Written as if it were some great novel, the Bible completes itself in the words of John's 'revelation of Jesus Christ' with the last chapter acting as a magnificent finale to all that God has revealed to us about Himself, and ourselves and His plans for His creation, of which we are a part.

The angel has said to Mary, the mother of our Lord, that Jesus, who is of King David's line both from his mother, and through adoption by Joseph, is to be King of Israel forever more and His Kingdom shall never end. And now, after the earth's destruction and re-creation, we have the fantastic city of God, never a temporal entity, revealed. This is to come after the earth's destruction. And, we are to wonder about it; its utopian nature is so unworldly.

First, the writer, John, mentions the river of life, whose source comes directly from God's power which is pictured as the throne of God and King Jesus, who is also known to us as the Lamb of God; bringing us back to the first book of the Bible, Genesis, and Abraham's attempted sacrifice of his own beloved son, Isaac.

God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his only son, and Abraham faithfully but painfully obeyed. However, God's intent was to teach us all, only through Abraham's example, what He Himself was going to do at the right time, a time scholars say occurred when the World was poised to listen. Instead of Isaac, God provided a lamb - a ram whose horns were caught up in a thicket. Abraham, we can only imagine, with blinding tears in his eyes, sacrificed the lamb gladly in Isaac's place. This is what God has done for us; His intent was to sacrifice His Lamb for us - a lamb that was represented in His own physical body, a form that He called the Son of God, and yet lovingly identified with us as the Son of Man.

From this the Christ was annointed - by water and by fire, and truly in all of the symbolisms of these words. For 'by water' means not only the river Jordan in which Jesus was baptised, but also by the Holy Spirit, and also by tears. 'By fire' means by trial, and also by the Holy Spirit, and by suffering. And, by these things, the Christ was annointed, and then returned again to Heaven for His coronation. Jesus asked "Can you be baptised in the same baptism that I am baptised?" And from all of this, comes the unstoppable river of life in verse 1 of Chapter 22.

This river flows down the middle of the city's central avenue, and on its banks are the trees of life, note that there are many more than the original one that greeted our ancestors Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. And, here, we are told for the first time of more of this tree's attributes; it bears fruit every month, every twelve months of the year, and from its leaves is the medicine derived that will heal the Nations; all of the individual races that have risen out of Adam, all of the peoples of the earth. And the curse of destruction; decay and rust, will be abolished forever, no longer to have any effect.

What a picture! And all made possible from the actions of God's sacrificial lamb, the King Himself, God with us, sitting in His rightful place on His throne on earth. This will come from His second advent, which we continue to wait for, but this is still ahead of us because of the fact that our merciful God is still waiting for us - to turn to Him.

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The Japanese sermon based on Revelations 22:1-21: Oita Evangelical Christ Church
For Oita Evangelical Christ Church sermon indicies, see: cHaPeL nOaH sErMoN iNdEx