Living Waters

November 20, 2016 Background Scripture: Revelation 22:1 – 7 Lesson Passage: Revelation 22:1 – 7 In last week’s lesson, John described the majestic vision of the New Jerusalem descending from God out of Heaven. In the text of today’s lesson, John describes some of the features he observed inside of the glorious New Jerusalem. As anticipated, central to everything is the throne of God and the Lamb. From the throne, God’s glory emanates to illuminate everything continuously so that there is no day or night—just eternity in the presence of God. The servants of God will see His face and look upon the Lamb who wrought redemption and salvation for the servants of God. Indeed, we shall behold his face! As was the case with the first paradise located in Eden, there will be a life-sustaining river in the midst of the last paradise. A crystal clear river of water proceeds out of the throne to give and sustain life. Jesus spoke figuratively of the Holy Spirit as the life-giving water which springs up eternally within believers. Fruit bearing trees grow on both sides of the river and bear fruit every month. The leaves of the trees have healing capacity so sickness and disease cannot come in and torment there. These trees are the trees of life. We learn in Genesis that the fruit of these trees give eternal life. After Adam’s sin, God expelled Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden to prevent them from eating from the tree of life which would have allowed them to live forever in their spiritually fallen and unredeemed state. Note that the tree of life was available as food for them in the Garden of Eden prior to Adam’s sin. Sin caused man to be spiritually separated from God and, subsequently, physically separated from the tree of life. At the time of John’s Patmos vision, the Lamb of God had offered himself as a sin offering on Calvary and redeemed man from sin. This renewed spiritual state qualified man to again be eligible to eat of the tree of life. After the destruction of Satan, his followers, and sin, the fruit of the tree of life was again available for man’s consumption. As it was at the time of creation, man could eat from the tree of life and live forever. However, unlike the Genesis situation from which man was expelled because of his sinful state, man would now live forever in his spiritually redeemed condition. The Genesis account also records God cursing the ground for man’s sake. This caused man’s labor to become more difficult and in spite of it, the ground would not just yield a bounty of goodness but also thorns and thistles. This curse will be removed in the New Jerusalem. The river of water of life will cause the ground to yield its bounty without man being burdened by the work. Thanks to the life-giving and sustaining elements in the New Jerusalem, throughout eternity redeemed man would be physical proof of the depths of God’s grace. The tree was watered by the river of life. Everything in the New Jerusalem was giving and sustaining life. After showing John such a wonderful vision, the Lamb then gave the promise of fulfilling the vision by declaring I am coming quickly. Robert C. Hudson September 28, 2016