Essentially what John saw next was Paradise regained (cf. Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. The tree of life is mentioned three times in Genesis 2, in Eden, and again four times in Revelation, three of those in the final chapter. Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book. This is never the case with an angel. So I knew how you were about the money that You distributed, so I took the money and buried it and here it is, Lord. Hence the effort of some to prop up a manifestly false reading. For it is clear that, though principles might reign, to be priests is quite inconsistent with a mere figure. By the tree of life is meant not the Gospel, nor godliness, nor eternal life, nor any other of the divine Persons, but Christ, who is the author of life, natural, spiritual, and eternal; John 19:18- : and its situation between the street of the city, where the saints commune and converse together, and the river of God's everlasting love, which in this state will appear in its fulness and glory, shows that Christ will be seen and enjoyed by all in the most delightful and comfortable manner that can be wished for: which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month; not one sort of fruit one month, and another sort another month, and so on, but twelve sorts every month; which is expressive of the fruits and spiritual blessings of grace from Christ, enjoyed by saints in the present state, and of that variety of happiness and pleasures to be had in this glorious state, and of the continuance of them; they being always ever fresh and new, and will be always sufficient for the twelve tribes of the true Israel of God, and for all that have embraced the doctrine of the twelve apostles of the Lamb; whose drink in this state will be the everlasting love of God, and whose food will be the fruit of the tree of life; both which they shall enjoy in great abundance: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations; not for the curing of diseases, or repairing of health; which in the present state of things is done by the application of the blood of Christ for the pardon of sin, which is a healing of diseases, and by the discoveries of the love of God; through the ministration of the Gospel, and the doctrines of it, which might be thought to be signified by leaves; for there will be no disease either of body or mind in this state; besides, the nations that will walk in the light of this city will be saved perfectly and completely, Revelation 21:4 but these leaves will be for the preserving and continuing the health of the people of God in this state, as the tree of life in Eden's garden was for the preservation of the health and life of Adam, had he continued in a state of innocence; and it denotes that everything in Christ will contribute to the comfort, health, and happiness of the saints. The river deepened the further it flowed. Directly he had sinned, the word of God came, and he was called. On these I may say but a very few words. The river of paradise. That is to say, there will be no more of the pollutions which harm the Christian life. For instance, Abraham kept the whole Law from aleph to tau. R. H. Charles points out that this warning may not be part of the original book at all. We know the Holy Spirit rather as a spirit of communion with Christ. IV. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life ( Proverbs 14:27). Scripture is positive in Isaiah 65:1-25 that death during the millennium only comes as a specific judgment because of open rebellion. 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. "And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife." 39 And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. First--THE RIVER OF LIFE--verses 1 and 2. But a voice issues from the throne, saying, "Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great. T HE Revelation of Jesus Christ, a which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which b must shortly come to pass; and c he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John: 2 d Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things e that he saw. He with the glorified saints will have their home on high, but none the less shall they reign over this very world for the allotted time. H. B. Swete says: "No one who has watched the dogs that prowl in the quarters of an eastern city will wonder at the contempt and disgust which the word suggests to the oriental mind." *The description here is simply character, not dates. We find, accordingly, the four and twenty elders and four living creatures here brought before us for the last time. This is how, when, and where, the leaves of the Tree of Life, that is, the message of salvation, brought healing to just one of the many nations, just as Revelation 22:2 declares it is supposed to, and will, take place. But we can understand that the Lord could and did make that little go far, and do no little good. In 2021, there were 4.8 million foreign-born Black Americans, up from 2.4 million in 2000, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of Census Bureau data. No river of water of life and health can bring life to the desert of mans life unless it takes its source in the inexhaustible heights of the throne of God. Everything that belongs to the body of Christ is unearthly and unworldly. A single verse dispels clouds of arguments. You like to reap where you didn't sow and so forth. "And the Spirit and the bride say, Come." When the apostle Paul wrote to the, saints at Rome, he particularly specified at that very time the duty of absolute subjection on the part of Christians to the powers which then were. [11] William Barclay, The Revelation of John (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1976), p. 221. By clicking Accept all cookies, you agree Stack Exchange can store cookies on your device and disclose information in accordance with our Cookie Policy. He was the word of God in the revelation of grace; when known, by and by, it will be as the executor of God's judgments. 22:1, 2; Gen. 2:9-11). Luke 12:42 - And the Lord said, "Who then is the faithful, wise manager, whom the master will set over the, Matt 24:45 - Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has set over his household, to. By and by, after our translation to heaven, He will work, and as vitally in those who bow to God, when it will be the reception of the prophetic testimony which is here owned to be none the less the testimony of Jesus. Amidst the terrible persecution of his day, the one thing which John longed for was the speedy return of Christ. This is what drove men to the idea of making the pope to be the beast. 