Revelation 22:1-21 Part 6
REVELATION 22:1-21 Part 6
1) And it showed me a river of water of life, clear as crystal, going forth from the throne of God and the Lamb
2) in midst of its streets, and the river flowing hence; and from there a tree of life producing twelve fruits each month, the tree rendering its fruit and its leaves into the healing of the nations;
3) and there will no longer be any curse. The throne of God and the Lamb will be in her, and His servants will serve Him;
4) and they will see His countenance, His name on their foreheads;
5) and there will be no night there, so they will have no need of a lamp or sunlight, for Kurios God will shine forth upon them; and they will reign into the ages of the ages.
6) Then it said to me ‘these faithful and true words Kurios God of the spirits of the prophets sent His messenger to show His servants what is necessary to come to pass in quickness.
7) Lo, I come quickly. Blessed the one keeping the words of the prophecies of this scroll’.
8) I, John, the one hearing and seeing these things, when I heard and saw I fell down to bow before the feet of the messenger that is showing me these things;
9) and it said to me, ‘see not. I am a fellow servant of you and your brothers the prophets and of those keeping the words of this scroll. Bow to God’.
10) And it said to me, ‘you may not seal up the words of the prophecy of this scroll, for the time is near;
11) the unrighteous be he yet unrighteous, the filthy be he yet defiled; the righteous be he yet work righteousness, the holy be he yet hallowed.
12) Lo, I come quickly, My wages with Me, to recompence each as is his work.
13) I AM the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.
14) Blessed those who wash their garments; for the tree of life will be their privilege, and they may enter the city by the gates.
15) Without…. the dogs and the sorcerers and the fornicators and the murderers and the idolaters and all who love and practice falsehood.
16) I, Jesus, sent My messenger to testify these things to you in the Churches. I AM David’s root and offspring; the bright morning star.
17) The Spirit and the bride say ‘come’; and he who hears say ‘come’. He who thirsts let him come; he who longs, let him take to himself the water of life freely.
18) I, I testify to all who hear the words of the prophecy of this scroll: if anyone impose upon them, God will impose upon him the plagues written in this scroll;
19) and if anyone take away from the words of the scroll of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and the holy city as written in this scroll.
20) He Who testifies thus, says: ‘Yea, I come quickly’. Amen, come Kurie Jesus!
21) (The grace of Kuriou Jesus with all of the holy ones.)
One of the messengers that had the bowls full of the seven last plagues to be poured out upon the land at the end of the age has shown John the new, and holy, Jerusalem, the tabernacle of God-with-us.
It began at verse nine of the former chapter; and continued through verse five of this chapter. In those verses, John’s description of what he was shown reveals the impeccable and consummate perfections of the New Jerusalem – in contradistinction to the first one, which was filled up with every evil thing.
And the descriptions of both of them (the first Jerusalem and the new and holy one) come right out of the older prophetic texts of Scripture. It is all one continuous prophetic Word. And all that had been prophesied, was “about to be” at the imminent Parousia of the Christ.
We’ve gone back to the prophets many, many times to read the “former” prophecies of these things. And, now, the last prophet of God sees them one last time before they all come to pass; for the time was near. It was the last days. It was the end of the age. It was the time for all things written to be fulfilled. And it was to occur “quickly”.
John’s letter (the very one that we have before us) was to be sent to the “Daughter of Zion”, the elect remnant of the house of Jacob (the true Israel who Jesus “sought out” and saved). From out of the midst of the harlot she was found; and she was dressed in the garments of righteous virginity (given the righteousness of the crucified and risen Christ of God); and she was rescued from the wrath to come and sent into every nation on the earth.
She is the bride of Christ – the “firstborns” - the new, and holy, Jerusalem in which God would abide with man. The “seat” of God and the Lamb would be in the new Jerusalem; and His redeemed elect of the tribes of Jacob would be His “servants”; and from the seat would flow the river of the water of life into all the world. And the leaves of the tree of life would be for the healing, or restoration, of the creation. And there would no longer be any curse, for “full satisfaction” will have been made for the redemption of the world.
