Revelation 22:1-7

(Rev 22:1 KJV)
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.

Here John is seeing a pure river of the water of life from the throne of God and the Lamb. This water of life is representative of the Gospel in its purest form and John is seeing that the source of salvation is both God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (John 6:37 KJV) All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. The Father gives the Elect to the Son. What we see here is also the fact that the believers are living in the direct presence of the Lord. When the believers were on earth, they received the water of life to become saved but here they are seeing the source of eternal life. The fact that this water is clear as crystal means there are absolutely no mixtures of any kind, only the purest Gospel flows from the throne of God and the Lamb.

(Rev 22:2 KJV)
In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

Now here we have another beautiful picture. The street which was made of pure gold had the river of pure water flowing either down the middle of it or side by side with the street. Then we are told that the tree of life was on both sides of the river. In Genesis, Eve was warned not to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Well, both Adam and Eve did eat and to prevent them from living in an eternal state of sin, God expelled them from the Garden so they would not eat of the tree of life. Here we have the tree of life in Heaven which bears twelve manners of fruit and yields them every month. Now a normal fruit tree does not yield fruit every month. It yields its fruits once a year. What we have in view here is the tree of life which stands for eternal life given to all the true believers and the healing leaves are given to show that there will never be anything in heaven which will ever cause any believer to have any physical or spiritual needs and the leaves are showing us that everything the believers needs throughout eternity will already have been supplied. Once again the number twelve plays a prominent part in this verse. Twelve types of fruit and twelve months. Here again we are in touch with number 144. The twelve fruits are yielded each month and there are twelve months in a year. The fullness of everything being supplied to the believer as well as that supply being unending as the fullness of eternity is in view.

(Rev 22:3 KJV)
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:

Right now the ground of the earth is under a curse. (Gen 3:17 KJV) And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; God cursed the ground and has never rescinded that curse. That is why when people use terms like “promised land” or “holy land” they are calling cursed ground holy and promised. The promised land is Heaven and the only holy land is Heaven. There is nothing holy or promised about this present sin-cursed earth. In the New Heaven and New Earth there will be no more cursed ground because it has all been remade new in righteousness. The thrones of the Lamb and God the Father would never exist in any type of sin-cursed universe. There will also never be anyone who is under God’s curse entering into the New Heaven and New Earth either, that is, only the saved of God will be there. This verse also indicates that the believer will have some type of service to perform but what that service is remains to be seen.

(Rev 22:4 KJV)
And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.

(Exo 33:20 KJV) And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live. Moses wanted to see the face of God but God prevented him from seeing it because Moses would have been instantly consumed because of the glory. Here in this verse we are seeing that all the true believers will see the face of God and because we will be in our glorified spiritual bodies, we will not be consumed when we see it. God has qualified all His children to see His face. We are then told that the believers will have His name in their foreheads. This means that all the true believers are sons and daughters of the living God. This is not a physical mark but denotes that the believer belongs to God and that we will be in the image of God as originally intended.

(Rev 22:5 KJV)
And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.

In Revelation 21:25, we were told that there would be no night and here we are being told that the glory of the Lord is the light of all Heaven. The light we needed while on earth came from secondary sources such as candles and the sun but here we have the primary source of all light and that is the Lord God Himself who gives light. Then as Kings and Priests, we are being told here that the true believers will reign forever. Again, as to what the true believer will rule over has not been revealed because we do not need to know at this point. Suffice it to say that this life is readying the true believer for their eternal responsibility, whatever that may be.

(Rev 22:6 KJV)
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.

The messenger now assures John that all the messages which are contained in all the visions are faithful and true. There will be no part which will not come to pass in the Lord’s timing. Here we are also told that the Lord God is the God of the prophets which means that everything they prophesied came directly from the mouth of God and will come to pass or has come to pass, depending upon the prophecy and the subject of it, plus the timing. All the things which John witnessed will shortly come to pass which is part of the faithful and true statements. The Lord’s timing and our timing are different. He sees things as already completed and we see things being completed in time. The word “shortly” in the Greek carries with it the meaning of “with speed and quickness.” It may seem like it is taking a long time but God’s timing is precise and in proper order.

(Rev 22:7 KJV)
Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.

The Lord Jesus now interjects that He will be coming quickly. The word “quickly” in the Greek carries with it the meaning of “swiftly, without delay, and soon.” Once again we must keep in mind that the Lord’s timing and ours are different and that is why He tells us to be patient. (Luke 21:19 KJV) In your patience possess ye your souls. (James 5:7 KJV) Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Now the book which is in view here is not only the Book of Revelation but the entire Bible. We must remember that Revelation is the last book of the Canon and part of the Bible. The Lord Jesus is telling us that we will be blessed if we keep the sayings (words) of the entire word of God.