Revelation 22:1-6 The River of Life

Revelation of Jesus Christ and the Voice of Prophecy

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What is your favorite fruit? What do you like about it?

 

EXPLORE IT

What sight did John’s heavenly “tour guide” show him? (Rev.22:1)

How did John describe the appearance of the river of life? (Rev.22:1)

How did John describe the location of the river of life? (Rev.22:2)

What was growing on each side of the river of life? (Rev.22:2)

When did the tree that John saw in the city bear fruit? (22:2)

Of what value are the leaves on the tree of life? (Rev.22:2)

What will be missing from the new heavens and new earth? (Rev.22:3)

What will people do in heaven? (Rev.22:3)

What kind of relationship will God have with His people in heaven? (Rev.22:3-4)

Where will the inhabitants of heaven get their light? (Rev.22:5)

How long will God’s people reign? (Rev.22:5)

How did the angel assure John?(Rev.22:6)

 

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What does this passage tell us about God?

How can we honor God as creator and sustainer of life?

 

APPLY IT

How can you honor the life that God created?

 

Commentary

 

Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in 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. (Rev.22:1-2)

  John’s angelic tour guide next showed him a river of the water of life. With no sea in the eternal state (Rev.21:1), there could be no hydrologic cycle, and hence no rain to fill a river. Thus, the water of life is not water as we know it; it is a symbol of eternal life (Isa. 12:3; John 4:13-14; 7:38). Like everything else in the New Jerusalem, the river was clear as crystal so it could reflect the glory of God. It cascaded down from the throne of God and of the Lamb in a dazzling, sparkling, never-ending stream. Its pure, unpolluted, unobstructed flow symbolizes the constant flow of everlasting life from God’s throne to God’s people.

The phrase in the middle of its street is best translated “in the middle of its path” and connected with the following phrase on either side of the river was the tree of life. The tree of life is the celestial counterpart to the tree of life in Eden (Gen. 2:9; 3:22-24), and this tree provides for those who are immortal. The tree of life was a familiar Jewish concept that expressed blessing (2:7; Prov. 3:18; 11:30; 13:12; 15:4), and the celestial tree symbolizes the blessing of eternal life. That the tree bears twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month emphasizes the infinite variety that will fill heaven. The use of the term month does not refer to time since this is the eternal state and time is no more. It is an anthropomorphic expression of the joyous provision of eternity couched in the familiar terms of time.

Then John makes the intriguing observation that the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. At first glance, that seems confusing, since obviously there will be no illness or injury in heaven that would require healing. Therapeia (healing), however, does not imply illness. Perhaps a better way to translate it would be “life-giving,” “health-giving,” or “therapeutic.” The leaves of the tree can be likened to supernatural vitamins, since vitamins are taken not to treat illness, but to promote general health. Life in heaven will be fully energized, rich, and exciting.

There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him; they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever. (22:3-5)

As John toured the New Jerusalem, he could not help but notice that life was very different for its inhabitants. The most dramatic change from the present earth is that there will no longer be any curse. As noted in the discussion of 21:4 in chapter 18 of this volume, the removal of the curse will mean the end forever of sorrow, pain, and especially death—the most terrible aspect of the curse (Gen. 2:17).

 

Though, as previously noted, there will be no temple in the New Jerusalem, the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it. God the Father and the Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ, will reign throughout eternity. Since God will continue forever as heaven’s sovereign ruler, His bondservants will serve Him forever (7:15). They will spend all eternity carrying out the infinite variety of tasks that the limitless mind of God can conceive. Incredibly, as the parable in Luke 12:35-40 indicates, the Lord will also serve them.

