River of Life

I. Introduction
A. Revelation 22:1-5 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 2 through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3 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. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 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.
II. Explanation
A. Revelation 22:1 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
1. It’s important, especially as we get closer to the end of this amazing book, at the end of this amazing Bible, to see that it is ending a story which began at the very beginning.
a. Last week, we traced the story of the temple image, from the Exodus to the new Jerusalem. But this morning we see that the story actually started earlier, in the garden of Eden, which was itself a temple where God and man dwelt together.
b. When Adam failed in his duty, he was expelled from the Garden, and two cherubim “guarded” access to the to the tree of life (Gen.3:24). We know the garden was a temple because the same cherubim reappear later symbolically guarding the ark of the covenant in the Holy of Holies.
c. (One more thing which indicates that the Garden was the first temple is the wood and stone carvings giving the temple a garden-like appearance – 1Kg.6:18, 29, 32, 35; 7:18-20.)
2. First we see the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb.
a. This reminds us of the beginning of Genesis, where a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden and the whole world – Gen.2:10. (Also, see Ezek.47:1-12.)
b. Here the river is very specifically flowing out from the Lord – from the throne of God and of the Lamb. (Cf. Zech.14:8; Ezek.47:1-9; Joel 3:18.)
c. What is the significance of this river flowing out from the throne of God?
(1) It means He is the One who makes things flourish. It means that life & grace come from Him.
(2) This is best understood in parts of the world which have wadis – dry, river beds which lie barren until the rains come and the waters flow and turn the desert green.
3. And the Bible uses this image to illustrate how the coming of the Lord transforms the barren landscape (like Is.32:12-15; 35:6-10; 41:18-19; 43:19-20; 44:3-4; 51:3).
4. But my favorite of all the passages about the river of life is Psalm 46:4, “There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High.”
a. This seems to have been written right after the Sennacherib incident when the Assyrians laid siege to Jerusalem, cutting them off from all resources, including water, since unlike any other great ancient city, there is no river which runs through Jerusalem.
b. But God rescued them by sending His angel of deliverance. And now in celebration, the psalmist writes, “There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God.”
c. Here they were dying of thirst, despairing of the fact that they had no source of water. Well, it turns out, they did have a source of water – because they had the Lord!
d. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God!
5. And even when it seems like we’re dying of thirst, we have a source of life flowing into our lives!
a. And in the new Jerusalem, this river will flow into our lives like Niagara Falls, bright as crystal!
6. The story of mankind started in a lush garden. But because of sin, Adam and Eve were driven out of the garden into a wilderness.
7. But finally, another Adam came, a second Adam, and instead of being tempted in a garden, He was tempted in a wilderness. And instead of succumbing to the temptation, He resisted it. For this last Adam was not a mere man. He was anointed by the Spirit and did all His Father’s will.
8. But He was punished as if He was a terrible criminal, and in doing so, He was taking upon Himself the punishment for all those who would embrace Him and trust Him.
9. And so He fulfilled all God’s promises, promises of a promised land, promises of paradise, promises of the water of life, promises of the Spirit poured out upon His people (John 7:37-39).
B. Rev.22:2 (the river of life flowing) through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month.
1. Verse 2 says some strange things about this river.
a. First it tells us that the river of life flows right through the middle of the street of the city.
b. Then it says that the tree of life grows on both sides of the river.
2. Now this sounds like it doesn’t make sense.
a. First of all, you have a river flowing through the middle of the street.
b. And then you have the tree of life on either side of the river yielding 12 kinds of fruit all 12 months of the year.
3. This isn’t the way rivers and streets and trees work here in this world.
a. But this is no ordinary river, or ordinary tree. No, this is the river of life, and this is the tree of life! And they’re not found in this world, but in the promised world to come, a place of supreme rest and recuperation and nourishment and flourishing – the ultimate SHALOM.
4. It’s like Ps.1, where the person who delights in God’s law is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.
a. And it’s like John 15:5, where Jesus said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”
5. You see, when you drink regular water, you will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water of life “will never be thirsty again. The water that [Jesus] gives becomes a spring of water in the soul welling up to eternal life.” – John 4:14
C. And then one more thing is added at the end of v.2, “The leaves of the tree (of life) were for the healing of the nations.”
1. God has graciously created the world in such a way that there hidden healing. There is healing in insects, in eggs, in animals, in molds, in fungi, in bark, in bacteria. And there is healing in leaves.
a. And many times there is one area of the world where this bush or that tree or this kind of frog is found, but once it is isolated and harvested, it brings healing to people all over the world.
b. And so it is with the leaves of the tree of life. But the leaves of THIS tree give not just physical healing, but spiritual healing, “to heal the sin-sick soul,” so that as people from every nation, tribe and tongue come limping and hobbling and crawling through the gates of the new Jerusalem, they receive healing for their bodies and for their souls.
2. And just as the size of the Holy of Holies has grown to an enormous extent, so the little mustard seed of Eden’s tree of life in the first garden has become a super tree of life, bearing 12 kinds of fruit, and able to provide nests for all the birds who fly to its branches from the 4 corners of earth.
D. Revelation 22:3 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.
1. Here’s another reference to Eden, though this time to what happened after the fall, not before.
2. God cursed the world as a result of man’s sin (Gen.3:14-19).
3. Now, in the new Jerusalem, the curse is finally removed, like Paul talks about in Romans 8:18-24, “The creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.”
