Midweek Bible Study | Revelation 22:2-21 | Gary Hamrick

[Music] revelation chapter 22 if you're joining us online that's where we are um and so let me um frame things this evening but let's pray first and then we'll get into our study lord thank you for meeting us here time and again you're so faithful your word says where two or more are gathered there you are in the midst of us so we thank you lord that you are with us and we pray now you'll guide us as we look into this last chapter of the last book of your word that you'd impress upon us the things that we should understand lord and help us lord to process these things as we look forward to your certain return we love you and we thank you together in jesus name and everyone said amen i'm going to take my final stroll to the back wall uh because this has been our timeline through the whole book of revelation um and it has covered everything from jesus's resurrection from the dead his ascension that led to the church age we're presently living in the church age at some point there's going to be a trumpet call and it tells us that the dead in christ will rise first and after that first thessalonians chapter 4 we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them to meet the lord in the air that's like the first phase of christ's second coming he only comes in the clouds to receive his his church and so he physically snatches us from the earth there is an english term that we have derived from the latin word in first thessalonians chapter four raptures to be ceased and we say it's the rapture there's an event where people will actually be taken from the earth and so he raptures the church following the rapture of the churches seven years of tribulation that's revelation 6 through 18. very difficult cataclysmic things that come upon the earth not because god delights in um you know displaying his wrath but because he knows that human nature is sometimes he has to literally turn up the heat in order to finally get our attention and finally uh we might surrender to him um unfortunately many will not but many will during the tribulation time and then at the end of the tribulation which culminates in the battle of armageddon then christ this is kind of the second phase of his of his uh second coming he returns visibly physically to the earth and we who have been with him will return with the lord and he will establish his kingdom on earth for a thousand years that's the millennial reign he will rule and reign from jerusalem and then following the millennial reign will be the lake of fire the false prophet the antichrist and satan will be thrown into the lake of fire along with all those who have just summarily dismissed jesus and denied him as lord and savior and that's all at the same time as the great white throne judgment when god brings a final judgment upon really the human race those who have not yet been judged through the millennial period those of us who've already gone to be with him we've been judged by virtue of the cross and our confession of our sins and our faith in jesus so we don't we don't get judged again once you have passed from death to life you have experienced that rebirth that is your judgment our sins have been placed on christ and then the last two chapters of revelation where we've been the last couple of weeks talk about the new heaven and the new earth it's literally heaven coming down descending on earth a new city jerusalem that measures approximately 1500 miles in every direction it's as long and wide and high the bible says so it shaped the new city somewhat like a cube it's a very interesting dimension that we may be living in but there's a new heaven and new earth a present heaven present earth are going to be destroyed the bible says and so god creates a new heaven new earth this new heavenly jerusalem heaven on earth and we talked about the new jerusalem uh the past couple of weeks to summarize uh the new jerusalem we we can see it this way we have the description of the city when you look at revelation 21 it's very beautiful it's adorned with every precious stone it's very colorful uh the bible talks about streets of gold but at the same time says that the streets of gold were transparent like glass so it's difficult to comprehend how things can be gold but also transparent and not opaque but that's the way the bible describes it the gates of the new jerusalem a single pearl 12 gates three on each side to enter into the city the population in the city believers are present god is with us unbelievers are absent they have been sentenced now at this point they have been cast into the lake of fire so this is eternally our home our home with the lord and he is with us and then the invitation to the city we see here in chapter 22 in a moment where the invitation is let him who thirsts come it's an open invitation but but those who are able to receive the invitation are believers at this point the ones who are going to be able to drink of this water of life are those who have gained access into this new heavenly city by virtue of their faith in jesus christ which brings me to the next slide when we talk about let him who thirsts come in the bible in chapter 22 there are references three phrases that are repeated often one is water of life we'll talk about it tonight it's mentioned once in chapter 21 and then twice again here in chapter 22. another phrase that is repeated often here is the tree of life we touched on this briefly last week it is mentioned in the book of revelation back in chapter 2 verse 7 as the promised reward for the church of ephesus he who overcomes will be able to eat of the tree of life let us mention three more times in chapter 22 and finally an often repeated phrase in chapter 22 or the words of jesus i am coming quickly so we're going to be looking together at chapter 22 and we're going to look at