Revelation chapter 22. Last week, we spent some time
in Genesis 1, 2, and 3, I think. It's hard to remember one week
from the other with all the events going on and holidays and different
things. But I think while we looked at
the silence in the Gospels and the Scriptures, looking at Revelation
8, but then looking back over all the Scriptures about the
idea of silence, we went back to Genesis 1, 2, and 3. to see
creation, making a man woman and in the fall. And we revisited
in Genesis chapter three, the promise of the seed of the woman.
And that promise, that seed of a woman would be the God, man,
savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, which seemed to be appropriate
at this time of year as well, that in Genesis three 15, we
see the first promise of the gospel and of the incarnation. I think I mentioned, if I didn't,
I did that at home because we're actually walking through the
first few chapters of Genesis right now at home. I mentioned
that the description of the garden in Genesis chapters 2 and 3 should
remind you of the ending of Revelation in chapters 21 and 22. And there's
a reason for that. Because what we see in Genesis
chapter 3 with what is sometimes called Paradise Lost, And what
we see at the other end of the scriptures in Revelation 22 is
then paradise restored. And we see God's purpose from
the beginning in the Garden of Eden to what was going to occur
in the end of the scriptures in the end of Revelation. And
so what I'd like us to do this morning is actually then take
a trip from paradise lost, Genesis chapter 3, to paradise restored,
from Genesis chapter 3 to Revelation 22. And the main verses we'll
focus on will be verses 1 through 5 in Revelation 22. You'll have
to pay attention, because it might take us a while to get
to that point, because we want to make some connections in there.
I want to first of all remind you of what happens in the Garden
of Eden in Genesis 2 and 3. You remember paradise, if you
will, as it was first created. God planted a garden east of
Eden, and he placed there a man whom he formed in his own image.
That was in verse 8 of chapter 2. It was a perfect paradise. Some would even say it was a
temple, the wording of what was said in Genesis chapter two has
the idea of Adam being a priest who's keeping and tending to
the temple area. We can talk about that later
when we get in Revelation in many, many weeks from now. But
it was a perfect place to tend and to keep and to serve and
to be nourished by his God. And it said in Genesis chapter
two that the river went out of Eden to water the garden And
from there it parted and became four riverheads. There's a river
in the center of things in this garden. It was nourishing and
bringing life. It was multiplying as it went,
becoming more abundant as one river turns into four riverheads.
And then later in Genesis chapter two, it says, the tree of life
was also in the midst of the garden and the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil. And we read about that and spoke
about that last week. about the tree of life and the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And certainly, Adam
and Eve partook of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil
and rebellion to God. And then God kept them from the
tree of life, because that would then, in a sense, solidify them
in their state of sin and misery. And so what was being said here
was that there's a paradise to live in and to care for for all
mankind. But in Genesis chapter 3, and
I've already hinted at that, when Adam and Eve sinned, the
paradise was lost. They flunked the test. And they
partook of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And you remember
from last week, we said this was a direct blaspheming of God. He commanded them not to in the
way Satan put it. He was saying, basically, God
doesn't really want what's best for you. He's lying for you.
For them to take of this tree then was a direct sin against
God and his nature and his command. And as a result, there is a curse. There's a curse upon the serpent
and the earth itself. and there's a curse upon man.
