REVELATION 22 SERIES, STUDIE #1 THRU #5, by Chris McCannNote: This document consists of five studies consisting of 20 pages.

Revelation 22 Series, Study #1 by Chris McCann, originally aired July 23, 2015

Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Revelation. Tonight is study #1 of Revelation, chapter 22. I will be reading Revelation 22:1-2:

And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, *was there* the tree of life, which bare twelve *manner of* fruits, *and* yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree *were* for the healing of the nations.

Well, we are in the last Book of the Bible, Revelation chapter 22. We started our study in the Book of Revelation a long time ago and we have done hundreds of Bible studies in this Book, working carefully through the entire revelation that was given to the Apostle John.

Now we have come to chapter 22. This Book (and its closing) is different than any other Book of the Bible in its conclusion because it is not just the concluding chapter of the Book of Revelation, but it is the concluding chapter of the entire Bible because of its placement. It is the last Book that God revealed to mankind. When God moved the Apostle John to record the things we find in this chapter and we get to Revelation 22:21, it says, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen .” This was the last divine communication from God to man. After that last word was given and God completed the Bible, it was done. It was the completion of the communication of God to His elect people within the world. Never again would God break the barrier of the supernatural to communicate with any person because the Bible was completed. The Bible was God’s revelation to the world and if anyone wanted to hear from God from that point on, they could only do so through the Scriptures from Genesis through Revelation.

So we are now going to go, verse by verse, through this last chapter of the Bible. It is interesting and we really did not plan to have the study of Revelation 22 coincide so closely with October 7, 2015. It just worked out that way. If we have some additional time after we go through this chapter, we will look at some other things to fill our Bible studies until October 7.

But, here we are and we are approaching the likely end of the world and God has permitted us to go through this last Book of the Bible to the last chapter. We are almost step in step with the last days of life in this world, if we are correct in our understanding about October 7, so it seems very appropriate that we are entering into a study of Revelation, chapter 22.

As God spoke to the Apostle John and John wrote what He said, it says in Revelation 22:1:

And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.

Of course, the reference to a “pure river of water” and “clear as crystal” means that this water is unpolluted and uncontaminated by sin or error of any kind. It is perfect. There is no spot or blemish. There is no contamination or corruption by man. It is pure. Remember that this chapter follows chapter 21 in which the first heaven and first earth had passed away and there was a new heaven and new earth. It is continuing the discussion of the glorious point at which the promises of God for a new heaven and new earth have been fulfilled and He has brought His people into that eternal Promised Land where they will dwell for evermore. In

that “land,” God says there flows a “pure river of water of life.”

When we read about a “pure river of water of life,” we are reminded of Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well. It says in John 4:5-10:

Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with *his* journey, sat thus on the well: *and* it was about the sixth hour. There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.) Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.

Let us stop here for a second because that is what we are reading about in Revelation 22, verse 1. It is a “pure river of water of life.” It is “living water.” Jesus told the Samaritan woman that He could give her “living water.” She is curious about that and it goes on to say in John 4:11-14:

The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

Of course, Christ is talking of spiritual water, but the woman is thinking of physical water, the water in the well and the water that is common in the world. She wonders, “How can you give me living water? You do not have a bucket and the well is deep.” Then Jesus goes on to speak of the “spiritual water” and that water comes with salvation. It is the Gospel. The Word of God brings salvation to a sinner and, therefore, it is the “water of life” to a thirsty soul, even if that soul does not know it is thirsty. God says in the Beatitudes, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness.” In salvation, Christ brings His righteousness which quenches the spiritual thirst of those God was drawing in the day of salvation. When God saved sinners He would satisfy their thirst eternally and it would spring up as a well of water that brought the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. All of this is related to “water of life.”

It says in John 7:37:

In the last day, that great *day* of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.

Christ speaks of this water at a time that was said to be on “the last day, that great day of the feast,” so some people come to these verses and they say, “You see, Jesus is saying that anyone that thirsts can still come to Him and, therefore, it is a call to come to Him for salvation.” But they do not know what they are talking about. It seems they have not read Revelation 21 or Revelation 22 and other Scriptures where God indicates when He is going to complete the giving of eternal life to His elect. When will it be fulfilled? Ultimately, it is fulfilled on “the last day, that great day of the feast.” The spiritual fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles is the last day of earth’s existence and the day of the resurrection. Christ said, again, and again, in John 6, “ And I will raise him up at the last day.” Martha said to Jesus, “I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” The “last day” is when Christ equips all of His people with new resurrected bodies and He creates the

new heaven and new earth and places them in that glorious new creation, the Promised Land, to live for evermore. There is the pure river of the water of life! This is what Jesus had in mind when He said to the Samaritan woman, “But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst.” It is at the very end of this world and the beginning of that future eternal world that this “water” flows forever and ever. It is the final completion of God’s salvation program and this is what John had in view in John, chapter 4 or in John 7:37-38:

In the last day, that great *day* of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

The “living water” identifies with eternal life. The water that quenches thirst and truly satisfies is not the vain water that we physically drink of now. We drink and thirst again. It is temporal and it cannot quench the thirst of man because we constantly have to go back for more. It is much like the high priest of Israel had to continually offer sacrifices, but Christ, once for all, offered up the payment of Himself from the foundation of the world and He never had to offer payment for sin again. And the “water of life” satisfies in that kind of way – eternally. That is the water we see in view on the “last day” because Revelation 21 and Revelation 22 are talking about the “last day” when this present heaven and earth have passed away and the new heaven and new earth begin.

Let us go to Revelation 21. We recently looked at this, but let us read Revelation 21:1:

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

Then it said in Revelation 21:4-6:

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.