The saints in the New Jerusalem will also see God’s face (Matt. 5:8). Being perfectly holy and righteous, they will be able to endure the heavenly level of the blazing, glorious light from God’s presence without being consumed—something impossible for mortal men (Ex. 33:20; John 1:18; 6:46; 1 Tim. 6:16; 1 John 4:12). The redeemed will also be God’s personal possession; His name will be on their foreheads (3:12; 14:1). That identification will leave no doubt as to who they belong to forever. John repeats the earlier description of heaven’s magnificence: And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them (21:22-26). Then he adds a final crescendo describing the saints’ heavenly experience: it will never end, because they will reign forever and ever. That will be the fulfillment of Christ’s promise in 3:21: “He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.” “If we endure,” Paul wrote to Timothy, “we will also reign with Him” (2 Tim. 2:12).
The eternal capital city of heaven, the New Jerusalem, will be a place of indescribable, unimaginable beauty. From the center of it the brilliant glory of God will shine forth through the gold and precious stones to illuminate the new heaven and the new earth. But the most glorious reality of all will be that sinful rebels will be made righteous, enjoy intimate fellowship with God and the Lamb, serve Them, and reign with Them forever in sheer joy and incessant praise.

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 bond-servants the things which must soon take place. (22:6)

John records that he (the angel who had shown him the New Jerusalem; 21:9; 22:1) said to me, “These words are faithful and true.” The angel’s words provide heavenly attestation to the validity of all that John had heard and seen throughout the Apocalypse. The angel repeats the same affirmation given earlier to John by God Himself: “He who sits on the throne said … ‘Write, for these words are faithful and true’” (21:5). The phrase faithful and true also appears twice in Revelation as a title for the Lord Jesus Christ (3:14; 19:11). The words of the Apocalypse are as faithful and true as the One who revealed them to John.

 

The angel’s words reinforce an important truth: Everything John has seen in Revelation will come to pass. What the inspired apostle has written is not mystical; the Apocalypse is not a record of his bizarre dreams or the result of an overactive imagination. It is not an allegory from which readers can extract hidden meanings of their own concoction. It is an accurate description of events and persons yet to come. Verses 18 and 19 of this chapter give a sobering warning against tampering with Revelation: “I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book.”

John affirmed the angel’s emphatic testimony to the truthfulness of what he had seen and heard, writing that the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent His angel to show to His bond-servants the things which must soon take place. The God who moved the spirits of His spokesmen the prophets to inspire both the Old and New Testaments is the same God who sent His angel to show to His bond-servants (believers; v. 3; 1:1; 2:20; 7:3; 11:18; 15:3; 19:2, 5; Luke 2:29; Acts 4:29; 16:17; Rom. 1:1; Gal. 1:10; Phil. 1:1; Col. 1:7; 4:7; James 1:1; 2 Pet. 1:1; Jude 1) the things which must soon take place (Luke 1:70; 2 Pet. 3:2). That is nothing short of a claim by John for the full and complete inspiration of Revelation. The prophecies recorded by those earlier biblical prophets were literally fulfilled, and those in Revelation will be also. 

The exactness, detail, and precision with which earlier prophecies already fulfilled came to pass form the pattern for those yet to be fulfilled. God’s prophetic record is perfect. He predicted Israel would go into captivity, and the nation did (Lev. 26:33-39). He predicted the destruction of Babylon (Isa. 13:1-14:27; Jer. 50-51) and Tyre (Isa. 23:1ff.), and those cities were destroyed. He predicted that Messiah would be born in Bethlehem (Mic. 5:2), to a virgin (Isa. 7:14), and be killed by sinners (Isa. 53:7-10) and He was. Thus, when God predicts future events, such as the rapture of the church, the rise of Antichrist, the seal, trumpet, and bowl judgments, the Battle of Armageddon, the return of Jesus Christ, and His thousand-year earthly kingdom, those events will just as certainly come to pass. 

God will do exactly what He says He will do, as He Himself declares in Isaiah 46:9-11: Remember the former things long past, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, “My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure”; …Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass. I have planned it, surely, I will do it.

THINK ABOUT THIS: The Bible is a book like no other, for it is the Word of God. Therefore, every word is faithful and true. To believe and obey the Bible is the path of blessing. It stands unique in its authority, and we must never place any human tradition or philosophy on equal standing with it or set aside any part of it because it offends our way of thinking. How does a Christian show with his life that he has received the Bible as the Word of God?