"He that testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Just as the city of man's confusion was seen in her vile, degraded, and degrading relations with the beast, this city is seen in her pure and glorious relations with the Lamb. This verse declares it, and there is no other interpretation that can stand even a moment's fair discussion. On either side of the river was a tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. It is in the light of that regular custom that we must read John's words. as the Complut. Having been healed from the curse of sin, they can now enjoy the blessings of the tree of life that God originally intended for them. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. IV. In the ancient days, since all books were hand-copied by scribes and everyone knew how easy it was for a scribe to make mistakes in the copying, it was a regular custom to insert at the end of a book a solemn warning against change. It is God's gift to me by faith in Jesus Christ, faith alone. The idea is, that the tree bore every month in the year, so that there were twelve fruit-harvests. Was there the tree of life - Not a single tree, but it abounded everywhere - on the banks of the river, and in all the streets. In the midst of the city street may be taken, not as the end of the first sentence, but as the beginning of the second. It produces the perfect worship; where God is always seen, all life becomes an act of worship. He did this a little earlier and the angel said to him to stand up. New King James Version In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. and carried our sorrows; Brent Rooker hopes to keep his hot-hitting going against the Cincinnati Reds at the Oakland Coliseum . That was why the Jews called the Gentiles dogs. "In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. It is called "the first resurrection." "I Jesus sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. As far as the display of government goes, it is according to God morally, and for His glory, though I deny not for a moment that there are elements of evil which are never allowed, but kept under if not expelled. God has not told us how, nor is it our business. that those who were meant under the figures of the elders and of the living creatures assume the name and figure of the bride? You must with the best authorities leave out this addition, if you would have the true force of the verse. If ancient times failed fully to meet the requirements of the chapter, it is evident that the middle ages are passed without its fulfilment as a whole. 1. So, in Revelation 22:2, we see the benefits of the healing that the leaves of the Tree of Life have to offer, and we see the recipients of those benefits, namely the nations, or ethnos of the world, whenever they receive the Lord Jesus and the Gospel of His salvation (as prophesied in Isaiah 53), whenever and wherever the Great Commission is achieved. It may be the Spirit who is operative in all the prophets and who is always calling men back to God. Copyright 2019 by Zondervan. Peter said, "In the last days there will be scoffers that will come along and saying where is the promise of His coming? There are thrones filled with certain persons, who reign along with Him. Then, strangely enough, he delivers exactly the same warning against angel worship as in Revelation 19:10. And the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall worship him, and shall see his face, and his name shall be on their foreheads. Revelation 22:1-2 New International Reader's Version (1998) (NIrV) 1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life. This is what drove men to the idea of making the pope to be the beast. The situation of it--in the midst of the street, and on either side the river; or, as might have been better rendered, in the midst between the terrace-walk and the river. In short, one may be described as corruption, and the other as violence. The beloved city is Jerusalem; the camp of the saints, I presume, is a larger circle and embraces all of Israel and the Gentiles who, being converted, refuse Satan's deceit. The woman the strange woman sets forth corruption, human nature indulging itself in its own evil desires, irrespective of God's will. 2 bIn the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was cthe tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. He comes to execute vengeance, and with a sign of death for rebels. Justly does she gather her title from the old fountain of idols and of combined power without God: confusion being here the characteristic element, the designation is taken from the renowned city of the Chaldeans, the first spot notorious in both respects. Holding on to what others knew before them, or little more, they reduce themselves to a minimum of the truth. Then, when the Lamb and His purchase by blood are celebrated in heaven, the four living creatures join the elders, though each is distinct. Then heaven is opened, and for a sight most solemn. It is possible that the tree of life in the New Jerusalem is literal and that its leaves and various fruits will somehow enrich our existence in the eternal state. A paradise in a city, or a whole city in a paradise! "His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many diadems." The millennial nations, "the number of whom is as the sand of the sea," fall a prey to Satan. through the middle of the street . Then we have another glorious description. It is a gift of God. Nor are its fruits confined to the Jews; its leaves are for the healing of the nations. Genesis 3:22-24. We must face difficulties; we