Bible Commentaries
Revelation 22

Verses 1-5

XXII

THE FUTURE ETERNAL STATE OF THE RIGHTEOUS AND WICKED

Revelation 21:1-22:5

I want to say, as impressively as I know how to say it, that the reason Christian people are no happier than they are, the reason they have so little power, is that they have such a misty conception of heaven, of the world to come. And whatever is misty, is painful. It is only those who, with a clear understanding of God’s word as to the outcome of human life, those who by faith see eternal things, and feel the powers of the world to come, who can make any lasting impression for good in this world. I do not care how much learning a preacher may have, if he has not a clear conception of heaven and its eternity, of hell and its eternity, he cannot be a man of spiritual power. I wish I could make everybody feel on this subject as I feel, and not occasionally only, but all the time. So far as I am concerned, the question of the death of the body does not concern me in the least, and it has not for a great many years. All the time before me is the glorious light and the blessed state of the world to come. I have never gotten away from the influence of my first apprehension of it.

With reference to the world to come, you understand that heaven is a place) "I go to prepare a place for you," and hell is a place. All finite beings must be posited; they must have locality. Only the Infinite One can be everywhere, but all finite beings must always be somewhere. I want you to get clearly in your mind the idea of a place, then of the condition of that place, then of the companionship of that place, then of the eternity of that condition, place, and companionship.

1. What is meant by a new heaven and a new earth?

ANSWER. – Before answering this question we must determine the meaning of certain words and statements. First, the word "new." There are two Greek words that may be rendered into the English "new": one neos, which simply means new in appearance ; the other is kainos, and that means new in kind. It is kainos, or new in kind, that is employed here, and that you may get the true conception of the word, I will quote it as it is elsewhere used in some of the passages of the New Testament. For instance, our Lord said: "The instructed scribe shall bring forth out of his treasure things new and old"; there is the new contrasted with the old (Matthew 13:52). The Lord said: "This cup is the new covenant in my blood." (Luke 22:20.) There is not only a difference between the old and new covenant in appearance, but there is a difference in kind. Jesus was buried in a new tomb (kainos), as distinguished from an old sepulchre, which had been used for a place of burial.

The next word that we need to understand is the word "regeneration." When it is applied to conversion it means a new birth. You were once born according to the flesh, but now you are born according to the spirit. This word "regeneration" (Greek palingenesia) applied to the spiritual birth in Titus 3:5, is thus used in Matthew: "You who have followed me, shall in the regeneration sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel." This regeneration does not refer to man, but to the earth. This regeneration of the earth is accomplished by the worldwide fire, as the new earth occupied by Noah was accomplished by the worldwide flood. It is to this event that Paul refers in Romans 8:

The creation was made subject to vanity, not of its own will, but by reason of him who subjected it, in hope that creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain until now. And not only so, but ourselves also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves, groan within ourselves, waiting for our adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. – Romans 8:20-23.

Now, at the resurrection of the dead there will be a new birth of the earth – a birth that comes by fire.

The next word is apokatastaseos, and it means "restoration." Peter says to the Jews: "Repent that your sins may be blotted out, and so that the times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and so that he may send Jesus, whom the heavens must receive until the time of apokatastaseos, the restoration of all things." Whatever, then, this word kainos (new), and this word palingenesia (regeneration), and this word apokatastaseos (restoration) mean, they describe the earth and the heaven after the resurrection.

It will be recalled that in bringing the earth material out of chaos, the firmament, or atmosphere, was created – that is, the heavens in the ordinary sense; the sky above us – and that atmosphere by its specific gravity, its weight, separated the waters above from the waters below. That is, the waters converted into vapours until lighter than air would go up, but when in clouds it became heavier than air, it would be precipitated to the earth again in fog, rain, hail, or snow. It is the atmosphere and its weight that brings about that separation. Hence when the earth was about to be destroyed by the flood, God reversed that process, "and the windows of heaven were opened"; the atmosphere was broken open; it lost its specific gravity; the fountains of the deep were broken up, and that division of the waters above from the waters below, and the land from the sea, was all done away with in the flood. But after a while that flood subsides, and coming out of it there is a new atmosphere – new heaven, new firmament, new earth – which Noah occupies. Tremendous changes were wrought in the physical surface of the earth by the flood – the evidences of it are to be found in the highest mountain ranges, and you need not pay attention to those who tell you that a universal flood was impossible. It was as universal as the fire will be.