There is death then brought to man and judgment against him
due to his sin. And the intimate relationship
between man and God was ruined. And now the man and woman could
not bear to be in God's holy presence. And so when he was
walking in the cool of a garden, they hid. They first of all hid
with leaves, then they hid in the bushes. And in the end, the
man and the woman were sent out of the garden lest they eat of
the tree of life and be forever judged to be in the sinful lost
estate that they now were in. And there's much more that could
be said there, but there's only so much time. I do want you to
remember, though, what happened in Genesis chapter three, verse
15. There's a promise then of the
surprising grace of Christ in the midst of all of us. In Genesis
3.15, God says, I will put enmity between you, the serpent, and
the woman. and between your seed and her
seed, and he shall bruise your head, speaking of the seed of
woman, will bruise the head of the serpent, and you shall bruise
his heel. We know that speaking of, with
the bruising back and forth, yes, Christ would die on the
cross, but he would defeat Satan. There would be a bruise of a
heel, which would be pretty significant, but he would crush the head of
Satan when he does this. And we said last week that There
was relief, there had to be some joy with Adam and Eve, because
this meant they would not immediately die, because they would have
children. They were told on the day that you eat of this tree,
you will die. Well, they did die immediately
spiritually, and physically they began to die, but they weren't
completely dead at this point. There's going to be something
more, and so they were going to have children, and this child
somewhere in there, and I don't know how much they understood,
this child to be born from the woman would be a deliverer for
them as well. And part of this surprising grace
was that God would even put enmity between the seed of the woman
and the seed of the serpent. You ever thought about that?
That even enmity itself was a blessing because having enmity between
the serpent and his followers and Christ or God and his followers
means there's a warning sign. There's a feeling of enmity,
of strife, If you don't know who your enemy is, and if you
have no feeling of enmity between your enemy, you're probably not
going to do well with the battle. And so there is enmity between
the seat of the woman and the seat of the serpent. And this
enmity causes separation and protection for God's people.
They know they're in a battle, and they also know that victory
is promised through Genesis 3.15. So this is maybe one case where
enmity is a good thing. And that enmity, however, that
battle between Christ and his people and Satan and his worldly
system, really then defines the whole rest of the scriptures
and the whole of human history. The whole rest of the scriptures
can be defined and the whole of human history can be defined
then as enmity between Christ and his people and Satan and
his worldly system. Revelation, then, is best understood
in this light. If we understand this enmity,
then we understand Revelation far better. And the ending of
Revelation is best seen as the fulfillment of what was begun
in the garden. We see grace promised in the
garden in Genesis 3.15. In Revelation 22, we see that
grace fulfilled. We see paradise lost in Genesis
3, but we see then paradise restored in Revelation 22. And this was
no surprise to God. So I'd like us to do one thing
that you'll probably not like, but I think it will be good.
I want us to take a quick tour through Revelation to get to
paradise restored at the end. A quick tour through Revelation
to show you the enmity that we're going to see throughout the whole
book of Revelation. We've seen much of it already.
Revelation is God's encouragement to the persecuted church and
Christian, but it's also a book of evangelism to the lost. These
are warnings to the lost. Judgment is coming. And unless
you have the protection of the Lord Jesus Christ, you will be
lost and you will suffer for eternity. And in John's day,
the church was Being persecuted, yes, but it was also for the
persecuted church of every age up until the return of Christ.
In fact, the book of Revelation is speaking of the end of the
age, which is between the two advents of Christ. And so rather
than Revelation speaking chronological order, as we've said time and
time again, it's really a series of visions that are showing the
same things over and over again, but from different perspectives
and with different details. with the last days being the
time period again between Christ's ascension and Christ's return.
And so, as we look at Revelation in chapters 1 through 3, we had
Christ doing what? Walking among his churches, among
his bride. Churches that had real problems,
they were being persecuted. You might even say they were
in the midst of enmity, just like we have even now. And then
in chapters 4 through 7, in the next cycle we have, then going
from the problems on earth to the throne room of heaven, from
the trials of earth to the throne of God in heaven. The scrolls
representing God's eternal plan of judgment and redemption can
only be opened by the lamb who is slain and now stands. And
he is worthy. He opens the scrolls and God's
plan in the last days that we're seeing now begin to unfurl. And in chapters 6 and 7 in that
section, we see the judgments upon the world system led by
Satan unleashed. But in the midst of that, there's
also the persecution and the purifying of the church. And
the seven seals are open, the first four being judgments upon
the earth. The final two lead up to the
final judgment when Christ returns in victory. In the midst of the
seals being opened, we see those who are sealed in Christ. The
church being preserved, though persecuted. We've just finished
that in our own study of Revelation, but then in chapters eight through
11, we see really the same thing of the seals, but from a different
perspective with the seven trumpets. Trumpets being warnings of judgment
leading up to the final judgment once again. In the midst of these
trumpets is given another picture of the church and enmity. We'll
eventually see the two witnesses who testify of Christ and they
will die, but then be resurrected representing the church in the
midst of its enmity in the world, but being a servant of Christ.