Why does God say this at this point, after speaking of the old heaven and earth being passed away, as well as all former things? Then He says, “It is done.” He says He is “the beginning and the end,” indicating that the end has come, and then He says, “I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.” It is because it is the “last day, that great day of the feast,” and it is time to come and drink of that “water of life” for all eternity. The “water of life” is eternal life and the “last day” is the time when God opens up the veil and pulls back the curtain that has separated the spiritual kingdom of heaven from this world. He destroys this present earth and its unsaved inhabitants and He shows His people the reality of what He has done: “Here is what I have promised. Here is the confirmation.” This will reveal and show forth that God is faithful and true to every Word He has spoken in the Bible and here is the “water of life.” Drink of it for evermore. It will flow for evermore and it will never cease to flow. The river of eternal life will continue forever and God’s people will live forever and ever.

We also find the term “water of life” in Revelation, chapter 7, in a very significant place after God shows us the great multitude that no man can number and the question was asked, “And whence came they?” Then it says in Revelation 7:14-15:

And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.

These two verses apply to our present situation because it makes reference to “day and night,” which is a time reference. And we have come out of Great Tribulation and we are still alive and remaining on the earth waiting for that “last day.”

Then it says in Revelation 7:16:

They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.

Verse 16 also applies to our present time. Hunger and thirst identifies with hungering and thirsting after righteousness, but God’s elect do not hunger and thirst after righteousness because they have all been saved and, therefore, they have all obtained the righteousness of Christ.

Then it says in Revelation 7:17:

For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

Now it is all “future tense.” Here, we have come out of Great Tribulation and we are serving God “day and night” throughout this time period of the Day of Judgment, but then comes the “last day” and on that “last day” God destroys this earth and creates the new heaven and new earth and leads us to the “living fountains of waters,” the “pure waters of life.” They flow forth from where? It says they are “proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.” Should we be concerned that the source of the “river of life” would dry up at some point? No, because the Lord Jesus Christ is the source of the flowing “river of life,” so there will never be a concern and there will never be a possibility that this water would dry up and stop its flow or there that may not be eternal life. What if it were only an extended life, but it would end at some distant point? No, that is not possible. That is a thought that can only come from our sin-weary minds in this present world because this world disappoints and this world is corrupt and tainted with sin. In this world, such a thing would be worrisome to us, but not in that new heaven and new earth. There is no death. There are no tears, no sorrow and no pain. There is no sin and, therefore, there is eternal life and God guarantees it. Eternal life springs forth from God and the Lord Jesus Christ who purchased it for His people. He paid the price and penalty that was required to deliver His people from death and now they have “life.” God would not say we had eternal life unless we would live forever.

Revelation 22 Series, Study #2 by Chris McCann, originally aired July 24, 2015

Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Revelation. Tonight is study #2 of Revelation, chapter 22. I will be reading Revelation 22:2:

In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, *was there* the tree of life, which bare twelve *manner of* fruits, *and* yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree *were* for the healing of the nations.

Once again, we are seeing that the “tree of life” is making another appearance in the Bible. It was that tree that was spoken of at the beginning of the world when God created all things. In the early narrative in the Book of

Genesis, we read of the “tree of life.” Let us turn back there in Genesis 2:8-9:

And JEHOVAH God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground made JEHOVAH God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

God tells us that He created all these trees, including the “tree of life” in the midst of the garden and the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” As far as we can tell from the Bible, God just chose one tree and called it the “tree of life” and another tree He chose to call the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” There was nothing really different, for instance, about the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” and other trees, except that God put this particular tree “off limits” and He commanded mankind not to eat of this tree. But there was another tree in the midst of the garden called the “tree of life.” It says in Genesis 2:15-17:

And JEHOVAH God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And JEHOVAH God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

We are aware of these things because we have heard and read about these things before, but, perhaps, we had not thought about this: God said, “Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat,” except for the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” Now the “tree of life” was in the garden and, therefore, it would have come under the category of those trees from which they could “freely eat.” The “tree of life” was available to Adam and Eve to eat of and they could have eaten all they wanted from the “tree of life,” but Satan entered into the picture. It says in Genesis 3:1-3:

Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which JEHOVAH God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which * is* in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. So Satan began his assault and this was the method of his subtlety and deceitfulness. It was to raise doubt about what God has said: “Hath God said?” This was a tactic of Satan, the father of lies, from the very beginning as he set out to deceive mankind. He comes at them with the intention of causing confusion and doubt regarding what God has actually said. We see this identical tactic used repeatedly in the world today. When you look at the world’s religions, you wonder why there are so many religions. Why are there Muslims, Hindi, Buddhists, and so many different religions that present different gods? It is because Satan wants man to question what God has said: “Hath God said?” He wants to show them that this “god” says things differently than that “god” and it leads people to question which is the true God and what is the true Word of God? For those that happened to find the correct religion of Christianity and the Bible, then Satan entered into the churches and sowed tares among the wheat. What did the tares do? They rise up in the congregations and they basically mouth Satan’s tactic, saying, “Hath God said on this doctrine and that doctrine?” Thereby, they are able to put forth lies for truth, darkness for light and evil for good and there are high places built into the churches. There are false teachings, erroneous doctrines and other kinds of gospels and they all follow the basic methodology that Satan originated in the Garden of Eden: “Hath God said?”

Of course, God is fully aware of Satan’s tactics. How does God combat this? God gives His people “ears to hear” the voice of their Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ. As a matter of fact, they only hear His voice and the voice of a stranger they do not follow. God gives discernment and the people of God are able to understand truth and to be able to weed through the “religions” to the right religion. Then during the church age, they were able to weed through the false churches and find the most faithful churches. Then when the church age was

over and God was through with the churches, they went to the Bible only to hear the Word of Christ. God keeps them in Christ and it is a straight and narrow way that the people of the world cannot find or follow. The people of the world go after this religion and that religion or that denomination or that erroneous doctrine and they are not kept and preserved by God. What it finally comes down to is they do not hear the voice of the Shepherd, so they will go astray. They cannot maintain the narrow path without Christ’s guidance.

