Hello everyone and welcome back to Deeper Waters where we are continuing our Trinitarian commentary as we dive into the ocean of truth. I ask for your prayers for my Christlikeness first off and that I will deal with anxiety in my life especially. There are times I need to be especially mindful of Philippians 4:6-9. I also ask for your prayers for my financial situation. Finally, I ask for prayers in a third related area in my life. God knows what it is. For now, let’s get to the text. It’s Revelation 22:1-3.
1Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 3No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him.
We start out this passage with reference to a river and one can think of the river that is found in Ezekiel 47. The Lamb and the Lord are the new temple after all and this river is the river of life. It is this water that symbolizes life that flows forth from God himself for the people.
Notice that God is sharing the throne with the Lamb, and once again, we are given a clear picture of who the Lamb is by this. I hope you have been amazed as I have been going through this book and seeing how much the title of the Lamb is used. Indeed, it had been something that had escaped my notice before going through this study and now, I pray I will never lose sight of it again.
God has said however that he will not share his glory with another, and that would include his throne, but now he does share his throne. Are we seeing here a fulfillment of such OT passages as Psalm 110:1 and of Daniel 7:13-14? Is the one who conquered his enemies and has an everlasting kingdom also the Lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world?
There will also be no more curse. We see not just the redemption of humanity but the redemption of creation entirely. Why is there no curse? Because God is present with his people and where that is, there is perfection. This is in a unique way in that the people now know God and he knows them and we have a sanctified humanity living at the foot of the throne.
What can be drawn from this? Christians of all ages can remember that the good guys win in the end. Think about going to a movie and seeing the hero suffering. Many of us see some good guys die in movies and we mourn that, but we also think it’ll be okay in the end. It’ll be okay because in the end, the good guys will win ultimately. Revelation reminds us of that. The good guys do win. Whatever stuff went on in the past 21 chapters, it’s been made right now. The good guys have won. The Lamb is victorious.
We shall continue tomorrow.
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