The Gospel of God concerning His Son Jesus – the Savior of the world – would be preached and taught by His servant/messengers in every people, tribe and tongue of the earth; and many from every nation would enter the gates to the New Jerusalem and serve God and the Lamb with the Daughter of Zion.
John’s descriptions of her coming down from God atop the Kingdom mountain of Jesus Christ is the same as the earlier prophets – in perfect continuity with them… the difference being that the time was “near” for the first Jerusalem and the first land of Israel to cease to exist at the “active Presence” of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords at the prophesied end of the age.
Remember the prophetic view that we’ve witnessed throughout the Revelation. The birth, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension and Parousia of Jesus Christ is the one seventy-year event at the end of the age that was prophesied from the beginning.
You see, that’s God’s perception of the salvation of His creation. Hopefully we’ll get to see that more clearly when we re-cap the six years of preaching through John’s letter to the Churches of the first century.
As we proceed now to verses six and seven, hear them once again:
6) Then it said to me ‘these faithful and true words Kurios God of the spirits of the prophets sent His messenger to show His servants what is necessary to come to pass in quickness.
7) Lo, I come quickly. Blessed the one keeping the words of the prophecies of this scroll’.
Here in these two verses, right after the description of the new Jerusalem – the abode of God with man, we hear the name “Kurios” with reference to “faithful and true words” sent to His “servants”.
At the Parousia of Jesus Christ, the servants of God in His tabernacle with man are the hundred and forty four thousands – the elect of the tribes of Jacob. They are the firstborns of the resurrection.
The “faithful and true words” we’ve heard many times through the prophetic Word, for they came directly from the mouth of God through His prophets, and here revealed by the name: Kurios.
We could surely become stalled in a technical discussion of the names of God by which He has revealed Himself through His prophets and apostles. That would take months rather than minutes. So I’m going to give you a brief synopsis of this name that John hears and then writes to our Lord’s servants in the Churches.
First, let’s see that all of the names of God that we find throughout Scripture (and there are many), are all revelatory of His nature, His character, His “relationship” to what He has made, and His revealed intent and purpose for it all.
There are no names by which God has revealed Himself that aren’t filled with substance and significance. He did not refer to Himself by common, or neutral, names – such as John or Howard or Richard. His names are revelatory of Himself. So, when we know His names, we gain much knowledge of Him.
Now, as you know, the older Scripture was revealed and written in Hebrew. But before our Lord Jesus Christ was born, the whole world had adopted a commercial language. It was Greek. Although the nations had their own colloquial tongues, there had to be some way to communicate in order to facilitate travel and to do business. Greek, a second language for most peoples tribes and tongues, had become that common language.
And some time before Jesus was born, God moved in a mighty way to have seventy Hebrew scholars assemble in Alexandria, Egypt for the purpose of translating the Hebrew text (what we know as the “old testament”) into Greek. That translation is called the Septuagint, meaning “The Seventy”.
You remember in the preaching of all that happened at Pentecost, 30AD, God had brought some of the elect of the house of Jacob back to Jerusalem for the celebration. They came from every nation on earth; and they spoke the languages of the nations from which they came (having lived in those locations for generations). And when the Gospel was preached to the crowd, they heard in their own respective languages.
But in order to write the Gospels and the letters to the Churches (including the Revelation), it had to be in one language that could be heard and read by many. And that was Greek. And we can even spot direct quotes from the Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Old Testament text in those letters, for hardly anyone outside of Israel could read Hebrew!
So, the first translation of the Scripture was in Greek; and, for the purpose of continuity and readability, all the letters to the Churches were in Greek. The Septuagint, by the strong Right Arm of God, was reasonably faithful to preserve the names of God; and so, too, were the letters of the apostles.
However, the English translations aren’t as faithful; so the names by which God has revealed Himself lose some of the clarity and specificity found in the original texts.
We’ve mentioned some of those instances in preaching through The Revelation. For example, the English translations (in most cases) use “the Lord”, when the Hebrew text has “YAHVEH” or another name by which God revealed Himself.