Going back to Genesis, it says in Genesis 3:2-7:

And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which *is* in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make *one* wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they *were* naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

Here we have the failure of the test. In the midst of the garden was the “tree of life” and the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil,” and they were both said to be in the midst of the garden, but of the one tree they could have eaten and lived forever in a joyous and perfect condition. They would have continued a beautiful life with God and, yet, Satan came and began to get their eyes off the “tree of life” and onto the other curious tree, a “tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” He made it sound so good.

When we look at it, it is similar to the world today. There is this world and its sin and what does it call us to do? It says, “Come and know evil.” It allures us, “Come and see. Come and do. Come and experience evil.” We are so interested and we are so curious about the “evil,” but God says to be babes in evil and abhor that which is evil and cleave to that which is good.

By contrast, there is the Word of God. It is just a plain, old Bible, just sitting there. In some way, do we not still have these same two “trees” before us? Man has had these same two trees before them as time has unfolded: there is the Word of God, the Bible which brings life; and there is the wretched fruit of the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” and once you partake of it, it brings sin and death and misery and suffering. Yet, people keep flocking to the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”

Some people think they would do differently than Adam and Eve if they had been back there in the Garden of Eden. But, the fact is it simply demonstrates that when we go away from the Bible to the things of the world, we would have done exactly what they did.

At the end of this chapter, it says in Genesis 3:22:

And JEHOVAH God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil…

By the way, let me just stop here for a second because this is an early reference to the fact that Christ has already experienced “evil.” That is what God means when He says, “Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil.” Man was created and God said, “Let us make man in our image,” so the pronoun “us” is referring to the Triune God. God said, “Behold, the man is become as one of us,” because it was the “man” Christ that took upon Himself the sins of the elect at the point of the world’s foundation. In taking their sins and bearing those sins and giving His own life for them, He experienced “evil.” He came to know in a very intimate way the evil deeds, thoughts and words of His elect. God poured out His wrath upon Him and struck

Him dead for the sake of those sins, so, yes, Jesus knew “evil” in the sense that He was our sin bearer. So, here, God said, “Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil.” Adam had known good. He had known God. He had known righteousness and He had walked uprightly before He fell into sin, but now he had disobeyed God and he experienced evil. It was not a matter of “intellectual knowledge.” God had commanded not to eat of that tree, so Adam could have known intellectually that it was evil, but it is one thing to know a concept in your mind and it is another thing to experience it and that is what he did when he committed the rebellious act of disobeying God. So it says, “the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil,” and then it goes on to say in Genesis 3:22-24:

…and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: Therefore JEHOVAH God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

Up until that time Adam and Eve sinned and partook of the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil,” they had access to the “tree of life.” They could have eaten from it, but once they sinned, their sinful action brought “death” to them. They experienced spiritual death immediately and later they experienced physical death. It also cut them off from the free access to the “tree of life.”

The “tree of life” continued to exist, according to what God is saying in Revelation 22, but access to that “tree of life” by Adam and Eve and, subsequently, by all mankind was restricted. God does not say that no one can ever get to the “tree of life,” but He says that He placed “Cherubims and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.” The cherubims are a figure to represent God. It is interesting that when Solomon’s temple was built figures of cherubims were carved and placed inside the “Holy of holies.” We read in 2Chronicles 5:7-8:

And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of JEHOVAH unto his place, to the oracle of the house, into the most holy *place, even* under the wings of the cherubims: For the cherubims spread forth *their* wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubims covered the ark and the staves thereof above.

We know exactly what would happen once a year on the Day of Atonement. The high priest of Israel would enter into this “Holy of holies.” It was the only day he was allowed to go in and he had to enter with much incense, which would make the room very smoky or cloudy, making it difficult to see anything. He went in with the blood of the sacrificial offering and he approached the Ark of the Covenant and there were cherubims “above” and looking down.

It is very similar to what God said in Genesis 3, verses 23 and 24. The “tree of life” is protected and guarded by the cherubim and a flaming sword. The high priest had blood and he sprinkled it upon the mercy seat that covered over the Ark and inside the Ark were the Ten Commandments, representing the Law of God which condemns mankind of our sins. Because of what Adam did as our figurehead when he disobeyed God and broke God’s Law, the Law condemned him and the Law demanded death: “For in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” For Adam and for all of us that were in Adam, we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God. We are all responsible for our sins and we are subject to the wrath of God, which is death. So the picture is of the “blood of Christ,” who is typified by the animal blood that was sacrificed and He was also typified by the high priest that brought the blood into the holy place. As the Law is condemning mankind for sin, the blood is sprinkled on the mercy seat, covering the “Law” and the picture is that the Law of God is now appeased. God’s wrath is satisfied and the demand of the Law has been met and now there can be forgiveness. Now there can be grace bestowed and mercy given to the elect sinners for whom Christ died. That is what the cherubims with the flaming sword represented as they are guarding the way of the “tree of life.”

In order to get to the “tree of life,” one must die. You cannot pass the “flaming sword” and you cannot approach unto the Ark of the Covenant which the cherubims are watching over because, as the Bible says, “all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.” Adam and Eve realized they were naked immediately after they sinned. Our sins are exposed to a Holy God and in order to reach the “tree of life” and live forever, there has to be death. There must be the giving up of one’s life to attain to that tree and, of course, the Lord Jesus Christ is the one that died and was able to go through the “flaming sword” in order to grant His people access, once again, to life. Salvation grants eternal life to the sinner and it provides access to the “tree of life” that Adam and Eve could have enjoyed, but they cast it aside. But now God has restored “Eden,” so to speak, as God has restored the beautiful relationship between Him and His people. There is peace with God and the elect and the elect have “life.”

Revelation 22 Series, Study #3 by Chris McCann, originally aired July 27, 2015

Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Revelation. Tonight is study #3 of Revelation, chapter 22. We are continuing to look at Revelation 22:2:

In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, *was there* the tree of life, which bare twelve *manner of* fruits, *and* yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree *were* for the healing of the nations.

In our last study we saw that the “tree of life” was in the beginning in the Garden of Eden and it really points to the Lord Jesus Christ. It is spoken of, here and there, throughout the Bible. For instance, God speaks of “wisdom” in Proverbs 3:18:

She *is* a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy *is every one* that retaineth her.

