Sermon for Pilgrim Church September 2022

1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb ² down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. ³ No longer will there be any curse. (Rev. 22:1-3a NIV)

The wonders of the new Jerusalem described in chapter 21 are not complete.  Here at the beginning of chapter 22, we are given more metaphors to help us to picture what eternal life with God will be like.  I think that one reason why we have a lot of symbolism in the book at this point is that it is very difficult to describe what eternal life will be like.  All we know is life in a world broken by sin.  Therefore, a world without sin, where we live fully in the presence of God and of Christ is really hard to imagine.  Each of the symbols provides us with a picture of how glorious it will be.

The new creation is like a return to Eden.  The mention of the tree of life throws our minds all the way back to the beginning of the Bible.  In the LXX (2^nd BC Greek translation of the OT), the Garden of Eden is called a paradise in Eden.  The same word is used in Rev 2:7, where Jesus promises: “Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God” (Rev. 2:7 NIV).  In the final chapter of Revelation, we see that paradise has had an upgrade.  The new heaven and new earth are better than Eden because it is a city that fills the whole earth, not just a garden.  It does not simply house a few people but a great multitude.  It is not the garden of God so much as the city of God.

In this paradise is the river of the water of life.  The water of life flows from the throne of God and the Lamb.  Chapter 21 pictured the new Jerusalem as a city-temple or a temple-city.  Instead of a physical temple, God and the Lamb are the temple (21:22).  The throne of God is thus at the centre of the city.  From the throne flows the river of the water of life.  This picture is like that of the river flowing from the temple in Ezek 47.  Ezekiel’s river grew deeper and deeper and living things flourished in the river and on the banks of the river.

The Holy Spirit is called living water (John 7:37-39) but this reference to living water probably means eternal life, that is, eternal fellowship with God.  The picture makes me feel like the water is so beautiful and thirst-quenching.  We all long to have our spiritual thirst quenched.  Sometimes we look to the wrong places and are left thirsty (Jer. 2:13).  But this is the real thing.  The clear water makes us clean from our sins.  No one will ever thirst again in the new heavens and new earth.  The connection with the Holy Spirit is not irrelevant either, since the Holy Spirit facilitates our fellowship with God and with the Lamb (2 Cor 13:14; 1 John 1:3).  In the new creation, there is no limit to the power of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 15:44) and thus no limit to our fellowship with him.

The tree of life grows on both sides of the river.  Presumably there are several of the same kind of tree, otherwise this would not make sense.  The tree of life grew in the Garden of Eden (Gen 2:9-10) but after the Fall, God cast Adam and Eve out of the Garden so that they could have no access to the tree of life (Gen 3:22-24).  The tree of life is pictured in the construction of Solomon’s temple by carvings of flowers (1 Kings 6:18) and palm trees (1 Kings 6:29), pointing to the restoration of access (see Ezek 41:18-26).  Here in Rev 22, the river of life flowing from the throne of God is the water in which the tree of life grows (see Ezek 47:12).  There is no barrier to the tree of life in the new creation because those who dwell there have been forgiven and cleansed of sin by the Lamb.  The healing of the leaves comes from the Lamb, whose death has healed the people of God from the curse of sin and death.  The tree produces a crop every month so there is always fruit on the tree of life.  This represents eternal life without interruption.

The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. ⁴ They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. ⁵ There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever. (Rev 22:3b-5).

These are all various different ways of saying that the saints will be with their God and in intimate fellowship with him.  They are allusions to priestly service in the temple.  Christ has made believers kings and priests to God (1:6) and we can see this in these verses.  The word “serve” is only ever used in regard to religious service of God.  Believers serve God in the new temple-city.  The saints will see the face of God.  To see the face of God is to know him fully as he fully knows us (1 Cor 13:12).  It is what the OT saints longed for (Ps 11:7; 27:4).  The name of God is on their forehead.  The name of God was written on a gold plate and strapped on the forehead of the high priest (Exod 28:36-38) as he brought offerings before God for the sins of the people.  Having the name of God upon your forehead means that you are consecrated to be in his presence.[1]  The saints will reflect his holy character as they live in intimate fellowship with him.  The lamps in the temple were never allowed to go out (Exod 27:20-21).  God is light and therefore no one can fellowship with him if they are in darkness (1 John 1:5-6).  Now, in the new temple, there is constant light and no darkness because there is no more sin and no more evil.