And then in chapter 12, we begin another section, chapters 12
through 14. And in chapter 12, we see a vision
of the church giving birth to Christ. And we see the enmity
of Genesis chapter 3 being seen in chapter 12 of Revelation.
And the child is taken up to the throne of God. as Christ
ascends, yet the church continues to be persecuted, yet the church
is cared for and nourished by God in the midst of enmity. And in chapters 13 through 14,
we see another picture of this battle with the two beasts, the
beast of the sea and the beast of the land, representing the
evil world, political and religious systems propped up by Satan to
be luring men into it to keep them away from Christ. but they're
defeated by the lamb in the 144,000, which represents the church in
the final day. Then we see in chapters 15 through
16, a similar vision to the seals and the trumpets, but now it's
seven bowls that are being poured out with the wrath of God and
judgment. And then we see in chapters 17 through 19, another
vision of this same battle with Babylon being conquered. And
Babylon represents the world's anti-Christ system backed by
Satan in enmity against the church, Babylon is, but she is doomed
to defeat. Babylon represents the world
offering all the alluring luxuries and pleasures of the world, the
luxuries and pleasures that never satisfy, but actually lead to
abominations and the destruction of the soul. And then finally, with the last
of seven sections of Revelation, in chapters 20 through 22, we
get the final vision, the final section of Revelation. And in
chapter 20, we see that after Satan's binding leads to the
gospel going out to all nations in the millennium, Satan is finally
crushed and cast into the lake of fire, and all mankind is resurrected
to face judgment. And those who are judged on their
own works were cast into the lake of fire, but those who are
in Christ who are judged by the works of Christ were blessed
with eternity with God. The enmity is over between the
church and the world. And so in chapter 21, we see
the new heavens and the new earth for those who are in Christ. And we see the marriage of the
lamb to his bride, Christ and his church, that marriage then
commences. We see the new Jerusalem coming
down from heaven. The new Jerusalem represents
the church, the purified, glorious church of Christ, and it's described
in great wonder, the church in its purity, in its beauty, its
security, its glory, and its strength, with all that Christ
has done with her, that she's been prepared and made blameless,
as Ephesians 5 says. And that brings us then to chapter
22, verses one through five, which is what we'll try to focus
on. That wasn't so bad. I do want you to look at Revelation
chapter 21. If you have your finger on chapter
22, I think what we see in Revelation
chapter one is worth reading. It's the opening of the description
of the glorified church, which the rest of the chapter goes
into far more detail. Look at Revelation chapter one,
verse one. Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first
heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also, there was
no more sea. I think the idea of the sea,
sea represents trouble and difficulties in the world, not anymore. Then
I, John, saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem coming down out
of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband
as he's speaking of the church. And I heard a loud voice from
heaven saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is with men. The tabernacle
being where God dwells in the midst of his people and he will
dwell with them and they shall be his people. That's covenant
language. God himself will be with them
and be their God. And God will wipe every tear
from their eyes and there shall be no more death, nor sorrow,
nor crying. There should be no more pain
for the former things have passed away. This should remind you
of the ending of Revelation chapter seven. Then he who sat on the
throne said, behold, I make all things new. And he said to me,
write, for these words are true and faithful. And he said to
me, it is done. I am the alpha and the omega,
the beginning and the end. I will give the fountain of the
water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes shall
inherit all things. I will be his God and he shall
be my son. But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers,
sexually immoral, Sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall
have their part in a lake which burns with fire and brimstone,
which is the second death. Let's now look at Revelation
chapter 22. I want us to look at the first five verses. I want
us to use these first five verses of Revelation 22 to see paradise
restored. The grace of the garden promised
is now fulfilled but amplified in what God has done in the end.