Now, that flood did not annihilate the earth, but it changed it so that it is called a new earth. So that fire, which leaps out at the resurrection of the dead, will not annihilate the earth, but will change it, and out of that flood of fire a new earth appears. That is the meaning of those terms.

We will also recall that when man sinned, that earth which God had pronounced good when he made it, was cursed – it was made subject to vanity, but subjected in the hope of restoration in the redemption of our bodies in resurrection. So we may conclude that that destruction by fire does not annihilate, but changes, and as God pronounced the creation good until marred by sin, so the removal of sin and all evil agencies will bring restoration. At any rate, our next chapter shows that paradise is regained – the paradise in which Adam and Eve lived is regained in all its spiritual power. This new creation will be here for occupation – and occupation by man – but occupation under new conditions adapted to his glorified body, which brings us to the next question:

2. What is the meaning of "And the sea is no more"?

ANSWER. – I am not sure that I can satisfy myself, much less you, as to what that means. It may be literally true that after the fire there will be no more ocean. In the convulsions of that great upheaval the bottom of the sea may upheave. As it now stands, three-fourths of the earth’s surface is covered by water. I say we may consider it that way, because we have construed the earth literally, and the firmament literally, and if so, why not consider the sea literally? Or it may mean that there is no more sea in the sense of a barrier between nations. Under present conditions it is a barrier. For many centuries the Atlantic Ocean barred the approach to this Western continent; we had to wait nearly fifteen centuries after Christ to discover this continent. The sea was in the way, by laboured action, but by volition. He wills to move, and so

But, under the new conditions of spiritual bodies, we would not need any ships, because the glorified man does not move moves, through the air easier than a bird can fly, and more swiftly than a flash of lightning. He will be as the angels of heaven. While Daniel was yet praying, an angel swooped and touched him; who can measure the swiftness of his flight? There will be no barrier between the nations, because nationality will have perished; there is a unity of race into one great family of God. There are no longer linguistic barriers, as Babel when tongues were confused so that they could not understand each other. And as at Pentecost, tongues were given that they might understand each other, this was a forecast of that heavenly condition when every man and woman and child in glory not only can understand each other’s speech, but also the tongues of angels: "Now we know in part; then we shall know even as we are known."

3. What is the meaning of the Holy City, the New Jerusalem? Your lesson goes on to say: "And I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem." What is the meaning of that?

ANSWER. – As there was an earthly capital of earthly Israel, called Jerusalem, so there shall be a heavenly capital of spiritual Israel. Paul, to the Galatians, says: "Jerusalem that is above is free," and to the Hebrews he says: "Ye are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem." One of the promises of this book, already considered, says: "I will write upon him the name of the city of my God, the New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God." Our Lord himself has stated: "Let not your hearts be troubled. . . . In my Father’s house are many mansions. . . . I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go to prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am there ye may be also" (John 14:1). Of Abraham it is said that the reason he was a sojourner on earth, was that "he looked for the city that hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." And of the other pilgrims on earth it is said, in Hebrews 11:16: "They desire a better country that is a heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed of them to be called their God, for he hath prepared for them a city."

Now, let us note the measure of that city: the passage measures it for you. You will recall that when Jerusalem of the restoration after the captivity was about to be measured, and a young man with tapeline started out to measure it, an angel said: Stop that young man; do not let him put that measurement on Jerusalem; for Jerusalem will extend into the country, and take in the villages and the whole outlying territory. What a pity that we cannot speak to all the young men who go out with their narrow and restricted tapelines to measure the city and government of God!