In Proverbs, wisdom personifies Christ, especially in Proverbs, chapter 8. Wisdom is spoken of as a person and Christ is said to be “made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption,” in 1Corinthians 1, verse 30, so it is Jesus who is the “tree of life.” It makes sense because the eternal life received by the people of God comes from the Lord Jesus Christ’s atoning work. He really is the one in view with the “tree of life” in the very beginning in the Garden of Eden. The tree is already established and then mankind falls into sin, but the “tree” of life appears throughout the Bible and now we see it, again, in the last Book of the Bible and that is because the entire Bible is about Jesus: “In the volume of the book it is written of me.” It is about God working out His magnificent salvation program, so it is appropriate that the “tree of life” makes an appearance at the end of the Bible, with the concluding chapter of God’s Holy Book.

The “tree of life” appears and she “bare twelve manner of fruits.” As we saw in the previous chapter, the number “12” points to fullness. It is the fullness of the fruits from the “tree of life.” What would be the fullness of fruit that would come from the “tree of life?” It would be eternal life and all of God’s people have access to that tree for evermore and when you have access to the “tree of life,” you have life. It is only when there is sin and rebellion that death comes and the access is restricted or forbidden, unless you can go through the “flaming sword” and meet the Law’s demand for death. In that case, if you had the power of Almighty God you can rise from that death and bring life for your people, but anyone else attempting this would be slain by the “flaming sword.” That is how it has been in all of man’s efforts to attain righteousness and the kingdom of heaven through their own efforts. They have all been slain by the “sword” or the Word of God itself. They have brought themselves under the Law by attempting to keep the Law (perfectly) and not a single individual has made it through that difficult way – it is impossible for man. But Christ was “God” and “man” and He had the ability to do this, so we see the tree bearing fruit and it goes on to say in Revelation 22:2:

…*and* yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree *were* for the healing of the nations.

The word “healing” is very significant. Remember how often Jesus would perform healings? We read in Luke 9:11:

And the people, when they knew *it*, followed him: and he received them, and spake unto them of the kingdom of God, and healed them that had need of healing.

Every time Christ healed the sick (whether it was blindness, deafness, lameness or disease), it was always a picture of salvation in every case.

In Psalm 103 God joins these two ideas together in Psalm 103:3:

Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;

I have mentioned this before, but this is an example of Hebrew parallelism. God will make a statement in the first part of a verse, and then He will say the same thing using different words in the second part of the verse. Once you see how often God does this, it helps us understand some additional spiritual elements; God is able to define some words or some “pictures” in this way. For instance, here we can see the relationship between forgiving iniquity and healing diseases and that is what Jesus was doing when He performed His healings. Why was Christ going about healing the physical ailments of the people of His day? Yes, it was one way to demonstrate the power of God, so it was a testimonial to who He was, but it also painted a spiritual picture of what He was all about – the atoning work of Christ had to do with the forgiveness of iniquities or the washing away of sins. Therefore, the physical healings taught or pictured that spiritual reality. They illustrated that Christ was able to forgive sin.

One time in the Gospel of Mark, Jesus performed this miracle in “reverse order.” First, let me say that every time Christ healed someone, they did not necessarily become saved, but it was always a picture of salvation. Yet, there was one time that Jesus reversed this order with an infirm person. It says in Mark 2:3-5:

And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was borne of four. And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay. When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.

When that statement was made, any “natural minded” people present would have rolled their eyes. “You are forgiving his sins? Do you not see his great need? He is sick of the palsy and he has to be carried around!” You see, to the “natural mind,” it is always the physical problems that are the main focus. “The forgiveness of sins is fine, I guess, but we want physical healing.”

It is like when Jesus multiplied the loaves and the fish. To most people, that was the mighty miracle and they swarmed after Him in droves. Jesus responded that they were following Him because they had seen Him multiply the food. Christ was indicating that this was not the main thing. The real “food” or the real “bread from heaven” is in the spiritual realm. As Christ said to the Samaritan woman at the well, she could drink of the water He could give her for evermore. It was spiritual water. But this does not make an impact on the “natural minded” person because they operate only in the physical realm with things they can see that are visible to them. The “invisible things” are just concepts to them, but they are mainly focused on the visible things – physical food and physical healings. Then He would be a great God to the people of the world, but the reality is

that the far greater thing is always the spiritual reality. It is far greater to be fed with spiritual food and drink or to be spiritually healed than it is to eat and drink or be physically healed.

This is what is going on when Jesus says, “Son, thy sins be forgiven thee,” and then it goes on to say in Mark 2:6-7:

But there were certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts, Why doth this *man* thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only?

Of course, that is a true statement. Who can forgive sins but God only? It is only God and, therefore, when Jesus said, “Son, thy sins be forgiven thee,” He was making a declaration that He is God. You hear some people, especially Muslims, say, “Show me in the Bible where Jesus said he was God.” You can direct them to this verse because only God can forgive sins. If Jesus was just a good prophet (like the Muslims say), He would know that and He would have left the forgiveness of sins to God only. Man does not involve himself in that and prophets like Moses and Elijah and Isaiah did not forgive anyone’s sins, but Jesus was not just a good prophet, but He is that Prophet, like unto Moses, but He is THE Prophet and He is Emmanuel or “God with us,” and, therefore, He possessed the power to forgive sins. These scribes did not know who He was and they were making a charge that would have been true for any other person, but it was not true of “God in the flesh.”

Then it says in Mark 2:8-9:

And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts? Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, *Thy* sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk?

Jesus asked a valid question: “Which is easier? Is it easier to say, ‘Rise up and walk,’ or is it easier to say, ‘Thy sins be forgiven.’?” There is nowhere in the Bible that requires God to die in order to heal someone physically. God can give legs to walk, eyes to see and ears to hear and it does not require that He take the person’s sins upon Him. But, in order to heal the sin sick soul and give them eternal life, it required that the Lord Jesus Christ take those sins upon Him and suffer and die under the wrath of God until the penalty of sin was paid. Then He could say, “Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.”