must bow to the word; we must seek to learn through all. "Let him that is unrighteous be unrighteous still: and let the filthy be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still." But now, when those symbols disappear, because of a new action of God (namely, the consummation of the church's joy), the elders and the living creatures disappear, and we have not the bride alone, but another class of saints, who at once come forward. Twelve manner of fruits Twelve fruits; that is, fruit twelve times in the year, as is immediately explained, yielded her fruit every month. There is a distinct contrast between the city John describes and the ancient Babylon, in that the latter was built on the plain of Shinar, while the former is expressly said to have seven heads, and these explained to mean seven mountains. H. B. Swete says: "Christ speaks as the Great Steward, who in the eventide of the world will call the labourers to receive their day's wages.". Surely there is symbolism in Johns picture of the river of the water of life which flows through the church (the city of God)! Here were joined good and evil in godless union, for the worse, not for the better, this alliance, unholy in principle, irremediable therefore in practice, between God and the natural man, who substitutes rites for the grace and word of God, for the blood of Christ, and the power of the Spirit, and employs the name of the Lord as a cover for grosser covetousness and ambition, yet more aspiring than the vulgar world. THE GUARANTEE OF TRUTH ( Revelation 22:16 ). 1. fol. It is a precisely similar case here. As for the earthly land and city, the moon will have her light increased to that of the sun, and the sun shall be sevenfold. To the same world in which He suffered, according to the scriptures, He will come back. To make good sense, supposing there to be but one tree, we should either, as Mede, suppose that the Greek for street is a plain washed on both sides by the river (as the first Paradise was washed on one side by the Tigris, on the other by the Euphrates), and that in the midst of the plain, which itself is in the midst of the river's branches, stood the tree: in which case we may translate, "In the midst of the street (plain) itself, and of the river (having two branches flowing) on this and on that side, was there the tree of life." "And let him that is athirst come; and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.". In presence of grace I do not think this is for His glory, any more than for their own blessing. There is something wrong with our religious experience if it is not an ever deepening experience. I have already touched on the double force of the symbol mountains. 19. 1. f Shirhashirim Rabba, fol. 2 It flowed down the middle of the city's main street. Then the word is, "Award her even as she awarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she mixed, mix to her double. Now we've closed things out. But all this will be a great reversal of man's history and political maxims. It is interesting.God is going to have a tree that has twelve different kinds of fruit and every month a fruit will be ripe. The presence and perfections of God furnish out all the glory and blessedness of heaven. Victorious power put forth to subdue is the meaning of the white horse. These compose the third class here spoken of. If you have any questions, please review our Privacy Policy or email us at privacy@biblegateway.com. Revelation 22:2 in all English translations, NIV, Story of Jesus: Experience the Life of Jesus as One Seamless Story, NIV, The Story: The Bible as One Continuing Story of God and His People, NIV, The Woman's Study Bible, Full-Color, Red Letter: Receiving God's Truth for Balance, Hope, and Transformation, NIV, Beautiful Word Bible Journal, Galatians, Paperback, Comfort Print, NIV, Biblical Theology Study Bible, Comfort Print: Follow Gods Redemptive Plan as It Unfolds throughout Scripture, NIV, Chronological Study Bible, Comfort Print: Holy Bible, New International Version. How this precisely fits in, let me say, with the state of feeling in these modern times; for "constitutionalism," as men call it, is the fruit of the Teutonic system supervening on that of the broken up Roman empire. If some few have joined on one side, some are sure to help the other, because they are jealous of any one acquiring such a preponderant authority: and power as to govern the rest. But for the eternal judgment heaven and earth are fled away; and then we see the new and eternal universe. It is plain that they are not in this city. The Jews interpret the passage in Ezekiel 47:12 to which this refers, of future time, or the world to come (f); and speak of various trees and herbs of great fragrancy and medicinal virtues, which grow quite round on the sides of a laver that stands in paradise (g). In Daniel's time it was not at hand. So, there will be a medicinal value in the leaves of the tree. 2. Have we found this river in our personal churchmanship? But we as properly say, "Come." "A fountain," says Joel, "shall come forth from the house of the Lord" ( Joel 3:18). To call a man a morning star was to class him very high among the heroes. No hint whatever is given that they constitute the city, but there is the inscription of their names outside. Revelation 18:1-24 need not delay us long. Grace, which like the Lord, the Giver, Never fails from age to age.". Peculiar energy indeed attaches to symbolic language. I am the, Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. As there is but a single class of trees referred to, it might have been supposed, perhaps, that, according to the common method in which fruit is produced, there would be sometimes plenty and sometimes want; but the writer says that, though there is but one kind, yet the supply is ample. 