Revelation 22

CHAPTER 22

 

The River of Life (22:1-6)

1 Then John was shown the river of the water of life, which flowed out from the throne of God and of the Lamb. The throne mentioned in Revelation 7:15 and 12:5 is God’s throne; but here and in verse 3, the throne belongs also to the Lamb Christ. Christ is fully worthy to sit on God’s throne. Jesus said: “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me” (Matthew 28:18). Indeed, God and Christ are one (John 10:30).

The river of life flowed from the spring of the water of life (Revelation 21:6), which is Christ. There had also been a river in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:10). In some respects, the original Garden of Eden and the heavenly city were similar. In the beginning there had been no sin, no sickness, no sorrow, and no death in the Garden of Eden. God Himself walked in the garden (Genesis 3:8). But then those first two humans, Adam and Eve, sinned against God, and after that God expelled them from the garden (Genesis 3:23-24).

2 Together with the river of life in the heavenly city, there was a tree of life. There had also been a tree of life in the Garden of Eden, whose fruit gave eternal life to those who ate it (Genesis 2:9; 3:22). The tree of life in God’s heavenly city was a sign of abundance and of health. Everyone in the city received spiritual food from this tree, and having eaten it, they were spiritually healed.

3-4 No longer will there be any curse. Because of the sin of Adam and Eve, God put a curse upon man and upon the earth (Genesis 3:14-19). But in the heavenly city there is no sin; therefore, there is no curse either.

In the heavenly city, God’s servants will see his face (verse 4). In the Old Testament, God’s greatest servant Moses was never allowed to see God’s face (Exodus 33:18-23). Jesus said that only the pure in heart would be able to see God (Matthew 5:8). But we, who have been made pure by the blood of the Lamb, will see God’s face. And we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is (1 John 3:2). Of all the blessings of heaven, the greatest will be to see God’s face, and to be with Him forever.

God’s name will be written on our foreheads (Revelation 3:12; 7:3). His name on our forehead is a sign that He has made us His own people, and that He has given us His qualities and His character.

5 See Revelation 2:26; 3:21; 21:23 and comments.

6 Here John assures us that everything he has written in this book of Revelation is trustworthy and true. This revelation is from God, and God has sent His own angel to reveal these things to John. He is the God of the spirits of the prophets. Through His Holy Spirit, God has inspired and directed the spirits of all the true prophets of God. Just as the prophets have spoken by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21), so John has written all these things by the inspiration of that same Holy Spirit. He has written down this revelation to prepare us for the things that must soon take place. The time remaining is short (1 Corinthians 7:29-31). Paul wrote: … our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here (Romans 13:11-12). The bright Morning Star will soon usher in the new day (verse 16).

Jesus Is Coming (22:7-21)

7 Jesus says: “Behold, I am coming soon!” (see Matthew 24:42,44; Mark 13:32-37). “Blessed is he who keeps the words of this prophecy;” that is, blessed is he who stands firm in his faith to the end and who does not receive the mark of the beast.

8-9 See Revelation 19:10 and comment.

10 The prophet Daniel was told to seal up the book of prophecy he had written, because his prophecy was not ready to be fulfilled (Daniel 8:26; 12:4). But here John is told not seal up this book of Revelation, because the things written in it are soon to be fulfilled.

11 Here John says that when the final tribulations at the end of the world come, those who have been doing evil will continue to do evil; they will not repent. At that time, their hearts will become even more hardened. The final tribulations at the end of the world will bring their evil into the light. But let him who has placed his faith in Christ continue to do right and continue to be holy until the end (Daniel 12:10).

12 See Jeremiah 17:10; Romans 2:6; Revelation 20:12 and comments.

13 John here repeats what is written in Revelation 1:8,17 and 2:8. In Revelation 1:8 and 21:6, God is called the Alpha and the Omega. Here Jesus gives Himself the same name.

14 Those who have washed their robes are those who have been purified from sin by the blood of Christ. Only they will be allowed to pass into the heavenly city (Revelation 7:14; 21:27).

15 See Revelation 21:8,24-26 and comment.

16 Here Jesus calls Himself the Root and Offspring of David (see Revelation 5:5 and comment). Next He calls Himself the bright Morning Star. This Morning Star is a sign of the dawning of a new day after a long night of tribulation—a sign of the new day of the kingdom of Jesus Christ (see Romans 13:12; Revelation 2:28; 22:5 and comments).