And at last, we have come to the conclusion of the book.  This section sums up the purpose of the book for Christians.  From start to finish, Revelation is an exhortation to holy living and obedience to God for God’s people so that they will receive the reward of eternal life with God.  This final section of Revelation is a reminder of just that.

The angel said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true. The Lord, the God who inspires the prophets, sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place.” 7 “Look, I am coming soon! Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy written in this scroll.” (Rev 22:6-7).

The words of the book are true.  The things that will soon take place refers to what was happening to the first readers, rather than to us now.  But what has not happened yet is the return of Jesus.  Jesus says, “Look I am coming soon!”  We saw in the letters at the beginning of the book that Jesus warned the churches that he would come to them if they did not repent (2:16; 3:11).  That was not a physical event that all could see but a coming by the Holy Spirit to rebuke and discipline them.  Yet in chapter 22, the promise that Jesus will come soon appears three times (22:7, 12, 20).  It is not a warning, but a promise.  It is something to look forward to.  This is part of the reward for those who read and obey the words of this book.

Perhaps people in the first century expected Jesus to return in their lifetime.  As it has been nearly 2000 years since the book was written, we know that Jesus did not return soon in that sense.  There are two helpful ways to read “soon”.  Firstly, the coming of Jesus is the next major event in God’s redemptive calendar.  There is nothing which needs to happen before this because everything is done.  The work of Christ is complete.  He is not slow as some think of slowness because to God a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like a day (2 Pet 3:8-9).  For God, the return of Christ is soon.  Secondly, there is an expectation that Jesus will arrive at any time and we must be ready.  This is probably the main point.  We saw this in 16:15 when Jesus said, “Look! I come like a thief!”  The fact that Jesus is returning at any time is the reason to be continually expecting him.  This impacts our thoughts and our behaviour, just as it would if we had dinner guests arriving at any moment.  We would not be going about in our PJs and having nothing ready to serve them.  Since Jesus is coming soon, we are to be holy, godly people, who shun sin and live for Christ every day.

8 I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I had heard and seen them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been showing them to me. 9 But he said to me, “Don’t do that! I am a fellow servant with you and with your fellow prophets and with all who keep the words of this scroll. Worship God!”

For John this is a repeat of his previous mistake.  It is a perennial problem when confronted with angels.  They can look like divine beings because of their heavenly appearance.  But that should not mean that we are to worship them.  The angel reminds John, “Worship God!”  Worship of God is not merely appropriate, it is the only thing which is appropriate for the Christian to do.  The whole point of human existence is to be in relationship with the living God.  Worship is a huge part of this.

10 Then he told me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this scroll, because the time is near. 11 Let the one who does wrong continue to do wrong; let the vile person continue to be vile; let the one who does right continue to do right; and let the holy person continue to be holy.”

Here John is alluding to the final chapter of Daniel.  Daniel did not understand the visions he had seen.  He was told “Go your way, Daniel, because the words are rolled up and sealed until the time of the end” (Dan 12:9).  The opposite is true in Revelation.  The prophecy is not sealed because the time of the end has arrived in Christ.  The end began with Christ’s life, death and resurrection.  Now the things concealed have been revealed to the church (Eph 3:4-5; 1 Pet 1:12).  Because the prophecies of Daniel, and others, have begun to be fulfilled in the church, the church must pay attention and obey God.

I believe that first part of verse 11 – “Let the one who does wrong continue to do wrong; let the vile person continue to be vile” – should be understood as the result of a failure to heed to call to obey the gospel.  Once a person has heard and rejected the gospel, a hardness of heart results.  Isaiah was commanded, “Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed” (Isa. 6:10 NIV).  Jesus spoke in parables with the same effect (Matt 13:13-15).  The pseudo-believers that hang around churches but do not have genuine faith would be in that category.  Rev 22:11 is intended as a wakeup call for them to repent before their hearts become too hardened.

12 “Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. 14 Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city.” (Rev 22:12-14).

Again, Jesus promises that he will come soon.  When Jesus returns, he will return to reward the saints who have suffered for the sake of his name.  The coming of Jesus is something therefore to look forward to.  The only reason that we may not look forward to the return of Christ is if we have done evil or compromised with the world.  In our wealthy country, everything can seem so great sometimes that we don’t actually want Jesus to return and to disrupt our lovely lives.  It is the times when things are difficult and there is suffering that drive us to wish for the return of Christ.