these three often repeated phrases as we make our way through chapter 22. let me read the first five verses if you have your bibles there now revelation 22 verse 1 and he showed me a pure river of water of life clear as crystal proceeding from the throne of god and of the lamb in the middle of its street and on either side of the river was the tree of life which bore twelve fruits each tree yielding its fruit every month the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations 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 they shall see his face and his name shall be on their foreheads there shall be no night there they need no lamp nor light of the sun for the lord god gives them light and they shall reign forever and ever and so at the beginning of this chapter it says for he showed me so john's writing this the he is an angel that we read about back in chapter 21 verse 9 one of the seven angels so god dispatches an angel to take john on this tour of the future and john sees this new heavenly city this new heaven on earth and the first thing that he is shown here by this angel is a pure river of water of life so again um just here's a breakdown of what we're going to see here a summary of the water of life that is mentioned three times in the book of revelation twice here in chapter 22. it the water of life is mentioned nowhere else outside of the book of revelation these are the only three references that we have in all of the bible to this phrase the water of life it gives us the description here it's crystal clear it's a pure river um it tells us here in in the text that i just read that it is flowing from the throne of god down the middle of the street and so that's a little odd for us to comprehend why would a river be you know down the middle of the street remember there's no asphalt streets in in heaven so these are transparent glass streets uh uh that are made of gold and there's some kind of watercourse through it so some of what we're reading here we probably just have never seen nor can we really imagine which is what the bible tells us anyway no i have seen no ear is certain neither has it entered the heart of man well god has prepared for them that love him and so some of this is a bit of a mystery what john is seeing and what he's writing to us that there are things that you know part of the uh you know topography of the new heaven the new city jerusalem that we just may not be familiar with because we've never seen anything like it but it also tells us here that this water of life is flanked by the tree and i put in parenthesis plural the trees of life and i'll explain that why it's either singular plural when we get onto the topic of the tree of life in a moment and then it tells us that believers drank from this water source in the new heaven and so that's the summary of it now if you look back here at the verses with me it talks then about in verse two in the middle of its street and on either side of the river was the tree of life so now we we are introduced here to the tree of life which which again i touched on briefly last week it first appears in revelation chapter 2 and then three more references here in chapter 22. now unlike the water of life which is only mentioned in the book of revelation the tree of life is not only mentioned in the book of revelation the tree of life is first mentioned to us in the book of genesis in chapter two was one of many trees in the garden of eden but it was one of only two trees that were specifically named you have the tree of life that you have the tree of knowledge of good and evil and it was guarded by cherubim after adam and eve sinned against god and when they were expelled out of the garden of eden god didn't want them to go back into the garden to eat from the tree of life so he stationed cherubim angels with fiery swords so that they could not get back in and eat of the tree of life that's genesis 3 24. but then we don't see the tree of life referenced again until we get here to the book of revelation when in chapter 2 verse 7 jesus mentions to those who overcome in his letter to the church of ephesus that they shall future tense eat from the tree of life and then it reappears in the new heaven here in chapter 22 and its leaves and fruit are a reward for believers and it tells us here that it produces fruit each month uh so as as you look at these first five verses here that i just read a couple of things i just want to mention first of all it's a little difficult in the language to understand how many is it just one singular tree of life or are there multiple trees that are all called the tree of life and the language is difficult and there's debate among bible scholars to interpret this you know it was a single tree in the garden of eden and then of course as i mentioned you know god guarded it so they couldn't go back and eat of it then the flood came and destroyed the planet but at some point you know god preserved the tree of life uprooted it before the flood kept it so that it reappears here in revelation chapter 22. now some bible scholars say that the way the language is it just means that the tree was so large and overwhelming that the branches would drape over both sides of the river and so that's why some say no it's just a single tree but it's so large and producing such wonderful fruit that the branches extend on each side of the river and so that's what it means others read this and say no the language especially when you look at verse two and it says you know on either side of the river the in the middle of the street and on either side so how do you have in the middle and on either side that's why some say well it's huge and it's draping both sides was the tree of life which bore 12 fruits now look each tree yielding its fruit every month well now it sounds like there's more than one tree so it's difficult to