Lesson this morning's in Revelation
chapter 22. We'll be looking at the first
five verses. Revelation chapter 22. And my subject is things proceeding
from the throne. That's what John's seeing here
in his vision. Things proceeding out, he's looking
at He's describing the groom's wife. He's describing the bride,
the church, God's elect. That's what he's describing.
And he likens her to a city. And this city is likened to the
holy Jerusalem, which the scriptures tells us is above. It's symbolic. And within this city, or within
the kingdom of God, or within the people of God, is a throne
set up in the midst of it, and things proceeding out from that
throne. Now in James chapter one, verse
17, it says, every good gift, every good gift, What's a good
gift? Well, faith is a good gift. That's
the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. The want to repent and believe. To love one another. These are
all good gifts. And he said every good gift and
every perfect gift is from above. And cometh down from the Father
of lights, With whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. God
has purposed to give these things, and he's gonna give these things.
And he's of the power and wisdom to be able to give these things. And nothing that God has purposed
in eternity shall fail. Nothing that God has purposed
in eternity is gonna change. It's not gonna be altered in
any way. It is the sovereignty, the wisdom,
and unchangeableness, the immutability of our God that allows him to
declare the end from the beginning. And from ancient times, the things
that are not yet done, saying my counsel shall stand and I'll
do all my pleasure. And everything which shall endure
the trials of time and the horrors of judgment are such as proceed
forth from the throne. So this is my subject this morning,
and this, I believe, is the subject of our text. In Revelation chapter
22, verses 1 through 5, we're given nine things which proceed
forth from the throne of God. First of all, verse one, it says,
he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal,
proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. So the first thing John sees
proceeding forth from the throne of God is a river, which he calls
the river of life. Some of the old writers call
this river of life the Lord Jesus Christ. They say this is symbolic
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and I've got no problem with that,
that's true. He is the life-giving water of
God. But I believe this river depicts
Christ as he's purposed of God. from the beginning, because this
is not, this water is moving, this water is flowing, this is
a river, it's not a pond, it's not an ocean, it's a river. And this river's moving, has
to do with something moving. And Christ has been moving, he's
been actively engaged in the salvation of our souls since
his appointment in eternity. So that's what I want you to
see. This river has to do with God's purpose. In our study in
Genesis, we saw that there was a river which flowed out of Eden. Eden's the dwelling place of
God. That's where God dwells, Eden.
Nobody knows where Eden is. Modern religionists like to speculate
on where it was, somewhere over in Africa or somewhere over here,
and they try to find the geography behind this, but I believe it's
something symbolic that he's talking about back there. And
this river flowed from Eden, and Eden, as near as I can tell,
by the translators, has to do with the dwelling place of God.
This is where God dwelt. And this river flowed from him. River flowed eastward, it says,
out of Eden to water God's garden. Now, what's this garden of God? Well, Christ said, I am the true
vine and my father is the husband man. The garden is his garden. In
Genesis 2 chapter 8 it tells us plainly that the Lord God
planted a garden east of Eden. He planted it. He's the husband
man. And he planted this garden there
and this river flowed from him eastward to Eden to water that
garden. The river which flowed out of
Eden after it went into Eden. And everything in God's garden
drank from it. It flowed out of Eden and it
broke up into four heads. Four heads. And from there it
flowed to the rest of the world and everything else in the world
was made to drink of the waters of that river. So you see what
I'm saying? This river has to do with God's
purpose of redemption. God's purpose behind Christ. And the river is the river of
God's everlasting purpose of grace, his purpose of redemption
in Christ Jesus. And everything in time and eternity
is made to drink from this purpose. Everything's governed to that
end. Everything's preserved to that end. Everything is arranged
daily to that end. He tells us that all creation
is waiting, waiting for that purpose to be fulfilled. God saved us, Paul said, and
called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but
according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began. Now, because this river
proceeds from the throne, It is a sovereign purpose. This
is the purpose of the sovereign almighty God. It's not gonna
change, it's not gonna be thwarted. This is God's purpose. Because
it proceeds from the throne to men, it is the purpose of grace. This is God's gift. It's a gracious
river. Because it proceeds from the
throne of God and of the Lamb, it is a merciful, kind, and loving
purpose. And then he tells this about
that river. He said, it was as clear as crystal. See it there in verse one in
Revelation 22. This river, clear as crystal. And to all who are carried up
by the Spirit to see this river, all things concerning these waters
are clear as crystal. I don't know of a believer who
don't understand what I'm preaching to you this morning, what I'm
teaching to you this morning. It's as clear as a bell in the
Scripture. All right, verse two. In the
midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river,
Was there the tree of life? Now here's the second thing John
discovers proceeding out of the throne. The tree of life. The tree of life is the cross
of Christ. That's what he's talking about
here. That's why he depicts this as a tree. It is the cross of
Christ. It is the message of blood atonement
by the crucified substitute. And the death of Christ grows
strong, being nourished by the river of God's redemptive purpose. Sometime when you get time, read
that scripture over in Acts chapter four, where he said the Gentiles
and the Jews and all of the rulers that gathered together to crucify
the Lord, they did what God's hand and God's counsel determined
before to be done. That's what they did. And so the death of Christ grows
strong, being nourished by the river of God's redemptive purpose.
