language to convey what it will be like is just not there. One of the things we pointed out before, Ephesians 2, Verse 7 says that it will take ages, multiple ages to come, for the Lord to reveal the riches of His grace. When 10,000 years have gone by, the Lord will say, hey, that's nothing. And we'll be gasping still. Okay, so let's take a look here. As we enter this last chapter, let's start with the first couple of verses here.

Then he showed me a river of water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, 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. Now one of the things we see here, and in fact it's a pattern that starts at the beginning of Revelation, even in the very first verse, and goes all the way to this, the last chapter, three times. And one of the things we see is this phrase, and he showed me. And one of the things that that underscores, because it's so consistently woven throughout the book, it underscores that God is in the process of revealing truth.

You see, there are truths that just simply can't be figured out from the human end all by ourselves. We can't do a scientific study and arrive at this kind of information. We cannot, by our own rationality and observation, arrive at this information. God must reveal it to us. And this is consistently shown in this book. He showed me. God is the one who is in the process of deliberately revealing here. The next thing is to look at this verse.

This new Jerusalem is a city, isn't it? Now, biblical cities in biblical times A great many of them were along rivers and major bodies of water. And that's true even today, isn't it? A lot of major cities are along a river or some large body of water.

And the reason for that is, of course, that water is necessary to life. We need water. So putting a city adjacent to a body of water where that water is available makes good sense. Well, this is true here. But there's also some real contrast. Here is this river of life that he talks about. And what becomes very clear, very quickly, is that the Lord is the source of all life.

Here's this river. Usually we think of where rivers come from. They come from out in the mountains somewhere, right? And we look at these high mountains and the mountains have snow melt and the river comes off of them and it goes in the lower areas where the cities are. Here is a river, and where does it come from?

From the throne of God. Here is a river that has the Lord as its source, and it's pointing that God Himself is the very source of life. We can get that detached in our thinking here on planet Earth all too easily, can't we? But this underscores the point. The Lord Himself is the source of life. The truth is, there is no other source of life apart from Him. something else.

He refers here to the water of life, and one of the things we'll see in this pattern, this is the third of four times where he uses this phrase, water of life. Back in Revelation chapter 7, well that was a few months ago, wasn't it? Revelation chapter 7, it talks about springs, 21, the spring of life. Here in this verse, the river of life. Water is used as a picture of life as a life source. We understand that because as human beings we need that stuff. A good portion of our body is made up of it, right? And we need to keep replenishing it. So the picture is obvious. It's conveying the Lord Himself is the source. Now, something else that's real interesting.

In order to make it smooth in the English, they've put, you know, like some the's in there, you know, the river of water, the water of life, or a river of the water of life. The Greek doesn't have any of those definite articles. Isn't that interesting?

A river of water of life. And one of the things that's true of the Greek language that the New Testament was written in is where the definite article is eliminated, the focus is on character. This is a life kind of river. It has a character of life. Isn't that neat? It isn't just a name for it. It has that character. And again, where is the source of that river? It comes from the throne. The Lord himself is of a character as to be the source of life.

Something else here. This word clear, now we might just think, okay, the water is clear, it doesn't have a bunch of mud in it or something, right? It goes beyond that. The Greek word there is lampros. And that has a common root with our English word lamp. And the meaning of that word is more than just clear and transparent or even translucent. It means bright, glistening.

That's sparkling. That's the sense. This isn't just regular water. This is sparkling water. This is water that glows. I don't think it's radioactive, so don't worry about that. But this is water that has a brightness to it. This is water that is astounding. You look at it and, boy, is that inviting. That water just looks like it has life. Now, the next thing. This is the river of the water of life. It's not simply provided by the Lord, but it comes from the throne. That man will be automatically drawn to the source. This sparkling, incredible water, where does that come from? Obvious, it will come from the source, from the throne itself. Now at the end of verse 1, we see Christ again called the Lamb. Did you notice that? And one of the things that we see here John has been writing the Lamb throughout the book of Revelation about 30 times.

And what's fascinating, remember we said John is a very consistent writer? We mentioned very early that John writes like a musician. Paul writes like a logician. John writes like a musician. He has these syncopations from heaven to earth. Heaven to earth. And he keeps weaving in common themes. And he's done that here as well.

He's called Christ the Lamb from the very first part of Revelation all the way now to the end. And as he has done so, what's very interesting, he has used the word lamb that means a little lamb. A little lamb. Isn't that interesting? Here's the one who is the agent of creation of the entire universe and he says, this is the little lamb. This is the little lamb.

