Revelation chapter 22 - 'The River of Life'
1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb
2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.
3 No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him.
4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.
5 There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.
6 The angel said to me, "These words are trustworthy and true. The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place."
Jesus Is Coming
7 "Behold, I am coming soon! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy in this book."
8 I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I had heard and seen them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been showing them to me.
9 But he said to me, "Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers the prophets and of all who keep the words of this book. Worship God!"
10 Then he told me, "Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, because the time is near.
11 Let him who does wrong continue to do wrong; let him who is vile continue to be vile; let him who does right continue to do right; and let him who is holy continue to be holy."
12 "Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done.
13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.
14 "Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city.
15 Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
16 "I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star."
17 The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.
18 I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book.
19 And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.
20 He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people. Amen.
This final chapter of the Apocalypse is, effectively, the first chapter set in eternity. The entire message of the Bible - in both Old and New Testaments - is that the time is coming when God will dwell with His people.
As already stated, the language of the Apocalypse is figurative - albeit conveying Divinely expressed ‘literal’ blessings and judgements that, being forewarned, believers might expect to be meted out on a largely obdurate or careless world. Even so, I believe that this last Apocalyptic ‘image’ - although still conveying spiritual lessons - could, be an exception in that that which it describes talks of a glorified earth, centred on ‘New Jerusalem’.
The previous chapter (twenty one), with the Apostle John’s vision of ‘… a new heaven and a new earth …’, together with the ‘… New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God …’ set the scene for His coming .
Revelation 21: 3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. In this penultimate chapter, the ‘dwelling of God with man’ is in the future tense.
Even in chapter twenty-two, there is still an imminence - the tension of a waiting that is just about to have its consummation. Everything - The Throne of God and of The Lamb, the River of Life, The Tree of Life astride the River, The Fruit of The Tree - are all in place awaiting the time when His servants will (verse four), ‘see’ the face of God.
Although the word ‘apocalypse’ has inaccurately only been associated with the terrors that relate to doom and annihilation, the final ‘apokalupsis’ or ‘revelation’ is the ultimate revealing of Jesus Christ and, in due time, his Father also.
Although there are several images yet to be created, this final Apocalyptic image presents the restoration of ‘paradise’, central to which is ‘The Tree of Life’ standing astride ‘The River of Life’, flowing from ‘The Throne of God’ - ‘lifted above the hills’
The Old Testament prophets Isaiah, Ezekiel, Joel, Micah and Zechariah were consistent in describing that which this image seeks to depict in the setting of God’s Throne:
‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.’ Isaiah 2:1-3
‘For on my holy mountain, the high mountain of Israel, declares the Sovereign LORD, there in the land the entire house of Israel will serve me, and there I will accept them. There I will require your offerings and your choice gifts, along with all your holy sacrifices.’ Ezekiel 20: 40
‘In that day the mountains will drip new wine, and the hills will flow with milk; all the ravines of Judah will run with water. A fountain will flow out of the LORD's house and will water the valley of acacias.’ Joel 3:17-19
‘But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.’ Micah 4:1-3
‘This is what the LORD says: "I will return to Zion and dwell in Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth, and the mountain of the LORD Almighty will be called the Holy Mountain."’ Zechariah 8:3
It’s within Joel’s beautiful description of the setting for God’s throne that he refers to ‘the fountain’ that would flow from the Throne, its fuller description being presented (centuries after Joel’s initial prophecy), in this twenty-second chapter of Revelation.
‘Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.’ Revelation 22:1-2
Since the Old Testament prophets leave us in no doubt that the Throne of God was elevated, the water that flowed from it must have initially become a waterfall prior to it levelling out to become a river. In the accompanying image, although the Throne itself is concealed by ‘The Tree of Life’, I trust that something its glory - from which we are shielded - together with the lower part of the waterfall, is evident to the viewer.
Although the Greek word ‘plateia’ is frequently translated as ‘street’, the word actually means ‘an open place’ or ‘that which is flat’ – as in ‘plate’. It’s from ‘plateia’ that the word ‘plateau’ has its derivation.
Regarding translation, the Greek word here translated as ‘tree’ (‘xulon’) is not the usual Greek word for a tree. That word is ‘dendron’. Although ‘tree’ is one of xulon’s meanings, its most immediate definition is ‘wood’ - not as in a small forest - but the material, wood.
Of all the many translations I have read, it’s only in William Tyndale’s translation of 1534 that the word is translated as ‘wood’ as opposed to ‘tree’. Also, in verse two, the leaves produced are ‘of the wood’. This calls to mind the words of the Apostle Peter regarding the cross of Christ:
‘He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree (‘xulon’ - and is, therefore, more correctly ‘wood’), so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.’ 1 Peter 2: 24
The word ‘dendron’ is fairly consistently used elsewhere in the New Testament for ‘tree’. For example, from the Gospel of Mark regarding one of Jesus’ miracles:
‘They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man's eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?” He looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.”’ Mark 8:22-24
In chapters seven, eight and nine, ‘dendron’ is also used in Revelation itself. Yet, the times when, in the New Testament, ‘xulon’ is used are quite revealing. Of the eight occasions, seven of them relate directly to the cross of Christ, and the eighth was spoken by Jesus as he was being led away to be crucified:
‘As they led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus. A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him. Jesus turned and said to them, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children. For the time will come when you will say, 'Blessed are the barren women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!' Then “'they will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!” and to the hills, “Cover us!”’ For if men do these things when the tree (‘xulon’) is green, what will happen when it is dry?”’ Luke 23: 26-31
For me, the implication is clear! The Apostle John perceives a strong relationship between ‘the tree’ - the leaves (and fruit) of which are ‘for the healing of the nations’ - and the cross of Christ … the ‘fruits’ of which are for precisely the same purpose.
That the tree is rooted - as the text seems to suggest - on both sides of the river, created difficulties in visualisation. I therefore visited the expert gardener, writer and broadcaster, Matthew Biggs, who explained that that which goes on beneath the ground with root structures is mirrored above by the branches. He also showed me photographs of trees where such a phenomenon is evident root-wise. I have therefore visualised the tree as having roots that converge above the river to form the main trunk.
Again - the very description of the tree by the river has echoes in the Old Testament - this time in the writings of the Psalmist, David and the prophet Jeremiah:
‘Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.
He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.’ Psalm 1:1-3
‘“But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”’ Jeremiah 17: 7-9
Since through the centuries following, John’s graphic description of that which he had ‘seen’ would be read by those steeped in Old Testament reading, the mere mention of ‘a tree planted by the water’ would require no more explanation of that which it represented and the hope that was held out for those who, through reading, understood.
‘The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who testifies to everything he saw - that is, the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.’ Revelation 1: 1-3
On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.
The text is unclear whether the ‘twelve crops of fruit’ are twelve ‘kinds’ of fruit being borne simultaneously or, alternatively, the various kinds of fruit are yielded in rotation. In my interpretation, the tree is bearing twelve exotic fruits simultaneously. Since the tree stands astride the river and - as I have perceived - not far removed from the waterfall, I have made the river fast flowing and carrying the fallen fruit towards a formerly ‘spiritually hungry and thirsty’ world.
‘The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.’ Revelation 22:17
This is indeed ‘Paradise restored’, the longed-for reward for patient, faithful, waiting.