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| Photo of Jon Tracy, by Jim Tracy |
1 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.
Jesus said that those who accept him would have a river of life flowing out of their innermost being.
There is one river, not two.There is only one plan of salvation, not two, not one for the Jews and one for the gentiles.
"Crystal" means there is no fog, confusion, or hidden things. There is no secret to how to get saved. You simply accept Jesus as your Boss.
2 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.
One street, not two. One way to Heaven.
The Tree is also singular.
The leaves of many trees are medicinal.
- Peach=soothing, calming;
- pine=high in c, decongestant;
- willow=pain killer.
There is no wrong side of the river; it’s on both sides.
The tree bears the Fruit of the spirit: Love, Joy, Peace, Goodness, Kindness, Patience, Gentleness, Faith, and Self Control. Galatians 5:22-23.
God's principles, God's salvation bring healing to all.
3 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:
Adam’s curse was sin, death of all; humans, animals, planet, universe. Though our physical bodies will die, we are no longer subject to death. It won’t “take.” We are alive spiritually and will rise again at the last day.
"His" and "him" are singular.
4 And they shall see His face; and His name shall be in their foreheads.
We see the face of God when we worship, and His name is in our foreheads when we know Him and His ways and seek His will for our decisions.
5 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.
Our souls are never dark when we have Jesus. He gives us light.
John is seeing the difference that serving God brings. He is giving hope and comfort to all who choose God.
"Candle" and "sun" are part of Old Testament worship. Not needed in the Church.
6 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.”
These things must all have happened shortly after this was written. If not God is a bad communicator.
He did not have John write this as notes to Himself so He would remember to do this. He had him write them to communicate an idea to us. If He did not use terms as we understand them, He failed.
Thus “must shortly be done” has to be interpreted according to what humans understand “shortly” to mean, not from God's perspective.
These things had to have happened in the first century, early second at the latest, and be continuing now. Chapters 21 and 22’s description of the New Jerusalem- the Bride- must be the Christian walk with God.
7 “Behold, I come quickly: blessed is He that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.”
God came in judgment on Israel in AD70, likely just 4-6 years after this was written.
Josephus records eyewitness accounts of a mass vision of the face of Christ in the sky just as Titus conquered the city, as well as chariots charging around the clouds.
8 And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which showed me these things.
John was overcome.
9 Then saith He unto me, “See thou do it not: for I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book. Worship God.”
He is one of the prophets, though we have no way of knowing which one, if he is even one mentioned in the Bible.
We are to worship no one but God Himself- Ever!
10 And He saith unto me, “Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand.”
Again, this has to all be fulfilled very soon after being written or God is just a bad communicator.
Compare to Daniels vision where he was told to seal it up because it was a long time until it was fulfilled.
11 “He that is unjust, let Him be unjust still: and He which is filthy, let Him be filthy still: and He that is righteous, let Him be righteous still: and He that is holy, let Him be holy still.
12 “And, behold, I come quickly; and My reward is with Me, to give every man according as His work shall be.”
Again, “quickly.” This is three times in this one chapter that God says this will all be done very soon (from John’s perspective.) Throughout the Bible God repeated Himself at least twice when He tells someone He had determined to do a thing.
To move this book 2000 years down the road to today is to make God a liar.
13 “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.”
God is the all in all.
14 “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.”
Those who do His commandments (love God with all you’ve got, love your neighbor as yourself) will enter into the Church, the Bride of Christ.
15 “For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.”
Sinners are outside the church. They won’t be in heaven.
16 “I, Jesus have sent mine angel (collective noun, many ministers?) to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.
17 “And the Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come.’ And let Him that heareth say, ‘Come.’ And let Him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let Him take the water of life freely.”
Christians want God's kingdom, His will, to be done in this world. Whoever wants God can find Him and enter the “City” right now.
18 “For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto Him the plagues that are written in this book:”
“Don’t change what God says or else!”
19 “And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away His part out of the Book Of Life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.
20 “He which testifieth these things saith, ‘Surely I come quickly.’ Amen.” Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
A fourth time! Jesus means it when He said this would be fulfilled quickly from John’s perspective!
John and all the Christians were in the middle of persecution, being slaughtered by the Romans and Jews. They wanted to be rescued from this quickly. Jesus is promising that that salvation from the Great Tribulation would be here very soon. In fact, Nero died shortly after this was written and the persecution from Rome stopped then. And God came with Titus and destroyed the Jews (stopping their persecution of the Christians) in less than a decade. This was completely fulfilled quickly just like Jesus said.
21 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.