Revelation 22Eden Restored and Come, Lord Jesus

“The river of the water of life” points to the flow of the Holy Spirit, and to the life, blessing and spiritual power that God gives. We saw the river already in 7:17 and 21:6, and it comes back in verse 17. It points back to Jesus’ teaching in John’s Gospel: “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” (John 7:37–38; see also John 4:10–14, the woman at the well.) John himself adds the commentary that Jesus meant the Holy Spirit: “By this he meant the Spirit” (7:39).

It reflects the river of Ezekiel 47 as well, a great study to read alongside Revelation 22. There the water flows “from under the threshold of the temple” (47:1), and of course the throne of God is in the temple, so it flows from the same place. The prophet goes into the water, deeper and deeper, until it is “deep enough to swim in—a river that no one could cross” (47:5), and there is life growing in the river and on its banks.

“As clear as crystal” means without impurities, and translucent. It’s the kind of pure that brings life everywhere! Here’s the point of this imagery right out of the gate: Closer to God = Greater life! That’s for you, for us, for believers, for the world. The greatest life will be here, at this time, in the manifest presence of God.

A woman in the room shared a testimony about this picture. While she was crying out to the Lord in a deep depression, she had an open vision of heaven: the peace, the light so bright it didn’t hurt her eyes, and the Holy Spirit leading her to the water. She knelt and threw the water up as praise, and it came down like sparkling diamonds. She came out of that vision into holy laughter, and she has never cried about that tragedy again. Let’s give God praise for that! The waters here are for healing, he added, and every kind of healing is available in this eternal place with God.

“From the throne of God and of the Lamb.” They are combined here. Throughout the book you see this merging of the Godhead: Yahweh God and His Son Jesus are one. There is unity: the same throne. And the river comes from God’s throne.

“Down the middle of the great street of the city” means you can’t go anywhere in this city without being connected to the life-giving flow of God’s river. It’s why this place and these people must be pure!

“The tree of life” (see also 2:7) is a rebirth of the tree in the garden of Eden (Genesis 2:9; 3:22). This is a reversal of the curse, a return to the perfection of Eden, but better: reborn, remade in perfection, because it’s the new heaven and the new earth. There’s no tree of the knowledge of good and evil here, only life. There’s no sin, so that option isn’t there.

Fruit “every month” is like Ezekiel 47:12, “Every month they will bear fruit.” This is a supernatural tree. Normal trees bear fruit once a year, but God’s tree always has fruit.

The fig tree is in Mark 11:13–14, where “it was not the season for figs.”

“The healing of the nations” echoes Ezekiel 47:9 and 47:12, where the trees bear fruit for food and “their leaves for healing.” In each case the nations (all people) are dependent on God for healing. Even in eternity, even in immortal bodies, we will not be independent of God’s life-giving flow. We will still need Him daily for life, strength and health. Again: Closer to God = Greater life!

“No longer will there be any curse.” This is another reversal of the garden of Eden: the reversal of Genesis 3 and the fall of humans into sin. The curse is gone. Sin is done, and therefore the curse of sin, the law, shame, fear, the tragic chaos in our world that affects everything: DONE!!!

“The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city.” In other words, the whole city is the temple of God now. This is God’s throne, which we’ve been seeing throughout the book (35 times!). The throne is a character of its own in Revelation: the action has centered here, with sounds coming from it, lightning, thunder, commands, the voice giving instructions, angels all around. This is the seat of power and of worship, and God and the Lamb share it. The throne of God is a motif you can trace through the entire Bible, from Genesis to Revelation.

That’s the kind of thing he’ll teach in 2026: a theme or motif study isn’t just studying the one word “throne,” but anything that might be an archetype or an example of it, pulled like a thread from Genesis to Revelation. (More on that plan at the end of this page.)

“They will see his face.” The paramount goal of God’s plan is to restore people to personal, face-to-face relationship with Him. This is how God had acted and talked with Adam before the fall into sin (Genesis 3:8–10).

Then seeing God’s face was taboo throughout the Old Testament: “I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared” (Genesis 32:30); “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live” (Exodus 33:20); see also Judges 6:22–23 and 13:22.

Even in the New Testament people had a measure of separation from the full manifestation of God’s presence (John 1:18; 6:46; 1 John 3:2; 4:12; 1 Timothy 1:17; 6:16). The disciples saw the face of Christ, but only the people who were there at that time. “For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face” (1 Corinthians 13:12).

The longing to be face to face with God is seen throughout the entire Bible: “seek his face always” (1 Chronicles 16:11; Psalm 105:4); “the upright will see his face” (Psalm 11:7); see also Psalm 4:6, 13:1, 17:15, 24:6, 27:8, 31:6, 67:1, 80:3, 119:58; Isaiah 8:17; Matthew 5:8; 2 Corinthians 3:18. When the face of God shines on us and His countenance is seen by us, it is the ultimate sign of restored relationship and favor. This is our hope, our inheritance as believers.

“His name will be on their foreheads.” We will be His. It’s the same as the seal (7:3): the mark that we are His.