4. The curse of physical and spiritual death upon the human race in the first garden is removed by the Lamb in the last garden. At first, humanity was expelled from the garden sanctuary, and its entrance was closed. But we read here that as a result of the redeeming work of the Lamb the redeemed will be ushered into the opened gates of that sanctuary again, and all their wounds and sorrows will be healed.
E. Revelation 22:4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.
1. Last week we talked about how the temple signified the distance/barriers between God &man. But now there’s no more temple (Rev.21:22) because there’s no more distance. We will see His face!
2. And this is what we were made to do: to see His face.
3. When we see sights on earth so beautiful that they take our breath away, we are but getting a distance glimpse of the face of God. But on that day, it will no longer be a distant glimpse; it will be face to face.
4. Remember what the unicorn in Narnia said as He beheld Aslan’s land at the end of CS Lewis' THE LAST BATTLE. “I have come home at last! This is my real country! I belong here. This is the land I have been looking for all my life, though I never knew it till now. The reason why we loved the old Narnia is that it sometimes looked a little like this.”
5. And we will have the great privilege of having His name written on our foreheads. For there is no greater honor than to belong to Jesus, to be chosen by Jesus, to be loved by Jesus, to be married to Jesus, to have Jesus say, “This one is Mine!”
F. Revelation 22:5 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.
1. The Bible often uses the language of night to talk about the darkness of the world we live in.
2. Romans 13:11-12 "The night is almost gone, and the day is at hand. Let us therefore lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light."
3. 1Thessalonians 5:2-8 “4 You, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day (of the Lord) should overtake you like a thief; 5 for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; 6 so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober. 7 For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night. 8 But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation.”
4. It seems that the world is descending deeper and deeper into darkness. But it will not last. The day is about to dawn. Christ was the morning star, signaling that daybreak is close at hand.
5. And here in Rev.21-22 we see its bright dawning, when the clouds, the night, the dark shadows of the old world are no longer able to diminish the light of Christ.
6. This is the final sermon on the new Jerusalem, and the last segment of real vision in the book of Revelation. The rest is conclusion.
7. It reminds me of the last paragraph of Lewis' THE LAST BATTLE: “The things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.”
III. And though this description of the new Jerusalem tells us many glorious things about the world in which believers will one day live, it also implies many things about our lives here on this earth. I went through the entire description of the new Jerusalem, and wrote down the things it implies about our present lives. Here they are:
A. It implies that, in some sense at least, right now we’re not with God – not as we will be.
1. 21:3 “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.”
B. It implies that our lives involve tears, mourning, and pain.
1. 21:4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes...neither shall there be mourning/crying/pain anymore
C. It implies that we’re dying. (21:4 and death shall be no more)
D. It implies that we are thirsty.
1. 21:6 To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.
E. It implies that we are fighting.
1. 21:7 The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.
F. It implies that there are many enemies of God around.
1. 21:8 But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
G. It implies that we still have a long way to go before we are as beautiful as we will one day be.
1. 21:11 having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.
H. It implies that the true tribes of Israel are being won to Christ.
1. 21:12 on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed— 13 on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates.
I. It implies that the true church is being built on the foundation of the apostles.
1. 21:14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
J. It implies that hough we have access to Christ now, it is far less than the access we will one day have.
1. 21:22 And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.
K. It implies that we live in a dark world.
1. 21:23 And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24 By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, 25 and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there.
2. 22:5 And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light.
L. It implies that we rub shoulders with many who are unclean, faithless, immoral, idolatrous or false, many whose names are not written in the Lamb’s book of life.
1. 21:8 But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur.
2. 21:27 But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
M. It implies that though we will in the future, we do not presently live in a garden of Eden.
1. 22:1 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 2 through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month.
N. It implies that though we have been given the water of life, there is still much more of it to come. (Also 22:1)
O. It implies that we live in a world which is not healed and will not be healed before that day.
a. 22:2 The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
P. It implies we live in a cursed world. Everything in our lives and in the world is cursed. Nothing works like it should. Everything requires toil and sweat and failure is frequent.
1. 22:3 No longer will there be anything accursed,
Q. It implies that, in one sense, God is not here.
1. 22:3 but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him.
R. It implies that, though we worship Him now, we don’t worship Him like we one day will.
1. 22:3 the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him.
S. It implies that we cannot now see God.
1. 22:4 They will see his face.
T. It implies that there’s a difference between the way believers reign now & how they will reign then.
1. 22:5 and they will reign forever and ever.
U. All this also implies that God knows what we’re going through. He knows the burdens; He knows our struggles; He knows the things we face; He knows the ways we’re being faithful – even when no one else notices; He knows that it’s hard to keep waiting.
V. It also implies that God knows that it’s best for us to wait a long time before experiencing the fulfillment of His promises. Somehow, the waiting does us good; somehow the waiting is worthwhile; some day we will be glad that He had us wait so long.
W. After 69 years of this life, I find it harder and harder to not get tired of all the hassle, the disappointment, the messiness, the burden, the brokenness, the pain of life.
1. But God’s a lot smarter than I am! And He knows just what He’s doing, and exactly what I need.
X. And He wants us to know this is temporary. And to comfort us in the midst of this life – that’s why He gave us this wonderful vision.
Y. I want to end by reading what Jesus said to His disciples in John 14:1-4, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”