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Revelation 22:1-5
Revelation 22:1 (NKJV) begins with the words, “And he showed me. . .” We want to be sure that we know who the “he” is that is doing the showing. As we backtrack to reaffirm, we see in Revelation 21:9 that it is “one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues.”
The Apostle John declares in Revelation 22:1, “1And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb.” Genesis 2:10 describes a river that went out from Eden to water the garden before the fall as the earth was still in its purity of God’s creation. It is as if the purity of God’s initial creation in the garden of Eden is being reconstructed once again in the purity it was meant to have.
The tree of life, which was put under guard by cherubim in Genesis 3:24, is now re-established in the street and on either side of the river in the New Jerusalem. The tree of life, or better said, each tree of life will bear its fruit every month, twelve times. This indicates that in the New Jerusalem time will still be noticeable, and that eternity, or its best understood layering of things outside of time, may indeed have a factor of time within it.
The second sentence of Revelation 22:2-3 states, “The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3And 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. 4They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads.” This indicates a reversal of the curse for the initial sin in the garden for all who will dwell in the New Jerusalem that have found their names written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. As the curse derived from eating from the tree of knowledge in disobedience to God (Genesis 2:16-17, 3:6-7), the healing for all people from “the nations” will be in the fruit of the tree of life, which will be available always. The curse will be gone and those who dwell there will have the mark of God and the Lamb on their foreheads (Revelation 22:3-4).
This is the reversal of the curse for sin being the everlasting healing in the New Jerusalem.
In the New Jerusalem will be the purity that was initially present in the garden of Eden as God created the world and everything in it in His purity. When sin entered through the fall of man to the temptation from Satan through the serpent, all purity was lost on the earth – all was put under the curse (Genesis 3). The curse will be gone and the focus will be on the tree of life and its access now granted to all who find their names written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
Dear LORD,
We long for the healing of the tree of life in our current physical state. We long to find our names written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Please help us to realize and understand the importance of putting You first in our lives now, so that we may live in the New Jerusalem in Your presence and reign with You forever and ever (Revelation 22:5). In Jesus name I pray, amen.