Come, Lord Jesus!

from Google Images

Presumably, the angel, whom the Lord had sent, is the speaker in Revelation 22:17, and he quotes the Spirit and the Bride saying to the Lord, “Come!” That is, they bid the Lord Jesus to come quickly, as he promises to do in the Apocalypse. Then the angel, probably speaking to the churches (Revelation 22:16) and by implication to all who hear the Gospel through their preaching, invites them to also bid the Lord to “Come!” Finally, he tells all who are thirsty to “come” and drink freely of the water of life (viz. the River of Life that flows out of the throne of God – Revelation 22:1).[1] Just after the imprisonment of John the Baptist, Jesus told the woman of Samaria that the water he offered her was like “a well of water springing up to eternal life” (John 4:14).

 

The Coming Messiah, the Morning Star

from Google Images

The speaker in Revelation 22:16 is Jesus. The text says so, but the angel, whom Jesus sent to John, may be quoting Jesus as opposed to John actually hearing Jesus speak these words. However, no matter how one sees this, Jesus says he is the root and the offspring of David and the bright morning star. But, what does Jesus mean? First of all, Jesus claimed to be the offspring of David, which, taken at face value, means he is **the** descendant of David, or the one the nation had been seeking, since the time when David was the king. Jesus is claiming to be the Messiah (cp. Luke 2:25, 38; 23:51; Mark 15:43).

 

The New Creation In Christ

from Google Images

The angel told John: if a man was unjust, let him, henceforth do wickedly, and, if he was filthy, let him become so. On the other hand, if a man was righteous, let him do righteousness, and he that is holy, let him become so (Revelation 22:11). What did the angel mean? Did the angel actually forbid repentance in this text? I don’t believe we should understand this verse to mean one has no choice, and his fate is sealed. Rather, I believe the angel declared that a tree would be known by its fruits. If a man is unrighteous, let him bear that fruit and be known as a tree of unrighteousness. If he has defiled himself, let him bear the mark of defilement. So, too, the righteous, if a man is righteous, let him do the works of righteousness, and if he hasn’t defiled himself by embracing worldliness, let that also be known. So, rather than preaching fatalism, the angel was simply identifying the trees and telling us what sort of fruit to expect.

 

John’s Intended Worship

from Google Images

With the Apocalypse finished, and John having seen and heard all of what the Lord wanted to convey to the churches, he immediately fell down before the angel’s feet whom the Lord had sent to bring the message of the Apocalypse to him (Revelation 22:8; cp. 1:1-4, 11). The sense seems to be, at least according to most Biblical scholars, that after seeing all the visions recorded in this prophecy, and hearing all of what the Lord wanted John and the elect to know, John placed himself in position to ‘worship’ the angel who had delivered the Lord’s message to him? And, this wasn’t even the first time John tried to do such a thing (Revelation 19:10)![1] Is this an accurate understanding of what John had tried to do?

 

Behold, I Come Quickly!

from Google Images

The angel who spoke with John told him that everything he saw and heard was faithful and true (Revelation 22:6), and the summation of it all was that the Lord was making all things new (Revelation 21:5), which he who sat upon the throne declared was true and faithful.[1] This angel who spoke with John was the very angel whom the Lord had sent to bring John the message of the Apocalypse at the beginning of the book (Revelation 1:1), the whole of which John had now both seen and heard. He may have had a difficult time putting it all into words that men could understand (2Corinthians 12:2-4), but the Apocalypse was now finished and the angel told John all these things would shortly come to pass (Revelation 22:6).

 

No Night and Beholding the Face of God

from Google Images

In New Jerusalem believers will see the face of God, Jesus, who is seated upon the throne (Revelation 22:3-4), but not so the wicked. Those who were judged to be criminals were not permitted to look at the face of the king (Esther 7:8), and such a custom permeated the worldview of the ancients (cp. Exodus 33:20; Judges 6:22-23; 13:22; Isaiah 6:5) Therefore, the wicked are afraid and want to hide from the Lord, who sits upon the throne (Revelation 6:16; cp Genesis 3:8). As was done at the inauguration of the Old Covenant (Exodus 20:18-19), so it was done at the inauguration of the New Covenant (Revelation 20:11). Nevertheless, the elect do see the Lord (Matthew 5:8). We behold him with our unveiled faces and are changed into his image (2Corinthians 3:18; cp. 1John 3:1-2), which, after all, has been the purpose of the Lord from the very beginning (Genesis 1:26-27).

 

No More Curse!

from Google Images

The angel told John that there would be no accursed thing (G2652) in the New Jerusalem (Revelation 22:3), because the Throne of God and the Lamb will be in the city. How should we understand this? First of all, the Greek word is found only here in the Bible. It doesn’t even appear in the Septuagint. It is a noun; its verb form (G2653) appears in Matthew 26:27 where Peter swears he doesn’t know Jesus and calls down a curse upon himself (i.e. destruction), if he wasn’t telling the truth.

