The River and the Tree of Life
Revelation 22:1-5
Then he showed me 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. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him; they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever.
Revelation 22:6
And he said to me, “These words are faithful and true”; and the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent His angel to show to His bond-servants the things which must soon take place.
Revelation 22:7
“And behold, I am coming quickly. Blessed is he who heeds the words of the prophecy of this book.”
Revelatin 22:8-9
“I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed me these things. But he said to me, “Do not do that. I am a fellow servant of yours and of your brethren the prophets and of those who heed the words of this book. Worship God.” The Final Message
Revelation 22:10-11
And he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. Let the one who does wrong, still do wrong; and the one who is filthy, still be filthy; and let the one who is righteous, still practice righteousness; and the one who is holy, still keep himself holy.”
Revelation 22:12
“Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”
Revelation 22:14-15
“Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying.
Revelation 22:16
“I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”
Revelation 22:17
The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost.
Revelation 22:18-19
I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book.
Revelation 22:20
He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming quickly.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
Revelation 22:21
The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.
[[ Jesus tells us several times
“Behold, I am coming quickly.”
The coming of the Lord Jesus will be quick quicker than the light that aspires when to turn the light switch on.
One moment not there and the next there.
Jesus has told us to be prepared, like the story of the ten virgins
Matthew 25:1-13
“Then the kingdom of heaven will be comparable to ten virgins, who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.
Five of them were foolish, and five were prudent.
For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the prudent took oil in flasks along with their lamps.
Now while the bridegroom was delaying, they all got drowsy and began to sleep.
But at midnight there was a shout, ‘Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’
Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps.
The foolish said to the prudent, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.
But the prudent answered, No, there will not be enough for us and you too; go instead to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.
And while they were going away to make the purchase, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast; and the door was shut. Later the other virgins also came, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open up for us.
But he answered, ‘Truly I say to you, I do not know you. Be on the alert then, for you do not know the day nor the hour.”
We are given warning after warning and example after example to be prepared for the return of Christ. It does not mater when He returns, what maters if we are ready for His return.
The Book of Revelation gives us the strongest warning of what we should be doing or not doing; In Revelation 2 and 3 we are given major warnings of what is and isn’t acceptable to the Lord In the letters to the churches, (remember as a Christian you are the church)
Revelation 4-7 But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Therefore, remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent. Yet this you do have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God.”
1. Remember from where Christ has taken you when you excepted His great love and redeemed you, when you first came to Him.
2. Repent and turn back to Him as a child with great excitement of what He has done for you.
3. We are to hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans (on the sight you can go to REVELATION 2 AND 3 and read down and you will fine examples of what the Nicolaitans teaching were and still are today you will also find them for the teachings of Babel.
Revelation 2:9 ‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.
1. I know the blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.
The Lord Jesus knows if you are living the words you are speaking call yourself a Christian then live the life oof a Christian. Put Christ first in everything you do,
Your first responsibility as a Christian is to; Lover the Lord your GOD
Matthew 22:37
And He said to him, “YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND. This is the great and foremost commandment.”
Your second responsibility as a Christian; “The second is like it, YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF. On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”
If you are calling your self a Christian and are not living your life for Christ, He says you are a synagogue of Satan. The Lord Jesus Christ looks at the inner sole and knows who you are and what your true desires are ( are they for you or the world? Or are the for the Kingdome of GOD? ) ( is your love for yourself or the world and its ways? Or is it set after the Lord and His ways? )
Revelation 2:14-15 ‘But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit acts of immorality. So you also have some who in the same way hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans.”
1. Do you allow or tolerate the teachings of Balak, do you allow those teaching to be taught to you and your family?
2. They are not just taught in some churches but in almost ever movie and in most songs now days (but most are not even aware of what they are seeing or hearing)
3. We allow ourselves to be deceived every day out of convenience, just going with the flow never wanting to be an outcast.
Is Christ first in your life?
If so then stand up for what is right and then do what is right stop trying to fit in to this world and stand for Christ no mater the cost. For He knows who your really are.
Revelation 2:20
“But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.
I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality.
Behold, I will throw her on a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds.
And I will kill her children with pestilence, and all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts; and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds.”
1. Do you tolerate those, who calls themselves prophets, those who do not teach the truth of GOD? Leading the bond-servants of Christ astray?
2. Just like you Christ give those who miss lead the believers with their teachings time to repent He also gives you time to repent, bit what we find in the total of Revelation is the your time is running out, and He will come quickly, and then it will be to late.
Revelation 2:25
“Nevertheless what you have, hold fast until I come. He who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, TO HIM I WILL GIVE AUTHORITY OVER THE NATIONS; AND HE SHALL RULE THEM WITH A ROD OF IRON, AS THE VESSELS OF THE POTTER ARE BROKEN TO PIECES, as I also have received authority from My Father; and I will give him the morning star. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
1. “Nevertheless what you have, hold fast until I come.” Hold on to the word of GOD, don’t be mislead by the ungodly, don’t be deceived and mislead.
We are told to study to show ourselves approved, we are told we are to be in the world but not of the world. (This is where we are living now but this world is not our home) Don’t follow the teachings of someone just because they are a good speaker, we are to judge every word that comes out of their mouth, (yes tat take some time and means you have to be in the word of GOD allowing the Holy spirit to lead you in the world and to be your teacher.)
Revelation 3:2-3
‘Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God. ]So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you.
Warning are given all throughout the Bible Father God and the Lord Jesus have given us warning after warning through out the word, we are given example after example as to how we should live, where our faith is to be, where our hearts are supposed to be, our loyalty basically how we are to live as one who belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes we have all fallen short, but each day these bodies are alive we have the opportunity to make things right with GOD, but that is each ones choice to do so or to go back to the world and its ways It truly doesn’t mater when Christ is coming back the thing is He will be back for His bride (the church, if you belong to Him you are the church) And all the debating, months or even years of reading the bible studying, or even praying is not going to get you the answer as to when He will return.
Mathew 24:36-41
“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.
For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah.
For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be.
Then there will be two men in the field; one will be taken and one will be left.
Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one will be left.”
Matthew 25:13
“Be on the alert then, for you do not know the day nor the hour.”
Mark 13:32
“But of that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.”
Jesus Him self tell us not even He knows the day nor the hour of His return, only the Father knows.
The main takeaway here should be; get ready, be ready, stay ready. If you are not ready for His return right at this moment you are walking a dangers path for He has said He will come quickly.
So come to grips to the fact that all the time wasted searching for the time of His return; is just that a waste of time.
Time that could be spent finding the path the Lord Jesus has for you to go down, read His word, study to show your self-approved.
Become so heavenly minded that your life is saturated with the love and peace of GOD.
Be firm, be bold and share the miraculous blessings of a relationship with the creator, tell others of His love and what He has done in your life.
Live each day as if it is your last, for it truly could be. Put Christ first in all you do, think and speak. Debating is not the answer, but the problem for most.
Think about it:
Take the time to go back and read Revelation, looking at it from the angle that Christ Himself has written it to you for you.
I will leave you with this:
Go find the narrow Gate.
Matthew 7:12-14
“In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets. Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”
At least think about it!