Chapter 22: 1-5
“And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. 2 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. 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. 4 They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. 5 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.”
Once again, thanks for your responses and questions to the articles. You continue to make me study more and more. We will look once again at our New Home; this will be the final article on the subject, but certainly we have lots more to learn.
We can get a bit of a visual picture from these few verses of what the inner city will look like. In the last three articles, we have spoken about the size and the population. But today we will look at what the very streets look like and what a bit of the life will be like. Why? Why is it so important to look at the New Jerusalem? We encounter these verses in Hebrews 11:13-16,
“These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 14 For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. 15 And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.”
These in verse 13 refer to the patriarchs; they died looking for a new home. Look in verse 16; they looked for a better country, a heavenly country. And this is what drove them, this is what kept them moving ahead and faithful; they always had their new home in view, and so should we. We are to be focused on the prize, the New Jerusalem and the new life that Jesus has prepared for us. This is why we need to know about the New Jerusalem and about the Millennial Kingdom.
- There is a River of Life, verse 1
The thing that you notice first is the river of life. It is down the middle of the street of gold, and on either side is the tree of life. The tree bore its fruit, 12 kinds of fruit, yielding them each month. Now, it could be that the tree bears a different kind of fruit each month on a 12-month cycle. Or, it could be that each month the tree bears 12 different kinds of fruit.
The Tree of Life has existed forever; it was in the Garden of Eden and had the power to help Adam and Eve live forever in their sinful state. Genesis 3:22,
“Then the Lord God said, ‘Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”—
The Lord actually put cherubim at the gate to the Garden of Eden to stop Adam and others from eating from the Tree of Life. I have always thought that, somewhere here on earth, people pass the gateway to the Garden of Eden, and maybe those gates are still guarded all these thousands of years later. One day God will pull back the veil, and we will see that the Garden has been with us this whole time. But I could be wrong.
The leaves of this tree of life will be healing for the nations. What healing? Why? How can a place like the New Jerusalem need healing?
Well, the nations that surround the New Jerusalem on the New Earth will need healing, and they will come into the place to find the healing that they need. People who do not live in the city will have access to the city for healing. Obviously, we with the new bodies will not need a healing. I cannot expand on this yet, but the gates of the city are opened all the time, we are told; and now we know that they allow the nations to enter for the purpose of healing.
- No More Curse, verse 3
No more death. This is the curse of fallen man. The apostle Paul told us that in 1 Corinthians 15:25-26,
“For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.”
Death is the final enemy of man to be destroyed by God. In this New Jerusalem, even though there are humans in old bodies around, there is no more death. No more curse. Death is dead. No cemeteries, no funeral homes, no hearses, no funeral dirges, no caskets, nothing to do with death will exist. Life, and life alone will be the normal.
What a time that will be! Right now, every day I have friends that have to say goodbye to loved ones. Fathers, mothers, children, grandparents, wives, husbands, friends, and on we can go. Death is everywhere; it has no respect for anyone. The rich and the poor, the young and the old are equal victims of it. But in the New Jerusalem, there will be no more curse.
God’s throne will be there, and we will live with him forever; we will serve Him forever in whatever capacity He has assigned to us. We will serve gladly and joyfully; there will be no rebellion and no uprisings in defiance to God ever again.
- His Name on our Foreheads, verse 4
I am not sure how this will work. Will we have a tattoo-like name written on our foreheads like Jesus has names on His thigh? Or will we have phylacteries on our heads like the devout Jews did, filled with the word of God? Will we have these on our foreheads with the name of God marked on us? I am sure that whatever way God decides will be awesome and beautiful, and we will love them. God will mark us as His own. His own peculiar people.
We get New bodies, New names, Revelation 3:12
“He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name.”
Here it is for you. A new name from God, given to us in the new Jerusalem, and we will be there forever. Wow! What an awesome promise! Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus.
- There is no night there, verse 5
I know that we have mentioned this before, but God says it again, and He is not one to repeat things haphazardly. There is no night, no darkness; God is the light of this New Jerusalem. There is nothing to fear; there is no sun and no moon. Just day, forever and ever.
Notice that it is God who gives them light; He is the source of light. He always has and always will be the source of light. And we will reign with Him forever. We are told in Romans that we are joint heirs with Jesus. Romans 8:16-17,
“The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. And if we are children, then we are heirs: heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ—if indeed we suffer with Him, so that we may also be glorified with Him.”
I am looking forward to seeing what the Lord has for us, the ones who love Him and are loyal to Him. No worry, He will have a place for all His people; no one will be missed. There will be plenty to do and plenty of daylight to get it done.
Are you ready to serve Him in the Kingdom? If you are not serving Him here, then the answer is no, you are not. Come with me and be a watchman; come and stand with the King of kings and serve the Lord.
Jesus is coming soon; be ready.
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