CHAPTER
22 We
come to this last chapter, not only of
Revelation, but of the entire Bible with a sense of great awe and
responsibility. When we come to think that the next word we shall hear
from our
dear Lord after this chapter will be that glorious “Come
up hither,” it makes us want to hang upon every
precious word. In the last two chapters in Revelation we get a glimpse
and a
little foretaste of the eternal ages to come. The rest of the Bible
deals more
or less with time as we know it, but these chapters go beyond time as
we know
it to give us what our Lord wants us to know about eternity. It
just might have been better if the first five
verses of this chapter had been left in chapter 21 since these
verses
are still dealing with “the holy city”.
There is a slight break, however, between these two chapters. Chapter 21
has to do more with the outward aspects of the city, its size and make
up and
of the wall around the city. But here in the first five verses of this
chapter
we are permitted to peep, so to speak, into the city itself. In
verse 1
John tells us that he was shown “a pure
river of water of life.” This lovely river flows down the middle of
the
broad avenues of the city. No city is complete without its water
supply, so
here in this glorious city the water as “clear as crystal” flows down
the
middle of the streets. There is so much we do not know about this
wonderful
river. We are persuaded that the occupants of this city will never
thirst for
this water of life. However, the Psalmist says (36:8) “They shall be abundantly satisfied with the
fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of
thy
pleasures” And in Psalms 46:4 we read, “There is a river, the streams whereof shall make
glad the city of God.” We can rest assured that this river
is for
the Bride’s pleasure and enjoyment. Nothing is so soothing to the
nerves as
sitting or standing by the river’s brink and watching the waters flow
by. Ezekiel
saw a river (47:1-12) that in some
ways
resembles this one. There were trees on either side of Ezekiel’s river
that
bore food to eat and whose leaves were for medicine. But this river
issued out
from under the threshold of the sanctuary and flowed down through the
desert to
the sea. This river is seen flowing through the countryside. But the
river in
the holy Jerusalem issues from the very throne of God which is located
in this
city, and so far as the record goes, it never flows outside the city.
Someone
may be saying, “That will be a mighty short river.” But let us
remember, this
city is 1500 miles long, 1500 miles wide and 1500 miles high. If it
should just
flow down one street from one side of the city to the other it would be
as long
as the great Euphrates River and longer than the mighty Mississippi. If
it
flows around through all the streets of this glorious city, this old
world has
never dreamed of a river as long as that one will be. In
verse 2 we see trees on either side of
this wonderful river. In other words we see tree lined streets in the
holy
city. People who live all their lives on the great plains of our
country and
who have never visited other parts of the country probably have a hard
time
trying to visualize what we have here. One of the beautiful things
about our
Eastern cities is a street lined on either side with lovely trees. But
the most
beautiful street in our cities lined on either side with the most
beautiful
trees known to man is but a poor foretaste of the beautiful streets
that await
the Bride in that coming day. These trees are not
only a thing of beauty, they bear a different kind of fruit
each month. For a long time I thought that when the thousand year reign
of our
Lord was finished there would be no more time as we know it. In my
younger days
I would misread Scriptures like Revelation 21:23 where it says
“the city had no need of the sun, neither of
the moon” and in verse 25 “there
shall be no night there” and then jump to a wrong
conclusion. It seems that I just assumed that all that would be left
after the
great white throne judgment would be this holy city with its occupants.
If some
of us were as good at the broad jump as we are at the conclusion jump,
we would
break all Olympic records overnight. I have long since come to see that
the
above Scriptures have to do only with the holy city. They have
absolutely
nothing to do with the earth. Even here in the holy city itself the
months of
the year are distinguishable, for we see here in verse 2 that
these
trees bear a different fruit each month.
These
trees are called “the tree of life.” They are a species
of trees like the apple tree
or the peach tree. And though it reads “the tree of
life” you notice they are on both sides of the
river. So when it says “the tree of life”
it speaks of a species of trees. In Genesis 3:22-23
we see that Adam was driven out of the Garden of Eden
lest he eat of this “tree of life”
and “live forever.” In Proverbs 3:13-18 wisdom is said to be the “tree
of life.” And in Revelation 2:7
our Lord says “To him that
overcometh (I John 5:5) will I
give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the
paradise of God.” It would seem that this overcoming carries
along
with it the privilege of being in the Bride of Christ. We shall (D.V.)
deal
more fully with this when we come to verse 19. We
have been dealing with the trees and the
fruit, but we also see that the leaves of these trees are “for
the healing of the nations.” So we see that not only will there
be months in the eternal ages, but there will also be nations upon the
new
earth. Just how these leaves will heal the nations, and in what way the
nations
will need healing, I simply do not know. We do know that when this time
comes
old Satan will be serving his time in the lake of fire for ever and
ever. So he
will not be around to deceive these nations, but there will in some way
be a
need for their healing. In
verses 3 and 4 we see that
there is to “be no more curse.”