And we're told here in our text that on either side of the river
was the tree of life, singular. One tree on both sides. Viewing this river as God's purpose
of grace, I might see that tree on this side of the river. But once I pass on and ascend
up into heaven, I'll see that same tree on the other side of
the river. There's only one tree, but it
can be seen and accessed from either side. All right, thirdly,
and this is also in Revelation 22 too, it says the tree of life
bear 12 manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month. Now 12 is significant because
that's the number of the tribes of Israel. Israel, spiritual
Israel, has to do with all of God's elect, but when Israel
was typified in the Old Testament, it had to do with the nation
of Israel. and was broken up into 12 tribes. So all he's saying
here is that the meat on this tree is sufficient for the whole
house of Israel. Had 12 manner of fruits on it. Now the fruit of the tree of
life is understanding. It is the doctrine of Christ
and it is the preaching of those doctrines to men and their eating
of its fruit that gives them life. Paul tells us that the
gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation. To the
Jew first and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith as it's written, the just
shall live by faith. Our text also speaks of fruits
as of many. What are these fruits? Justification. Sanctification, imputed righteousness,
imparted righteousness, particular redemption, perseverance, preservation,
the doctrine of faith, repentance, life after death, and the judgment,
and a whole lot more. Plentiful fruit. And the fruit,
this tree bears fruit continually. It doesn't bear fruit in July
and then the rest of the year it's barren. This tree bears
fruit every month. Its fruit is said to be yielded
every month. And it was timely fruit and continual
fruit. And then fourthly, John sees
that the leaves on the tree of life were for the healing of
the nations. Now leaves are the evidence of
a living tree. You remember the story of our
Lord. He spied, he was with his disciples
there in a certain city, and he looked over there and he saw
a fig tree, and it was covered with leaves. And they were all
hungry, and he went over to the tree to pick him a fig, and there
wasn't any fruit on the tree. And he cursed that tree. That
tree gave evidence of life, but it couldn't produce it, and he
cursed it, and the leaves fell to the ground. The tree died.
Christ is the living tree. And knowledge of this has a healing
effect on all men. You look at this, it can't help
but have a healing effect on you. Fifthly, verse three of our text. And there shall be no more curse. How come? How come? The garden was a perfect
environment. They tell me heaven's a perfect
environment, so is the garden. The man and his wife were made
upright. Well, you say God's in heaven.
God dwelt there. He walked with them in the cool
of the day. So where's John coming from when
he said there's going to be no more curse? Well, Satan lied to the woman
in the garden, and the woman gave him her ear. Now, I'm gonna
tell you something. You give him your ear, your heart's
right behind it. Your heart's right behind it.
You give these Antichrist religionists out here, you give them your
ear, your heart'll be right behind it. It won't be far behind it. Just give him your ear. If you
give Satan your ear, your heart's gonna be close behind it. Adam's
fall was not by deception. It was by his unwillingness to
be separated from his bride. Adam knew exactly what he was
doing when he ate of that fruit. It was Eve that was deceived.
And the tree in the Garden of Eden was the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil. Now what Satan didn't tell Eve,
that in knowing good, she wouldn't be able to do it. And in knowing
evil, she wouldn't be able to resist it. Satan always gives
you half-truths. He always gives you half-truths.
In the curse of man, it was the fault of our representative,
who was not able to save himself, or to save his bride. In the
kingdom of God, our security is in our representative, whose
ability is sufficient. He's all sufficient. He's able
to know good and do it. He's able to know evil and resist
it. He was tempted in all points,
like as we are, yet without sin. In the garden, because of man's
inability, the tree was forbidden. God said, don't eat of it. And
the day you eat of it, you're going to die. In the garden, because of man's
inability, the tree was forbidden. In God's kingdom, the tree is
freely accessed because our representative is all sufficient. We can eat
of the tree. We can eat of the tree. And seeing
this tree freely accessed and good for eating, John says, there'll
be no more curse. There'll be no more curse. Those within the walls of our
God are secure in their Redeemer forever. It says, by his own
blood, he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained
eternal redemption for us. Our sanctification in Christ,
he tells us in Hebrews 10, is once for all. And our perfection
in him, he said, is forever. All right, here's the sixth thing.