understand um if i had to just pick one of the two my preference would probably be in interpreting this passage that there are trees on either side of this water of life this river but each tree is a tree of life and so it's it's a it's a single um kind of a tree but there might be multiple trees because the way the language seems to indicate here now it's interesting also to note that it produces fruit every month and this is interesting in this for this reason you know god is outside of the space-time continuum with god there is no measure of time you know with us there is a measurement of time but god is outside of that so that's why the bible says with the lord a thousand years as as like a day and a day like a thousand years i mean god is outside of time he's not restricted by time now he entered our time when he took on flesh and dwelt among us but when you think about heaven and you think about eternity there really isn't any measurement of time except that it is a reference here to a measurement of time because when it speaks you're about the fruit being produced every month what that indicates to us is that heaven still marks time it will just be a different kind of time there's no end to this time there's no aging process in this time there's no expiration of this time but it still indicates to us that heaven marks time because of what it says there about how each tree yields its fruit every month i also want you to notice in verse 3 where it says and there shall be no more curse actually before that the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations why do the nations need healing there's no more sickness there's no more disease so is it do these leaves have some kind of medicinal quality actually the greek word for healing can also mean health giving so it doesn't indicate that there's any sickness there is no more sickness there is no more death there is no more pain in heaven the bible already made that clear in chapter 21. so there's probably some just wonderful properties to the leaves i don't know if it means that it's edible i i don't know but it but it's health giving versus healing in terms of sickness there is no sickness and then verse 3 when it says and there shall be no more curse if you circle that word curse that's an important point because jesus has redeemed us from the curse and you know when man sinned against god originally in the garden of eden then god pronounced a curse he cursed the serpent he cursed the woman he cursed the man and uh when he cursed the woman he said your your you shall now experience pain in childbirth uh when he cursed the man he said now your labor shall be intensive and often feeling unproductive in the process of all your work and in the process of the curse too god says there's now going to be friction between the two sexes and so there's and then the ultimate curse was death because when they disobeyed god and they deliberately ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil god said to them in the day you eat of it you shall surely die literally the dying process begins so death enter the human race it's a part of the curse it's a part of sin that that mankind incorporated into our being and it became a soul issue it became a spiritual issue that was handed down to every successive generation thus the reason we get you know eventually die is because we're you know still under that curse but jesus broke the curse and offers us eternal life and so uh that's you know paul would write about that in galatians chapter 3 and verse 10 he says for as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse for it is written cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them you know you and i cannot fulfill all the letter of the law we are law breakers by nature and then our best efforts we don't measure up so there's this futility and it's the result of being under the curse but then paul goes on to write he says but that no one is justified by the law on the side of god is evident for the just shall live by faith and so he brings in the whole idea you know thus we cannot work our way to heaven because you can't obey the law well enough to deserve heaven but he adds there but thanks to be to what jesus did we can have access through faith in his finished work and that's why he goes on to say there in galatians 3 13 christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law having become a curse for us for it is written cursed as everyone who hangs on a tree that the blessing of abraham might come upon the gentiles in christ jesus that we might receive the promise of the spirit through faith and so you know this is when we read here about you know being delivered from the curse this is the restoration of all things because mankind brought himself under the curse under the wrath of god by being lawbreakers and and yet when we receive christ by faith he's the one who took the curse for us by dying on a cross and and therefore the curse now has no more power over us and so that's why john writes there and there shall be no more curse no more curse but the throne of god and of the lamb shall be in it and his servants shall serve him and then the next sent the next verse verse four and they shall see his face you know paul would write in first corinthians chapter 13 verse 12. he said now i see but in a glass darkly in other words now i look into a mirror like like it's foggy i can't i can't see everything i can't know everything this side of heaven so he says there now i see but in a glass darkly but then i shall see face to face but there will come a time when we will actually see the lord face to face and he says and his name shall be on their foreheads so some kind of tattoo some kind of mark that forever identifies us with the name of god as belonging to the lord and then there in verse 5 we talked about this before there's no