PHIL HARRIS
Preview
Chapters 21 and 22 of Revelation share the common theme of the eternal New Jerusalem. It is appropriate to step back and review these verses before looking more closely at the phrases John uses:
And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. 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. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. 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 (Rev. 21:22-27).
The temple
The word temple as used in this text comes from the Greek naos (Strong’s G3485) and simply means “where God dwells”. In the New Jerusalem, the Lord God and the Lamb is the temple where the Bride of the Lamb dwells.
It’s interesting to compare the temple in the heavenly Jerusalem with the temple in the new covenant. At the present time, Christians are indwelt by the Holy Spirit making them the temple of God:
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body (1 Cor. 6:19-20).
While we cannot speculate beyond what Scripture says, in the New Jerusalem, the Bride of the Lamb is glorified and eternally in the presence of God, the temple; here on earth, those who are born again are the temple of God.
No need of the sun or moon
In the heavenly Jerusalem in the “new heavens and new earth”, the presence of the Almighty Lord God and the Lamb negates the need for light from the sun and moon. While we cannot speculate as to the presence or role of the sun and moon in the new heavens, we can know that the eternal light of God illuminates the New Jerusalem continuously.
This eternal light is the glorious fulfillment of the light of the indwelling Holy Spirit in born again Christians today. The light of God in us is intended to shine out to the lost and perishing of this dark world.
Nations and kings
The word “nations” comes from the Greek ethnos (Strong’s G1484) with the root meaning of “multitude”, such as a tribe or family group, and sometimes the word is a reference to gentile Christians.
The word “king” comes from the Greek basileus (Strong’s G935) with the root meaning of “a leader of people”.
Life In the City
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 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. 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. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 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 (Rev. 22:1-5).
River of the water of life
The “river of the water of life” in the text above reminds us of the river that flows out of the Garden of Eden as described in Genesis 2:10. The river in Eden watered “the garden” (Gen. 2:10–14), implying that it watered the Tree of Life as does the river in the New Jerusalem:
A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers (Gen. 2:10).
In Genesis 3 we learn there was a Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden, but after Adam and Eve sinned, they were no longer permitted to eat from it:
Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken (Gen. 3:22-23).
Ezekiel also saw a river that brought life flowing from the temple of God. Ezekiel 47 describes this river which flowed from the temple in Jerusalem to the Dead Sea, and everything that came into contact with this river lived (Ez. 47:9). On the banks of this river were trees whose fruit were for food and whose leaves were for healing:
“By the river on its bank, on one side and on the other, will grow all [kinds of] trees for food. Their leaves will not wither and their fruit will not fail. They will bear every month because their water flows from the sanctuary, and their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing.” (Ez. 47:12).
Revelation 22:14 echoes both Genesis and Ezekiel as it describes the fruit and leaves of the tree of life .
Twelve kinds of fruit with the leaves for healing of the nations
Since there is no longer sickness or anything accursed, there is the question of ‘healing’ (Strong’s G2322 therapeia) in this passage. With this understanding we learn that the leaves of this tree promote eternal good health instead of healing.
God’s servants will worship Him face to face
The apostle Paul considered his role as a servant and apostle of the Lord Jesus to be his highest calling. In Romans 1:1-7 he gives us an understanding of what it means to be a servant (Strong’s G1401) of God. In verse 1 he identifies the nature of his own servanthood to the Lord Jesus:
Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God (Rom. 1:1).
Since the fall of Adam and Eve there has been a separation of sinners from God. Only because of Calvary has the veil been removed, yet at the present time we still live in the flesh. In the New Jerusalem, where sin and death are no more, God’s servants—those who have followed the Lamb wherever He goes and who have lived for His glory—will be free to approach and worship God on his throne face-to-face.
His servants will reign eternally
This passage in Revelation reveals that the Bride of Christ is, paradoxically, called servants—and yet these servants will reign as royalty eternally.
I Am Coming Soon
And he said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true. And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place.” “And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book” (Rev. 22:6-7).
Proof Jesus’ words are trustworthy and true
Jesus the Son of God kept the promise that He would die but would arise alive from the grave three days later. We can know that the words He gives in this prophecy of the new earth are certain because He literally rose from death just as He said He would. Here we see His assurance that He would break death on the third day:
But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth (Matt. 12:39-40).