And now we see in Revelation Hear this first verse in chapter 22, and we'll see it again in verse 3. The last usages of that word, the Lamb. Christ the Lamb. Isn't it amazing when you think of it? Here is Christ the Lamb who is also in this very same book called the Lion. This is the Lion and the Lamb. But he's most consistently called the Lamb. Something else to take note of At first this might be a little puzzling. It talks about and of God and of the Lamb. And what's interesting is this pattern of usage, talking about God and the Lamb, and using that phraseology, shows up again and again and again in the book of Revelation, and we're seeing it again here in this last chapter in verses 1 and 3.

Repeated reference to that. And here's something else that's fascinating. There are other New Testament passages where that shows up as well. We have a couple examples here. 1 Thessalonians 3, 11-13, And now may our God and Father Himself and Jesus our Lord direct our way to you, and may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another and for all people, just as we also do for you, so that He may establish your hearts without blame in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints. See that? Twice. in that one little passage.

Or John 5.26, for just as the Father has life in himself, even so he gave to the Son also to have life in himself. These kinds of references keep showing up again and again. Paul's writings, John's writings, both. And we'll see that as a repeated pattern. Here's what's behind it.

What scripture is conveying, and we've seen this in Revelation before, is the teaching that we've come to put a handle on, we call the Trinity. Now, you and I are used to thinking of one being, one essence. However, Scripture makes it clear that God is three persons, one essence. And that's a little tough for us to think about, isn't it? But that's what John is seeking to convey when he talks about God and the Lamb, or the Father and the Son. You see those kinds of things, and even one throne for the two of them. And the reason that that comes across that way is he is in multiple ways conveying to us this character of God who has three persons and one essence.

Now, something else here. If you look at that description in verse 2, it can be a little tough to figure out. We've got verse 2, the river is in the middle of the street, and we read on either side of the river was the tree of life. How does that work? This is an artist's conception. It may be helpful. I should point out that some Greek scholars, after looking at this real carefully, think that the trees are actually reaching across the river, and that that's the description that's coming across there. Real interesting. Here is this river that is central to the design of this New Jerusalem. Here is the street that goes on either side. And the landscaping, if you will, is the tree of life. The landscaping here is the tree of life. So I offer that as an artist rendering, realizing that when we get there we'll probably say, no, that's not quite right. No, that isn't quite right, but at least you get some initial sense of what that might be like.

Now, John writes for our benefit in the last half of verse 2. He says, Bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month, and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. Now here we see some fascinating revelations. The tree of life bears different kinds of fruit. Now that's interesting. Usually we think of a particular tree, we think of one kind of fruit. No, this is different. A variety. We get also the impression that there's this constant yielding of fruit.

I know my folks have a ranch where I spent my high school years and some years after that and they had an old apple orchard and we had lots of different kinds of apples. But one thing was that there was one kind of apple tree for this apple and one kind of apple tree for that particular variety, and you had to go to different parts of the orchard to get the different fruits. Furthermore, we had to wait until the season was right. If you went there at the wrong time of year, there either was nothing on the tree or it was not ready yet.

This is different, isn't it? The variety and the appearances all the time. Now, this is also evidence of God's constant provision, isn't it? Then he says that the leaves were for the healing of the nations. Now, you might say, well, wait a minute. I thought we were in the New Jerusalem and the nations are already fixed. But I think what he is talking about here, and what he is underscoring, is this constant state of well-being. The focus is not on a continuation of disease and trying to get rid of it, but the focus is instead on these trees that are always providing this constant state of well-being. That's the thing that he's zeroing in on with this passage here. Something else I think to take a note of.

John, in his last years, from what we have from writings outside of the New Testament, spent his last years in Ephesus and in that vicinity. Furthermore, we know that Ephesus is one of the seven cities to which this book of Revelation was going. We know from extra-biblical studies that the city of Ephesus had in its marketplace a fake tree of life. It was a fake tree of life that they just kind of put together and made out of artificial materials and everybody there in the marketplace would see this tree of life And there was all the stories about it, but it was all stories. It's like it's there, but everybody knew it just wasn't real.

This is different. Here you have in the middle of the city, just like in Ephesus, the Tree of Life, only this one is real. This one is real because why? The author of life is behind it. Anybody can put together a fake tree of life, but to have a real tree of life, you have to have the author of life behind it.

And that's what we find here in abundance. Now, what's interesting too, is this tree of life, that will be in our eternal home. All those who are believers, who have put their trust in Christ for salvation, this is their eternal home that's being described here. there will be no chance that things will return to a fallen state. Because you notice what's missing? There's no tree of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. Just the tree of life. Only.