Notice the order of things here. He is saying this before He went to the cross. According to some people Christ is forgiving someone’s sins before He paid for those sins at the cross. At that point in time, who had paid for those sins? Christ said the sins were forgiven, but who paid for them? If it were the case that Christ would (in the future) pay for those sins, how could those sins be presently forgiven? You see, there is a contradiction because the teaching that Christ paid for sins at the cross is false. It is not true, according to the Word of God. Again, there is a solution once we understand that Jesus died for His elects’ sins from the point of the world’s foundation and, therefore, He had already suffered and died for those sins and now Jesus can say to this man (or any elect person), “Thy sins be forgiven thee.” This harmonizes with the entire Bible and the idea that He paid for sin at the cross is another doctrine that does not fit and then you have to make other statements like, “Well, if God guarantees something, it is as good as done.” You can say that, but if you have an elaborate web of schemes in order to try to harmonize the Bible, then you can know you do not have truth and that is why you have to develop these contrived ideas in order to explain so many verses. Yet, these verses are easily explained by the truth that Jesus had died before the world was created. Then His “will” takes effect and the blood of Christ was already available for the remission of sins (from the foundation of the world) and everything falls into place.

It goes on to say in Mark 2:10-12:

But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (he saith to the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house. And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all; insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it on this fashion.

It would have been an amazing thing, but do you see what amazes them? It is the “lesser” thing. It is the easy thing. It is the physical thing. That is why today the charismatic and social gospels are more popular. They play to the “natural mind.” They profess to “show” the people the invisible things of God as they (apparently) show physical healings. As Mr. Camping used to say, “There are a lot of shenanigans going on.” There is a lot of deception, especially on TV with the cameras where they can give the appearance of something going on that is not really happening. They try to give the appearance of “action” by God in the physical realm that people can perceive. You get droves of people coming and they want to see the “emotion” and they want to be stirred to action and come down the aisle, but it is all in the wrong realm. It is all taking place in the physical realm and it is geared toward man’s “natural mind.” It is just like their music – they want to get the body moving, just like the world’s music. They think if they are swaying to the gospel music, they are having some kind of spiritual experience, but it is not a spiritual experience. It is a physical experience because it is carnal and worldly and it is that which appeals to the natural minded man. But the music of the kingdom of the God soothes the soul. It really does speak to the spirit. The soul of the child of God soars when they hear the wonderful music of God’s kingdom, but that does not register with the unsaved.

Here, we see Jesus making the point: “But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins” He then performed a physical healing to validate that He had the power to do so.

Now we find that it says in Revelation 22:2:

…and the leaves of the tree *were* for the healing of the nations.

This is referring to the “nations of them which are saved.” Christ has healed them all. He has healed them of all their iniquities and all their diseases, spiritually. They have been cleansed and forgiven of all sins and now they enter into the kingdom of God in perfect health in both body and soul. At this point God has also given them new spiritual bodies and there is no disease any longer. The “tree of life” has healed the nations.

If we look at 3John, there is an interesting verse that fits this idea in 3John 1:2:

Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.

People wish one another “good health,” as they say, “I hope you are feeling better.” Spiritually, “good health” is salvation. On the other hand you can have physical good health and some people are really working hard to keep their physical bodies in the best of shape and they may be able to do it for a length of time. They work, work, work at it, but they spend no time at all on the health of their souls. They do not realize they are full of “leprosy” and all manner of diseases affect the soul of a sinner. If you have ever seen an illness go untreated for a period of time, it may fester and ooze and become the ugliest of things. That is a good picture of the soul of the unregenerate sinner – it is full of diseases. But God has healed the souls of His people.

Revelation 22 Series, Study #4 by Chris McCann, originally aired July 28, 2015

Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Revelation. Tonight is study #4 of Revelation, chapter 22. We are going to read Revelation 22:3:

And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him:

We are in the last Book of the Bible and we have seen God give tremendous details concerning His plan for the end of this world and the last day. That is the point for the creation of the new heaven and new earth and this is what God is talking about. It is the new heaven and new earth and the glorious, eternal future that awaits each child of God. There shall be no more “curse” in that place. Of course, this earth and all we have ever known of this present evil world has been a curse.

If we go back to Genesis, chapter 3, to the time after Adam and Eve sinned, it says in Genesis 3:13-19:

And JEHOVAH God said unto the woman, What *is* this *that* thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. And JEHOVAH God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou *art* cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire *shall be* to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed *is* the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat *of* it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou *art*, and unto dust shalt thou return.

What a terrible curse God placed upon the ground, Satan and upon mankind. The woman would bring forth children in sorrow and the man would have to work in the cursed ground and in sorrow eat of it all the days of his life. Everything would be done in “sorrow” until the day they would die and until they returned to the dust: “for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” That was the curse upon mankind. It was a terrible curse that was placed upon man and the world and the entire creation that Adam had been given rule over and the cause was sin.

There is something else God tells us about the “curse” that He brings because of sin and disobedience. It says in Deuteronomy 28:15-20:

But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of JEHOVAH thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee: Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field. Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store. Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out. JEHOVAH shall send upon thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all that thou settest thine hand unto for to do, until thou be destroyed, and until thou perish quickly; because of the wickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken me.