That translation (The Lord) isn’t all bad, as long as there is some input regarding the specific name and how it’s used in context, because God did reveal His nature and character and purpose in context! And there is a contextual continuity all through Scripture that just can’t be ignored.
Then there’s the issue of the “article” that is almost always inserted in English translations. It is “the” Lord. The article designates “which” Lord (meaning the only one). So it isn’t completely wrong.
But the fact is that the names of God in the older Hebrew text (and most of the time in the Septuagint) don’t have an article. That’s because they’re names! “The Lord” isn’t a name. Although it has some content, it isn’t a name; and it doesn’t bear all the nature of the One Who reveals Himself; and it doesn’t distinguish between the names of God as revealed in context.
Remember, the name by which God reveals Himself is closely related to the context in which it appears.
As you see in your text at verse six, a name appears there… a name that John knows quite well from the Septuagint translation of the Hebrew text. It is Kurios. And it has no article.
Let me read some English translations of verse six of our text for you. Here is King James:
6) And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to show unto his servants the things which must shortly be done.
And verse six from the American Standard version:
6) And he said unto me, These words are faithful and true: and the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent his angels to show unto his servants the things which must shortly come to pass.
And from the English Standard version:
6) And he said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true. And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place.”
You see, what happens here is that the English translations (at least in part) omit the name that is revealed… a name that appears in a particular context – that context, in this case, being His “servants” who are to be shown what must take place quickly! The “servants” of KURIOS are to be made aware that these things that were prophesied through all the prophets are to take place very soon.
His servants are to receive this prophetic Word concerning that which is about to happen; and they are to receive it from God Who reveals Himself by name. And His servants are to know the name and the context in which it appears, and be strengthened in the faithfulness and truth of what is written! They are to anticipate it, for it is imminent! And the name by which God reveals all that’s about to be is that which strengthens His servants as to the legitimacy and authenticity of what is sent to them!
The name is Kurios. It is in the nominative case, and is therefore the subject of the sentence. John himself responds to the quickness with which the prophetic Word will be filled up by uttering these words at the end of verse twenty: “Amen! Come Kurie Jesus.”
In the case in verse twenty, the name (Kurie) is the object of the sentence rather than the subject; therefore it is in the dative case. But it’s the same name. And it’s the same context… which is the imminent Parousia of Jesus Christ which His servants are to anticipate, and the name being that by which they are strengthened in faithfulness and anticipation.
Now. Back to the Septuagint for a moment… the translators of the Hebrew text into Greek used this Greek word “Kurios” as the translation of several different Hebrew names of God; and they did so in some specific contexts that they perceived were appropriate.
They used it a few times to translate ELOHIM; and other times to translate YAHVEH… and others. But most of the time Kurios was used as the translation of ADON, or ADONAI… sovereign “master” of all – especially in relation to His servants (which is the context of the name here in verse six of our text).
In verse six, the word of Kurios God of the prophets is now prophesying the imminent Parousia of the Christ; and His servants are to be strengthened and grounded in the faithfulness and verity of the words; for they are from Kurios!
And His servants will know the name of the One from Whom these words come! And also the Greek-speaking Gentiles, who had never before heard the Gospel, would also hear the name in the preaching and teaching; and the name itself would be filled with “content”.
I’m not going to run you through numbers of passages in which this name of God appears. It should take only two from the Gospel of Matthew to bring us the continuity of Scripture and the character and attributes of God revealed in His name – Kurios.
The context of these two passages in Matthew is the oft-prophesied search for the lost sheep of the house of Jacob who God had kept for Himself, and the sovereign disposition of the remainder.
Then, after Jesus had ascended into the heaven and received His inheritance – all the nations, His apostles called Him Kurie Jesus (as John does here at the end of The Revelation).
The first one that I want you to hear is from chapter nine of Matthew’s Gospel. Listen closely:
35) And Jesus was going around to all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom and healing all (kinds of) diseases and infirmities.
36) Moreover, seeing the crowds He was moved to great emotion concerning them, that they were being vexed and scattered like sheep having no shepherd.
37) Then He says to His disciples ‘this harvest is great, but the laborers few.