Now let's take a look at verses 3 and 4 here. There will no longer be any curse, and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bondservants will serve Him. They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. What you see here is that the curse will be completely and entirely lifted, and all the effects of the fall along with it. One of the things we pointed out earlier is that whatever was started in Genesis is answered, completed, or reversed in Revelation.

See that? And this is no exception here, but one of the things we see specifically in this passage is no more night, and then also No more curse. Curse was given in Genesis 3. Now, no more. It's done. No more Murphy's Law. No more pollution. No more need to say, oops. And now the really good news. Are you ready for this? Drumroll. No more telemarketing calls at dinner time.

Now, furthermore, we were told before in chapter 21, the Lord himself will be in our eternal home always. Always. As Paul put it in 1 Thessalonians 4.17, we shall always be with the Lord. Always.

Now, John writes that the Lord's bondservants will serve him. Remember way back in chapter 1 where we started off, and this was a number of months ago obviously, the revelation of Jesus Christ, this is Revelation 1, 1-3, which God gave to show to his bondservants the things which must soon take place. And he sent and communicated it by his angel to his bondservant John. So this word bondservant shows up a couple of times in that brief passage. Who are his bondservants then?

Good question, glad you asked. Clearly John is included as we read that Revelation 1 1 2 3 and all of those who are of the Church of God Okay, all those who are true believers in Jesus Christ are included as well. And what does he say is going to happen? They will see his face You see now we behold the Lord by faith in the spiritually revealed facts facts that are laid out in Scripture, by faith in those spiritual facts, we see the Lord and we behold Him. Then we will be like Him and we will see Him face to face. Then we'll be like Him and see Him face to face. Now what does John mean by his name being on the foreheads?

Curious, isn't it? Kind of reminds you of that cell phone ad where it shows these people with all sorts of characteristics on their forehead. Now, this is a little different than that. They didn't have cell phone ads back then anyway. But, the name on the forehead, there's a reason for talking about that. Remember back when we looked at Revelation chapter 3 to the church at Philadelphia, with each of the churches there was a promise to the one who overcomes. And as it turns out, each of those promises to the overcomers is an indication of the truths about believers. And what we find as we look those up in the last few chapters of Book of Revelation is every one of the promises to the overcomers is fulfilled. We brought that up two or three weeks ago, and if you didn't happen to get that, I notice there's still a few handouts on the cabinet just to the right as you exit the room here.

But we have this example here specifically in Revelation 3.12 from the church at Philadelphia.

And he says this, He overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will not go out from it anymore, and I will write upon him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem which comes down out of heaven from my God and my new name.

Now, that may sound a little strange. You're thinking, am I supposed to get a tattoo? What is this? There is a good reason for this, and one of them is revealed right here. In John's day, a person who was either a soldier or a guild member, and the guilds were tied to the temples in terms of their activity, soldiers or guild members would be given either a mark that would be symbolic, or they would actually have the name of the deity that they were devoted to written on their foreheads. And so one of the things he's saying is, your name will be forever written on, my name will be forever written on your forehead. Why? That's showing that you are forever mine.

But there's another reason behind that. And in biblical times, the names of the donors were written on the pillars to buildings they helped fund. Now think about what this means. If the people in the church at Philadelphia were told, you're going to be a pillar, You're going to be a pillar. What is that saying? First of all, you're permanent. This is permanence. Which, by the way, doesn't go with losing your salvation. This indicates permanence.

Secondly, the names of the donors would be written on the pillars, like you see here. This, by the way, is the synagogue at Capernaum. The names of the donors would be written on the pillars where, guess what? If the Lord's name is written on us, He did the donation. He made the donation. In fact, He paid the entire price. Right? He paid the entire price. Therefore, His name is upon us. He's the donor. And we're the pillar. Permanently installed as a part of this new Jerusalem.

So both the forehead mark as a mark of deity, as well as this indication here, are relevant cultural examples that they would understand this means that I am devoted, this means that God paid the whole price for me to be a part of what He has constructed, to be a part of the New Jerusalem. The next thing here to take a look at is verse 5, and so let's read there.

And there will no longer be any night, and they will not have need of the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them, and they will reign forever and ever." Now, verse 5 makes it clear, as we saw before, that the need of any physical sources of light will come to an end. You won't need that flashlight anymore. You won't be bumping your shin in the dark. No more. The Lord will light all that is needed. He will be the light for all that is needed.