Cursed, cursed, cursed! It is the lot of man living in this world. Man is cursed and, yet, he goes about his life. He goes about his business. He goes about building his family, his home and career, but all the while he is cursed. In all that he does in his unsaved condition he is cursed because of sin. This is how people live; they live with a “black cloud hanging over their heads.” Or, even more clearly, it is the sword of the wrath of God hanging over their heads. All their lives long they are under condemnation and the curse because they have rebelled against Holy God. The world has operated and continued this way and it is only the goodness and

kindness of God that has permitted a cursed people to live. They are cursed and they have done nothing but rebel against Him and, yet, God is so good and so kind that He permits them to have sun and rain and fruitful seasons. He gives them certain temporal blessings, even though they are in open rebellion against Him. What king would be so concerned for the welfare of those that rebelled against him? God did that throughout the history of the world. He put up with man’s sins and mankind shaking his puny little fist at the Almighty and speaking, thinking and doing things that only provoked God to anger continually. God put up with it all for the sake of His elect. The longsuffering of the Lord is salvation, the Bible tells us. God waited because there were still elect to be born into the world in the generations and, therefore, God did not bring His final wrath upon these people, but He allowed them to live. In many cases they lived long lives and died in their wicked condition, but time continued because God’s program of salvation was being worked out. The entire history of the world is really summed up in Romans 9:21-23:

Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? *What* if God, willing to shew *his* wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, Here, God reveals that He was longsuffering with the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction because He wanted to make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of His mercy and they had to become saved. You know, it is nothing to God if people shake their fists at Him and speak wickedly of Him.

By the way, EBible has developed a second Twitter account and we are advertising to places in the the United States and Europe that had the Gospel, but the Gospel has long ago departed from them. God brought them the Gospel early on and now they despise the Gospel and they think they are “better” than the Gospel. They have no need of the Gospel or the God of the Bible and droves of atheists are flocking to our site and the things they say about God and His Word are very vile, very filthy and very arrogant. You can just see the pride oozing from these people that think they are “free agents” and they are the ones that control their own destinies and fate. They are in charge and in power. Their tongues walk across the face of the earth and they lash out at God with their words and they make all sorts of claims against Him and speak evilly of Him. And God allows it. God says something that is really amazing regarding atheists or those that do not know God, in 1Corinthians 1:21:

For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God…

This means it was God’s plan to hide Himself from the sight of the world and allow them to develop their completely ridiculous theories like evolution, which is just a theory to try to explain how things can be without a God. That is all evolution is and, of course, since God does exist, they are in the most terrible situation imaginable as they try to explain how the world came to be without a God. This is why they had to come up with the most far out and foolish idea imaginable and they speak of their theories as if they are fact: “In the beginning this happened and that happened and something exploded and things developed and here we are.” They trust this theory. They have faith and belief in this theory, but it is nothing but another false religion. It is faith in the absurd idea that man and every other complex thing we see came from nothing. They prefer that and they insist upon it because they do not want God. It is all due to their blind condition because God has cut Himself off from them and shut off His power to these people and they wander around in the dark, feeling for the wall, as it were. It is all part of the curse upon man in his cursed condition and it is a sorrowful thing to behold.

God gives His people eyes to see the truth and we see the world operating in its cursed condition and it is very grievous to us. But when that day comes…and we do have a good hope and expectation that October 7, 2015 will be that day. We are looking forward to that day because we can hope in it since the Bible has presented

evidence which points to that day as the likely day of the end of the world and the beginning of the new heaven and new earth. One reason we look for and long for that day is because the curse will be removed.

Just think about it. When people hear about the end of the world, they say, “Oh, no! May it not be. Do not say or even think such a thing!” What are they saying? They are saying they prefer a cursed earth. They prefer for themselves to be in a cursed condition instead of having the new heaven and new earth. Some professed Christians say that, even though they claim to have a hope for a new resurrected body, but how can they prefer this cursed condition to that glorified state? How can that be? It can only be ignorance if anyone prefers thing now in this present life. They are things that are corrupt because the whole creation is corrupted and “groans” to be delivered. It is why there is sin and sorrow and death, but in the new heaven and new earth there is no more sin or sorrow or death because there is no more curse. Here is why there is no more curse. We find this passage in Galatians that causes the child of God to rejoice, as it says in Galatians 3:10:

For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. If anyone tries to get right with God by keeping the Law of God, they had better keep the whole Law. The moment you break a single Law, you are cursed. Adam and Eve just broke one Law when they ate of the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” Every man breaks the Law of God: “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” The wages of sin is death and, therefore, every human being was cursed.

But for certain ones that were chosen and predestinated by God before the foundation of the world, there was a remedy for the curse. It goes on to say in Galatians 3:11-13:

But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, *it is* evident: for, The just shall live by faith. And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed *is* every one that hangeth on a tree:

Jesus took upon Himself the sins of His people. He became a “curse” for them and died for them at the foundation of the world. By the way, that was the actuality of being a curse, but the “type” of someone that is accursed of God is when you “hang on a tree,” so to demonstrate He had already been made a curse at the foundation of the world Jesus went to the cross (made of a tree) and He hung on a tree. However, this was only to portray or demonstrate that He had been accursed for us. Because He was made a curse for us, all of God’s people are free from that curse and they no longer have the curse upon them. The curse comes as a result of sin and the sins of God’s people have been paid for and we are restored to the original condition that existed at the beginning with Adam and Eve. They were without sin and all was good. They had the tree of life which they could eat from and they had communion with God and there was no curse.

When sin came, the curse was upon the ground. It affected the conception of their children and it involved their work and labor and it meant they would die and return to the dust. But God’s people have been granted eternal life and will not die. Of the labors and work of God’s people, God says in 1Corinthians 15:58:

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

The labor of the child of God, even in this life, has purpose, value and meaning. It is not cursed. It is blessed by God. And in that new heaven and new earth, we read of our labor in Isaiah, chapter 65 and one thing we notice is that we will not labor in sorrow and by the sweat of our brow. In the context of God creating the new heaven and new earth, it says in Isaiah 65:21-2:

And they shall build houses, and inhabit *them*; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree *are* the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they *are* the seed of the blessed of JEHOVAH, and their offspring with them.

They are the “seed of the blessed.” God’s people are blessed for evermore.

