Exegesis of Revelation 22:1-6 PDF

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Running head: EXEGESIS OF REVELATION 22:1-6 !1 Exegesis of Revelation 22:1-6 Robert Sean Emslie Grand Canyon University January 14, 2015 EXEGESIS OF REVELATION 22:1-6 !2 Exegesis of Revelation 22:1-6 The current work will be a brief exegetical examination of Revelation 22:1-6 with an emphasis on Old...

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Running head: EXEGESIS OF REVELATION 22:1-6

Exegesis of Revelation 22:1-6 Robert Sean Emslie Grand Canyon University January 14, 2015

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Exegesis of Revelation 22:1-6 The current work will be a brief exegetical examination of Revelation 22:1-6 with an emphasis on Old Testament imagery present in the passage. Revelation 22:1 “Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb” (ESV).

John begins the final chapter of the Revelation with imagery of a river of the water of life that flowed from the throne of God and the Lamb. John draws this imagery from Ezekiel 47:1-9 that speaks of water flowing from Jerusalem and the future end times Temple. It can also be seen that John referenced Zechariah 14:8, another Old Testament passage where living water flows forth from Jerusalem in a future day. There is also water flowing from a spring going forth from the end of days Temple in Joel 3:18 that could also be seen in this opening verse. John brings these three Old Testament passages together and their imagery of a river or spring flowing from Jerusalem, specifically from the end of days Temple together, especially the Ezekiel passage as Ezekiel’s temple vision of chapters 40-48 can be seen in imagery preceding and following our current selection of verses (Beale, 1999, p. 1103). It can also be seen in the river a reference to a reference to Eden and with the coming of the new heavens and new Earth that this is a reference to Genesis 2:10 and the river that flowed out of the first Eden and now a similar river flowing with living water coming from the new Eden, the eternal state (Beale, 1999, p. 1103). This connects the first state of man that was a

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temporary state of righteousness to the final state of unending righteousness and purity signified by the pure water. This shows parallel imagery between the first creation and the new creation that begins at the end of days.

Revelation 22:2 “through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.”

John continues in verse 2 to describe the river and then comes to the Tree of Life. This also hearkens back to Genesis and the Garden of Eden connecting the first Creation and the New Creation. It is also a reference to Ezekiel 47:12 that stated, “And on the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither, nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing.”” In both Ezekiel and Revelation this eschatological tree, clearly designated as the Tree of Life by John, that bears fresh fruit each month and the fruit is for sustenance and the leaves for healing (Beale, 1999, p. 1106). The connection to the healing nature of the Tree of Life can also be seen in Jewish Pseudepigraphal writings including the Apocalypse of Moses 9:3 that reads:

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But Adam said to Eve, “Rise and go with our son, Seth, near to Paradise, and place Earth on your heads and weep, beseeching God so that he might have mercy on me, and send his angel into Paradise and give me from the tree out of which the oil flows and brings it to me, and I will anoint myself and rest” (Charlesworth, 1985, Vol. 2, p. 273).

It is here that with the regaining of access to the Tree of Life that had been barred since the fall of Adam and Eve in Eden that now with sin vanquished by Christ’s atoning work that the fulfillment of the original divine plan can be realized in that with sin vanquished all there is untainted eternal life with no fear of sin or failing like in Eden, the New Creation has been realized (Resnik, 2006, p. 6). Free access to the Tree of Life is the sign that unending life is now available. It also shows a return to the Edenic ideal of sustenance being delivered by nature and now in the New Creation the Tree of Life is a demonstration of the restoration of this earlier promise (Grenz, 1994, p. 243).

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Revelation 22:3 “No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him.”

John continues in verse 3 to give further information highlighting that there is no longer anything cursed this can be seen as a reference to Zechariah 14:11 that spoke of a future end to curses which were understood as divine judgment on human sin by the Nations of the world, especially the Canaanite nations that stood against Israel and even Israel itself who was cursed with exile for their sin (Beale, 1999, p. 1112). The New Creation with sin vanquished, the counterpart of sin, cursing will also be vanquished and as the world was in the Pre-Fall state the curse and consequences of sin including sorrow, pain and the greatest consequence death, both physical and spiritual are absent from the New Creation, this time never to return as sin can no longer enter the New Creation (Hubbard, 1989, 3(1), 1). Revelation 22:4 “They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.”