17  The Spirit (the Holy Spirit) and the bride (the church) say to all men: “Come!” Whoever is thirsty, let him come (see Isaiah 55:1; John 7:37-38; Revelation 21:6).

18-19 Here John gives a warning to everyone who hears the words of prophecy of this book of Revelation: no one in any way may change or add or take away from the words of this prophecy. If any person does so, his punishment will be severe. He may even lose his place in the heavenly city (see Deuteronomy 4:2; Galatians 1:6-9).

20-21 John here repeats the words of the One who testifies to these things, namely Jesus: “Yes, I am coming soon.”

Come, Lord Jesus. We are waiting for you. Men labor and strive. They build cities and kingdoms. But what they do is all in vain. Men cannot build a better world on their own. We have failed to do so over and over again. We have only one hope, and that is in your return.

Come, Lord Jesus. Amen.

 

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¹ The expression “last days” can have two meanings. It can mean the time just before Christ comes again at the end of the world. Or it can mean the entire period of time between Christ’s first coming and His second coming. The revelation of John can be interpreted according to both of these two meanings.

²  Patmos was a small island, about four miles square, located in the Mediterranean Sea south of present-day Turkey. During the time of the Roman Empire, the Romans used to send criminals and other prisoners to Patmos. The island served as a jail, from which no one could escape.

³  At the time John wrote this book of Revelation, Christians had begun to observe the Sabbath on Sunday instead of on Saturday (the Jewish custom). They called it the Lord’s Day, because it was on Sunday that Jesus rose from the dead.

⁴  Hades is the place where men’s departed spirits (spirits without bodies) await Christ’s final judgment.

⁵  Ephesus was the most important city in the province of Asia (see Ephesians: Introduction). The first Christians to live in Ephesus were Priscilla and Aquila (Acts 18:18-20). Afterwards, Paul himself lived for two years in Ephesus, and established the church there (Acts 19:1-10).

⁶ Repentance is the first step in regaining our love for Christ. For further discussion, see Word List: Repentance; General Article: Revival.

⁷ In this verse, paradise is a name for heaven, the heavenly Jerusalem (see 2 Corinthians 12:4 and comment).

⁸ In the Greek language, the name Satan means “slanderer.”

⁹ The persecution at the end of the world will be experienced only by those alive at that time. For those who die before then, the world “ends,” in effect, when they die.

¹⁰ The manna mentioned in this verse refers to a kind of bread, which God sent from heaven to the ancient Jews while they were in the desert (Exodus 16:4,31-35).

¹¹ Some Bible scholars believe that the name Jezebel does not refer to a particular person, but rather is meant to be understood as a symbol of evil (1 Kings 16:31; 21:25; 2 Kings 9:22).

¹² Many Bible scholars believe this verse teaches that not only the spirits of Christians but also their bodies will be preserved from these trials. But other verses seem to say that many Christians will be martyred during these trials (see Revelation 6:9-11; 7:9-14; 13:15). One thing is certain: Our eternal souls will be preserved; God’s condemnation will not fall upon believers.

¹³ In New Testament times, books were made in the form of scrolls.

¹⁴ The expression under the earth refers to Hades, where the spirits of dead men and fallen angels wait for the final judgment (Philippians 2:10; Jude 6; Revelation 1:18; 5:13).

¹⁵ Jesse was the father of David.

¹⁶ In place of the word praise, some translations of the Bible say “blessing.”

¹⁷ One quart of wheat was enough to feed a man for a day, but it was not enough to feed his family also. Barley was a cheaper grain; three quarts a day would be enough for a family.

¹⁸ The Old Testament prophet Zechariah also had a similar vision, in which red, black, white, and dappled horses were pulling four chariots (Zechariah 6:1-6).

¹⁹ Sackcloth was made from the hair of black goats; it was worn in times of mourning.

²⁰ The number “seven” has the same special meaning (see Revelation 5:6).

²¹ The color “white” is a sign of purity and righteousness (see Revelation 3:4).

²² There is no night in heaven (Revelation 22:5).

²³ Ordinary locusts live for only about five months.

²⁴ The Euphrates River runs through the modern country of Iraq, and is 1600 miles long. In New Testament times, it served as the eastern boundary of the Roman Empire. It was also the eastern limit of the land that God had promised to give to Abraham’s descendants (Genesis 15:18).