Remember when Balaam was hired to curse Israel and he kept trying to curse them, but God would turn the curse into a blessing, again, and again. The king of Moab, who had hired him, became frustrated: “I hired you to curse my enemies, but you have blessed them.” Then it was revealed that the ones that God blesses, who can curse? It is impossible to curse someone God has blessed and God’s people are blessed. Jacob received the blessing and that was the point of contention with Esau. He realized, “Jacob is blessed and I am not blessed.” If you are not blessed in this world, you are cursed. The only blessing that was permitted for Esau was an earthly, temporal blessing, but it was not the blessing that the children of God receive. It was not the blessing the Lord Jesus speaks of in Matthew 25. When He comes in judgment (and He already came in judgment and it is presently doing it), it says in Matthew 25:31-34:

When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth *his* sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

But, for the rest, it says in Matthew 25:41:

Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

Then it says in Matthew 25:46:

And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

It is the blessing and the curse. The curse destroys the sinner. The curse ruins mankind, but God rescued a people for Him and He delivered His elect out of the world and He blessed them and they cannot be cursed. We can be “tried” and we can experience tribulation and affliction and we can go through a great many difficult things, but all the while God’s elect are blessed. And God’s elect will be eternally blessed when they come out of this fiery trial and enter into the glorious kingdom of God. Now it is stated that in that place there is no more curse because the cursed world has been destroyed and the cursed sinners have been destroyed with fire. They are everlastingly destroyed.

This is why it can then be said, “And there shall be no more curse.” Never again will there be a curse. Sin will not happen at some point in the future and, therefore, God’s people will be free from the curse for evermore.

Revelation 22 Series, Study #5 by Chris McCann, originally aired July 29, 2015

Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Revelation. Tonight is study #5 of Revelation, chapter 22. We are going to read Revelation 22:3-4:

And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall

serve him: And they shall see his face; and his name *shall be* in their foreheads.

We saw in our last study that this earth has been cursed since the fall of mankind into sin and the curse has devoured the earth, according to Isaiah, chapter 24. In the Day of Judgment it is the reason why the wrath of God is upon unsaved mankind and, ultimately, it is the reason for man’s destruction. Therefore, the curse devours the earth.

But in the new heaven and new earth, God’s elect have received their new resurrected bodies and are in His very presence and there is no more curse, “but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him.” It says, “The throne of God and of the Lamb,” and we read something similar in Revelation 22:1 and I do not think we noticed it at that time. It says in Revelation 22:1:

And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.

What I had not noticed is that God is speaking of His throne. God is mentioned and also the Lamb. They are one and the same. God is one God, but He reveals Himself as three Persons and the Lamb is Christ, the Son of God. Yet, God speaks of the throne and if we did not know any better, we might think He was referring to some sort of co-regency. In the Bible, at times there were co-regencies. For instance, King David reigned together with his son Solomon for about a four-year period. Then David died and upon his death, Solomon was already king and he laid the foundation of the house of God. David is a type of Christ and Solomon was a type of Christ as he laid the foundation, but we can see that there is one God upon the throne. Here, it is not speaking of two different kings, but there is one God. Jesus said that the Father and He are one.

Back in Revelation, chapter 3 we also read about the throne of God. It said in Revelation 3:21:

To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. Here is why the Bible uses the language of “the throne of God and of the Lamb.” It is because the Lamb “overcame” and it is a word that means “to be victorious.” Jesus said, “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” Christ overcame the world. He was victorious over sin and Satan and over all the enemies of God and, therefore, He said He is “set down with my Father in his throne.”

Notice it says in Revelation 3:21: “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne.” So we have the Father and we have the Son, but Christ said it will also involve those that have overcome and it is the elect children of God that have overcome through the Lord Jesus. He has granted them His victory of faith. It says in 1John 5:4:

For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, *even* our faith. Christ is our Faith. Everyone God has saved has overcome the world and according to Revelation 3, verse 21, everyone “that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne.” In the Bible, “to sit” means “to rule.” Jesus is at the right hand of the Father and whenever He would save someone it was as if they had been lifted up and exalted into the heavens to be seated in Christ Jesus – they are seated in the throne with Him. This is why we read in Matthew 19:28:

And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of

Israel.

This is just as it was stated in Revelation 3:21: “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.” The language of the Son of man coming in His glory is found in Matthew 5, where Christ comes in His glory with all the holy angels with Him. That would be the elect and they are sitting in thrones with Christ and then the separation of the sheep and goats takes place. This is happening in the Day of Judgment, the time in which we are presently living.

But as far as this reference to “the throne of God and of the Lamb,” let us go to Revelation 7:9-10:

After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.

Again, it is God and the Lamb upon the throne. Then we learn of the great multitude that came of Great Tribulation in verse 14 and they are standing before the throne. Then it says in Revelation 7:15:

Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.

The “day and night” is a time reference which indicates this is taking place on this earth while there is still “time” and the sun, moon and stars (the time keepers) are still in place, so this applies to our present day because we have come out of Great Tribulation. The Great Tribulation concluded on May 2, 2011, after 8,400 exact days or 23 exact years. We are that great multitude and we are before the throne of God and the Lamb serving Him day and night in His temple, “and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.” So God indwells each of the believers. The spiritual house of the elect has been completed and God has entered into His temple, spiritually. That “figure” will turn into reality when this present earth passes away and the new heaven and new earth is created. Then God will dwell in a different sense with His people and we will see Him “face to face.” We will take a look at that language a little later on.

Then it says in Revelation 7:17:

For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

This is what is coming. Spiritually, some things have been fulfilled but there are other things we read about in this chapter that will take place at the end of the world on the last day and the beginning of eternity future in the new heaven and new earth.

It says in Revelation 22:3:

… but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him:

In Revelation 7 we read that the great multitude serves him “day and night,” but notice there is no time reference here in Revelation 22, verse 3. There is no reference to “day and night.” If there were, we would think it was speaking of our time or some time on earth that takes places while the world continues, but this applies to eternity future. God’s people had done service to God in this world. We had certain tasks to perform in the day of salvation; we were to evangelize the earth and bring the Gospel to the lost sheep that they might

hear and become saved. In the Day of Judgment it is our task to publish these things and to feed sheep. They are different tasks, but we are still serving God “day and night.”