And all that was happening in the garden, Genesis 1, 2, and
3 was pointing to this. In 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. To read
these, think about this, how this might compare to Genesis
chapter 2. In the middle of its street and on either side of
the river was a tree of life, which bore 12 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 the lamb shall be in it, and his
servants shall serve him. And they shall see his face,
and his name shall be on their foreheads. You might say they
were sealed. There shall be no night there,
They need no lamp nor light of the sun for the Lord gives them
light and they shall reign forever and ever. This is the word of
God and may God bless us greatly through his word in Revelation
22 verses one through five this morning. In your bulletin, there
is an outline in your bulletin. I want us to see six things of
this paradise restored, this garden restored, this fulfilled
grace of Jesus Christ for his people, this final state of Christ's
church in Revelation 22 verses one through five. Six things
I think are clearly meant to show the connection to and the
restoration of Eden in these five verses. The first one, did
you notice a river of life? Did you notice a river of life?
In the original Garden of Eden, there was a river running out
of Eden to water the garden. Did you notice that? Here, however,
it is a river of water proceeding from the throne of God and the
Lamb themselves. And he showed me a pure river
of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of
God and of the Lamb. The source of this life-giving
water is the source of all life. It's from God himself. and the
Lamb who redeems all things. And this is clearly the same
vision that Ezekiel gives us in Ezekiel chapter 47. I'll summarize
that for you in Ezekiel 47. There, water is proceeding from
the temple and it starts out slow and it's not so deep. Then
as you read though, the water flows and it grows from ankle
deep to waist deep to over the head where you have to swim if
you're going to be in it. And what that represents, then,
is the increasing abundance of this river of life in Ezekiel
47. And that's what's being represented
here, the increasing abundance of this river of life. And then
the river in Ezekiel flows into the Dead Sea. Why is the Dead
Sea called the Dead Sea? It's heavy, laden with salt,
and things don't grow in it. So it's the Dead Sea. But in
Ezekiel 47, this river flows into the Dead Sea and it causes
the Dead Sea to turn into a vibrant sea of life with fish. And the
river produces abundance of trees and fruit and healing. It even
says in Ezekiel 47, on each side of this river, there's trees
on both sides with healing and fruit and even fruit 12 months
out of the year. And this is clearly what is being
reflected here in the description of the city of God in Revelation.
This is a river that gives life, a life-giving stream from God.
And throughout the scriptures, the idea of moving water, running
water, rivers of water represents a divine act of God to give life
and abundance. And scripture itself is rich
with the use of symbolism of water and rivers to represent
this, this abundant life given by the Holy Spirit to those who
come to Christ Jesus in John chapter 4. You know these things
in John chapter 4 with Jesus speaking to the Samaritan woman
in verses 13 through 14. You remember he's saying, give
me a drink. And she's saying, why were you
talking to me? And he says in verse 13, whoever drinks of this
water will thirst again out of this well, but whoever drinks
of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. but the
water that I shall give him will become in him. Did you catch
that? If you take my water, it becomes
in you a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life. The
new life that Christ gives, the living waters that Christ gives,
then becomes in the person, a fountain of water springing up. That means
abundant into everlasting life. It means eternal. It's abundant,
eternal life. and the springing up means the
Spirit of God now lives in you and forever then this new life
will be coming forth from you because of the Spirit of God.
And so in John chapter 7 verses 37 through 39 we read on that
last day the great day of the feast Jesus stood and cried saying
if anyone thirsts let him come to me and drink It's another
way of saying believe, repent and believe. He who believes
in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers
of living water. But this he spoke concerning
the spirit, whom those believing in him would receive for the
spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified.