4. What are the dimensions of the city?

ANSWER. – Now, the text says the circuit of this city was 12,000 furlongs – 1 am giving you the symbolical numbers; that would be 1,500 miles, and as it was square, that means that each side was 375 miles. Suppose we take 375 miles as the side of a square city: 375 times 375 miles is 140,625 square miles. That gives you its surface area. But the city is as high as it is long or broad, so we have to go up 375 miles, and make a cube, or hexagon, with six sides. Now, multiply your 140,625 by the 375 miles high, and you get over fifty-two million cubic miles. Suppose you put it into stories, each story a mile high and with 140,625 square miles surface, and then another story on top of that, and so on up. Talk about your modern skyscrapers! Elevators? You won’t need any elevators! If you are down on the street of that city, and you want to go to the top story, you will to be there, and there you are. You do not need any machinery to pull you up in your glorified body.

5. How does it compare with ancient Jerusalem, and what is the meaning of these symbolic numbers?

ANSWER. – Just think of the circuit of ancient Jerusalem – four miles. You could ride around ancient Jerusalem in an hour – all around it. Whatever these symbolic numbers mean, they certainly mean that there will be a great many people saved to occupy so great a city – and that is only the capital. Multiply the square miles in London or New York a thousand fold, and it would not even approximate the dimensions of this New Jerusalem: "In my Father’s house are many mansions."

6. Describe its wall and give its boundaries; what symbols show the richness of the city?

ANSWER. – Now, in addition to the size of the city thus expressed, there is a wall that enclosed the city, how close to it the record does not say – it may be the boundaries of the earth. That wall, if you use the sacred cubit of 22 inches as a measure, is 260 feet high; if you use the 18-inch cubit measure, it is 216 feet high. It is a higher wall than this earth ever saw – higher by far than the walls of ancient Babylon. The great Chinese wall, built as a barrier to Tartar invasion, may start you on the idea. This wall goes all around the city, and the twelve foundations of the wall have on them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. The city is four-sided, just as the ancient court around the tabernacle, looking north, south, east, and west, around which the twelve tribes camped, three on each side. The richness of the city cannot be conceived: the streets are of gold, and every one of the twelve gates is solid pearl. That is symbolical language, but the idea of the symbolism is to convey to you a richness that passes beyond the realization of any man having knowledge of only such things as we see here. "Oh when, thou city of my God, shall I thy courts ascend?" Those gates, however, are never shut – they are always open, because there is no evil to shut out. The devil and his demons and every evil man is in prison forever in the lake of fire, and as your lesson says, all the nations of the saved pour through the gates of that city to worship God.

7. What are not found there and what things are abiding?

ANSWER. – The light of the city is God himself – nothing that the mind of man has ever conceived of in the way of brilliancy can even approximate the white light and eternal radiance of that God who is light, and in whom there is no darkness. He is the light of it; the black wing of night never flaps over it; there is no night there. There is no pain there; there is no weeping and mourning for the dead, for none die; there is no death there; tongues have ceased and prophecies have ceased, but abiding forever are hope, love, faith – these three. There is only love to God, and love to the fellow man, a high and holy love, and faith and hope; those are the conditions. It is an eternal condition of inexpressible felicity and joy. No wonder Dr. Chalmers, in the greatest sermon he ever preached on the expulsive power of a new affection, used somewhat this language: "Oh, if some island of the blessed could be loosed from its heavenly moorings and glide down the stream of time and pass by in our sight just one time, so that we might see the unflecked serenity of its skies, and inhale the fragrance of its flowers, and be ravished by the melodious strains of its music, and catch just one time the sheen of the apparel of its inhabitants – never again would we be satisfied with this world." I was once literally swept off my feet by hearing four thousand Methodists in a tent meeting sing that song,

Have you heard, have you heard of that sun-bright clime, Undimmed by sorrow and unhurt by time; Where age hath no power o’er fadeless frame: Where the eye is fire, and the heart is flame; Have you heard of that sun-bright clime?

When the thoughts of heaven sweep down on us, when the glory of that heavenly city comes into the mind, I tell you, we have a revival – power rests on the feeblest saint.

