Revelation 22:1

REV:22

"The vision in this last chapter of Revelation is directly continuous with what has preceded."[1] There are many things in this glorious vision which lie beyond our total comprehension; but so it was with the ancient prophecies of the Old Testament. What could have been more incomprehensible than the prophecies that a holy virgin would conceive and bear a son, that a man should die and not see corruption in the grave, or that one despised and rejected by man should be established forever upon the throne of David? "Yet the pious Jew preserved his faith amidst all these wonderful, and in appearance, contradictory intimations."[2] Just so, Christians should receive the great prophecies of the New Testament in the fullest confidence that, despite having no accurate knowledge of how these things shall all be fulfilled, they shall nevertheless come to pass exactly as God has said. The ultimate triumph of Christianity over all the corruptions of earth is the will of God; and nothing can stand in the way of that.

In this chapter, for the first time, "The imagery of the paradise of Eden, linking the end of history with its beginning, appears."[3] John took the motif of the Fall in Genesis 3 and described the complete reversal of it to convey the ultimate glory of man in Christ Jesus."[4]

Those scholars are wrong who connect the imagery of these glorious chapters with pagan myths, folklore, apocryphal writings, and the literature of classical paganism. The apostles of Christ knew nothing of such things. It is likely true that certain vestiges of ancient truth handed down through Adam's posterity in a garbled, distorted, and perverted condition might indeed have been preserved and referred to in pagan myths of folklore; "But our apocalyptist and the Old Testament writers from whom his imagery is taken are without doubt unconscious of such primitive connections, if they exist."[5] Even the Old Testament prophecies which seem to be reflected in much of the terminology of Revelation must not be thought of as determining John's meaning here. Those interpreters who take the obvious reference of certain Old Testament prophecies to the literal Jerusalem as proof that the visions in Revelation must also be applied to literal Jerusalem have missed the point altogether. These final chapters do not refer to a return of Jews to Jerusalem (literally). "That interpretation is far-fetched and is not borne out in the scriptures."[6] Many have simply overlooked the truth that John did not receive this vision from a study of the Old Testament, nor from pagan or secular literature. The vision came from God through Jesus Christ to the apostle John. "He (the apostle), not the Old Testament prophets, determined what the content and meaning of his words should be."[7]

[1] George Eldon Ladd, A Commentary on the Revelation of John (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1972), p. 286.

[2] Floyd Myers, Difficult Passages in Revelation Examined (Pekin, Indiana: Floyd Myers, 1960), p. 170.

[3] G. R. Beasley-Murray, The Book of Revelation (Greenwood, South Carolina: The Attic Press, 1974), p. 330.

[4] Douglas Ezell, Revelations on Revelation (Waco: Word Books, 1977), p. 109.

[5] Isbon T. Beckwith, The Apocalypse of John (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1919), p. 764.

[6] Joseph M. Gettys, How to Study Revelation (Philadelphia: John Knox Press, 1955), p. 111.

[7] Ibid., p. 112.

And he showed me a river of water of life, bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb, (Revelation 22:1)

River ... water of life ... This metaphor was used by Jesus himself in his conversation with the woman of Samaria (John 4:10), and in his reference to "living water" (John 7:37,38). This is in no sense a literal river. Ponce de Leon's search for "the fountain of youth" was a wild goose chase; he did not find it, nor will it be in heaven, literally. However, the reality symbolized by it will be there. Therefore, all of the arguments about where, precisely, this river is located in the city of God are unnecessary. The point is that eternal life will belong to those who enter it.

Proceeding out of the throne ... This is the throne of God and of the Lamb, so Beasley-Murray is right in saying, "The river flows from Christ."[8] However, he is wrong in the view that "Christ took the place of the temple."[9] Just the opposite is true: secular Israel had permitted the temple to take the place of Christ who is the true temple.

The throne of God and of the Lamb ... In the fact of the eternal throne of God being here identified also as the throne of the Lamb is also the inherent truth that, "The kingdom in which Christ now reigns may be called also the kingdom of God."[10] There are not two kingdoms any more than there are two thrones.

[8] G. R. Beasley-Murray, op. cit., p. 331

[9] Ibid.

[10] John T. Hinds, A Commentary on the Book of Revelation (Nashville: Gospel Advocate Company, 1962), p. 307.