Revelation 22.3. But the throne of God and the Lamb shall be in it. Now this is significant. When we talk about the throne
of God, we're talking about not an inanimate object, but we're
talking about the seed of all authority. God the Father sits
upon the throne. Absolute God. Everything he says
goes. Everything he, if he threatens,
if he says something, if he gives laws, whatever he does, this
is absolute. This is almighty God on that
throne. But this is not just the throne
of God, this is the throne of God and the Lamb. There's a Redeemer
sitting next to God on this throne. And in the midst of this, in
the midst of His people, in the midst of this city, every how
you wanna look at it, there's the throne and this throne is
the throne of God and of the Lamb. Now in Psalm chapter two,
The whole of this unbelieving world is summed up as a vain
rage against the Lord and his anointed. They might have said
it in different ways. They might have used different
words and illustrations. But he's summing up what they're
saying. And it's a vain rage. And here's
what their cry is. Let us break their bands. Let
us break their bands of thunder and cast away their cords from
us. We don't want to be under his
authority. In Romans chapter 1, talking
about the sins of the Gentile idolaters, he said, for they
didn't want to retain God in their knowledge. Paul tells us in In Romans chapter
8, that the carnal mind is enmity against God. And because it's
enmity against God, it's not subject to the law of God, neither
indeed can be. Threaten a natural man with everlasting
hell, he'll continue to sin. Take a million and cast them
into hell. Whoever's left, they'll continue
right on in that enmity. It's not subject to the law of
God, neither indeed can be. In the parable of the pounds,
our Lord said a certain noble man went into a far country to
receive for himself a kingdom. And then he would return. That's
talking about the Lord came into this world to receive a kingdom.
and went away to his father. And that's what he's picturing
here. This noble man, he went into a far country to receive
for himself a kingdom and then return. But he said his citizens,
the citizens of this country where he went, the citizens hated
him. And they sent a messenger back
to him saying, we will not have this man to reign over us. God sits upon the throne in his
kingdom with his son and their sovereignty is acknowledged rejoiced
in and willingly honored and obeyed by every man in that kingdom. Because we see that throne as
the security of everlasting life. We see that that's where life
came from. That's where the tree of life
came from. That's where the river of God's purpose of life came
from. That's where the whole ball of wax came from. It came
from his authority, the sovereign God and the lamb seated on the
throne. All right, here's the next thing,
also in verse three of our text. And his servants, his servants
shall serve him. Didn't say they ought to, said
they did. You guilty of that, I am. Believers
ought to serve God. Believers do. Everybody in this kingdom served
him. All his servants shall serve
him. Now in Romans chapter six, Paul
deals with the life of the believer in whom the grace of God now
reigns unto eternal life. There's two forces at work in
this world today, sin and grace. Both of these two forces are
at work in the hearts of men and in the hearts of women. Sin
reigns unto death in the hearts of unregenerate men. How so? Well, it reigns by a fallen nature. You know, I have people, they
question me all the time when I talk about religious people
and their offerings and their prayers and all of these things
being an abomination before God and they just cannot understand
what I'm talking about. Well, let me see if I can illustrate.
Let's suppose one of these big timber rattlers out of the woods
here, about seven, eight foot long. And he crawled up to you
and on his back, on his back, he had a $100 bill to offer you. Little note there, this is yours,
all you have to do is reach out and take it. You gonna reach
out and get it? Huh? Why not? Because you know his nature.
You know what he's gonna do when you reach your hand out there,
he's gonna bite you. And that's exactly when an unregenerate
man comes up before God, he's coming up before Him unregenerate. He's coming up before Him with
a fallen nature, and no matter what he holds in his hand, it's
an abomination. No matter what he says with his
mouth, it's an abomination. He describes those who are under
sin in Romans chapter 3, and he said the poison of ash is
under their lips. They're snakes. They're venomous
snakes. No fear of God before their eyes. And both of these, sin reigns
unto death in the hearts of unregenerate men, and it reigns by fallen
nature. It reigns by worldwide religious
influence, and it reigns by its author, who is Satan. Those Jews stood up before our
Lord. Here's God coming into the flesh,
and He's standing there in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and He's talking to these men, and they said, we have one father,
even God. Great. He said, if God was your
father, you'd love me, for I proceed forth and come from God. I come
from His bosom. I'm His son. You're of your father, the devil.
