|
| Chapter 22 |
| Bible Text | Notes and Thoughts |
|
1 ¶ And he showed me a pure river of the Water of Life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. 2 In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, there was the Tree of Life, which bore twelve kinds of fruit and yielded her fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 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. 4 And they shall see His face, and His name shall be in their foreheads. 5 And there shall be no night there, and they will need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light. And they shall reign for ever and ever. 6 ¶ And he said unto me, "These sayings are faithful and true," and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent His angel to show unto His servants the things which must shortly be done. 7 "Behold, I come quickly." Blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book. 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 who showed me these things. 9 Then said he unto me, "See that thou do it not, for I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them that keep the sayings of this book. Worship God!" 10 And he said unto me, "Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand. 11 He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he that 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." 12 "And behold, I come quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every man according as his work shall be. 13 I am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last." 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. 15 For outside are dogs and sorcerers, and whoremongers and murderers and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. 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." 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. 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. 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. 20 ¶ He that testifieth these things saith, "Surely I come quickly." Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. 21 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. |
In this chapter John moves inside the city, the New Jerusalem. v1,2 It is like a garden with a single river, this river flows directly from the throne of God, the source of all that is good and pure. In Eden Adam and Eve were forbidden from eating the "Tree of Life, Gen 2:15-17; Gen 2:15 Gen 3:22-24. But in this New Jerusalem the people will have full access to the Tree of Life, not just one tree but trees on either side of the river. These trees have many sorts of fruit, twelve types, and it has these fruits every month. These trees are never empty, there is always fruit. v3 There will be no more curse, the curse of Gen 3:14-19 will be gone. The people of God will obviously be giving constant praise to Him, but in this verse we are also told that we will serve God, it will be a perfect service because sin will not interfere. There have been many who have tried to guess what we will do but we are not told what this service will be. Even today we do not know all that God wants us to do, we just faithfully serve Him, letting Him ‘open the doors’ as He wants Faith. v4 The saints will see the face of God and show that they belong to Him, His name on their foreheads. v5 All this will be for eternity. v6-11, 18,19 We must keep God’s Word. God’s Word is faithful and the truth, a word which He has been sending down through time through His prophets and servants, this Revelation through, John is all part of God’s Word, it must not be hidden because they are soon to happen. v7 "Keep the sayings of this book," what does this mean? We must be prepared to guard, to watch over and preserve the writings. We are instructed not to add or take away any from the words of this prophecy. Deuteronomy 4:22 Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you. Proverbs 30:5-6 5) Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. 6) Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.. If a person does make alterations then there is a serious warning from God for their future v19. God has promised that a truly saved person will not lose their salvation, so it is possibly indicating that anyone making the changes is not truly saved. Any one who guards the Word and obeys will be blessed. v8 John has again become so emotional with what he is seeing that he starts to worship the angel with him. The angel responds with four statements:- 1) I am a servant of God like you. 2) Do not worship angels. 3) Only glorify God. 4) Do not stop others knowing of what you have seen. This statement by the angel is because of v7,12 "Behold I come quickly" and v10 "The time is at hand." There will be no warning of Jesus calling His people to heaven. Jesus is returning, are you ready? v12-15 God knows what we are suffering, He reminds us that "My reward is with Me" for those who seek to serve Him. At the Judgement Seat of Christ believers will be judged for their works, rewards will be given for faithfulness. We must keep our lives clean for Him. Luke 12:34ff. v13 A reminder that God is always in control. Phil 1:6; Phil 2:12-16. v16 The titles of Jesus show His Jewish nationality, "Offspring of David," His hidden "Root" which everything depends upon. "the Bright and Morning Star." all can see His glory, but also the "Morning Star" comes at the beginning of the day. His Deity and humanity are obvious. v17,20-21 The way is open to Salvation, just come to Jesus. But He will return very soon, are you ready? "Surely I come quickly." |
Easy English Translation
| Back to previous page | Return to Home Page |
| Revelation |