He is called by the divine titles Alpha and Omega (1:8; 21:6), First and Last (only applied to Jesus in Revelation – 1:17; 2:8; but applied to God in Isa 44:6; 48:12), Beginning and End (21:6).  As with the earlier mention of these titles (21:6), they indicate the sovereignty of Christ over history.  Everything was made for him and everything will find its significance in him (Col 1:16).  This will all become evident when he returns in glory.  He will not come empty-handed, but will reward his people.  The reward is access to the tree of life in the city of God.  The reward is that Jesus is eternally present with his people.

“I will give to each person according to what they have done” should be read with “Blessed are those who wash their robes”.  Those who have lived without Christ will receive a “reward” commensurate with their own works.  This will be a disappointment to everyone who believes that they measure up to God’s standards apart from Christ.  However, those who wash their robes have done so in two ways.  According to 7:14, they have come out of the tribulation.  In other words, they have remained faithful under trial.  But secondly, they have made their robes white in the blood of the Lamb.  Our righteousness comes from the work of Christ, not from ourselves.  Even our faithfulness comes from Christ, who gives us his Holy Spirit so that we may persevere through the trials and suffering and remain faithful to him.  But this is a present tense verb – those who continually wash their robes.  In other words, it is important to be vigilant and guard ourselves against impurity and sin.

15 Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

We have seen what it is like inside the holy temple-city.  But there is an outside, which is elsewhere described as the lake of fire and sulphur (19:20; 20:10, 14, 15; 21:8).  This list of sins serves as a warning to avoid so that we do not become excluded from the holy city.  It is similar to the previous lists (21:8, 27).  Magic arts or sorcery is quite obvious.  So is sexual immorality, murder and idol worship.  These appeared in 21:8. Less obvious are dogs.  This could mean male temple prostitutes (Deut 23:18), evil-doers (Ps 22:16; 59:5-6), or impure people (Matt 7:6; Phil 3:2).  Liars appear in all three lists.  These claim to belong to Christ but are in fact false believers.  These sin lists are intended to jolt them to repentance along with the Christians who have capitulated to the culture around them and have become lax in repentance and relationship with Jesus.

16 “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.” 17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life. (Rev 22:16-17).

He is the Root and the Offspring of David.  This reminds us of the fact that Jesus holds the key of David (3:7); he opens and shuts.  He is also the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David (5:5) who has conquered.  The Bright Morning Star is a messianic title for the one who will conquer the enemies of Israel (Num 24:17).  These titles are intended to focus on the fact that Jesus is the fulfilment of all that the kingship of David means in the Bible.  He is the king who will overcome the enemies of his people.  None can change or undo what he has done.  He is the King of kings.

There are two calls to come in the final words of the book.  The first is a call to come to the waters and drink the water of life.  This is based on Isa 55:1 – “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.”  Jesus exhorts the church and those outside the church who have ears to hear.  The church holds out the water of life to the lost.  They are empowered by the Holy Spirit as they do so.  The water of life is without cost because the price of eternal life has already been paid by the Lamb.  It is the prophetic call of the church in their testimony to Christ that draws the lost to life.

18 I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll. 19 And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this scroll. (Rev 22:18-19).

This is probably not intended as statement about adding or subtracting from the Bible as such.  Rather the idea is that the book of Revelation must be read as a whole and the message taught without softening it.  It is a difficult thing to live as a follower of the Lamb.  If we don’t like the hardness of that life, it is tempting to make compromises in order to make things easier.  Yet those who side with the idolatry of the beast, Babylon and the false prophet will join with these wicked entities in the lake of fire.  So don’t add out-clauses and don’t subtract difficult aspects of the message, lest we end up gaining plagues and losing eternal life.

20 He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. 21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen. (Rev. 22:20-21 NIV).

The final words of the book are a third reminder that Jesus is coming soon.  The church cries, “Amen.  Come, Lord Jesus.”  How much do we want him to come?  How often do we call upon him to come?  In the last days before losing my job at Tabor, when everything was extremely stressful and I was hurting a lot, I prayed, “Come, Lord Jesus” more often than I ever had before or since.  When I am reminded of the intense evil in the world, I pray, “Come, Lord Jesus”.  But often I am just going about my life and not thinking of this at all.  The trick, then, is to continually desire the coming of Jesus because he is more important to us than the things we can see in front of us.

This is a hard book but it ends with grace.  Only the grace of our Lord Jesus can enable us to hold on until the end.  Only the grace of Jesus can give us the ability to stay away from compromise with the idolatrous world.  We need this grace.