reference to sun there's no more need for moon that god himself will be the light and and we shall reign with him forever and ever so you know no more night time no more sleeping no you know no more if the earth is rotating on its axis we don't turn away from the sun at any point because the glory of god fills the place and so we there's never any darkness but you won't need to go to bed you won't need sleep you won't and by the way we're going to see here in a moment about part of the the tree of life offers fruit you know you don't need to sleep and you don't need to eat but there will still be eating in heaven but now it's just going to be for enjoyment and it and it and you won't need it for sustenance it's just going to be completely for pleasure and it won't ever affect you know body image so it's going to be a wonderful day so verse 6 then he said to me these words are faithful and true and i like that because you know what when you read what we just read it's almost with disbelief we read some of these things and i'm not saying that like a lack of faith i just mean when you read the description of this incredible city and the glory of god being present and streets of gold and you know this clear crystal clear pure river running down the the the thought of it is almost just we were like almost in disbelief like this is just too amazing to even grasp and so john says there listen these words are faithful and true trust me on this i'm telling you if you're if you're wondering like is all this true i just want you to know yes these words are faithful and true and the lord god of the holy prophet sent his angel to show his servants the things which must shortly take place behold now jesus interjects here these are his words if you have a bible with red letters this is him speaking now behold i am coming quickly and there's that phrase that is repeated three times in this chapter i am coming quickly now that does not necessarily mean soon you know because you could read this and say well it's been like like 1900 years almost 2 000 years since john penned these things is john a lie or what i mean he hasn't come quickly it doesn't necessarily mean that he's coming soon because god you know the measure of time is different between us and the lord but it means suddenly the language indicates and and that's all through the bible when it talks about his second coming it talks about he's going to come like a thief in the night like suddenly unexpectedly that's what he means here about quickly and then he adds jesus says blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophets of this book if you circle or highlight if you have electronic bible the word blessed blessed and it literally means oh how happy the greek word is makarios oh how happy and what's interesting is when you add it up and i haven't been pointing it out throughout our study in revelation but when you add it up there are basically seven beatitudes in the book of revel in the book of revelation you remember when jesus gave the sermon on the mountain matthew chapter 5 he shared eight beatitudes blessed are blessed are and he gave a promise to each of the different groups that he was you know blessing and in the sermon on the mount what jesus was saying was oh how happy are those who are poor in spirit or whatever whatever it was that he was addressing there when you get to the book of revelation you read seven beatitudes and i'm just gonna skim through these things with you because the last two of the seven are here in the book of revelation here's the first one in revelation 1 verse 3 blessed are those who read hear and keep what is written in revelation and it says blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written in it for the time is near and so you know sincerely there's a blessing in in me reading it and when you read it yourself there's a blessing when you hear it you know you're here hearing this god just says that there's an intrinsic blessing for those who read it hear it and keep what is written in the book of revelation here's the second one in chapter 14 verse 13 blessed are the believers who are martyred during the tribulation that verse says then i heard a voice from heaven saying to me right blessed are the dead who die in the lord from now on number three revelation 16 15 blessed are the believers on earth during the tribulation who keep themselves pure while they wait and watch for the return of christ in chapter 16 verse 15 we read blessed is he who watches and keeps his garments lest he walk naked and they see his shame so that whole idea of garments is the reference of being clothed in the righteousness of the lord so don't you know don't despise his righteousness don't be living you know wickedly or immorally because there's a blessing for those who during the tribulation period they get saved they become believers and then they live in a pure way while they wait and watch for the return of christ number four number four blessed are believers who will celebrate with jesus at the wedding banquet of the lamb this is out of chapter 19 verse 9 that says then he said to me right blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the lamb this is after jesus comes again right when he establishes his kingdom on earth for a thousand years there's this blessing for those who have joined them at the marriage supper of the lamb number five blessed are those who have part in the first resurrection and who will reign with christ during the millennium this is chapter 20 verse 6 blessed and holy is he who was part of the first resurrection over such the second death has no power but they shall be priests of god and of christ and shall reign with him a thousand years and then the last two of these seven beatitudes these these specific statements that talk about certain blessings in the book of revelation number six is found