8. What three figures are used in presenting this heavenly place?

ANSWER. – You are to understand that this heavenly city is presented in three figures: First, this city; second, the Lamb’s wife; third, by Paradise. Right in the center of the city is the throne of God, and bubbling up from under that throne is a water system that branches into four heads, as an ancient paradise, running in four directions – the water of life, flowing freely. And on either side of it is the tree of life, bearing twelve manner of fruits, and yielding its fruit every month – the flowers never cease to bloom, the fruit never ceases to ripen, the stream never hushes its music as it outflows, and every ripple of it says, "Life, life, eternal life."

9. What, then) the object of the book?

ANSWER. – So, whether we consider heaven as a glorious city, or the city as an image of the church in glory, or as paradise regained, we see "the restoration of all things." God knew, when he made this world, how he wanted it, but the devil thought to thwart him; he did take possession of it for a time. The object of this great book of the New Testament, this closing book, this last flash of revelation, is to show you preachers, you women workers, that all of this earth shall be redeemed from the power of the devil, and that the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ will "never lose its power till all the ransomed church of God be saved to sin no more," and you ought to live on that thought. You may stumble occasionally ; you may fall occasionally, but always get up facing heaven. I always said, when I was a wicked sinner, that if I was ever converted the first thing I would do after being converted would be to read Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, or the sojourner’s travel to the heavenly city. And when I got back home, lying down, happy in my conversion, my hands over my face, my mother came and pulled my hands away, and said: "My son, you have found the Saviour." That night I sat by her bedside and read John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress. And I tell you, when I got to that part of the book where Beulah Land is described, or where, from the mountains delectable, one might see the glory of the heavenly city, with only the river of death between, and the shining ones coming down to the river and beckoning you to come over and waiting to receive you when you crossed, I got my great conception of heaven right then, and have never lost it since.

There was a lady schoolmate of mine, a brilliant girl and a very dear friend. We went different ways when we left school. One day I received a note written on the margin of a newspaper, saying: "If you are my old schoolmate, as I think you are, come to see me before I die, and bring your church choir with you." I went, and found her heartbroken and dying. When I entered the room she said: "I did not send for you to tell me how to die: I know, I know. But I tell you what I wish you would do; get your singers to sing a hymn. I want to be upborne on the wings of melody as I ascend to heaven." I asked: "What do you want us to sing?" "Sing this song: ’Oh, sing to me of heaven when I am called to die; sing songs of holy ecstasy to waft my soul on high.’ " We sang it, in tears, and when we got through, in the sweetest, faintest voice, she repeated the last verse and ended with a sigh. She was dead. So music cheered her last breath on earth, and greeted her first taste of heaven.

It may sound fanciful, but I sometimes am carried away with the thought that if I could get together the preachers and the working forces of the churches, and keep them studying for a few days on the Bible teachings of heaven, until the clearness, and certainty, and eternity of heaven and hell got hold on them, they would know how to work.

10. Who are the inhabitants of this city?

ANSWER. – You have learned in our study about heaven as a place, heaven as a state, and now I close with a reference to its companionship. Paul says: "But ye are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable hosts of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus, the Mediator of a new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better than that of Abel" (Hebrews 12:22-24). That is companionship divine, angelic, and human. But the greatest of all the joys will be when we come to Jesus and, taking off the crowns his gracious hands placed on our brows, lay them down at his pierced feet, and say: "Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us; but unto thy name be honour and power and glory and dominion for ever." Yes, we are coming to Jesus; we are coming to the innumerable host of angels, ten thousand times ten thousands of thousands and thousands of the shining ones we have heard so much about in this book; we are coming to the general assembly, the church of the firstborn who are written in heaven, and who, standing on the walls of everlasting deliverance, and looking down toward the earth once ruled by the devil, all of its mountainsides scarred with battle, all of its valleys crimson with blood, all of its caves filled with the bones of the murdered, all of its seas filled with the wrecks of those who perished in battle and storm, we shall look down on it, and we will see all of it washed whiter than snow. I do not say that we shall be limited to the earth in the world to come; I do not suppose there will be any barrier to our going to any part of the universe. But God intended that man should have dominion over the earth.