And that's one reason, as we pointed out before, why all the materials of the New Jerusalem, even the golden streets, are translucent or transparent. Everything is described in terms of jewels, in terms of gold that is see-through-ish. Why? Because the light of the Lord is then distributed throughout the entire city, through all the materials being transparent.

Notice that John finishes off verse 5 with a statement, and they will reign forever and ever. I believe this is the saints reigning with him forever and ever. Even now, we are positionally seated with Christ. Okay? Ephesians 2.6, we are positionally seated with Christ. What this says is our eternal position, which is already fixed, and our condition will be the same. We will reign with Him forever and ever, never more to be in dispute, never more to be questioned, never ever touchable. We'll reign with Him forever. No vacillation, no deviation, no interruption.

The other thing that we pointed out previously is this phrase, no longer, comes up. In this passage, the ones highlighted in blue, three times, twice in one verse even. no longer, or not have need, shows up here. Basically it's showing this is a contrast from the present world. All these are contrasts from the world the way it has been and the way you and I know it now. And that's why John keeps speaking in the negative here. John's not a negative guy. What he's talking about is the extreme contrast between the world that we know now and the way things will be. there will be things that will simply, as the new heaven and new earth are created, will simply be cut off entirely. No more. No longer. No need. None. Though it sounds negative, it's all good. That's a neat thing, isn't it? It sounds negative, saying no and not, but it's all good. All of it.

Now, verse 6. And he said to me, these words are faithful and true, and the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent his angel to show to his bondservants the things which must soon take place. And behold, I am coming quickly. Blessed is he who heeds the works of the prophecy of this book." Now, if one does not listen to the words of this book, The first part that we have there is these things are faithful and true. As we pointed out here, this is the last time out of four places in the book of Revelation where this faithful and true shows up. This is not just some religious words that he's spewing. Hey, this is faithful and true and it's nice religious talk.

No. These are legal words. This is a legal phrase from the time John was writing. And it's consistent with the very start of Revelation, in which John starts in the beginning verses to lay out basically a certification. In his day, he was making a legal certification. This is what I observed.

And with that kind of a legal weight, And so he returns to that issue here, faithful and true. Then the next thing we see here, he sent his angel to show his bondservants the things which must soon take place. And then you see in verse 7, quickly. Now if we put this together, we find here is another pattern in the book of Revelation. It's amazing. That's why we call this a tapestry. This is a prophetic masterpiece that the Lord has put together. Here we find seven times where this word is used in this way.

And what we find is it's translated soon in a couple of places and quickly. But what it boils down to is the Greek word behind them is the same. And the Greek word behind them is this word tachos. It shows up in our English language and medical terminology. We have our word tachycardia in the medical field. It means it's a rapid heartbeat.

And it doesn't mean that the Lord is going to come real shortly after the time of the writing of Revelation. What it means is very suddenly, very quickly, He will come. Once He comes, just like the tachycardia, the rapid heartbeat, Once he comes, these events that he's spelled out in the book of Revelation will happen quickly, one after another, after another, after another. There will be an ongoing sequence, quick in succession. Remember this place here where we see these words are spread ahead in chapters 1, 2, and 3. warning, once it's going to happen, it's going to happen quickly, and notice the next pattern, it all shows up then again at the very last chapter of Revelation, where he's reminding them, all this that has been written here, when it starts, it will happen suddenly, with an element of surprise, and once it begins, it will happen at a rapid pace. One right after the next, things will take place.

That's what he's talking about. That's what he means, I am coming quickly, Once he comes, it will be sudden, it will have an element of surprise, and it will initiate a series of events that will happen very quickly in rapid succession. That's what he's communicating. Now, here's the next thing that we see in John's description. We see John described as worshipping an angel in the next set of verses there. And what's interesting, this is the second time that this has taken place.

And so what has happened here is the first instance in Revelation 19.10, John has just seen this heavenly scene and he's overwhelmed. I mean, he has seen things that are so phenomenal, he doesn't know how to act.

Remember back in, I think it was chapter 4 or chapter 5, when John looked, it's chapter 5, John looked because they asked, who is worthy to open the seal? And there wasn't an instant answer and John began to weep. And one of the elders had to pull him aside and say, stop weeping! Okay?

Because John just, he was in a realm he didn't understand. This is like that. John is now the second time And now we see here in chapter 22, the second time, worshipping an angel. And it's not that John is somehow going off doctrinally. He's overwhelmed. He sees this angel and this bright, shining being, and he has to understand, oh no, that's just a created being. You don't understand. I'm not God. Worship God.