In verse 4, John moves to the redeemed seeing God and the Lamb and bearing His name on their foreheads as now the realization of the hopes and petitions of the past are now realized (Beale, 1999, p. 1113-1114). This can be seen as a reference to the hope expressed in Ps 11:7 that stated, “For the Lord is righteous; he loves righteous deeds; the upright shall behold his face." The hope of the righteous to one day stand before and see God can also be seen in Psalm

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42:2 and in Testament of Zebulon, a Jewish Pseudepigrapha book that stated, “He will turn all nations to being zealous for him. Moreover, you shall see [God in a human form], he whom the Lord will choose: Jerusalem is his name” (Charlesworth, 1983, Vol. 1, Zebulon 9:8). The hope expressed by the Old Testament and Pseudepigraphal writers was to one day see the invisible God and to know Him fuller and to be fully known by Him. At this point Revelation, the full revealing of the God of Israel and the Lamb has begun. Along with the revelation of the face of God to the redeemed peoples, God also brands His name on their foreheads marking out His ownership and possession of them. More than just revealing Himself, He is adopting those redeemed by Him and showing the perfect fellowship and eternal union of God and His People in the New Creation (Ladd, 1959, Ch. 5, Par. 18).

Revelation 22:5 “And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.”

John continues to show now the intensity of the presence of God with the redeemed makes the sun, moon and artificial lighting no longer necessary as the Divine glory and radiance is the only light needed for illumination both day and night (Beale, 1999, p. 1115). This can be seen as an allusion to Isaiah 60:19-20 where the Lord is referred to as the eternal light that makes the sun and moon no longer needed for illumination of the world. The New Creation is an eternal illumination in the divine light of the ever-present God. According to Beale & Carson

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(2007), the seeing of God face to face and basking in the light of His radiance can also be seen as a reference to the Priestly Blessing from Numbers 6:25-27 that stated, “the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. “So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them”” (p. 1154). The Priests of Israel were to bless the People of Israel with this blessing that the Lord would make His face shine on them and that God’s name be placed upon them as result, which can be seen as fully implemented in verse 5, now including all the redeemed both from the People of Israel and the Nations of the World. Revelation 22:6 “And he said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true. Moreover, the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place.””

John comes to verse 6 which can be seen as a concluding verse for this section of the New Jerusalem and New Creation. It can be understood that the assurance given by the speaker in this verse some say by an angel and some say that it could be Jesus given that the next verse appears to be Jesus’ words (Beale, 1999, p, 1123) are related to Daniel’s words of assurance of his prophetic vision of the end of days in Daniel 2:45, “The great God has revealed to the king what will come about in the future. The dream is true, and its interpretation is reliable” (CJB). The vision is declared valid by either an angel or Jesus himself to confirm that the New Creation is to be a reality.

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Conclusion In Revelation 22:1-6 it can be seen the fulfillment of the hope of the return to the Pre-Fall state from the Garden of Eden before the entrance of sin into the world. As seen in these verses with sin and death completely vanquished never to plague humanity again then the New Creation can begin where an eternal Edenic state will be a reality with God and the Lamb living amongst and communing with the redeemed. The redeemed will know God face-to-face and live forever in His eternal radiance. These verses begin the last chapter of the Book of Revelation and highlight the final realization of many hopes, dreams and prophecies earlier seen in the Prophets, Psalms, and Jewish Pseudepigraphal books. The hopes have become realized now in these opening words of Revelation 22.

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References Beale, G. K. (1999). The book of Revelation: a commentary on the Greek text. Grand Rapids, MI; Carlisle, Cumbria: W.B. Eerdmans; Paternoster Press. Beale, G. K., & Carson, D. A. (2007). Commentary on the New Testament use of the Old Testament. Grand Rapids, MI; Nottingham, UK: Baker Academic; Apollos. Charlesworth, J. H. (1983). The Old Testament pseudepigrapha (Vol. 1). New York; London: Yale University Press. Charlesworth, J. H. (1985). The Old Testament pseudepigrapha and the New Testament: Expansions of the “Old Testament” and legends, wisdom, and philosophical literature, prayers, psalms and odes, fragments of lost Judeo-Hellenistic works (Vol. 2). New Haven; London: Yale University Press. Grenz, S. J. (1994). Theology for the community of God. Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman. Hubbard, R. L. (1989). Women in Ministry: The View from Eden, 3(1), 1. Ladd, G. E. (1959). The gospel of the kingdom: Scriptural studies in the kingdom of God. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans. Resnik, R. (2006). Creation to completion: A Guide to Life’s Journey From the Five Books of Moses. Clarksville, MD: Messianic Jewish Publishers....