11. Who are forbidden to enter this city?

ANSWER. – Before we leave the subject I ought to say this sad thing: "On the outside are the fearful," those who lacked moral courage, those who were ashamed to say: "I am for Christ," that were ashamed to stand by him, ashamed to confess him in public. "On the outside are all liars, and all whoremongers, and all idolaters." That is the crowd that is on the outside forever. They, too, have a place, prepared for the devil and his angels; they, too, have companionship: but what a crowd! What a crowd! Who wants to be with them forever? If it chill your heart to be associated now with one unclean, foul, slimy soul, what will it be to company with all the lost forever?

The questions are in the body of the text, it being presented ill the form of a catechism.

Verses 6-21

XXIII

EPILOGUE

Revelation 22:6-21

The exposition of this marvelous and delightful book closes with this chapter. As the first chapter is the prologue of the book, this study of Revelation 22:6-21 is the epilogue of the book. Most of the terms of the first chapter are here repeated to show that the purpose of the revelation there announced is here consummated. No other Bible book has more striking marks of unity. The first sentence: "These words are faithful and true," authenticates the whole book. The second sentence connects it in unity and authority with all the preceding books of the sacred history. That sentence: "The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent his angel to show unto his servants the things which must shortly come to pass," means that the Lord who bestowed upon each of the Old Testament prophets, and on each of the preceding New Testament prophets, that measure of the gift of the Holy Spirit to qualify him to write his part of the sacred canon, inspired this closing book also, making it the capstone and the climax of all revelation. It follows that the whole library has one author, all the parts are correlated into one complete system of revelation. In every case, from Moses to John, "The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." Paul had said collectively of the Old Testament Scriptures: "They are the sacred scriptures," distinguishing them from all secular and profane writings; and then said of them distributively, pasgraphe theopneustos, "every one of the writings is God-inspired."

This second sentence of our study not only virtually affirms the same thing of the New Testament books, but links both Testaments into one inspired unity.

Read the next two verses: "And I, John, am he who heard and saw these things, and when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel that showed me these things. And he saith unto me, See thou do it not: I am a fellow servant with thee and with thy brethren the prophets, and with them that keep the words of this book: worship God."

Here are two great lessons: First, that angels are not to be adored: Worship God. So Paul wrote to the Colossians: "Let no man rob you of your prize by a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels . . . which had indeed a show of will worship." That kind of worship, which the human will has devised, has cursed all Christendom as well as heathendom, worshiping the creature rather than the Creator. Huge ecclesiasticisms, particularly the Romanist and Greek churches, claiming to be the highest expressions of Christianity, are in the main elaborate systems of idolatry, angelolatry, Mariolatry, adoration of the mass, the images, saints, relics, and a thousand other superstitions.

The second lesson: Not only do the words of the angel show a fraternity of Old and New Testament prophets, but a fellowservice of both with the angels: "I am a fellow servant with thee and with the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book." You see that sentence blends into one great family of God the saints of all ages and the angels who have been the ministering spirits to the heirs of salvation.

Read the next verse: "He saith unto me: Seal not up the words of the prophecy of this book; for the time is at hand." Here, again, we gather two important lessons. First, while more than once in this book we have seen the temporary sealing up, or suppression of the outcome of the synchronous views until the crowning climax of all of them arrives (see Revelation 8:1; Revelation 10:4), and yet at the end, the whole book is opened forever; no man can ever seal up any part of this book. It is a revelation; it is meant to be understood. A benediction is pronounced on the hearer, the reader, and the keeper of the words of the book, but if we do not understand the book, we cannot keep its words.

The second lesson: In one respect there is a sharp contrast between the prophecies of the two dispensations. For example, the book of Daniel, which is the great prototype of this book. To Daniel, at the close of his apocalypse, greatly troubled because he did not understand his own visions, God said (and you will notice the contrast): "But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall be increased. . . . And I heard but I understood not; then said I: O my Lord, what shall be the issue of these things? And he said: Go thy way, Daniel, for the words are shut up and sealed till the time of the end. Many shall purify and make themselves white, and be refined, but the wicked shall do wickedly, and none of the wicked shall understand, but they that are wise shall understand. . . . But go thou thy way till the end be; for thou shalt rest and stand in thy lot, at the end of the days."

