THURSDAY
We ran out of time yesterday, so let’s complete the description of the city today and go on to the description of the river of life and the tree of life.
Revelation 21:22-27 22 And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. 23 And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24 By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, 25 and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. 26 They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. 27 But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
The beautiful city that comes down from heaven (symbolizing the people of God and the new creation) has no temple. The temple would be a feature of an ancient city. The temple is the place where God’s presence is thought to dwell. There is none in the new creation because God’s presence fully fills all of creation.
There is no need for the sun, either (note it doesn’t say there is no sun but that there is no need for it) because the glory of God gives it light (cf. Isa. 60:19). Jesus is the light of the world and this will continue on in the new creation (Jn. 8:12). This means that all goodness and truth is sourced in God.
God and the Lamb are linked in both verse 22 and 23. Again, this implies that Jesus is divine in nature.
The people of God from every nation will walk in the light of Christ—according to his truth and following his way. The kings of the earth are the people of God who rule creation as God’s stewards. This was the original intent in the creation mandate. It has now been fully realized. The reference to the kings bringing their glory and the glory of the nations into the city is a reference to Isaiah 60:11. The glory that the kings bring could be referring to wealth or to the praises and the worship that they will bring. That is certainly included, but it may be more than that. It likely refers generally to all that is beautiful and good from the old creation (Schreiner, 740). Again, like the city metaphor, this implies the eternal value of building culture and making something good out of the raw resources in creation. The gates of the city are never closed. This is another reference to Isaiah 60, and a beautiful picture of the safety and security of the new creation. There is no threat left that a closed gate would prevent.
Continuing this idea, nothing unclean will enter the city, nor anyone who does evil because they have all been judged. Only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life, those who are elected by God, will be in the new creation.
Revelation 22:1-5 The River of Life
22 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3 No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
Now we come to the end of the description of the new creation and the people of God. This image alludes to Ezekiel’s vision of the river flowing from the throne of God in Ezekiel 47. It also alludes to Genesis 2:10, where a river flows out of Eden to water the garden. This river symbolizes new life in the new creation. It could also signify the Holy Spirit since we’ve already seen Jesus link the Holy Spirit to living water in John 7. A river in a city is a weird thing. Again, this vision combines the ideas of culture (a city) with life (a river, usually visualized in a rural area).
The tree of life alludes to the creation account in Genesis 3. This tree yields 12 different types of fruit and it yields fruit each month. Crazy tree, right? This tree of life implies eternal life and the fruit symbolizes the delightful nourishment that God will provide. The leaves heal the nations. This doesn’t mean that people will get sick in the new creation and reach for a tree leaf to heal their illness. Instead, this is just a way of saying that there will be no sickness or death. The new creation will be filled with joy, health and happiness.
God’s people will “see his face.” This is a loaded statement. In Exodus 33:20 Moses asks to see God’s glory. God says that he will make all of his goodness pass before Moses. “’But,’ he said, ‘you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.’” So God covered Moses with his hand and passed before him, but Moses only saw God’s back. This just means that Moses didn’t see the fullness of God’s glory but only a part of it. Apart from this, the closest we get to seeing the face of God is in Jesus in the incarnation. Yet, his glory was muted when it was revealed in the incarnation at both the mount of transfiguration and the post-resurrected Christ. In the new creation we will see the fullness of God’s glory.
His name will be written on the foreheads of his people. God’s people belong to God and identify with him.
What we have here, then, is a return to Eden. The story of the Bible has come full circle. We have the river of life, the tree of life, the removal of the curse, the renewal of God’s presence, and the restoration of humanity’s reign over creation.
Additional Content
I’ve often heard the phrase (or something similar to this), “Don’t be so heavenly minded that you are no earthly good.” I think this is a proper rebuke to extreme forms of monasticism. However, I think most of us would benefit greatly from being a little more heavenly minded. In that sense, then, I prefer C.S. Lewis’s quote in Mere Christianity
“If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this.” - C.S. Lewis Mere Christianity
Reflection
In a sense, this world is your eternal home and in another sense it isn’t. Culture will carry forward in the new creation. What you do today at work has eternal consequences. That’s an inspiring concept that should give great purpose to even the most menial of tasks.
Also, we must remember that this world will be made new so we should not feel too comfortable or too at home here. We should experience a longing for something better, something more. Again, as Lewis says, “If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.”
These combined give us great purpose now and great hope for the future. We need both.