His resurrection from the grave—an impossible event from a merely human perspective—is the ultimate way we know He keeps all His promises.
Furthermore, 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 outlines the gospel message of Jesus our Savior before revealing, in verses five through 11, that He appeared to more than 500 eyewitnesses who could testify that He was alive. From these historical accounts we can be assured that any promise from our Savior is trustworthy and true.
Worship
I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God” (Rev. 22:8-9).
Apostle John saw and heard these things
John is so amazed by what he learns that he falls down to worship the being speaking to him—and again he is reminded that only God is to be worshiped.
Then the angel says; “I am a fellow servant.” The saints of God along with the angels of heaven are equally in the service of God. Angels do not receive honor or respect greater than that due the saints; they are created beings just as we are. They are fellow servants with us!
Time Is Short
And he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy” (Rev. 22:10-11).
John is not to seal up the prophecies of Revelation. Since time is short, both the promises and the warnings are not to be sealed up so that they may be known and understood in our own time.
Unlike Daniel, who was to “conceal these words and seal up the book until the end of time” (Dan. 12:4), John is to leave the words of Revelation unsealed because the time is near.
The Little Scroll of Revelation 10 concerning the mysteries of God is one thing that had been sealed. John writes that when he ate this scroll it was sweet as honey but it made his stomach bitter (Rev. 10:10). We learn that at the call of the seventh trumpet (Rev. 11:15–19), however, even those mysteries will be revealed.
Let evildoers still do evil and the righteous still do right
This statement simply means there is a consequence for remaining evil in the kingdom of Satan. Those who persistently refuse to believe will not trust Him even when they see the Lord Jesus coming in power. Today, however, we can enter the rest of Jesus if we hear His voice, as long as it is called TODAY (Heb. 4:7). We know this great truth about God:
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him (John 3:16-17).
Behold
“Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end” (Rev. 22:12-13).
Jesus is coming soon bringing his recompense
Jesus did not leave us in the dark about who will receive His recompense:
He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just” (Luke 14:12-14).
Right To the Tree of Life
Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates (Rev. 22:14 ESV).
There is clear explanation of why Revelation 22:14 reads differently in the various versions of the Bible. For example, many people learned this verse from the King James Version (KJV):
Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city (Rev. 22:14 KJV).
The King James Version was translated from the Roman Catholic Latin Textus Receptus, whereas the more modern English versions of the Bible come from the best-known Greek manuscripts of the New Testament.
The word “commandments” in this verse of the KJV comes from the Greek entole (Srong’s G1785), which is understood to be the words or teachings of Jesus. By contrast, whenever John writes about the Old Covenant law, he uses the word nomos (Strong’s G1385). (For further explanation of this detail of the Greek underlying the word “commandments” in John’s books, see What Commandments Are In Revelation 12 and 14?) In this passage, the older manuscripts specifically refer to believers’ being cleansed in Jesus’ blood, not to their keeping the old covenant law.
Consequently, even if we use the KJV, this verse does not support the Adventist claim that the old covenant law is the measure of those who have the right to eat of the tree of life. Here is the verse as it appears in the ESV:
Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates (Rev. 22:14 ESV).
Washing, by works or of faith
For further understanding of what qualifies people for eternity with the Lord Jesus, we will look at another passage from the same writer. Washing is a direct reference to the cleansing from sin. This passage makes it clear that the blood Jesus shed at Calvary is what cleanses us from all sin. There is no other way into the eternal kingdom of God. In other words, salvation is only through the work Jesus, and that work is something we accept by faith:
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. (1 John 1:7-10)
Right to the Tree of life
The tree of life, as we saw above, is first mentioned in the Garden of Eden:
And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 2:9).
Even though warned not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 2:16-17), Adam and Eve did so, and their spirits died the day they ate. In Genesis 3:22-24 we learn that God drove them out of the Garden of Eden so they could not eat of the tree of life which would have perpetuated their life of sorrow and toil.
Only those who enter into the New Jerusalem have a right to the Tree of Life.
Love of Falsehood
Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood (Rev. 22:15).
Destiny of those who love falsehood
It is a warning for our own time that all those who love and practice what is evil will end up in the Lake of Fire.
Jesus Is Coming
“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star” (Rev. 22:16).