Daniel is commanded to seal up his book; our verse says: "Seal not up the words of this prophecy." Speaking concerning all the Old Testament prophecies, and also concerning the angels, Peter uses this language: "Concerning which salvation the prophets searched and sought diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you; searching what time, or what manner of time the spirit of Christ which was in them did point to, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glories that should follow them. To whom it was revealed that not unto themselves, but unto you did they minister these things, which now have been announced unto you through them that preached the gospel unto you by the Holy Spirit sent forth from heaven. Which things angels desire to look into." It is the church, in her victories, that instructs the angels in the manifold wisdom of God. As Paul says to the Ephesians: "The manifold wisdom of God shall be made known to principalities and powers in heavenly places by the church." The old dispensation, clouded in type and shadow, left many things sealed up. The New Testament sweeps all the mists away.

Read now two other verges of the lesson: "He that is unrighteous, let him do unrighteousness still; and he that is filthy, let him be made filthy still; and he that is righteous let him do righteousness still; and he that is holy let him be made holy still. Behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me, to render to each man according as his work is." Your author does not understand Revelation 22:11 to refer to the fixity of the final state after the judgment, to wit: that one then righteous will be righteous forever. That is true, but it is not taught here. This epilogue is not now considering the results of the judgment and the future state; they have been disposed of in another connection; this epilogue is not a vision, it is not a part of the apocalypse. It simply tells of the application of all the lessons of the book to the present. A similar mode of expression appears in Ezekiel 12:11 and Daniel 12:10. The meaning is that, having now unveiled the future with it in reward and punishment, the choice is left to man to be righteous or unrighteous, holy or filthy; God will not coerce. Just so, some of the exiles would not hear Ezekiel, and some who heard him would not practice what he preached. He said: "I am to you merely as the sound of a pleasant instrument; you sit before me just as if you were the people of the Lord, but you go out after hearing me and continue to do your abominations."

It reminds me of the romantic legend of St. Anthony, who, having no people to preach to, went and preached to the fishes, and the record states that they were much edified. But the eels went on eeling, and the stock fish went on stealing, each one living in the same old way.

Notwithstanding Daniel’s visions, the wicked, as God said to him, would continue to do wickedly. And so, notwithstanding this book of Revelation, those who love unholiness will be allowed to follow their bent, and those who prefer being filthy will go on being made filthy. He is permitted to follow his choice, but is warned that whatever each man chooses in time will be his destiny in eternity, as the last clause of the verse tells us: "Behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me, to render to every man according to his works."

Read Revelation 22:14-15: "Blessed are they that wash their robes that they may have the right to come to the tree of life and may enter in by the gates of the city. Without are the dogs, and the sorcerers, and the idolaters, and the fornicators, and the murderers, and every one that loveth and maketh a lie." The reader will note the difference in the text of Revelation 22:14 between the Common Version and the Revised, from which I quote. The King James Version reads this way: "Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life," and this version reads: "Blessed are they that have washed their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life." That makes a marked difference in doctrine. The King James translators had not before them any one of the three oldest manuscripts of the New Testament: the Alexandrian manuscript, now in the British Museum, was presented to Charles I, son of James. The Sinaitic manuscript was discovered long after that translation by Tischendorf, and it is now in the museum at St. Petersburg. The Vatican manuscript is in the Vatican Library at Rome. All these oldest and best manuscripts read: "Blessed are they that have washed their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life." I have facsimiles of all these oldest manuscripts in my library. You may accept it without question that in the best texts the reading is "Blessed are they who have washed their robes." This harmonizes expressly with the parallel passage in Revelation 7:9-14, where those arrayed in white robes are declared to be those who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb, and harmonizes with the vital and fundamental truth that the blood of Christ cleanses from all sin. The right to the tree of life comes by blood, not by works; by faith, not by doing. The thought of the passage follows strictly the preceding one. God will not coerce; the choice is with men; if they by faith will accept the Saviour and are cleansed in his blood, they have a right to the tree of life, and to enter into the Holy City, the New Jerusalem. But if they prefer to be dogs, sorcerers, fornicators, murderers, idolaters, and liars, then their destiny is on the outside.