38) Pray, therefore, of Kurie of the harvest that He might disperse laborers into His harvest!’
And directly after that, our Lord sent His disciples to seek out all who belonged to Him from the twelve tribes. The seeking and finding of the lost sheep of the tribes of Jacob – the harvest - was prophesied, you see. And Jesus said “pray of Kurie that He would send laborers into the harvest. And then the very next event in Matthew’s Gospel is the disciples being sent into the harvest!
And then from Matthew chapter eleven:
20) Then He began to upbraid the cities in which His mighty deeds took place because they did not repent.
21) Woe to you Chorazin! Woe to you Bethsaida! For if the mighty deeds which took place in you had occurred in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented in sackcloth and ashes!
22) Even so I say to you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you.
23) And you, Capernaum, shall you be exalted unto the heavens? Unto hades shall you go down! For if the mighty works which occurred in you had been caused to happen in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.
24) Even so, I say to you that it will be more tolerable in the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.
25) At that time Jesus said, ‘I do acknowledge to You, Father, Kurie of the Heaven and the Earth, that You did conceal these things from the wise and the learned, and You did reveal them to babes.
26) Yea, Father, it was done thusly because it is well-pleasing in Your sight.’
27) It will all be delivered over to Me by My Father; no one knows the Son except the Father, nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and he to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.
At the end of the age, Jesus appears in order to seek and to save the lost sheep of the house of Jacob. They are the ones who Kurie God has chosen and preserved for Himself from the tribes of Jacob. And Jesus wills to reveal His Father to them – giving them His righteousness and making them newborn babes in Him. They are the “daughter of Zion”; they are His “firstborns”.
And these things were concealed from all the rest! And in the day of judgment it would be worse for them (all the rest) than it was for Sodom and Gomorrah.
These newborn babes are the ones who John saw robed in the garments of righteousness with Jesus above the firmament in the heaven. And they would be the servants of God and the Lamb in the new and holy Jerusalem shortly to come down upon the mountain of the Kingdom of Christ; for God would abide with man, and there would be no more curse.
The name spoken by Jesus and written by Matthew was “KURIE”… the name which is written here by John in the last chapter of the Revelation of Jesus Christ. The Right Hand and Strong Right Arm of God had been given all authority in the heaven and on the earth; and those who He came to find would be the servants of God and the Lamb in the new tabernacle of God with man. And at the “good pleasure” of Kurie God, this was all “hidden” from the rest!
You remember that when Jesus’ disciples asked Him why He spoke to the great crowds in parables, He said “so they don’t see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their minds, and turn and be restored.”
That was a direct quote from the prophecy of Isaiah at chapter six. He was “concealing” from the rest what He was doing with the Father’s elect servants – the “holy ones” of Jacob.
Kurie was the name of God used in the context of seeking and saving His servants – the Daughter of Zion - and blinding the rest!
You see, this is the personal, legitimate, and all-embracing sovereignty of God. He is described by His Name here as the One Who, as Creator and the divine “Governor” of all history, stands over all men.
It is HIS harvest of the fields; He will keep the good grain, but the foul-tasting zizanium that was “oversowed” in the field will be bundled and thrown into the fire. He is Kurie Pantokrator – Almighty God – Whose decision is completely free; and it is unquestionable and indisputable.
His Name – Kurios – reveals absolute sovereignty; for those who would be His servants would be the ones who He has chosen from the tribes of Jacob from the beginning! They would be “sought out”, given the righteousness of Christ, and rescued from the wrath to come! And His redemption of His Own in Christ Jesus would be concealed from all the rest!
It is an unconditional, and unarguably righteous, election; for He is Kurios – sovereign, and only, God of heaven and earth. And the divine disposition of all He has made is His alone.
He is the One Who submitted God the Son to His unfathomable wrath in order that His indescribable and unending grace might be poured out on those He has chosen to make His servants.
And His Suffering Servant was raised up out of death and ascended to the Right as the one Priest Who made the one sacrifice – the satisfaction for sin and the curse.