²⁵ To worship an idol is the same as to worship a demon. Whenever one worships an idol, he is actually worshiping the demon or demons associated with that idol (see Deuteronomy 32:17; 1 Corinthians 10:14,19-20).

²⁶ Elijah “shut up the sky” for three and a half years (42 months), and no rain fell during that time (Luke 4:25; James 5:17).

²⁷ In the Greek language, the word devil means the “accuser,” or “slanderer.”

²⁸ Here a time means one year, times means two years, and half a time means half a year. These add up to three and a half years, which equals forty-two months, or 1,260 days.

²⁹ In John’s time, the Roman emperors gave themselves the names of gods; in fact, they considered themselves to be gods. To call oneself a god is blasphemy against the one true God.

³⁰ It is not known what John is referring to here when he mentions the wounded head that recovered.

³¹ During the time of the Roman Empire, people made many images of the different Roman emperors.

³² In the ancient Greek and Hebrew languages, there were no symbols for numbers. Instead, regular letters of the alphabet were used for numbers. Thus every man’s name also had its own “number,” made from the letters of the name.

³³ Both here and in Revelation 7:3-4, the number 144,000 stands for completeness, or fullness. It does not necessarily mean the exact number 144,000.

³⁴ Most Bible scholars believe that the 144,000 mentioned in Revelation Chapter 7 represent only the final generation of Christians who will be alive at the end of the world (see Revelation 7:2-4 and comment). However, other Bible scholars have a different opinion: they say that these two groups of 144,000 are the same—that is, both groups represent all Christians of all generations.

³⁵ In this verse, the word first fruits means sacrifice. In other verses, the meaning of “first fruits” is different (see Romans 8:23; James 1:18).

³⁶ In Bible times, in order to make wine, men put grapes into a large winepress and then trampled on them with their feet. The juice of the grapes then flowed down a little trough and was collected in a large container.

³⁷ One can regard these seven last plagues as one great plague—the seventh plague—announced by the seventh trumpet.

³⁸ This false prophet is the same as the second beast mentioned in Revelation 13:11-17.

³⁹ The city of Rome was built on seven hills. Modern Rome is located on those same seven hills.

⁴⁰ It is very difficult to interpret verses 7-11. Bible scholars have many different ideas about what they mean.

⁴¹ Some Christians believe that at the end of the world a single great and evil empire will rise up, which will be like the Roman Empire. This is possible, but no one can know this for sure. The one thing we can know, however, is that whatever empire or empires exist at that time, they will all fall—just as ancient Rome fell.

⁴²  As an example of such craving for luxury, one of the Roman emperors once ordered $100,000 worth of roses from Egypt for a single banquet. Another emperor spent $20,000,000 in one year for food for his family.

⁴³ In John’s time, the slave trade was very large. It has been estimated that there were up to sixty million slaves in the Roman Empire.

⁴⁴ We see here what happens when leaders of the church ally themselves too closely with political leaders. The church is compromised and becomes the servant of the government.

⁴⁵ Some Bible scholars interpret verse 4 differently. They believe that it is not only martyrs who will reign with Christ during that thousand years; they believe that all believers who have not worshiped the beast or received its mark will also reign with Christ during that time. These scholars say that two groups are mentioned in verse 4: first, the martyrs or beheaded ones; and second, other believers who have not been put to death but who have stood firm in the faith. In other words, these scholars say that all true Christians will take part in the thousand-year reign (see Revelation 2:26-27; 5:910).
    But according to Revelation 13:15, all believers who do not worship the beast will be put to death. Therefore, all believers who are alive at the time of the beast will become martyrs. Thus, whether we say “believers” or “martyrs,” in this context it is the same group. So it seems that in verse 4, John is only talking about one group: believers who have been put to death—that is, martyrs. For the martyrs, that thousand-year reign will be a great and blessed reward.

It would appear, then, that for all other believers who have died of natural causes before the coming of the beast, their resurrection will occur after the thousand-year reign is over.

⁴⁶ Believers who take part in the “second resurrection” (the general resurrection) will also not be touched by the second death. Only unbelievers will be condemned to the second death.

⁴⁷ The Christian martyrs had already been resurrected in the first resurrection (see verses 4-5 and comment); therefore, they were not among the dead at the last judgment.

⁴⁸ The lake of fire is the same as the fiery lake of burning sulfur mentioned in Revelation 19:20; 20:10.

⁴⁹ The word thick can also be translated “high.” It is not certain here whether John is talking about thickness or height.