Isn't that what He said? Sure it is. Sin reigns unto death, and it
reigns there by a fallen nature, by a worldwide religious influence,
and it reigns by its author, Satan, who's said to be the father
of all who do his will. Now when God saves a man, he
regenerates him, and he sets up his rule in his heart. Until
he does that, he's not a saved man. Our Lord said, when a strong
man to arm keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace. When old Satan has a hold of
you, and he has a hold of every natural man, he's got a hold
of you, his goods are at peace. He's a strong man, he's armed,
you can't get away from him. He keeps his palace and his goods
at peace, but when a stronger than he shall come upon him and
overcome him, he taketh away from him all his armor wherein
he trusteth, and then he spoils all that he has. And our Lord
said to him, he that is not with me is against me, and he that
gathereth not with me scattereth abroad. So I said all that to
say this, back in Romans chapter six, it says in verse 14, for
sin shall not have dominion over you. Yeah, but in my case, no. They're
talking about everybody in that kingdom. Sin shall not have dominion
over you. For you are not under law, You're
under grace. What then? Shall we sin because
we're not under the law but under grace? God forbid. Know you not that to whom you
yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants you are to
whom you obey? Whether of sin unto death or
of obedience unto righteousness. But God bethanked you were the
servants of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart that form
of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from
sin, you become the servants of righteousness. Now you're
not free from its presence, and you're not free from its influence,
but you're free from its reign in your heart. Christ reigns
there now, and he reigns there in love. So the kingdom John saw had a
throne, and in the midst of it, right in the midst of it, in
that city, as I said before, is the bride of Christ, the church
of the living God. All right, Revelation 22 verse
four. They shall see his face, and
his name shall be in their foreheads. Now this is symbolic language
and it's talking about the gospel. He said, I'm gonna write my law
in their minds and on their hearts. I'm gonna give them an understanding. Isn't that what John said? We know that Christ has come
and has given us an understanding that we might know him that's
true. We know the true and living God. Their names are written in their
foreheads. Now God's name is His glorious
character. And especially as the harmony
of that character is manifested in Christ in the salvation of
His elect. So what am I talking about? I'm
talking about Him being just and justified. Romans 3, 24.
Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption
that's in Christ Jesus. whom God has set forth to be
the propitiation for our sins, through faith in his blood, to
declare his righteousness in the remission of our sins. The glory of God is seen in the
face of Jesus Christ. We see him as just and justifier. We see him as perfectly holy,
yet showing mercy. and we see it in the face of
Jesus Christ. In him we see the love of God,
the grace of God, the mercy of God, the wisdom of God. We see
the justice, judgment, and wrath of God. We see his immutability,
his sovereignty, and his long-suffering. The disciples looked at Christ
that night on that sea. I've been in some rough water
before, in storms in the middle of the night. I'm telling you,
it's a scary situation. You don't know where the land
is, even on small waves. You're just sitting there at
the mercy of whatever God throws at you. And here was these men
in that ship ready to capsize any minute, the ship filling
up with water, and they look over there and here comes Christ
walking on the water, walking on the waves, right in the middle
of that storm. And they said, what manner of man is this? Even the winds and the waves
obey him. What manner of man? He's the
sovereign God, that's why. They would have cast him headlong
down over the hill, a whole mob of them. Christ walked right
through their midst and they didn't lay a hand on him. They
come to take him with swords and spears and he said, I am,
and they all fell backward on the ground. This is the sovereign
God. We see all these things in Christ. They shall see his face and his
name shall be in their foreheads. They shall be known by their
knowledge of him. That's how Christians are known,
by their knowledge of him. All shall know me from the least
to the greatest, that's what he said. These are my sheep,
I know them and they know me. And this name's not painted on
the surface, it's pinned in the fleshly tables of the heart. And then Revelation 22, five,
I'll just be real brief here. The last line of the verse, and
they shall reign forever and ever. A fellow, Henry, went to seminary
with, saw him one Sunday morning. Henry, it was a nice morning,
early in the spring, he was walking to church. There was another
fellow there in Ashland, Kentucky that Henry had went to seminary
with. They met, talked a few minutes,
and the fellow said, well, I'm bound to ask you this. He said,
are you still saved? And Henry said, is God still
on the throne? If he's still on the throne,
I'm still saved, because he's my salvation. He's my salvation. When he says here they're going
to reign forever and ever, they're going to reign because we're
in him. We're in him. We trust in him, and we're in
him by union in our Lord Jesus Christ. As long as he reigns,
we're going to reign. How long is he going to reign?
Forever.