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 ( Revelation 22:14 ). And in the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bore twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month ( Revelation 22:1-2 ): So, you have an interesting kind of a tree here. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing" ( Ezekiel 47:12). Jesus said, "I am the door to the sheepfold.". That is, Satan will be the spring of its final rise and power; he, and not God in any way whatever, will give it its character. Exactly the same thing is repeated here, and what makes it more apparent is the similarity of the introduction on each occasion. Rivers bring life and health to a city. *It is the aorist in Greek, which in such a case as this it is difficult correctly to represent in English; for neither "reigned" nor "hath reigned" could convey that God had entered on His kingdom, but rather that it was past. But a grave consideration soon disposes of both views by the relation to the beast, and more particularly by what will be shown a little farther on. Why does Acts not mention the deaths of Peter and Paul? There is another remark to make. The Greeks said that Zeus was the beginning, the middle, and the end. I take it, therefore, that God intended this analogy to be noted by us; that it is not a pursuance of the prophecy, but a description of the holy city previously named, just as the other was a description of the corrupt city, whose judgment had been announced. It is in the light of that regular custom that we must read John's words. Bibliographical InformationHenry, Matthew. Heaven and the Afterlife: The Truth About Tomorrow and What It Means for Today by Erwin Lutzer. It is because they don't attempt to or they attempted to spiritualize the meanings, and if you do that it becomes meaningless. The particulars are reserved for a later point in this prophecy. And the leaves of the tree - Not only the fruit will contribute to give life, but even the leaves will be salutary. "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. Is there any known 80-bit collision attack? But what I particularly call your attention to is the exceeding importance of heeding the retrospect at the bride, or new Jerusalem here, and the consequent removal of the difficulty caused by taking the last vision of this book as part of the prophetic series which begins in Revelation 19:1-21. This is not one tree, but stands either for many trees of one variety, or even many varieties of trees. Thus the language of symbol is as definite as any other. 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. Praise the Lord for His Word, a lamp unto our feet, a light unto our path, a power in our lives to keep us from sin. Thus there is no question that some of the actors in the final scenes of the great drama were already there, as the reigning city, and the Roman empire. "And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse." And the beast was taken" (taken alive), "and with him the false prophet that wrought signs in his presence, with which he deceived those that received the mark of the beast, and those that worshipped his image." (ii) There follows the list of those who are debarred from the city of God. That age of visible glory is inefficacious to change the heart of man, though in the absence of the enemy and the controlling presence of the great King, they render feigned obedience for a long while. - Utley. And God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more, nor sorrow, nor crying nor shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. It may be the Spirit who is operative in all the prophets and who is always calling men back to God. Death and hades, which had so long been executioners in a world where sin reigned, and were still doing their occasional office where righteousness is to reign, themselves disappear where all traces of sin are consigned for ever. (i) Those who wash their robes have the right of entry into the city of God; the King James Version has: Blessed are they that do his commandments. Revelation 21:12), but also, all the various tribes of the earth (Revelation 7:9, 11:9, 13:7, and especially 14:6; see footnote referenced below as "Eternal Gospel"). The unrenewed of the nations are now compassing them with their countless hosts, as if to eat them up like grasshoppers. Ezekiel 47:12. Neither did I. Compare also in the Apocrypha, 2 Esdras 2:12; 8:52-54. "These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them (for he is Lord of lords and King of kings), and they that are with him, called, and chosen, and faithful.". So, this is for the churches. What risks are you taking when "signing in with Google"? Here accordingly is seen but one throne. It is much more likely that the whole passage is a great invitation to all men to come to Christ. The point of this guarantee is this. The Philadelphia 76ers, despite missing Joel Embiid due to a knee sprain, took care of the Brooklyn Nets in four games to become the first team to advance to the second round. Peculiar energy indeed attaches to symbolic language. And so I do believe that the day of the Lord is at hand. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb." a tree of life, yielding twelve fruits, according to each month giving its fruit; and the leaves of the tree are for healing of the nations. "And no curse shall be any more: and the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him." Man converted will then not merely reach the natural term if I may so say of a thousand years, but pass that bound. However, a simple comparison between Luke 12:42 and Matt 24:45 shows that it can also mean "service" or "servants" as also confirmed by BDAG. And then we come to a most cheering disclosure: "And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and [I saw] the souls of those beheaded on account of the witness of Jesus, and on account of the word of God: and those who had not worshipped the beast, nor his image, and had not received his mark upon their forehead, and on their hand; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years."
Tunica County News Today,
Houses For Rent In Sandfields Port Talbot,
Percy Jackson Time Travel Harem Fanfiction,
Haagen Dazs Safety Seal,
Delta Band Saw For Sale Craigslist,
Articles W