But in eternity future, our task may be ruling over a city or five cities, or whatever. Remember that God has been busy, actively creating in eternity past because He is a God that abhors idleness. He wants people to work. No one should be idle or a sluggard and not be involved in work. When God works, we know that He creates. God worked six days in the creation and then He rested the seventh day, which meant He did no work of creation. Therefore, in all eternity past…and remember eternity has no beginning. If you were able to seek out a beginning point for eternity past, it would just go on and on forever and deeper and deeper into the depths of eternity past with no beginning point. That is because God had no beginning. He has always been. He is the Great I AM. If we were to use a figure of time from this world, this gave God all the time in the world to create untold numbers of creations as His work. When God works, He creates and He would have been busy creating other creations apart from our creation and another over here and another over there, but they are all under the dominion and control of God. In that sense, they would be a kingdom of God and, yet, one creation cannot contact another creation. But no other creation is like this creation or the creature “man” that was made in the image of God. We do not read of that anywhere in the Bible. We have become “sons of God,” adopted into the family of God and we are “prophets, priests, and kings.” God is King of kings and Lord of lords, but He has brought us into the royal family. In the Bible, when a king ruled over many provinces, it was a custom to set up his sons to rule over his provinces because he would have trusted his sons. A son would do a better job than some stranger.

God has brought perhaps as many as 200 million sons into His kingdom and He will give them tasks to perform. One of those tasks may be to rule over all of His many creations, but all the creations are under the rule of God. It is as if these creations are provinces and God is the ruler over all. We could be doing something along those lines, but whatever it is we will serve Him. We will do His bidding and we will do it perfectly with great joy in serving Him.

It goes on to say in Revelation 22:4:

And they shall see his face; and his name *shall be* in their foreheads.

This is speaking of these blessed people that God has redeemed. They are the redeemed of the Lord that God made a highway for and they travel that highway like the Israelites crossed the dry seabed to the other side or as Israel crossed over Jordan to the Promised Land. God has made a “highway” out of this world into that new heaven and new earth and the “way” is Christ. We are going to enter into His very presence and we will see Him “face to face.” We will see His face and that is not a small thing. Remember what God said to Moses in Exodus 33. It could actually be a little confusing if we were just to read this passage without understanding some other things in the Bible. For instance, it says in Exodus 33:11:

And JEHOVAH spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle.

Here, God says He spoke to Moses “face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend,” but look at what it says just a few verses later in Exodus 33:17-23:

And JEHOVAH said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name. And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory. And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of JEHOVAH before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy. And he said, Thou canst not see my

face: for there shall no man see me, and live. And JEHOVAH said, Behold, *there is* a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by: And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.

Do you see how some people can feel that the Bible has errors or contradictions? After all, we just read in verse 11 that God spoke to Moses “face to face, as a man speaketh to his friend,” and the next thing we read is that God tells Moses that he cannot see His face and live. It appears to be a contradiction until we understand that in the first instance when God says he spoke to Moses “face to face” (mouth to mouth) is a figure of speech God uses in the Bible to indicate that God is giving revelation. Normally, God hides His revelation or hides His Word. That is why Jesus spoke in parables. The Bible says in Isaiah, “Verily thou art a God that hideth thyself.” It is why God wrote a Book of Proverbs and it is why Sampson gave “riddles” and it is why the Book of Job says, “And Job continued his parable,” and so on. There are many examples of this and it is why the Book of Revelation or the Book of Ezekiel are written with hyperbolic language or parables, but in God’s wisdom He determined that when He would give His Word in parables it would be a “barrier” to the unregenerate and they would not have any real understanding of God unless God opened the eyes of a sinner and granted them spiritual sight. Jesus explained why this is so in Matthew 13, when the disciples asked Him why He spoke in parables. He said, “Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.” This is why God wrote His Book in a parabolic manner. The entire Bible is a parable because God has hidden truth from the beginning to the end of the Bible in various ways and, yet, God reveals truth to His people. When He does so, it is as if He is speaking “face to face” or plainly, as it says concerning Moses in Numbers 12:7-8:

My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of JEHOVAH shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?

That is what God meant when He says in verse 11: “God spoke to Moses “face to face, as a man speaketh to his friend.” He revealed much truth to Moses. It does not mean that Moses actually saw the face of God and, especially, the fullness of God’s presence. That was not the case. Actually, the “face” identifies with “glory.” Notice, again, what it says in Exodus 33:18: “I beseech thee, shew me thy glory.” God then went about to speak of His face because the face of God identifies with the glory of God. For instance, turn to 2Corinthians 3 and notice how “face” and “glory” are related in these verses. It says in 2Corinthians 3:6-8:

Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. But if the ministration of death, written *and* engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which *glory* was to be done away: How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?

You see, when Moses went to receive the Ten Commandments and returned his face shone. It reflected the “glory” of God and the Israelites could not look at the face of Moses. That is basically what the Lord said to Moses in Exodus 23: “Thou canst not see my face.” The Israelites could not even look upon the reflected glory in Moses’ face, so how could anyone look upon the actual face of God or see the fullness of His glory? It says in 2Corinthians 4:6:

For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to *give* the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

The Bible connects God’s glory with His “face.” That is what God is really saying to Moses: “You cannot see

the fullness of my glory. I will show you just the back part of my glory.”

Let us go back to 2Corinthians, chapter 3 and look at the last verse. It says in 2Corinthians 3:18:

But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, *even* as by the Spirit of the Lord.

Here, it says, “With open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord,” and it is speaking of God’s Word, the Bible. God shows us a little of His glory as He opens up a truth to us in the Scripture and we stand in awe when this occurs: “Oh, look at this wonderful truth!” And, yet, it is showing just a little bit of the “glory” of God. We are privileged and blessed to live in a time when God is opening up a great deal of information in His Word and the more He does this, the more He is glorified.

But there is coming a day when we will behold Him “face to face.” We will see His face in a way like we have never seen before.