Peter Barnes: Revelation 22:1-6 NO AUDIO
(8 July 2018)
SERMON NOTES: THE NEW EDEN (Revelation 22:1-6)
– Paradise is restored, with a picture of peace and well-being. This is the new Eden, eternal Eden.
1. The divine throne.
– 22:1, 3. There is one throne, of God and of the Lamb.
– hence Rev.1:8, 17; 21:6; 22:13; Isa.41:4; 44:6; John 10:30.
2. The river of life.
– 22:1-2. Let us look at this from four angles:
(a) The image goes back to Genesis 2:6, 10-14.
(b) Ezekiel tells of a river that flows from the temple – Ezek.47:1-9. Zechariah speaks of living water too – Zech.14:8.
(c) Christ is the new temple – John 2:19-21.
(d) Hence His call in John 7:37-39.
Contrast to the ‘holy’ river Bagmati, which is supposed to provide cleansing to Hindus.
3. The healing of the nations.
– 22:1-2. The tree may be collective for ‘trees’ as in Ezekiel 47:7. The tree of life is in the Garden of Eden – Gen.2:9; 3:22-24; Ezek.47:12.
– Acts 5:30; 10:39; 13:29; 1 Pet.2:24. The tree is the cross
(a) the curse is no more – 22:3; Gal.3:13.
(b) believers will serve Christ and reign with Him forever – 22:3, 5.
(c) there will be close communion with Christ – 22:4; Ex.28:36-38.
William Wilberforce once speculated that in glory this world will appear to have been ‘one great bedlam’.
Who can faint while such a river
Ever flows their thirst to assuage –
Grace which, like the Lord the Giver,
Never fails from age to age? – John Newton