And this One – the One Who took the full brunt of the wrath of Kurie God for His people – this One was given all authority in the heaven and the earth, and was crowned King of Kings and Lord of Lords – both of those words, “Lord of Lords” – being our word Kurie!
And all through the newer Scripture His Name is Kurios Jesus (translated “Lord Jesus” in some places, and “the Lord in others). And it’s the name ascribed to Him at the end of the Revelation as John says “come Kurie Jesus”.
The One given all authority in the heaven and the earth is Kurios – sovereign God… Kurie Jesus! The ones who He came to seek and to save are “servants”, provided righteousness as a gift through the “Suffering Servant”. And He has many more servants – many, many more - from among the peoples, tribes and tongues of the earth. They would be the “children” of the firstborns of the tribes of Jacob. They are all written in the Lamb’s book of life from the beginning!
He is Almighty – sovereign God of heaven and earth, Ruler and Judge of the nations, Whose decision is completely free, unquestionable and indisputable. No man, no nation, no false religion, no movement will stay His Hand. He has poured out His blood for the salvation of the world, raised to the highest, crowned King of Kings, and is “sovereign God” of His creation.
And His Parousia is to be anticipated shortly!
His will be a righteous rule. Through all the years of His reign, every last one of His people will be given righteousness as a free gift. It is unconditional. They would each die to death and be raised up to life in Him. It is the first resurrection!
And at the end of all the years of His righteous reign, all of His Own will have been kept by Him, even in death, and will be raised up (as He was raised up out of death); and none of them will ever again suffer death and the grave.
And all the rest would be judged according to their works and irrevocably disposed. It is His sovereign disposition of all others! And death and hades would also be judged. And the whole earth will reflect the glory of God the Father.
His Name is Kurios… the name that says to His firstborns who receive this letter, that He is Almighty God of heaven and earth Whose Word is faithful and true. He is Pantokrator – the absolute Ruler and Judge of all the earth.
Then verse six says, this word is the same word of the prophets of old. And now the time was near!
Each of them spoke the Word of God by the Spirit. And as verse six says, it was Kurios God Who spoke the words through the prophets. And now John writes the Revelation of Kurie Jesus; and it is the same. Almighty God spoke those words; and Almighty God speaks the words of this scroll. It is faithful and true. It’s the same Word, spoken by the same (and only) God; and it is imminent!
As Kurie Jesus says, “lo, I come quickly” (verse seven).
“Blessed the one keeping the words of the prophecies of this scroll….” They can’t fail to be fulfilled due to the nature and character of their Author. Therefore anyone who keeps the words of the prophecies of this scroll is “blessed”.
The scroll was to be sent to the congregations of the firstfruits of the resurrection, revealing to them all that they were to know about imminent events which would be the fullness of all things written…..irrevocably predestined to take place “in quickness” there at the end of the age. For they are spoken by Kurie Jesus – the One Who sovereignly disposes His Kingdom in the way that He chooses!
Speaking “in place of” and “on behalf of” Kurie Jesus, this messenger repeats the overall theme of the prophecy: “Lo, I come quickly”. It was spoken in chapter one and verse seven; it was spoken in chapter two at verse five and at verse sixteen; and again in chapter three verse eleven; and in chapter sixteen verse fifteen. And here in the final words of the scroll, we hear the words seven times!
Lord willing, we’ll have the time to preach through Paul’s letter to the Churches in Rome when we’re finished with The Revelation. And the study of any apostolic letter to the Churches would be immediately and drastically off course without taking into account apostolic expectation of the imminent Parousia of Kurie Jesus.
Therefore there is an implicit warning here at the end, which echoes the same one at the beginning (chapter one verse three): “blessed the one keeping the words of the prophecies of this scroll”.
The implicit warning – at the beginning, and here at the end – is to anyone in the Churches of Jesus Christ who does NOT keep the testimony of Kurie Jesus; for only the ones keeping His testimony will be blessed.
He is KURIE; therefore He will rule and judge at His good pleasure and discretion. And all will be ordained and disposed according to His good pleasure… for the glory of The Father. And His servants will know that the words of this prophecy are faithful and true; for His name is KURIE Jesus.