Revelation 22

AND he The Angel who showed him all before-mentioned, showed him a pure River. showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal No place can be appy without the Accommodation of Water: Those places have the best Accommodation of it that are near a River, especially a pure River; to let us know, that in Heaven there shall be no want of any thing that can make the Saints happy. It is described as having by it, or running through it, a pure River, whose Water is clear; and no ordinary Water, but such as giveth, and preserveth Life: What could this signifie, but the pure and unmixed Joys of Heaven,, proceeding out of the throne of God, and of the Lamb flowing from the Saints there injoying of God, and Jesus Christ?.

In the midst of the street of it, and of either side of the river, was there the tree of life Trees, especially Fruit-trees, and those laden with Fruit, and variety of Fruit, and such as instead of being prejudicial to Life, are wholesom, and give Life, are very beautiful, especially in, or near a City. The City in Ezekiel's Vision, ch. 47.7. is thus described. This Expression further shows the infinite Pleasure, and Soul-satisfaction the Saints shall have in Heaven. But we are further told here, that the Tree here was the Tree of Life; a manifest Allusion to a T ee so called in old Paradise, Gen. 2.9. and who can this agree to, but Christ,, which bare twelve manner of fruits in whom all Fulness dwelt, the Fulness of the Godhead, and who was anointed, and received the Spirit without measure,, and yielded her fruit every month and is daily distributing of his Fulness to his People;; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations and in whom there is nothing useless, but what tends either to the Life or healing of his People out of all Nations..

And there shall be no more curse Nothing that is devoted to the Devil,, no accursed Person, or Thing.; but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it The presence of an holy and pure God will prevent and forbid that., and his servants shall serve him It is a place in which God alone shall be served by his own Servants..

And they shall see his face It is a Phrase by which the Happiness of the glorified Saints is oft expressed, Matth. 5.8. 1 Cor. 13.12. Heb. 12.14. 1 Iohn 3.2. they shall enjoy him immediately., and his name shall be in their foreheads There shall be none that have the Name of the Beast in their Foreheads; they shall have God's Name on their Foreheads, and be so manifested to be the Sons of God..

And there shall be no night there, and they need no candle, neither light of the sun: for the Lord God giveth them light, and they shall reign for ever and ever See the Notes on ch. 21.23..

And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true All the words of this Book, particularly the things of last Vision are such as proceed from him who is the faithful witness, ch. 1.5. and 3.14. from him who was called Faithful, chap. 19.11. and which God will show himself true and faithful in bringing to pass; and. And the Lord God of the holy prophets sents his angel to show unto his Servants the things which must shortly be done such things as God has-revealed to his Prophets under the Old-Testament in part, and now to me his Prophet, to show to his People the things that shall come to pass, and shall shortly begin to be accomplished. See chap. 1.1..

Behold, I come quickly I come quickly to the last Judgment., blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book He is an happy man that observeth and keepeth in memory, that understandeth, believeth, and liveth up to the Prophecy of this Book..

And I John saw these things I saw the Vision., and heard them I heard the words spoken to me relating to them.. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel, which showed me these things.

Then says he unto me, See thou do it not See the Notes on ch. 19.10.; for I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren the prophets Whose Imployment is the same with thine, to reveal the Will of God;, and of them which keep the sayings of this book, Worship God yea, and a Brother to all the Servants of God. Thou mistakest the Object of thine Adoration, I am a created Being, and can accept no such Homage..

And he says unto me This, He, is Christ, as appeareth from v. 12, 13., Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book Let these things be open to be promulged, and published to the whole Church,, for the time is at hand for it will not be long before they shall begin to be fulfilled..

He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still It may be, the keeping of this Book open, and the Publication of it will displease wicked and filthy Men; but let them be displeased, the Truths of God must not be concealed.; and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still; and he that is holy, let him be holy still It will on the other side confirm the Servants of God in their Faith, Patience, and Holiness, and all the Fruits of Righteousness..

And behold, I come quickly To the last Judgment (as before, v. 7.), and my reward is with me I bring with me a Power and Authority to recompence every Man according to what he has done, Dan. 12.2. Rom. 2.6. ch. 20.13. Matth. 25.34, 35, &c.,.

I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning, and the end, the first and the last See the Notes on chap. 1.8. and 21.6..

Blessed are they that do his commandments That believeth in the Lord Jesus Christ (for that is the great Commandment of the Gospel) and live in conformity to the Law of God., that they may have right to the tree of life To Christ, called before, the Tree of Life, v. 2. by virtue of the Promise, Rev. 2.7. for no Works of ours will give us a right of Purchase to it., and may enter in through the gates into the city n. That they may enter into Heaven; the Joys and Pleasures of which have been described under the Metaphor of a great and glorious City.

For without Without Heaven, that is, in Hell shall be all Dogs that bark at, and bite, and devour the Church of God, all profane Persons, Idolaters and Hypocrites, vid. ch. 21.8, 27. 1 Cor. 6.9, 10. See the Notes there. are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth, and maketh a lie.

I Jesus have sent mine angel to testifie unto you these things in the churches In these words Christ owneth the Revelation as his; the Angel did but testifie, Iohn did but hear, and write it.: I am the root, and the off-spring of David, David's Lord, and yet his Son: His Root, as I am God, and gave a Being to his Family, as to all the Families of the Earth; and yet his Son, a Branch out of the Root of Iesse., and the Num. 24.17 bright and morning star Who, as the Morning-star, first brings, or prognosticates. Light to the World; so have my self first published my Gospel, or this Revelation, to give Light to my People, concerning the Fate of my People to the last day..

And the spirit The Spirit in the Hearts of Believers, or rather the Holy Spirit., and the bride say, Come Because the Bride, that is, the Church is also mentioned, to desire the second coming of Christ to Judgment. every one that heareth of, and believeth these things, should also desire the same thing.. And let him that heareth, say, Come w. And let him that is a thirst, come And in to that, every one that wanteth, and is sensible of his want of Righteousness, or any Habit of Grace, is also invited unto Christ, under the Notion of the Water of Life, to take him freely, as Isa. 55.1.; And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely y.

For I testifie unto every man that heareth the words of the p ophecy of this book I Christ, or I John testifie to every one to whose Hands or Ears the words of this Book shall come,, If any man shall add unto those things That if any Man shall invent new Prophesies contrary to the Prophesies contained in this Book,, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book God shall severely punish him, by adding to the Plagues threatned against Sinners, in this Book..

And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy But Divines generally do further extend the sense hese two Verses, considering this as the last Portion of Writ, not only placed last in our Bibles, but revealed written last. They conceive these Verses the Seal of all Canonical Scripture, and that God here to those who shall pretend ny new Revelations of his Will, other than what are to be found in the Books of the Old and New-Testament; as also against all those who shall deny, corrupt, or deprave any part of them., God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things that are written in this book God as to such Persons, faith, they shall not have any such Part or Portion in Heaven, as they would pretend a Right to, or seemed to have..

He which testifieth these things, says, Surely I come quickly That is, Christ, who publisheth these things by his Angel, or by his Servant John, says he is quickly coming to Judgment., Amen John replies, Lord, let it be so.. Even so, come Lord Jesus This expounds Amen used here as a Particle of wishing and desiring, tho it may be interpreted as an assertive Particle, and joyned to the former part of the Sentence..

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen This is a Salutation used by the Apostles in all their Epistles, containing a desire of the fulness andincrease of all Grace, very proper here upon the Prospect which John in this Revela on had, of the long, and great Trials the Church would mere, with before the glorious Appearance of our blessed Lord and Saviour..