Whether the leaves play a part in there being no more curse we do not
know. We
do know that when Adam and Eve sinned they brought a curse upon the
earth and
everything on it. But when this time comes that curse will be gone
forever. Won’t
it be wonderful for those who live in the flesh in that day when all
that curse
is gone, no curse upon man, none upon the lower creatures and none upon
the
earth itself? We today just simply cannot conceive of how wonderful
that will
be. There won’t even be any briars and thorns in that wonderful time, Isaiah
55:13. Then
we see that “the throne of God and of the Lamb” are in
this city. The time was
when I thought the saints would spend eternity up in the third heaven
with God.
But I have long since come to see that God will spend eternity on the
new earth
with men (21:3). His servants will serve Him, and His servants
will
include not only the occupants of the holy city and the other heavenly
people
who are not a part of the Bride, but the earth dwellers of that day as
well.
Not only are they to serve Him, but they are to see His face and have
His
precious name in their foreheads. Even those who live on the other side
of the
earth will be able to go to Jerusalem from year to year where they can
see our
Lord’s face. We think we have wonderful means of transportation today,
and we
do compared with that of fifty years ago, but what we have today is but
a
foretaste of what they will have in that wonderful day. In
verse 5 we see a repetition of what we
saw in 21:23 and 25. There
will be “no night” in the holy city
simply because to the glory of God is the light of it, and the glory of
God
never goes down like the sun. But let us remember, day and night will
still be
around for a long, long time. In 20:10 we see the beast, the
false
prophet and old Satan being “tormented
day and night for ever and forever.” And believe me, that’s a
mighty long
time. So, let us not throw away the sun and the moon just yet. The
people who
will be living upon the new earth will need them.
Then
we see in the latter part of this verse
that which may startle some people. In Revelation 5:10 we saw
that those
whom our Lord redeemed are to “reign
upon the earth.” Then in 20:6 we see that we are to reign
with
Christ “a thousand years.” It is not
hard for Bible believers to see that we are to reign with our Lord
during His
wonderful thousand year reign here on this earth. But here in 22:5
we
see that out beyond that thousand year reign, that out in the new earth
in the
eternal ages to come, we are to “reign forever
and forever.” Now I do not know how long that will be, but if you
will tell
me just how long old Satan and his buddies are to be tormented in the
lake of
fire, I will tell you just how long we will be reigning with our Lord.
We have
exactly the same expression here in 22:5 that we have in 20:10.
So I conclude, we will reign as long as they are tormented. And I
assure you
that will be a long, long time with no end to it.
When
we come to the last section of the
wonderful Book of Revelation beginning with verse 6 the
Challoner-Rheima
(Catholic) version gives it the caption “Epilogue.” But since an
epilogue is
something added to a literary work as a sort of an excuse for the work,
I am by
the Book of Revelation like Shakespeare was by the play he was
discussing in “A
Midsummer Night’s Dream” when he said “No epilogue, I pray you; for
your play
needs no excuse.” Most certainly, the Book of Revelation needs no
excuse. These
last two chapters of the Book are, to me, a wonderful climax, not only
to the
Book of Revelation, but to the entire Bible. I realize that the part of
the
Bible that tells us how Christ saves lost sinners and then keeps them
saved
forms a mighty crescendo, but still, to me, these chapters are a
fitting climax
to the wonderful Book we call our Bible. If a speaker, or a writer
fails to
build up to a fitting climax at the close of his message, both he and
his
message will soon be forgotten. But we should never forget the writer
(author)
and the message in Revelation, because the fitting climax is evident. In
this verse 6 we see that which, in a
sense is pathetic. Were it not for our slowness in believing all that
is
written in the Book of Revelation there would have been no need for our
Lord to
tell us “These sayings are
faithful and true.” Then we are told that “the
Lord God of the holy prophets sent His
angel to show unto His servants the things which must shortly be done.”
The expression “Lord God of the
prophets” in the Greek is “The
Lord God of the spirits of the prophets.” He is the One who had
complete
control over the spirits of the prophets who spoke and wrote for Him,
therefore, what they wrote was “faithful
and true.” Then He speaks of “the
things which must shortly be done.” In the first verse in
Revelation
it is “things which must shortly
come to pass.” The expression really means that these things
will be
done, or come to pass rapidly when their time comes. And how fast these
things
are being done today. If some great Baptist who has been dead for some
twenty-five years were permitted to come back here today (1969) he
would not be
able to recognize most Baptists by what they preach and practice. But
when we come to verse 7 we see that
which should cause great rejoicing on the part of our Lord’s faithful
few. Here
He says “Behold, I come quickly.”
