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Introduction to Chapter 22

A description of the heavenly state, under the figures of the water and the tree of life, and of the throne of God and the Lamb. (1-5) The truth and certain fulfilling of all the prophetic visions, The Holy Spirit, and the bride, the church, invite, and say, Come. (6-19) The closing blessing. (20,21)

1: And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
It is to understand that the river of life that we are looking at in this scripture is an allegory of the presence of the third member of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit. We see that we gain access to his presence by the source of this blessing. It is only through God and his Son that we have been granted such a delight as to experience the divine presence of the Holy Spirit and the joys and comforts that come from his touch. As the blessings of the Holy Spirit has been so glorious in our present state, we will be able to enjoy his presence eternally in Heaven.

2: In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
In the midst of the flow of this river and rooted on both sides of it stands the tree of life. To read this would make us think of more than one tree, but we must realize that there is only one tree of life who is the emblem of Christ. Jesus is the tree of life, from his presence in the Garden of Eden until now all who eat from the fruit of this tree are healed from their sickness of sin and disease. Whether it is in the world or the world to come his presence is for the purpose of blessing.

3: And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him:
The curse of sin, the curse of the law, the curse of sickness and death are gone for eternity. The throne of God and his Son Jesus will be in the New Jerusalem for us to enjoy his presence forever.

4: And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.
Jesus plainly told us that no man has ever seen God. Now we will see his face and be able to enjoy the glory of his presence. His name will be forever engraved in our minds and hearts as to never forget him or be pulled away by any weakness of our own.

5: And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.
There will be no darkness in the New Jerusalem for Christ and his Father are the light of it. This is also a description of no darkness caused by sin and the wickedness of humanity through carnality. All of those who have made it to this glorious place will reign in life with God and Christ forever with him.

6: And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly be done.
Remember in Revelation chapter 1 that Christ himself had sent his own personal angel to reveal the message that was given to John on the Isle of Patmos. This is the same angel speaking for Jesus in this verse. He explains that Jesus had sent him to show God’s people the things that would shortly happen. We must remember that time in God’s view is different than the way we view time. For instance Peter said that a day with the Lord was as a thousand years.

7: Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.
It is blessed to read and understand the book of Revelation, God wants us to read and understand. His promise to come quickly is still standing and we know that the time is short.

8: And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things.
John in ignorance fell down to worship the angel that Jesus had sent to reveal the book of Revelation. This was the same kind of ignorance that Peter, James and John had exhibited at the transfiguration of Jesus, when they said let us build a temple for Moses, Elijah and Jesus.

9: Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.
The angel said unto John I am thy fellowservant and of thy brethren the prophets, this is to say that as an angel of God he was a fellow servant with all of the children of the Lord. God’s angels are like brothers in the spiritual sense that they are worshippers of God and servants as well the Saints and the prophets. He was saying don’t worship me, worship God.

This also removes all doubt as to whether we should worship angels or saints. As we can see it is forbidden by the reproof of the angel who is speaking to John.

10: And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand.
This angel was sent from Jesus to testify to John the things the he wanted John to know (Revelation 22:16). The angel continued to reveal to John that it was not the will of Jesus for John to seal the sayings of this book because the time is at hand. This is different from the Book of Daniel because God told Daniel to seal up his book until the time of the end (Daniel 12:4).

11: He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.
Because this book is to remain unsealed it being read will strengthen the believer and root him in his faith whereas the unjust, the filthy and unrighteous of this earth stand condemned.

12: And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.
This clearly is Christ speaking and he is promising to bring his rewards with him to give to every man according as his work shall be. This is determined by whether a man’s works are in the New Covenant and he has been born again. Or whether he has refused to accept Jesus as his savior and will be condemned because of his evil works to damnation.

13: I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.
Jesus is saying I am all that you need, in the Greek Alphabet, the Alpha and Omega the A to Z of it. He is the beginning of and the end of all things that we know. He created everything and everything that survives the final judgment will be in him and last forever. He is the first and the last, the first only true and the last true God, there is none other?

14: 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.
Although we are saved by grace and not by the keeping of the commandments there is great comfort in knowing that obedience gives confidence to those who are to receive the blessings of Jesus who is the true tree of life and to enter into the New Jerusalem. All of those who have truly been born again will bear fruit because they have become good ground, a good tree, etc.

15: For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.
Those who remain in their sins, those that never come to Christ for salvation, will never be allowed to enter into the City to become partakers of eternal life.

16: I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.
Jesus then confirms the angel that he had sent to testify of the thing to come and to warn the churches. He confirmed that he was the Messiah, born of David and was the bright and morning star, the brightest star to shine in the heavens as the new day dawns.

17: And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
Then Jesus makes and invitation to all that will hear his voice to come to him for eternal salvation. It is free and graciously given to all who will humble themselves to ask.

18: For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
Now we are to receive stern warning as to not tamper with the Word of God. Just as men perished for touching the Ark of God with their hands, God does not want our tampering with the truth. We are most corrupt without his aid and would surely destroy the truth if left to our own without a warning of such magnitude.

19: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.
All are condemned who should dare to corrupt or change the word of God, either by adding to it, or taking from it. It is my belief that a person who is born again by the Spirit and who has faith in Christ for salvation could ever do such a thing. Christ has promised in various places to keep us from deception and to preserve us to such a degree as to prevent the lose of our salvation.

But this warning would certainly place fear into the heart of a Tare (false believer) who has not been born again and is following Christ through mental accent rather than by the Spirit. Such a person in the Church might take liberties with God’s Word and this warning could possibly prevent him from destroying the truth.

We can see the affect of this warning by realizing that the Catholic Church who promotes worship of Saints and Angels were afraid to remove this from the original text of the Bible. In fact they preserved it, surely through fear.

20: He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
It was Christ who verifies this message and reminds all that once again that he will come quickly. John replies "Even so, come, Lord Jesus." By this we see the earnest desire by John the apostle to see Jesus as quickly as possible.

21: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
John then shows his desire for the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ to be with all of those who read this book. He concludes with Amen, let it be so.

God Bless You
Tommie Spurgeon

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