Read Revelation 22:16: "I, Jesus, have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things for the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright, the morning star." How often have I told you, since we commenced this book, that the God appointed agency for lighting the world is the churches. The whole of this book, as a sacred deposit of revealed truth, is given to the churches. That is why the church is said to be the "pillar and ground of the truth."

Here, again, the connection is close: This book of Revelation is from the Lord. He sent his testimony by his angel. The message is fully authenticated; it is a message for the churches. They receive the deposit of truth for communication of all the world.

Read Revelation 22:17: "And the Spirit and the bride say, Come; and he that heareth, let him say, Come; and he that is athirst, let him come; and he that will, let him take of the water of life freely." The revelation of the way of life completed, and the revelation of destiny at the judgment, and this revelation as a sacred deposit having been given to the churches, what shall they do with it? What are their duties in view of the fact that they are the custodians of the truth? Revelation 22:17, which I have just read, answers that question.

But what does it mean? You are invited to come) and to come to what? The premillennialists insist that all the "comes" in this book refer to, or are spoken to, Jesus: "Come, Lord Jesus." I pointed out their error where the four Cherubim say, "Come," "Come," "Come," "Come." They are speaking not to the Lord Jesus, but are speaking to those horses that appear at their command to come, and I now say to you that the Spirit does not say to Jesus, "Come," nor does the bride or the church, in this connection at least, say to Jesus, "Come"; and the one that hears does not say to Jesus, "Come." The rest of the verse will not make sense with such interpretation: "Let him that is athirst come, and such as will, let him partake of the water of life freely." To put that premillennial interpretation on the passage destroys the meaning of the greatest text in the Bible.

The revelation of the way of life and the judgment and eternal destiny being made clear and complete and authenticated, and that way of life shown to be by grace, through faith, in the cleansing of the blood of Christ; and the choice of the decision being left to man, and the complete revelation being deposited with the churches, we come to our verse: The Holy Spirit, Christ’s vicar on earth, abiding in the church till the judgment day, in order to complete the cleansing by blood, says to all men, "Come." As if pointing to that picture of heaven, described in the last chapter, with the throne of God, with the water of life bubbling from under that throne and outflowing through the city, the Holy Spirit says to every sinner, to every lost man in the world: "Come to this water of life." What the Spirit says the church says: the Spirit and the church united give the invitation, and the Spirit gives the power to the invitation: "Come to the water of life." Not only is that an official invitation, but any man that hears the Spirit or the church give that invitation is authorized to repeat it. As you hear, you may turn at once to your nearest neighbor, your dearest friend, the members of your family, and say, "Come." Not only that, but whether you hear the Spirit or the church consciously, if you are athirst, if there be a craving in your soul, that very thirst in you is your authority to come. As Jesus said: "Whosoever that drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst."

What a glorious thing it is that there is so little red tape in the invitation of the gospel. You may be by yourself, you may not be in reach of any church; you may just have a longing in your soul for salvation: then come. Don’t wait for anybody or anything. The thought even goes a step beyond. You may not even have that thirst, your only conviction may be that you cannot feel, yet if you are willing to come: "Whosoever will, let him come," without money and without price. How it falls into line with all Bible invitations; particularly with Isaiah 55. That chapter was my mother’s favorite. When I was a little bit of a fellow wearing dresses, I had to kneel down before her and repeat:

Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters; and he that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? And your labour for that which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear and come unto me; hear, and your soul shall live: And I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. . . . Seek ye Jehovah while he may be found; call ye upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto Jehovah and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. – Isaiah 4:1-3; Isaiah 4:6-6.

Mark the glorious results: "For ye shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace; the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing; and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree; and it shall be to Jehovah for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off." That is to say, in the joy of your heart you interpret differently all external nature, the sunlight is sweeter, the trees are more beautiful, the earth takes on a new dignity and nature, and you see everything through the rose colour of your faith.