Three times do we see this precious expression in this last chapter,
verses
7, 12, and 20. Since He could say that nineteen
hundred years
ago, how wonderfully true it is today. When our Lord repeats something
in His
Book that He has already said, He does it to emphasize the importance
of what
He has said. And when we see it repeated again we may know that it is
done to
make all the more emphatic that emphasis. How important it is that we
be
expecting Him to “come quickly.” I
have been working on this book when I could spare the time now for more
than
five years. And I have been very desirous of getting it printed in the
hope
that our dear Lord might see fit to use it in some little way to be of
help to
some of His precious saints. But how I do hope He comes for us before
this book
is off the press. What little this unworthy servant of His can teach
any one
concerning the precious Word would not be so much as a drop in the
bucket
compared to what we will learn from Him in that wonderful day. Then
in this verse we see the promise of
a blessing to those who “keep the
sayings of the prophecy of this book.” In the first chapter
and
verse 3 we read, “Blessed is
he that readeth and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep
those
things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.”
I
can only pity any of our Lord’s saints who have allowed old Satan to
convince
them that the Book of Revelation cannot be understood and that it would
be a
waste of time to read it. Many of the saints seem to be losing wondrous
blessings by their failure to read and heed the things written in this
wonderful Book. Then
too, we see in this verse another
refutation of the teaching that the Book of Revelation is not a Book of
prophecy. Even books have been written giving this wonderful Book an
historical
interpretation. And I must admit that some of Revelation has become
history.
For example, chapters 2 and 3 are now history, but for
anyone to
fail to see that Revelation is a Book of prophecy he simply has to play
hopscotch with verses like 1:3, 22:7, 10, 18,
19.
Five times our Lord calls Revelation a Book of prophecy. And, beloved,
I
believe Him. In
verses 8 and 9 we see the
beloved John so enthralled, so taken over by all these wonderful things
he had
seen and heard that he becomes beside himself with joy at the prospect
of all
the glorious things that awaits, not only him, but all the Lord’s
saints. He
knew that it was his dear Lord upon whose breast he had leaned that was
showing
him and telling him all these wonderful things, but for the moment he
seemed to
forget that his Lord is doing all this through the angel. So in ecstasy
he
fails down to worship the angel. Sometimes it seems that some of the
Lord’s
saints today come very close to worshipping some preacher. But we
should profit
by John’s mistake here and remember that our preacher is but a man, and
not
God. Let us remember, God alone is worthy of worship. In
verse 10 we see another refutation of
another erroneous teaching concerning Revelation. When someone tells
you that
Revelation cannot be understood, he is saying, in essence, that
Revelation is a
sealed book. But here the angel tells John not to seal this book. And
the
reason the angel gave for not sealing this Book was the time was at
hand. By
this the angel meant that the time was already here for the things
written in
this Book to start being fulfilled. In Daniel 12:9 Daniel was
told that
the words of his book were “closed up
and sealed till the time of the end.” I am persuaded that no one
understood
the Book of Daniel until the Book of Revelation was written. As the
warm sun of
the spring time causes the flowers to open up so the light of the Book
of
Revelation shined upon the Book of Daniel and caused it to open up and
give out
its glorious message. In
verse 11 it would seem that we see man’s
permissibility set forth. Throughout the Bible his responsibility has
been held
up before him. Now after God’s laws, His precepts, and His warnings
have been
presented to man he is now told to go ahead and do whatever his heart
desires
to do. Even the lost man has been told that he will be judged according
to his
works (20:12). God is not sanctioning unjust and filthy living
here in
this Scripture. Neither is He condemning it. People are not condemned
because
they live a wicked life. They are judged according to it, but they are
condemned because they have “not
believed in the name of the only be gotten Son of God” (John
3:18).
The saved people have a part in this verse also. Our translation says, “he that is holy, let him be holy still.”
But another translation says, “let the
saints grow ever more holy.”
In
verse 12 we see a repetition of what
we saw in verse 7 and since we dealt at length with the fact of
our Lord’s
soon coming, in connection with that verse, may we consider the
remainder of
the verse. Here our Lord tells us that His “reward is with” Him “to give every man according
to his works.”
How important it is that we come to see this fact. We see it set forth
in I
Corinthians 3:11-15
and in II Corinthians 5:10 and now again here in Revelation 22:12.
So it behooves us to take heed as to what we do for our Lord,
and as to why
we do it. When He comes He will make known the motives of men’s hearts.
So it
also behooves us to see to it that what we do for Him is for His glory
and not
for our own. In
verse 13 we see a repetition of 1:8
so we refer you to our comments on that verse.
In
verse 14
we see another glaring error in translation. Our version says “do His commandments,” but the
Greek says, “wash their robes.” This
we do by our trusting in the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ after
He has
quickened us and given us the faith with which we can trust. Our doing
this
gives us access to the city and “to the
tree of life.” In
verse 15 we find that on
the outside
are the wicked. The first of these wicked to be mentioned are the “dogs.” These “dogs” are not the animal
with four legs. Rather it is the false
preacher, Isaiah 56:10-11.