It reflects what we see in Zechariah chapter 14 in verses eight and
nine, where then it says, in that day, It shall be that living
water shall flow from Jerusalem and the Lord shall be king over
all the earth. Christ said in John chapter 10
that he came that we might have life and that abundantly rivers
of living water in us to spring from us forever. And so this
picture in Revelation 22 verse one is that of the living water
that proceeds from God and from the lamb And it pictures the
free-flowing and abundant life of the Spirit for those who are
in Christ forever. And we experience some of this
abundant life now, but it will be unhindered and it will be
overflowing when all of grace is fulfilled in Christ's presence
forever in the final state, in the perfection of the Church. And it's a far greater river
than the river of the original garden in Genesis. far greater. So we have the river of life
that will be completely fulfilled. Then in verse two, we have the
tree of life. The tree of life in the middle of its street and
on either side of the river was the tree of life, which bore
12 fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves
of the tree were for the healing of the nations. The tree of life
in Genesis was the reason that Adam and Eve had to be removed
from the garden, lest they partake of it and be forever set in their
sin-stained state. But here in Revelation 22, in
the end, in the holy city of God, which represents the finally
and fully redeemed church, the tree of life is in the midst
of the city to be freely partaken and enjoyed for all those whose
names are written in the book of life. Nothing is held back. Because unlike Adam, in this
state, we will be without sin and without flaw. We'll be made
perfectly holy in body and soul, and we can partake of the tree
freely. There's no more test to take.
It's been passed in Christ Jesus. And look at the abundance of
the fruit of this tree. 12 fruits in 12 months out of
the year. Now you might ask, what are these
12 fruits? I don't know what these 12 fruits are. It's just
a way of saying it's a whole bunch And 12 months of the year
means, do you know any trees that give fruit every month of
the year? You're happy if you get a month of apples out of
your apple tree. This is round the clock. And
this is the same thing that was said in Ezekiel 47, 12 months
out of the year. And the way this is worded, it
says it's on either side of the river was the tree of life. That
could either mean that there's one really, really big tree that
then hangs over both sides of the river. Or it could mean that there's
many, many, many trees of life on both sides. I'm not sure it
really matters. What it does mean is that there's
an abundance. The tree of life has an abundance.
And what about this idea of the healing of the nations? Why is
that here? Well, the idea of nations represents
the redeemed who have been taken out of all tribes. So it's healing
for all types of people. It's not just restricted to Jews
or or Americans, it's those who've been redeemed by Christ. And
the idea of healing means there's no more sickness. When the scripture
says in this state that there'll be no more sorrow, it means,
when it says that he'll wipe away all tears, it doesn't mean
that, oh, wait a minute, you're crying again, I'll wipe those
away from you. That means there'll be no more need for tears. There's
no more sorrow whatsoever. And so I think here when it says
there's a healing for all nations, it means that now there'll be
no more sickness, no more pains, no matter what your background,
for all those that God has saved out of the nations and out of
the tribes and tongues. And so again, we see the abundance
that God has for us with complete satisfaction in Him. There's
nothing that we would lack which should remind us how our life
should be now. In Revelation, as you read through
it, you have to be struck that those who follow the evil one
Those who follow wickedness, they keep trying to be satisfied
with the luxuries and the pleasures of this life. And it never satisfies. It never satisfies. And in spite
of the warnings and the judgments given throughout the book of
Revelation, those who are outside of Christ, they never repent.