“There will be no more night.” We saw this already in 21:23. Night is where evil and sin happen, according to 1 Thessalonians 5:7, Romans 13:12–13 and Ephesians 5:8–14. So God shuts off that window of evil and just makes it day all the time. He doesn’t know if that means we won’t need to sleep anymore (that’d be cool), or maybe we’ll be able to sleep in broad daylight, no problem. Who knows? Either way, no more night! God is the light, as we saw in chapter 21 as well.

“They will reign for ever and ever.” God will reign for ever and ever, but so will we: we will reign with Him.

“These words are trustworthy and true.” He reads it “faithful and true”: faithful is the actual word in the Greek, and it echoes “a true and faithful witness” in Jeremiah 42:5. It means the angel is saying he is faithfully transmitting what God commanded him to say. He’s being faithful. It also means the words are faithful and consistent with God’s character. Then true: the words are accurate morally, ethically, scientifically, factually, spiritually and prophetically. They are accurate in every sense that words can be deemed accurate. (He added “grammatically” out loud, then admitted he was kidding.)

“The God who inspires the prophets.” God is the one who gives every true word. “Inspires” is the Greek word pneumatōn, the plural of “spirit”: “the God of the spirits of the prophets.” It is talking about the human spirit as it’s carried along by God Himself. The point, though, is that John is claiming to be in the long line of prophets who came before him, as he did in 10:7 (“his servants the prophets”). He’s claiming God’s inspiration for all of his writing.

“To show his servants the things that must soon take place.” God wants us to know.

“Soon take place … I am coming soon!” This is the nearness (imminence) of Christ’s return. Every Christian must be impressed with, and aware of, the nearness of Christ’s return. This is the point of every end-time teaching, vision and Scripture in the Bible: Jesus is coming soon. Be ready. Any teaching that takes the nearness away is missing the main point. Don’t fall into the trap. Jesus is coming soon, and nothing is holding Him back, even right now.

“Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy written in this scroll.” The point is for us to keep the words and obey them. Hearing isn’t enough; we put them into action. This is the sixth of the seven blessings in Revelation (all seven are below, at verse 14).

“I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things.” This is a trance, like Peter’s in Acts 10:10: John is in the vision, experiencing the action around him.

“I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel.” Angels are pretty awesome; this is a mistake that’s apparently easy to make when you run into one. But we still don’t worship them. The angel is quick to correct him and get him up. Angels are fellow servants with us and with the prophets. We only worship God!

“Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this scroll, because the time is near.” This is the opposite of the command to seal: “seal up the vision” (Daniel 8:26); “roll up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end” (12:4); “Seal up what the seven thunders have said” (Revelation 10:4); compare “In days to come you will understand it clearly” (Jeremiah 23:20; 30:24). Now’s the time. It’s more nearness and imminence language, and that’s the point of these verses.

“Let the one who does wrong continue to do wrong …” parallels Daniel 12:10, “the wicked will continue to be wicked.” Letting those who reject God continue in it is also seen in Ezekiel 3:27, Jeremiah 44:25, Amos 4:4–5 and Ecclesiastes 11:9. These words need to be written and heard so that people heed them.

“The time is near” parallels “our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed” (Romans 13:11) and many more. The desire for Christ’s coming dominates Revelation: 1:7; 2:5, 16; 3:3, 11; 16:15; and here in 22:7, 12 and 20.

“My reward is with me … according to what they have done.” There is reward for serving Jesus! It’s like “your very great reward” (Genesis 15:1), “See, his reward is with him” (Isaiah 40:10; 62:11), “my reward is with my God” (49:4), and “he will reward each person according to what they have done” (Matthew 16:27); see also Psalm 18:20 and 19:11. Reward according to actions is like 1 Corinthians 3:15.

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.” Three statements that parallel each other, echoing Isaiah 41:4, “I am the first and I am the last” (44:6; 48:12) and Revelation 1:8, 1:17 and 21:6.

This is the 7th and final blessing in the book of Revelation. We’ve seen two in this chapter. Here they are again:

Those who wash their robes get a specific blessing attached: they (1) have the right to the tree of life and (2) may go through the gates into the city. Both are necessary blessings for salvation. Therefore, washing our robes is necessary for salvation.

If we have a heart of unrepentant sin, that is not something that’s going to be allowed into heaven. Washing our robes is necessary: the blood of Jesus covering and washing us.

“Outside are the dogs” echoes Deuteronomy 23:18, 1 Corinthians 6:9–10, Galatians 5:19–21, Colossians 3:5–6 and Philippians 3:2 (“Watch out for those dogs”). These are those left outside of eternal life with Christ, outside of the euphoric utopia with Christ. This is the epitaph of people who have chosen eternity without Christ. They’re now defined by the actions that typified their life, rather than by the purity and freedom they could have chosen in Christ.

“Dogs” refers to unrepentant prostitutes and prostitute customers, from Deuteronomy 23:17–18; that’s the Old Testament reference John’s readers would have understood. Practicing the occult, sexual immorality, murder, idol worship, deceit: their actions define them and become their eternal identity. We see people today identifying with their sin. That is their choice.