here uh where we are in in verse seven when when it tells us blessed are those who keep the words of the prophecy of revelation that's verse seven behold i am coming quickly blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book oh how happy we would be and i'll show you the the last beatitude when we get to it but in verse 8 now i john saw and heard these things and when i heard and saw i fell down in worship before the feet of the angel who showed me these things now this is just a natural kind of you know impulsive thing that he does he's like he's seeing these visions this angel is giving him this tour you know of what is to come and john just man i got to worship somebody and he falls down at the feet of this angel to try to to try to worship it's just kind of this impulsive thing but look what the angel says verse 9 then he said to me see that you do not do that for i am your fellow servant and of your brethren the prophets and of those who keep the words of this book worship god you know don't the worship of angels is a demonic thing the worship and to venerate you know people and saints that is not a biblical thing to do the only one who deserves our worship and is worthy of our praise is the lord god almighty and we must not worship people we must not worship angels we must not you know pray to other you know saints and jesus is the only intermediary for us he is the one making intercession for us god is the only one worthy of our worship and praise and so this is misplaced worship here but it's just like this impulsive moment with john he's like wow this is overwhelming and the angel corrects him says you better get up get yourself up do not worship me worship god verse 10 and he said to me do not seal the words of the prophecy of this book for the time is at hand you know when daniel was prophesying there were a couple of times that god said to daniel see seal up the words of this prophecy until the end now john is being told here don't seal this up because the end is near and verse 11 he who was unjust let him be unjust still he was filthy let him be filthy still he was righteous let him be righteous still he was holy let him be holy still i won't play it but johnny cash wrote a song about that verse it's kind of a cool song but anyway it sounds kind of bizarre though let him who was unjust just let him be unjust i think he was filthy let him be filthy still well what he's saying here is at this point and this is the closing chapter at this point if people have not responded all right and they have not surrendered their life to jesus then god is saying here let he was unjust be unjust there's nothing else that can be done now at this point let him who is filthy let him just stay filthy i mean i i've done he's saying here basically i've done all i can do and he takes any burden off of us that you know other human beings are not our responsibility every person has to make their own decision their own choice and and yet at the end he says and he who was righteous let him be righteous you know the ones who have chosen good and he was holy let him be holy still but but we can't be responsible for other people's decision unfortunately jesus speaks again in verse 12 and behold i am coming quickly there's the second time he says it and my reward is with me to give to everyone according to his work now again listen doing good things don't get us saved there was only one good thing that was done in order to get us saved and that's what jesus did on the cross we put our faith and trust in his good work in his finished work but nevertheless once we get saved we want to do good things just because that should be the natural overflow of a walk with christ we just want to live in a in a way that would honor him and and um would do good things not because we have to earn god's favor just because it becomes the overflow of a heart that loves god and god says to us here i take note of those things so those good works aren't going to save you but those good works will be rewarded and jesus is keeping track here and he says my reward is with me to give to everyone according to his work verse verse 13 i am the alpha and the omega the beginning and the end the first and the last and then here's the seventh beatitude blessed are those who do his commandments that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter through the gates into the city so that's the last of the seven beatitudes of revelation from from verse 14 of chapter 22 blessed are those who obey god's commandments that they might have access free access to this and again the mention of the tree of life may enter through the gates into the city there's no nobody's going to be scaling a wall to get in you're going to get in through the gate or you're not at all and and those who who come in have already been judged ahead of time as as worthy because of what christ has done verse 15 but outside our dogs now don't worry it's not talking about your pets for sure dogs will be in heaven that's my wish and we know other animals that will not but anyway somebody by the way god bless people who send me stuff you know who watch online some wonderful lady from wisconsin sent me a book about why i hate cats it was a great bug i was loving it's up in my office i should have brought it but anyway we know where they're going to be you know none of that in heaven there's not going to be any hissing in heaven praise god anyway um that word dogs there is a reference to that's a euphemism for morally impure people who are like dogs morally and pure but outside in other words already been cast into the lake of fire are the dogs the morally impure and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters and whoever it loves and practices a lie verse 16 i jesus and interestingly that is the only time in the whole bible that you read that emphatic statement i jesus