That they may have the right to the tree of life

Revelation 22 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, ² in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. ³ There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him; ⁴ they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. ⁵ And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever.

⁶ And he said to me, “These words are faithful and true”; and the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent His angel to show to His bond-servants the things which must soon take place.

⁷ “And behold, I am coming quickly. Blessed is he who heeds the words of the prophecy of this book.”

⁸ I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed me these things. ⁹ But he said to me, “Do not do that. I am a fellow servant of yours and of your brethren the prophets and of those who heed the words of this book. Worship God.”

¹⁰ And he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. ¹¹ Let the one who does wrong, still do wrong; and the one who is filthy, still be filthy; and let the one who is righteous, still practice righteousness; and the one who is holy, still keep himself holy.”

¹² “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man 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, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city.¹⁵ Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying.

¹⁶ “I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”

¹⁷ The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost.

¹⁸ I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book; ¹⁹ and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book.

²⁰ He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming quickly.”Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

²¹ The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.

Today’s text says: These words are faithful and true …   Blessed is he who heeds the words of the prophecy of this book.   As I have said throughout our reflection on Revelation, my intention is not to delve deeply into the prophetic meaning or interpretation of John’s vision, but rather to apply what is being said and revealed in and to our own lives, our own time; in and to our situations and circumstances. When we looked at the letters to the churches, the intention was not to understand those churches, but rather since the events prophesied in Revelation had not yet come to pass, it was to hear what the Spirit is saying, not what He was saying to the church. My hope is that we would be and become people who are the fulfillment of what that statement says; that we would be blessed as we have heeded the words of the prophecy of the book of Revelation. You see, hearing, heeding and applying what the Spirit is saying is more important than interpreting what was said. It is those who heed the words, not those who interpret the words who are blessed.    

The text says:  “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done.  I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying.”    Along with heeding the word, we are blessed if we are among those who washed their robes. Previously, in Revelation 7:14, we are told how we are to wash our robes:   “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”   We are blessed by the cleansing power of the blood of the Lamb; blessed by and in Christ.  What is the blessing?     That they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city.    In Revelation 3:22-24, after the fall, God said:   “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”— therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.   Through the blood of Christ, we are blessed with the very thing that Adam and Eve were denied because of sin and disobedience.  We have the right to the tree of life; to eternal life through Christ. We may enter the place which Adam and Eve were sent from. We are blessed with all that God intended from the beginning. Look in Genesis 2:16-17 at God’s commandment concerning the trees in the garden:  The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”    God did not forbid them from the tree of life in the beginning. It was only because of sin; so that they would not live forever in a fallen, sinful state that they were not allowed to eat of the tree of life. Jesus blood, His sacrifice for us, restores to us all that God intended from the beginning. We are blessed with eternal life through Christ; the right to the tree of life. John 3:16 says:   “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”    What else though is restored to us through the blood of Christ?  In Genesis 1:26-28 it says:  God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”    We are also blessed with and restored to God’s intention that we would be created in God’s image and likeness and that we would have the authority to rule over creation on earth. That too is our blessing in Christ.

While we who believe in Christ are permitted into the presence of God and Christ, the text says:  Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying.   Many people contend that a loving God would not exclude people from having access to His blessings. These words and warnings though are consistent with the words which Jesus spoke, even as He lived here among us as a man of grace and compassion. 2 Peter 3:9 says:  The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.   It is not God’s desire or intention, it is not His will that anyone would be excluded, to be left outside or perish. God desires that all would repent and believe. He desires that all would be blessed with the right to the tree of life and all that He intended from the beginning. Each person chooses for themselves, whether they will believe for the blessing or remain outside.

The Lord is not slow about His promise to return, His patience is His extended grace. The text says:  “I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.” The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost. I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book. He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming quickly.”Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.

I too say: Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.

I indeed hope you have been blessed, not only with the meditation from Revelation, but throughout the year as we have journeyed together through God Word. I invite you to journey with me again in 2019 or until the Lord returns either for us all or for any of us individually.  The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.