The term sexual immorality goes back to Leviticus 18 and 20, which list every kind of sexual sin in excruciating detail, to leave no room for error. Paul does the same in Romans 1, in 1 Timothy and in 1 Corinthians.

“I, Jesus, have sent my angel.” Angels are messengers. That’s one of their primary roles, along with warriors, strengtheners and guardians. We see them as messengers most often in Scripture, and that’s what the word angelos means in the Greek: messenger. We saw earlier that the angel told John, “I am a fellow servant with you.” So angels are servants of God, sent by Jesus. Jesus is the sender of them, and of us too! We have that in common.

Why did Jesus send the angel? To give John “this testimony for the churches.” The purpose was the book we hold in our hands: this prophecy, this vision, this REVELATION of Jesus!!!

“The Root and the Offspring of David” (echoes Isaiah 11:1; Matthew 1; Luke 3) shows Jesus’ identity as the Jewish Messiah, as royalty of Israel. This is not just spiritual Israel; it’s ethnic and national Israel as well, citing a real Israelite ancestor. Root and Offspring means Jesus was before and after David. Jesus created the Davidic line and then came from it also!

“The bright Morning Star.” The title “morning star” was given to the king of Babylon in Isaiah 14:12 (“How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn!”), and it is obvious from the context that this is also a reference to Satan himself, with language that is otherworldly throughout that chapter. Then Peter applies it to Jesus in 2 Peter 1:19 (“the morning star rises in your hearts”). Here Jesus applies it to Himself, as John records. After the defeat of Satan, Jesus redeems the title of ruler of earth as the true morning star, adding the word “bright” to the name.

“The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’” This is a call for Jesus to come soon. The Spirit of God longs for this. The people of God, the bride, long for this. Then there’s the invitation for everyone who hears to also long for the coming of Christ. The invitation is still going out to long for the coming of Christ. Anyone who hears should long for Christ’s return. Lord Jesus, I long for Your return! Come quickly! The Spirit of God is God on earth now. He’s the one shouting within us, COME, LORD JESUS! The Spirit of God loves Jesus!

Then a play on words: “Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.” It echoes Isaiah 55:1, “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters.” It’s another invitation: if you’re thirsty, all you need to do is come to Jesus. The water of life means the longing for the return of Christ. Powerful! It echoes Jesus’ teaching in John 4:10–14: “whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst.”

Then the warning. John is claiming divine authority for his writings! Don’t add to the Scripture. It echoes “Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it” (Deuteronomy 4:2), “do not add to it or take away from it” (12:32) and “Do not add to his words” (Proverbs 30:6).

Look, guys, there’s a reason the canon (how many books are in the Bible) is closed, so many reasons! There are very good reasons to reject wholly the Apocrypha, the Pseudepigrapha, the Book of Mormon, the Qur’an and “infallible” statements from any human. This is why! The Jewish canon has been set for 2,300 years, the Christian canon for almost 2,000. Adding to Scripture is a damnable offense, so don’t be led astray by people who have done that.

Out loud he described the Apocrypha and the Pseudepigrapha as the things that the Catholic Church added to the Bible.

Don’t cut out Scripture either! “I don’t like what the Bible says about homosexuality.” You don’t get to cut it out. “I don’t like what the Bible says about household order, and the roles of men and women.” We don’t get to cut it out. Again, cutting out Scripture is a damnable offense. Don’t follow people who are doing that, don’t partner with them, don’t do battle with them: you’ll end up getting taken out by them. Friendly fire, stabbed in the back.

Jesus is testifying about Himself throughout this book! “He who testifies to these things says, ‘Yes, I am coming soon.’” This is in harmony with Paul’s teaching: “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words.” (1 Thessalonians 4:16–18). There’s encouragement in those words!

“Coming soon”: again, the nearness, the imminence of the coming of Christ. We’ve seen the language of nearness probably eight or ten times already just in this chapter. And our response … AMEN! COME, LORD JESUS! It echoes Paul’s “Come, Lord!” (1 Corinthians 16:22).

John ends with a wish of the grace of Jesus on all God’s people! It echoes “The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you” (Romans 16:20).

Looking back over the whole book: next month is the whole picture, a review of everything, with all the notes from the whole study. Here, from his review this month, is the book in one look.

The structure of Revelation is like looking down through a spiral helix: events cycling some, repeating some, but all pointing toward the conclusion, wide and slow at first and then faster and faster. And now we’re at the end.

Next month he’ll also address a couple of heretical views of Revelation you’ll come across in pop culture if you’re curious enough to study more, and a couple of views that are not his and are not heretical (good Christians hold them). They’re just wrong, in his opinion. They’re allowed to be wrong, just not in heresy! So that’ll be fun.

Then next year, First Wednesdays will take smaller chunks: how to do a character study (with King Saul’s son Jonathan, David’s best friend), a theme or motif study, and a biblical word study. All of these will add value and make every time you open the Bible more exciting!