he never says that anywhere else except here this is like his you know his closing few comments here i jesus have sent my angel to testify to you these things in the churches i am the root notice and the offspring of david the bright and morning star how can you be the root and the fruit of the line of david how can you be both his ancestor and his descendant but he is this is jesus this is the one who has always been the self-existent one who is god so he preceded david but he also descended from david because when god was born of a virgin mary and even jesus's adoptive dad though not as biological dad joseph were both descendants of king david so so jesus was able to assume both the the biological through through mary and the legal right to the throne of david he is the son of david but he precedes david and that's what he's saying here the bright and morning star reference to basically like the north star the one who points the direction for all things and the spirit and bride say come there's the invitation and let him who here say come and let him who thirsts come whoever desires let him take the water of life freely what a wonderful invitation there but he closes with this warning in verse 18 for i testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book if anyone adds to these things god will add to him the plagues that are written in this book and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy god shall take away his part of the book of life from the holy city and from the things which are written in this book look at how he ends this here all right in other words he's saying to us there's a high price to pay for tampering with the word of god there is a high price to pay for tampering with the word of god and he confronts both directions if you add to these things you're going to invite my judgment if you take away or subtract from these words you're going to invite my judgment now listen when you add to the word of god that's legalism when you subtract from the word of god that's liberalism and we see it we see it even in our day so there are some people who have a very legalistic bent towards the word of god they want to impose upon you standards that are higher than what god even says that somehow if you if you live even more righteously and fulfill certain rules and regulations that then you'll be even more righteous but people who live like that are legalistic and they're adding things to the word of god they're they're they're they're expanding upon the commandments and making it harder and more burdensome for you to live in ways that god didn't even command you to live that's legalism you know it's it's the you know i used to get this from from people who have baptist backgrounds people would sometimes ask me you know can is it okay for christians to dance because people baptise back i was like no dance i mean serious fundamental baptist like no dancing no dancing no going to movies so people you know like is it okay could christians dance can christians dance my answer would be some can and some can't yeah i've seen some christians who cannot dance they should not they should not even try but that's the kind of thing it's like we can't dance we can't go to movies you get well wait a minute wait a minute i mean you know there comes some some things that are reserved for your sanctified conscience that are not necessarily commanded in scripture but you start adding those as laws that's legalism when you subtract from the law of god that's liberalism there's a whole stream of liberal theology right now that is sweeping through churches all over the world and in our country particularly it's damaging and this is when you look at the commandments of god and you start to what i call it's it's selective christianity it's like well i don't really think that that particular thing applies today so you know we're we're not going to really adhere to that and this one is a little antiquated so we're not going to adhere to that one before you know it you know you you've treated the word of god like fish you've deboned the whole thing because you want only to eat the parts that are more palatable to you and there are some things in the bible that are harder to swallow than other parts but all of it is god's word and shame on any of us who try to either add to the word of god or subtract from the word of god legalism and liberalism are both wrong and god says i'm going to judge you for it you don't tamper with the word of god it may you may not like it always but it is always good for us because it is always god's gracious good word for us well at the end here look at verse 20 he who testifies to these things says this is the lord surely i am coming quickly amen even so come lord jesus come lord jesus in aramaic is maranatha and then verse 21 let's let's read this all together and out loud verse 21 the grace of our lord jesus christ be with you all amen and amen let's give god praise tonight amen thank you lord it's uh it's a wonderful thing to see in the benediction the last uh sentence of the last verse of the last book of the bible that god ends on a note of grace the grace of our lord jesus christ be with you all amen lord we thank you for your grace we thank you that our hope is in you that no matter what transpires on earth our eyes are fixed on you we look up because we know that our redemption is near find us faithful lord as we walk with you awaiting your glorious return we want to be ready lord we long for your appearing and we thank you for your precious promises and how your word from beginning to end is filled with a measure of your grace we love you and we praise you in jesus name amen and amen you

Channel: Cornerstone Chapel - Leesburg, VA

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Length: 39min 31sec (2371 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 04 2021