They never turn from it. They might get mad, but they
never repent. It even says it explicitly. And
they miss the point that there's no satisfaction, but only destruction
in sin in a life apart from Christ. And when you see the abundance
that God gives and that God gives us already, but then what is
promised, how could you turn anywhere else for satisfaction
in this life or the next? The third thing in verse three
is that there's no more curse. There's a water of life, there's
a tree of life, but there's no more curse. And there shall be
no more curse, but the throne of God and the lamb shall be
in it and his servant shall serve him. It reminds us of Zechariah
chapter 14 verse 11. We read the people shall dwell
in it and no longer shall there be utter destruction or no longer
shall there be a curse, but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited. In
other words, They will dwell safely and securely in Jerusalem
at that time. God's people will dwell safely
forevermore. There'll be no more curse. Christ
has taken the curse. He has become a curse for his
people. He has become sin, though he
knew no sin, that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ. The curse has been removed and
fulfilled and destroyed completely at this point. Sing during this
time of year, no more let sin and sorrows grow, nor thorns
infest the ground. He comes to make his blessings
flow far as the curse is found. You have to love that line. Where
there once was a curse, it's gone. And now there's only blessing.
And here's what we're seeing in Revelation 22. The curse of
sin in our lives and our thoughts and our actions and our relations
in this world are now gone. And that enmity is gone as well. And notice that the tree of knowledge of
good and evil is nowhere to be found. We mentioned the tree
of life. Now you can free a partake of that, but there's no tree
of knowledge of good and evil in this end state, in this garden. Why do you think it is? Well,
it's because there's no more test to take. Adam failed the
simple test of love in the first garden, in the first paradise.
It was, you can have everything you want, but don't eat of this.
And he failed miserably. And again, it was more than just
a lackadaisical taking of fruit. It was rebelliousness. But the
test that Adam failed, Christ completed it fully. That he fulfilled
the law of God perfectly. He loved God with all his heart,
soul, strength, and mind. He loved his neighbor as himself. He completed
the law of God perfectly. And then he paid the penalty
of our breaking the law of God perfectly. There's no more test
to take. Christ has done it. And there's
no more chance of us failing this test because at this point
our state has been permanently made glorified in Christ. We
will not be able to sin. So I think at least the mention
of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is nowhere to
be found because of this. There's nothing to worry about. If you look at verse three, it
says at the very end, and his servants shall serve him. There's
no more curse, but the throne of God and the lamb shall be
in it and his servants shall serve him. That should, if you're a believer,
that should thrill your heart. This means you may serve your
God and your Christ without sin and in perfect service and worship
forever. In contrast to what Adam did,
And what we have been doing ever since, Christians and the bride of Christ
shall serve him without sin forever. And if you do not enjoy serving
God now or seeking the presence of Christ now, then you'll be
horribly disappointed in heaven, because that's the highlight. Do you see the abundance of grace
in Christ in this final state? Do you see again how Christ did
not just bring us back to where Adam was in a garden, but far,
far beyond it, more than we could imagine. So you have the water
of life and the tree of life, there's no more curse. Then in
verse four, we shall see his face. We shall see his face. They shall see his face and his
name shall be on their foreheads. Adam and his sin, what did he
do when he sinned? He hid from the face of God. With Eve as well, but he hid
from the face of God when he sinned. And they tried to cover
themselves, and they hid in the bushes, and they hid from God,
which is a pointless thing. And they had to be cast out of
God's presence altogether because of their sin, because of his
holiness. And this began the necessary
separation between holy God and sinful man from this point on. The tabernacle and the temple
of the Old Testament represented this separation. We talk about
this often, especially going through the book of Hebrews.
Only certain people could go into the holy place and only
one person, the high priest, could go into the holy of holies
once a year. The point being, if a sinful
man comes into the presence of holy God, he will be consumed.
He will be vaporized. And even Moses, whose face glowed
from the presence of God, he was unable to see God's face.
In Exodus chapter 33, God says, you cannot see my face, no man
shall see me and live. God is holy, we are sinful, and
we will be consumed if in his presence because of our sin.
But in Revelation 22 verse four, with paradise restored, they
shall see his face and his name shall be on their foreheads.
Now we can see him face to face with no worry in his presence. I don't think that hits us like
it should. Having gloriously intimate fellowship with our
God because of the life of the Spirit and our Savior, Jesus
Christ. In 1 John 3, we often read, we
know when Christ appears, we shall be like him and for we
shall see him as he is. And it says, with his name on
our foreheads. We've seen that in the book of Revelation already.