1 And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. Can anything be less reasonable (even taking that ground, low as it is) than that the various rulers of the western powers, Catholic kings, join the Pope in destroying his own city, or his own church, whichever Babylon may be made? It is, therefore, by no means impossible that these words are the words not of John but of a later scribe, anxious that none should alter the book in the days to come. The first is one of the angels who have been the interpreters of the divine things to John. "And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of kings, and Lord of lords.". . "The tabernacle of God [is] with men, and he shall dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, their God. In Daniel we read: "The wicked shall do wickedly" ( Daniel 12:10). Such is the hard bondage which mere historical tradition imposes on its votaries. Yet it will be found imperfect, for reasons which, I think, will be clear to any unbiassed mind. So, the Lord assures you these are true and faithful sayings. The word manner has been introduced by the translators without authority. We had seen Babylon twice: first, in the circle of God's warnings and testimonies; and then as the object of God's judgment under the seven bowls. Come what may, John was sure of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and equally sure that it was sufficient for all things. The idea is, that the tree bore every month in the year, so that there were twelve fruit-harvests. New International Version (NIV). (c) There is the idea of authority. It should not be "and which had not," but rather, "and those who had not worshipped the beast, nor his image, neither had received his mark upon their forehead, and on their hand; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years." In the millennium described in Eze 47:1-23 and Re 20:1-15, the Church shall give the Gospel-tree to the nations outside Israel and the Church, and so shall heal their spiritual malady; but in the final and perfect new Jerusalem here described, the state of all is eternally fixed, and no saving process goes on any longer (compare Re 22:11). 22:17 The Spirit and the Bride say: Come! And there shall be no more curse ( Revelation 22:3 ): The earth, you remember, was cursed as a result of sin. Where is the promise? Yet grace despised necessarily ends in judgment. 29 And the Spirit said to Philip, Go over and join this chariot. 30 So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, Do you understand what you are reading? 31 And he said, How can I, unless someone guides me? And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. We have not to learn what the other mystery means; we know well that it is according to God and godliness. Consequently they sat upon the thrones at once; while the two latter classes, described in the rest of the verse, were still in the separate state "and the souls." But then while there is such a call to Christ, while the believer is not to be afraid, but to call on the Lord to come, the church does not forget those that are poor sinners, let them be deeply conscious of it, or let them be those that are only made willing by the grace of God (which is the feeblest expression of the sinner's need, just as you have the feeblest expression of the saint in the previous call). But He "treadeth the winepress of the fury of the wrath of the Almighty God" another character of judgment never attributed to the saints, that I know of. Now, you remember when he talked to Daniel, he said seal up those things and don't write them, for they are for the end. the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit . Worship God.". Bible > Revelation > Chapter 22 > Verse 2 eBibles Free Downloads Audio Revelation 22:2 "And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which [sword] proceedeth out of his mouth: and all the birds were filled with their flesh." and on either side of the river was there the tree of life; not that it stood either in the midst of the street of the city, which being a pavement of gold, a tree could not well stand there; nor on both sides of the river, which is impossible, unless the tree of life is put for many trees of the same kind, as in Ezekiel's vision, to which the allusion is; and so some were on one side of the river, and some on the other, as there; see Ezekiel 47:7 or unless it can be thought that such a solution of the difficulty is sufficient, that the root of it was on one side, and the branches grew over to the other; though the words may be better rendered, and the difficulty will be removed, and the sense be clear, "between the street of it", the city, "and the river, on this side, and on that side"; that is, the street on one side, and the river on the other, was the tree of life; compare with this John 19:18. They themselves were to judge. His grace be with all! and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations ( Revelation 22:2 ). 60:3, 5; 66:12 And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth . Here is the final culmination of the description of the city of God. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. Were for the healing - That is, they contribute to impart life and health to those who had been diseased. ((f) Shirhashirim Rabba, fol.
Burke United Methodist Church Calendar,
Hawaiian Airlines Employee Benefits,
Rove Cartridge Not Working,
Articles W