I say, then, that while the choice is left to each man to be righteous or unrighteous, no choice is left to the church or to the Christian: you must invite. If he die, his blood must not be on you; you must say to him, "Come."

Read Revelation 22:18: "I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, if any man shall add unto them, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book; and if any man shall take away from the words of this prophecy, God shall take away his part of the tree of life and out of the Holy City which are written in this book." What a tremendous sentence! And in view of it, hear the ex-president of Harvard University say: "We need a new religion." He wants to add to what this book says. Hear the former professor of theology in the Divinity School of the University of Chicago say only a little part of the Christian religion will be final; you remember his book, The Finality of the Christian Religion, which goes on whittling away on God’s revelation until what is left, in his estimation, would rest without falling off on the point of a cambric needle. And they promoted him from a chair in the Divinity School to the University Chair of Comparative Religions. At which I wondered in this fashion: Since even he admits that the Christian religion is the best of all extant religions, but since only an infinitesimal part of that will abide, why waste money to pay a man to institute comparisons between them?

I, for one, think that Revelation 22:18-19 are not exclusively limited to the book of Revelation. For, if I have correctly interpreted the foregoing passages, showing that this book is bound up with all the other prophecies into one unity, and as in this book Christ’s prophetic office is closed henceforth, so then there will never be another revelation, nor need for another, and as this book is the climax revealing paradise regained to meet the paradise lost of Genesis, then the warning applies to all the inseparable library. Since this book makes known the way of life to the lost, since the only way to the tree of life and the holy New Jerusalem of God and the blessed society that is described in the preceding chapter, since through the blood of Jesus Christ is the only way to obtain the right to enter, how heinous must be the offense of taking away a part of this book, or adding a part!

There has always been in the sinner’s heart a prurient desire to find some way to the secrets of the hereafter, and hence they have resorted to magic and sorcery, fortune telling, soothsaying, necromancy, and ten thousand other ways. Even in hell the rich man had that desire: "Father Abraham, send Lazarus back to yonder world to tell my brothers not to come here." Abraham said: "They have Moses and the prophets; they have the light." He said: "No, Father Abraham, if one would go unto them from the dead they will repent." Abraham said: "If they would not repent under Moses and the prophets, they would not repent under one that came from the dead." Whoever is not willing to be saved by this revelation, a stored up, a precious treasure of life, deposited with the churches, then how can he be saved? That is why I told you, and probably shocked some of you by saying, that whoever is not saved through the shining of the candlesticks and stars, through the ministry of the light of the churches and the preachers, cannot be saved. Therefore no man can be saved after Christ comes; all of the saving light is deposited with the churches. That is why I prefer to take my conception of the churches from Jesus Christ rather than from man’s idea of what is the church. He established the church as an institution; he calls the concrete expression of the institution, "the churches": He says, "These are the candlesticks and the stars that are to illumine the world." I count being a church member a very great honor. Others prefer to run over the range as mavericks – Texas cattlemen know what that means – wild stock with no brand or mark on them. And there are quite a lot of preachers who prefer to be "free lances," independent of the churches. Paul says that Jesus set the apostles, prophets, evangelists, and teachers in the church: that is where he put them; they are not turned out loose in the world like wandering stars: they must have anchorage; they must hail from some port and must be going to some port.

QUESTIONS

1. What part of this book the prologue, and what part the epilogue?

2. In what words is the whole book authenticated?

3. In what words is it connected in unity and authority with all pre ceding books of the sacred library?

4. What the meaning of "The Lord, the God of Spirits, sent his angel to show unto his servants the things" of this book?

5. What follows from this meaning?

6. How does Paul speak of the Old Testament book, first collectively, then distributively?

7. What the two great lessons from Revelation 22:8-9?

8. What the two lessons from Revelation 22:10?

9. What the meaning of Revelation 22:11, negatively and positively?

10. Wherein does the rendering of the Common Version of Revelation 22:14 differ from the Revision, and why?

11. Expound Revelation 22:17.

12. Why may you not restrict the words of Revelation 22:18-19 to this book alone?