Having his name on our foreheads means we're owned by Christ.
We're sealed by Christ. We belong to him. We bear his
image. We are citizens of his kingdom.
It may even imply that we are priests, as Adam was the first
priest, now in paradise restored. It may even imply that we're
priests, like Aaron, who had holiness of the Lord written
on his turban. We're now priests and kings to
God. The redeemed of Christ are described
as those who are dressed in fine linen, white and clean in chapter
19. Dressed not in the fleeting luxurious
clothing of the world that we would see in chapter 17 and 18.
No, in contrast to that, the saints of God are dressed in
the righteousness of Christ. and able to worship and serve
God face to face with the blessings in paradise restored. And fifth,
we have the water of life, the tree of life. There's no curse.
We see his face. Fifthly, we see there's no night
there in verse five. Why do I say that? Well, it says
there shall be no night there. They shall need no lamp nor light
of the sun for the Lord God gives them light and they shall reign
forever and ever. We know from elsewhere in the
book of Revelation that there's no need for light because why?
Because the Lord and the Lamb is our light. In the beginning
in Genesis 1, there was light created, the sun and moon were
created, it was all pronounced good and eventually very good.
But do you understand now that that was only meant to be temporary?
As wonderful as that was, with light created and the sun and
moon created, it was only meant to be temporary to foreshadow
the greater paradise that we see now in Revelation 21 and
22, where God dwells with his people, where God himself is
our light. As Zechariah 14 says, there neither
be day nor night when this day arrives. And again, in Paradise Restored,
we have abundantly greater blessings and joys than the first Eden.
Some say that the wording here, where it says, for the Lord God
gives them light, some would say that this is really a Hebrew
way of saying this, the Lord God shall cause his face to shine
upon them. When it says for the Lord gives
them light, it's another way of saying the Lord God shall
cause his face to shine upon them. which should remind you
of a benediction. It's almost as if verse five
is an eternal benediction to his people and his presence,
the blessing that is always there being in his presence and his
face shining upon them. And then lastly, the sixth blessing,
the sixth connection from the first paradise to the last, purposeful
blessings and connections, would be that we will reign forever
and ever. We will reign forever and ever, and they shall reign
forever and ever. Now having the dominion over
creation that was once assigned in Genesis 1 and 2, Christ reigns,
and we reign with him as well. You might remember in Psalm 8,
man was made lower than the angels to be crowned with glory and
honor. That was what the creation was for, but Adam failed in the
garden, so man, in a sense, went farther down rather than being
exalted up. But then in Hebrews chapter two,
we find that Christ, the second Adam, fulfilled this fully. And
now he reigns over all. And now in Revelation 22, in
the holy city of heaven, we, Christ's redeemed people, will
join him and reign forever and ever. We in the holy city of heaven,
in the fulfilled grace of God, will reign with Christ over all.
And this grace is not only fulfilled and abundant, it is forever.
And the grace of paradise restored is above and beyond what could
have been imagined from the original paradise or under the first Adam
as our head. So I have a couple of closing
thoughts, one for those who are believers, some for those who
are not. Christian, look at the wonders
of this grace fulfilled, this abundant grace of God in Christ
that is fulfilled was promised in Genesis 3, but it's fulfilled
in Revelation 22. Drinking freely and deeply forever
from the abundant river of life of the life of God, partaking
forever of the abundant tree of life in a perfected state
because of Christ, living with no curse, no sin, no trial, no
sickness, and able to abundantly serve God without sin forever.
face to face with holy God and the lamb owned by him, dressed
in his son's righteousness and reigning in and with Christ forever
and ever as kings and priests in abundance. But with our greatest
joy and satisfaction in God and Christ alone, who alone is our
light. And I think that's the key. Our
greatest joy and satisfaction in God and Christ alone, who
alone is our light. There's great abundance awaiting
us in heaven in the glorified church of God, There's great
satisfaction in Christ face-to-face with God in eternity, but remember,
Christian, that Christ has given us an abundant life now. Christ has given us living waters
of his spirit now, and our lives should currently show an ever-flowing
joy and satisfaction in Christ and empowered by his spirit now. So there are two exhortations
given in the rest of Revelation 22 to Christians. In verse 7, we read this, Behold, I am coming
quickly. Blessed is he who keeps the words
of the prophecy of this book. Behold, I am coming quickly.
Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.
And the comment is, knowing the abundant life that we should
have now and awaiting should motivate us to keep his word
now. And it provides great blessing.
We are not to grow weary now with all that we're given now
and all the promises that are guaranteed as well. And in fact,
the whole book of Revelation gives such an encouragement throughout
to the church, stand fast, continue in Christ. And in verse 12, there's
another exhortation given to the Christian. And behold, I
am coming quickly and my reward is with me to give to everyone
according to his work. I am the Alpha and the Omega,
the beginning and the end, the first and the last. And so very
similarly, we're to serve Christ now due to the blessings and
the rewards that are promised. We have no fear to be rewarded
by works because it's the works of Christ by which we are judged.
And even our sin-stained works are filtered through Christ and
received by God with favor. For the non-Christian, for those
still in their sin who refuse to bow before Christ and receive
his surprising, justifying, substitutionary grace, hear the warning of Revelation
22, verse 14. In fact, throughout Revelation,
there are warnings of loss to come to Christ now lest you be
like those who don't, who cannot repent. Even in verse 11, it
says this, he who is unjust, let him be unjust still. He who
is filthy, let him be filthy still. It's a way of saying,
if you don't come, your heart will get hardened and there'll
be no choice. There'll be no option for you. If you refuse
to come, your heart gets harder. But in verse 14, it says this,
blessed are those who do his commandments. Another rendering
of that, by the way, is interesting. wash their robes, only those
who have their robes washed can actually do the Lord's commandments,
that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter
through the gates into the city. But, verse 15 of Revelation 22,
outside the city are the dogs and the sorcerers and the sexually
immoral and the murderers and idolaters and whoever loves and
practices a lie. The scripture says, blessed are
those who wash their robes and have come to the river of life
in Christ and are cleansed, but those who are outside the city,
those who cannot but be allowed in the city lest they pollute
it, those unclean sorcerers, immoral murderers, idolaters,
liars, those who are outside, they will be cast into the lake
of fire. And so you must come to Christ quickly. The one who
promises to come quickly says so. You, like the followers of
Babylon, are trying to be satisfied on temporary and fleeting pleasures
of this world, but they can never satisfy. You'll always be looking
for more. Instead, you need to repent and
submit to Christ, the beginning and the end, and you will always
be satisfied and always have abundantly more through Christ
Jesus. Hear the invitation of chapter
22, verse 17, nearly the end of the entire book of Revelation.
And the Spirit and the bride say, come. And let him who hears
say, come. And let him who thirsts, come.
Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely. Let us pray. Lord, I do pray that seeing the
connection from the original garden to the final garden, the
original paradise to the final paradise, Lord, for the believer,
inflame their hearts all the more for the great grace of your
plan of redemption, of your control over all things, and your great
grace and blessings that we have already, but that are promised
even still, that we might not grow weary. We might serve all
the more, not out of obligation, but out of desire. With all the
resources you've given us, Lord, with this new life, this water
of life that you've given us, Lord, and wells up in us and
comes out abundantly, Lord, will help us then to be obedient,
to walk with Christ according to his word. Lord, that there
be something different about us, our joy, our faithfulness,
and our proclamation of Christ. And use this, Lord, for those
who are outside of Christ, Lord, that they would see these same
blessings, but also the warnings. They would see that there's nothing
else for them to do but to come and to believe. to come and to
drink of this free water of life that only comes through the Lord
Jesus Christ. It's in his name we pray these
things. Amen.