Revelation 22:1-5

In Revelation 21 we saw the new Jerusalem from the outside — the grand structure and magnificent raiment of its walls and foundations. But it is what is inside this city that should excite us most. This is the permanent and perfect home of God and his people.¶

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 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.

Revelation 22:1-2 (ESV)¶

What is not mentioned¶

Notice there is no talk of houses, or vehicles, or shopping — no description of anything but God's throne, the river of the water of life, and the tree of life. I do not think this means those things won't exist; I expect a city with much for us to enjoy, work, and play. But there is a message here: all the things we, especially as adults, find ourselves worried about and striving after are not mentioned. Our check-engine lights, our bills, our work, our investments, our houses and cars — all the things we toil for are not given a single word. The things we look for in this world are not the things that pertain to true life. Not that we can forget them; they are part of this temporary life — like the tents the Jews lived in for forty years in the wilderness, set up and torn down, moved again and again, never truly at rest, never truly home. This is why Paul wrote, "Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God" (Colossians 3:1-4), and why Jesus said, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth... but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven... For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matthew 6:19-21). The Bible puts no focus on anything in heaven but the throne, the river, and the tree, because that is where true life lives. Jesus went out of his way to share this with a woman in the midst of her sin, exhaustion, and humiliation: "whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again" (John 4:13-14). How often do we chase things to possess, opportunities to seize, events to attend, thinking they will finally satisfy the void — only to be left more thirsty? Jesus offers her not just something better, but the only real thing that can satisfy her soul.¶

The tree of life regained¶

Remember that Adam and Eve were driven out of the garden to keep them from the tree of life: "lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever... he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life" (Genesis 3:22-24). Ever since, we have been at work trying to make the ground produce life for us. But the believer has a rest not only waiting for him but available now: Christ is our rest. He is the river of the water of life and the tree of life from which we receive everlasting life.¶

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.

Revelation 22:3 (ESV)¶

The cure for the curse¶

In Genesis, God cursed the ground because of the first Adam: "cursed is the ground because of you... thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you... you are dust, and to dust you shall return" (Genesis 3:17-19). Everything we have ever known has been under a curse. But there, the ground will not be cursed — because God and the Lamb are in the midst of it, and his servants worship him. This is the antidote, the cure, for the curse: Christ in the midst of it. And this is true for us now. When Christ is in the midst of our labors and our toils and our pain, the curse loses its power. There is another piece to it as well: the worship of his saints. When we worship God in the middle of our pain, work, and struggle, the curse — which only points to death — loses. "Death is swallowed up in victory... thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ... in the Lord your labor is not in vain" (1 Corinthians 15:54-58).¶

They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 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.

Revelation 22:4-5 (ESV)¶

His name on our foreheads¶

What does it mean to have his name written on our foreheads? The forehead — metōpon in the Greek — is the space between the eyes, essentially the midst of the face: the most noticeable part of us. When we look at someone, we look at their face — more than that, we look into their face, to see who they are and what kind of person they are. And biblically a name represents someone's character — who they actually are. So when someone sees us, do they see God's name, God's character, in our face? When they engage with us, hear us speak, watch us work and go about our day, what character do they witness — joy and peace, kindness and goodness, gentleness and longsuffering? Or something else? It is his name the people must see on us. It is his name that we represent. It is his name only that saves.¶