Jesus’ pledge
Revelation closes as it began, by reminding us that Jesus has sent a message of what is to come to His servants, the ”seven churches of Asia”. He wants His believers to know what must soon take place before they enters into eternity with him in the New Jerusalem. Furthermore, this message of what is coming is built on the certainty that Jesus Himself is the promised One, the descendant of David, the morning star who will sit on the throne of David.
Root and descendant of David
The genealogy of Jesus in Luke 3:23-38 begins with Him and steps back through King David all the way to Adam, who was created by Jesus, as verified also in John 1:1-5 and Colossians 1:16-17. This remarkable genealogy shows that Jesus is both the root (the beginning and the support of) and the descendant of King David.
Bright morning star
Jesus is the one and only Bright Morning Star. This identification of Jesus as the morning star echoes Peter’s similar naming of Him:
And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:19-21).
The Last Invitation
The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price (Rev. 22:17).
Come
The call to come has two complementary meanings. First, through the indwelling leading of the Holy Spirit, it is our message to the unsaved of the world to come now and be assured of access to the Water of Life now and eternally. As Jesus told the woman of Samaria:
“Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:13-14).
Second, for those who are already in the kingdom of God, the pleading to “Come” is their cry to the Lord Jesus as they wait for Him to come soon and put and end to all that is evil.
The Last Warning
I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book (Rev. 22:18-19).
The penalty
The plagues described in this book will be suffered by those who add details to these prophecies beyond what God has said. Those who take away from what God has said will not be in the Book of Life.
Adam and Eve’s sin
In Genesis 3:1-7 we have the account of Adam and Eve’s first sin. When the serpent challenged Eve, she said:
And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die’” (Gen: 3:2-3).
By adding to God’s command the detail of not touching the fruit, Eve became susceptible to the Serpent’s lie that followed when he said, “You will not surely die …” By adding that detail, Eve betrayed that she did not fully trust what God had commanded in its simplicity. She tried to add emphasis and conditions, and by ignoring the warning that they would die on the day they simply ate of what was forbidden, Adam and Eve “took away” from the seriousness of what God had said.
He had condemned them if they merely ate; the added prohibition changed the command and obscured the seriousness of taking Him at His word. By discussing God’s word instead of obeying it, Eve rationalized her disobedience.
Adding to and/or taking away from what God has said are twin sins that go together.
What about Ellen?
It is well-known that Ellen G. White claims to be the author of many books that far exceed the Bible in volume. Her claim is they are the result of visions from God. However, altering the inspired meaning of the Bible is equivalent to taking away from the word of God.
In Adventism Ellen G. White is called the “spirit of prophecy” by appropriating this text:
And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.” Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy (Rev. 19:9-10).
However, the context of this phrase reveals that it is heresy to call anyone other than Jesus the Spirit of Prophecy, because only God is to be worshiped. To call Ellen by that title is to worship her instead of God. To honor her words instead of God’s words alone is to exalt her to a more important position that God. Her writings alter the meaning of Scripture; this fact places her commentary OVER God’s word.
The brutal reality is that Ellen does not have an invitation to the marriage supper of the Lamb.
Benediction
He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen (Rev. 22:20-21).
Summary
- Chapters 21 and 22 of Revelation have a single theme which is centered on the eternal New Jerusalem.
- New Jerusalem resolves the judgments that span the distance from the fall of mankind to the creation of the new heavens and the new earth.
- There is no temple in the New Jerusalem because God is our temple where the Bride of Christ has personal, eternal access to God on his throne.
- The River of Life that flows from the throne of God, also prophesied by Ezekiel, reminds us of the same river in the Garden of Eden that became four rivers that watered the original earth.
- The Tree of Life first mentioned in the Garden of Eden is now found on the banks of the River of Life in the New Jerusalem. It is for the health of the Bride of the Lamb.
- The judgment against the love of falsehood is a warning for our own time.
- Now is the time to respond to the gospel message of salvation secured by Jesus for fallen mankind at Calvary in order to be recorded in the Book of Life.
- There is a warning not to take away nor add to this revelation. Those who do so will receive the plagues described in this book and will not be in the Book of Life. This certainly applies to all who are part of a cult that alters the gospel message of Jesus Christ.
- The promise of the Lamb of God is that He is coming soon.
—All biblical quotes taken from the ESV
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