 

The River of Life

from Google Images

Many Christians think the River of Life that flows from the Throne of God in New Jerusalem is a literal river. Yet, how could this be, if there were no literal sea into which all rivers flow (cp. Revelation 21:1)[1]. Moreover, if there were also no literal sun and moon (Revelation 21:23; 22:5) to cause the hydraulic cycle that produces springs, which in turn become streams, which come together to produce rivers, how could a literal, physical River of Life even exist in that context. Oh, but God is able to do anything! Well, yes and no. God cannot contradict terms. He cannot make a lie the truth or the truth a lie; neither could he make a square circle etc. That would be chaos! God created order in the universe, not chaos. In other words, God can do all things that are possible to be done by a Being of his Almighty power. Therefore, if there is no literal sea in the new heaven and the new earth, there can be no literal River of Life. Yet, even if there are oceans in the new heaven and the new earth, this still doesn’t mean the River of Life is physical. There is more evidence that the river should be interpreted spiritually.

 

The Temple of New Jerusalem

from Google Images

John tells us there is no temple in New Jerusalem, because the Lord God, Almighty, even the Lamb is the Temple of the city (Revelation 21:22). The Greek verb is singular. Therefore, the phrase “the Lord God, Almighty, even the Lamb” describe the glorified Jesus. He is the Temple of New Jerusalem or put another way, we, the New Jerusalem, dwell **in** Christ, our Temple (cp. John 17:21).

 

The Judgment of the Saints

from Google Images

In Revelation 11:1-2 John was given a reed to measure the Temple of God, but the house only. The Temple court with the Altar of Sacrifice and the Brass Laver were left out, because everything in the outer court was given over to the gentiles, who treated the holy things with contempt. However, in Revelation 21:15 the angel, who was with John (cp. Revelation 21:9), had a golden reed, and he used it to measure the city of New Jerusalem with its walls and gates. Every one of its four sides, together with the height of its walls were equal, measuring 144 cubits each (Revelation 21:15-17).

 

New Jerusalem and Heavenly Jerusalem

from Google Images

New Jerusalem is the Bride, who has been prepared and adorned for her Husband, Christ (Revelation 21:2). John’s vision in Revelation 21 is in contrast with his vision of the Great Whore, who “was arrayed in purple and scarlet-color, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls” (Revelation 17:4). The Great Whore, of course, is the former Jerusalem, which represents the Lord’s former, unfaithful wife (cp. Jeremiah 3:8, 20).

 

New Jerusalem & Jerusalem that Is Above

from Google Images

In a previous study I contrasted the New Jerusalem of Revelation 21 with the Great Whore of Revelation 17. In my studies of Revelation 17 I showed that the Great Whore was actually Jerusalem, which was destroyed by the Roman armies in 70 AD. If one speaks of the New Jerusalem it is hardly possible not to remember that there was, in fact, an old Jerusalem, hence my pointing to Revelation 17. With this in mind, Paul does the very same thing in his epistle to the Galatians!

 

The New Jerusalem

from Google Images

One of the seven angels who poured out the vials of God’s judgment upon Babylon (cp. Revelation 16), came to John and told him that he would show John the Lamb’s Bride (Revelation 21:9). This may be the very same angel who showed John the judgment of the Great Whore, Mystery Babylon the Great (Revelation 17:1). If so, this same angel took John and showed him holy Jerusalem (Revelation 21:10), which indicates the new Jerusalem is the Bride of Christ. One cannot help but contrast the new Jerusalem of Revelation 21 with the ‘old’ Jerusalem of Revelation 17, which was judged by the Lord and destroyed.

 

Death in the New Heaven and New Earth!

from Google Images

The Lord told John to write that the overcomer would inherit all things, and the Lord, Jesus, would be his God, and the overcomer would be Jesus’ son (Revelation 21:7)! Let’s consider this for a moment. If the things in Revelation 21 take place after all things are made new (Revelation 21:5, and after the thousand year reign of Christ that was an era of peace like no other before it; and, if this chapter also occurs after the resurrection and judgment of the just and the unjust, after which all the wicked are cast into the lake of fire, **if** all these things are behind us, as we enter the New Jerusalem, what has the believer to overcome?

 

The Alpha and the Omega

from Google Images

It has been said by some that the words: “Write, for these things are true and faithful” (Revelation 21:5), were spoken, not by Christ, but by an angel. This might be true, but it seems awfully clumsy to have Christ speaking at the beginning of Revelation 21:5, but then an angel concludes the verse, but then Christ speaks again in the next verse. All this occurs without John ever mentioning an angel had spoken between Christ’s two declarations. It is easier to believe that Christ is speaking to John throughout the discourse, until John begins to describe his surroundings in Revelation 21:8.