Days of Vengeance - The Preterist Archive

22:1-2
22
COME, LORD JESUS!
As we saw in the Introduction, St. John wrote the Book
of Revelation as an annual cycle of prophecies, meant
to be read to the congregation (coinciding with serial
Old Testament readings, especially Ezekiel) from one
Easter to the next. 1 Chapter 22 thus brings us full
circle, verses 6-21 being read exactly one year after
Chapter 1 was read. For that reason, as well as
recapitulating many of the themes of the prophecy,
Chapter 22 also has much in common with Chapter 1.
We read again, for example, that the prophecy is of
“things that must shortly take place” (22:6; cf. 1:1);
that it is communicated by an angel (22:6; cf. 1:1) to
St. John (22:8; cf. 1:1, 4, 9); that it is a message
intended for God’s “bond-servants” (22:6; cf. 1:1); that
there is a special blessing for those who “keep” its words
(22:7; cf. 1:3); and that it specifically involves the
Testimony of Christ (22:16, 18, 20; cf. 1:2, 5, 9), the
Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last (22:13; cf.
1:8, 17), who is “coming quickly” (22:7, 12, 20; cf. 1:7).
Paradise Restored (22:1-5)
1 And he showed me a River of the Water of Life, clear as
crystal, coming from the Throne of God and of the Lamb,
2 in the middle of its street. And on each side of the River
was Tree of Life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its
fruit every month; and the leaves of the Tree were for the
healing of the nations.
3 And there shall no longer be any Curse; and the Throne
of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants
shall serve Him;
4 and they shall see His face, and His name shall be in their
foreheads.
5 And there shall no longer be any Night; and they shall
not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the
sun, because the Lord God shall illumine them; and they
shall reign forever and ever.
1-2 The vision of the New Jerusalem continues: the
Chalice-angel (21:9) shows St. John a River of the
Water of Life, clear as crystal, coming from the
Throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its
street. The scene is based, first, on the Garden of Eden,
in which springs bubbled up out of the ground (Gen.
2:6) to form a river, which then parted into four heads
and went out to water the earth (Gen. 2:10-14). This
image is later adopted by Ezekiel in his vision of the
New Covenant Temple. In the Old Covenant, people
had to journey to the Temple to be cleansed, but that
will no longer be true; for in New Covenant times the
great bronze Laver in the southeast corner of the House
(2 Chron. 4:10) tips over and spills its contents out
under the door, becoming a mighty river of grace and
life for the world, even transforming the waters of the
Dead Sea: 2
Then he brought me back to the door of the House; an
behold, water was flowing from under the threshold of the
House toward the east, for the House faced east. And the
water was flowing down from under, from the right side of the
House, from south of the altar. And he brought me out by way
of the north gate and led me around on the outside to the
outer gate by way of the gate that faces east. And behold,
water was trickling from the south side.
When the man went out toward the east with a line in
his hand, he measured a thousand cubits, and led me through
the water, water reaching the ankles.
Again he measured a thousand and led me through the
water, water reaching the knees.
Again he measured a thousand and led me through the
water, water reaching the loins.
Again he measured a thousand; and it was a river that I
could not ford, for the water had risen, enough water to swim
in, a river that could not be forded.
And he said to me, “Son of man, have you seen this?”
Then he brought me back to the bank of the river. Now when
I had returned, behold, on the bank of the river there were
very many trees on the one side and on the other. Then he
said to me, “These waters go out toward the eastern region
and go down into the Arabah; then they go toward the sea,
being made to flow into the sea, and the waters of the sea
become fresh. And it will come about that every living
creature that swarms in every place where the river goes will
live. And there will be very many fish, for these waters go
there, and the others become fresh; so everything will live
where the river goes.” (Ezek. 47:1-9)
Ezekiel said that “on the bank of the river there were
very many trees on the one side and on the other”; St.
John expands on this and tells us that on each side of
the River was Tree of Life – not a single tree only, but
forests of Tree-of-Life lining the riverbanks. The
blessing which Adam forfeited has been restored in
overwhelming superabundance, for what we have
gained in Christ is, as St. Paul said, “much more” than
what we lost in Adam:
For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much
more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one
man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many . . . . For if by the
transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much
more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift
of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus
Christ . . . .
Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, that, as
sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through
righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
(Rom. 5:15-21; cf. v. 9-10)
1. See M. D. Goulder, “The Apocalypse as an Annual Cycle of Prophecies,”
New Testament Studies 27, No. 3 (April 1981), pp. 342-67.
2. On the symbolism associated with the Dead Sea (the site of Sodom and
Gomorrah) see David Chilton, Paradise Restored: A Biblical Theology of
Dominion (Ft. Worth, TX: Dominion Press, 1985), pp. 52f. For another
illustration of the difference between the ‘static’ grace of the Old Covenant
and the ‘dynamic’ grace of the New Covenant, compare Hag. 2:10-14 with
Mark 5:25-34.
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