So John is giving a glimpse of the future, a glimpse of the heavenly scene, a glimpse of New Jerusalem, and he's frankly disoriented. He's trying to figure out, boy, what do I worship here? So he has to be corrected, and the angel does that, just as the prior angel did here in chapter 19. One of the other things that we see there in the last couple of verses in our passage is the warning, don't seal up the prophecy in this book. Don't do it. Why? Why bother saying that?

Well, remember when we were looking back in chapter 5, there was the issue of these seals and what they would do is they would put seals around the document and it was frequently a penalty of death to break open that seal improperly. And when it was sealed, you couldn't read it. We spoke, for example, of a seven-sealed scroll, as we read of in chapters 5 and 6. A seven-sealed scroll was used for wills, and you weren't allowed to open it until the very end. Furthermore, nobody was allowed to open the will except the person who was to be the executor. Nobody else could touch it. It was against the law.

So that's why John's getting the instruction. Don't feel this book. Why? Because the Lord is making it very clear to John, I want this book to be read and seen by everyone. Remember when we were back in chapter 1, what was the thing that was said about this book? And it's interesting, the book of Revelation is the only book like this. It was said, blessed are those who read and hear this. No other book of the Bible has that. Isn't it interesting? Blessed are those who read and hear this.

It's a shame that many church leaders are afraid to touch the book of Revelation. As I brought up earlier, I even know of one instance of a pastor who started teaching it and then switched. He says, I just can't figure it out. Well, John's point here at the very beginning, blessed are those who read and hear, and the very point that we see in this passage is By all means, take a look at this book.

By all means, read this. People need to understand what's in this. That's what he's saying. Don't do this and seal it up so that nobody can read it. People need to read it, and they need it now. So, keep it an open book. Make lots of copies. Spread it around. That's the message. That's what he's saying.

By the way, I just want to point out, and I think we did before, three of the four seals on this document are mentioned in the Old Testament. So this is a very historical piece here, it's a historical confirmation of the accuracy and validity of the Old Testament documents. Anyway, moving along here.

The last thing that we see, you look at the final verse there, verse 11, and the tenancy The tendency is to look at that and think, well, what on earth is this? It looks like if somebody is headed the wrong direction, they're going to stay that way. Isn't that kind of the way it looks? Or if they're headed the right direction, it's going to stay that way.

Well, what he's talking about, remember the prior verse says, don't seal this thing up, because people need to read what's in it. Okay? So he's saying, don't seal it up. Because if you do, those who are headed the wrong way will stay headed the wrong way. Yes, those who are doing well will do well, but those who are headed the wrong direction will stay headed in the wrong direction. Kind of the law of momentum. Whatever direction they're headed, they'll just keep on unless this book is opened. You need to have the message of this book.

So we look at that and we think here, here we are at the end of another year. As we look at this year and we think about it and we've had some minutes fly by, we've had some days and some weeks fly by really quickly. This last year I turned 50 and I told Nancy that I figured out what the difference is when you turn 50. There's four days between Sundays before you turn 50 And when you turn 50, there's three days between Sundays. That's the difference. So, we look back and here's another year and it has flown by.

But let's think back to what's the angel's final exhortation to John when he mistakenly begins to worship him, the angel? The angel's final exhortation is, worship God. Worship God. And if we ponder that a minute, Really, we live day in and day out, and if anything, there is the temptation, and in fact the world puts all kinds of effort and energy into it, to distract our worship and redirect our worship to other things, and other people, and other circumstances. And the appeal of this passage as we look at it is, yes, there will be a day when we'll be in this New Jerusalem, this eternal home, But for right now, the angel's appeal to John is just as valid and relevant as ever. As we look forward to the end of another year, and we don't know if this service is going to finish or if we're going to have the next one. We think so, but we don't know. But as we look at the angel's appeal, and we think of that, worship God. Worship God, because in the end, that's what's going to count. Worship the Lord. Behold the Lamb. worship the Lord of Glory. Let's pray.

Lord, as we've looked at this passage and seen that you are indeed the author of life, if you so will, we shall have another year. And Lord, as we look toward the potential of entering into that, we just want to pause and remember that you are indeed the author of life. It's moment by moment beholding you that we will be transformed from glory to glory. We thank you for this position that we have, untouchable in the heavens. And as we look forward to this time when our condition will be one with that, we just give you thanks and praise and look forward to the riches of your grace, which will take ages and ages and ages to reveal to us. We give you thanks in Jesus' name. Amen.