And if you notice, the false preacher is listed before the “whore
monger” or the “murderer.” Just who can be worse in
our
Lord’s sight than a false preacher? If you notice the last statement in
the
verse reads, “whosoever loveth and
maketh a lie.” This applies to the murderers, etc. David was
guilty
of murder, still he is with our Lord today. Samson committed mass
murder and
even suicide and still he made our Lord’s honor roll (Hebrews 11:32).
They did not murder just because they loved to kill. They were not
murderers at
heart. In
verse 16 we see something that we do
not see in connection with any other Book in the Bible. Here it seems
that our
Lord literally signs His name to this wonderful Book of Revelation.
There are
so many things about this precious Book to endear it to our hearts, and
still
so many of the saints seem to utterly ignore it. Then He tells us that
He was “the root and the offspring of David.”
As the maker of man He was the root from which David came. As the man
Christ
Jesus He was the offspring, or the seed of David. He also tells us that
He is “The bright and morning star.” In Numbers
24:17 Balaam said, “I shall see
Him, but not now: I shall behold Him, but not nigh: there shall come a
Star out
of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel.” Now He
says He is
“the bright and morning star.”
The morning star is the one that shines as the night gives way to the
glorious
millennial reign of our Lord. In
verse 17 we hear the Spirit and the
Bride saying come. Then they that hear are to say come. But let us
notice who
it is that is being invited to come. First, it is the thirsty. Dead
people,
that is, the dead body cannot thirst. There must be life before there
can be
thirst. We are not talking about the Spirit of the wicked in Hades,
They do
thirst, but they are also very much alive. The spirit of man never
dies. It is
always conscious of the surroundings. But anything that is dead does
not have
the ability to thirst. So these thirsty ones in this verse are those
whom the
Son has quickened. Then we are told “And
whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely.”
Arminians
make much of the statement “whosoever
will, let him take the water of life freely.” We must admit
that on
the surface this statement might be given a rather universal meaning.
But in John
5:40 Jesus said to some lost people “ye will not
come to me, that ye might have life.” And in Philippians
2:13 the Williams version says, “For
it is God Himself who is at work in you to help you desire it as well
as do it.”
So this Scripture teaches that God is the One who makes us willing to
come to
Christ and also the One who helps us to come to Him. Just one short
step before
that light shined upon Paul he most certainly was not willing to come
to
Christ. Just one short step back from that light Paul actually hated
Jesus
Christ. So those who will come back and drink of “the water
of life freely” are the ones whom God has made willing. In
verses 18-19 we see the plagues
that are written in this Book being
added to anyone who adds to what has been written in this Book. We also
see
that those who take away from what is written in this Book are to have
some
things taken away from them. Our King James Version says, “God shall take away his part out of the book
of life.” If that be true, then we must admit that a person
may lose
his salvation. Taking a person’s name out of “the book of
life” could not possibly mean anything else. Anyone
whose name is not in “the book of life”
is a lost person. But the fact is, the word “book” is
not in the original Greek at all. The original says, “out
of the tree of life and out of the holy
city which is described in this book.” A person can never lose his
salvation because it is in the hands of God, but he can lose his reward
or his
place in the Bride of Christ. We would like to say these people are
lost
people, but we cannot do that simply because you cannot take away from
a person
that which he never had. So these are saved people who are in danger of
losing
something which they have. Let us notice, this “tree of life”
and this “holy
city” are the ones that are described in this Book. In 21:9-10 the angel tells John he
will show him “the Bride, the Lamb’s
wife,” but when he looked, he saw “the holy city”
which is definitely the dwelling place of the Bride.
Then in 22:2 we see “the tree of
life” in this “holy city.” So,
to me, our Lord is saying that those who take away from the things
written in
the wonderful Book of Revelation will be deprived of the privilege of
being in
the Bride. In
verses 20 and 21 we come to the
end of the most wonderful and the most glorious Book this old world has
ever
known, the Bible. Here our dear Lord for the third time in this last
chapter
says, “I come quickly.”
How it does behoove both the writer and reader to be looking for that
quick
coming. In I Corinthians 15:52 we learn that it is to be in a
moment, “in the twinkling of an eye.” In
verse 22, which is the final verse of
the final chapter of the final Book of the Bible, we see it ending with
a
prayer that “The grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ be with you all.” No Book of the Bible
presents
a clearer contrast between God’s grace toward His elect people set over
against
His righteous judgment of the wicked.
In
closing may we plead with our precious Lord
to add His blessings to our feeble effort that it all may be to His
honor and
glory, and that it be to the edification of at least a few of His
precious
saints. |