Revelation 22 -Man's Relationship with God Restored

In Revelation 22 we learn more about eternal life.  The City of God has the river of the water of Life, which flows from the throne, down the streets of transparent gold.  This is the Holy Spirit, which the Lord Jesus spoke about to the woman at the well (Jn 4:10).  It is the same river of Life that Ezekiel saw (EZ 47:9) whose waters made brackish water clear.  The Holy Spirit makes our impure hearts pure.  In Ezekiel’s vision the impure hearts of men were symbolized as a sea, but in Revelation 21:1 we read that there is no more sea.  The repository of uncleanness we know as our “flesh”, the world, and sin made up the sea, which satan had influence over, forming the Beast. There is no impurity in the City of God, no “dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood” are in her walls (Rev 22:15). The Holy Spirit will impart the knowledge of the glory of the Lord for those who are thirsty.

We see that the tree of Life is on both sides of the river of life, and has leaves that heal the nations.   This tree was also in Ezekiel’s vision (Ez 47:12). It bears fruit each month, indicating that time and growth still remain in God’s Kingdom; growth of fruit for the purpose of Man’s growth in Him.  Fruit from God represents the accomplishment of works He purposed and planted beforehand for us.  Jesus was a first-fruit offering for God, as are we.  The Holy Spirit, symbolized by the river of Life, nourishes the tree of life to give us that which we will eat (become one with).  Those who overcome have the right to partake of the fruit (Rev 2:7).

There is no more curse in the earth (from Genesis 3), and God’s servants will serve Him.  Service to God may seem like a “given”, however, service is made possible by the destruction of the Harlot Church, for she hindered God’s servants from serving Him. 

God’s servants will see His face and have Him on their minds.  Before Adam and Eve’s fall they had a face-to-face relationship with God.  After the Fall that relationship was lost.  The only way to truly know God is through relationship with Him, and that relationship will be restored in the City of God.  After the Fall (Gen 3), Man was prohibited from residing in fellowship with God, and he could not eat from the tree of Life in the Garden of Eden.  Laws were needed to mold Man’s behavior, and experiences by which they would learn God’s ways, little-by-little.  But until Man changes on the inside, his unrenewed mind would forget, and his unconverted heart would seek after the flesh.

Through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, Man received the opportunity to be born again by God’s Spirit.  The era in which Man could connect to God’ Spirit began, and along with it the struggle against the flesh, the world, and satan.  Yet, until men could overcome they could not inherit the kingdom of God.  We see then that, although God imparts knowledge of His ways to believers by His Spirit, it is incomplete.  But for those who overcome and dwell with God face-to-face, they will know Him. 

The Kingdom is just that: a kingdom.  It isn’t a temporary place that shifts over time under various rulers.  It is God’s habitation with Man, eternal, healing, and full of glory. In the Kingdom of God we see that the Knowledge of the glory of the Lord isn’t imparted in a moment, but through relationship with God.  Each month the tree of life yields its fruit, not just once for all.  Always God dwells amongst us, not just one day.  Surely we will go from glory to glory as we know Him, unhindered from sin.

Shall we not be thirsty?  God’s Kingdom fulfills all spiritual needs and wants.  It is a place of His and our desire being met on an on-going basis.  God will always be greater than Man, yet He pours Himself out for the thirsty, those who desire Him, to drink.

God is a God of restoration.  We see this in the Festival of Jubilee:  wherein slaves were to receive back their freedom and men were to be restored to their families and to their families’ properties (Lev 25:8-12). The City of God restores for Man (those who have overcome) what was lost because of the Fall of Man.  Those who overcome will inherit their rightful part in the dwelling place of God, and God’s original intentions to have a people He could live amongst will be fulfilled.  Oh, what a glorious Kingdom to look forward to in the City of God.  Amen.