CWC- Alt Epistle Lesson -Saints Triumphant - - Kieth Bernard Kuschel
Revelation 22:1-5
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 3 No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will worship him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.
Triumphant = Winners
“There will be no more darkness.” Darkness is used picturesquely a lot in the Bible. Maybe one of the most familiar uses is Eph 5:8. “Once you were darkness, but now you are light in the LORD.” Human beings on our own are in the dark spiritually. We can’t see the true God. We can’t see our way into a relationship with God. Being in the dark is the same thing as not believing in Jesus as the Savior.
When the Holy Spirit brings people to trust that Jesus lived and died and rose to give them forgiveness, holiness, and eternal life, the picture changes to but now you are light in the LORD.” We see who the true God is. We see that our sins are washed away in the blood of Jesus. We see that we have been rescued from the punishment we deserve because of our sins. The text says,
“No longer will there be a curse.”
However, we still remain in the dark about some things. It is very frustrating for us to not be able to understand how our God can have a threeness about Him called Father Son and Holy Spirit and yet still be one. It is very frustrating for us to not be able to understand how a real human being named Jesus of Nazareth could have at the same time all the capacities of God. It is very frustrating for us to not be able to grasp how it is our fault if we are unbelievers, but it is not to our credit if we are believers. It is very frustrating to be in the dark.
We remain in the dark about some things. How come God lets a fire wipe out huge forests? How come God lets Islam countries wipe out Christians? How come God lets a forty year old mother of three have cancer? It is very frustrating to be in the dark.
Is there a solution to our frustration? The verses before us today say: 4 They(we) will see his face. 5 There will be no more night. They(we) will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them(us) light. In eternity when we are with the LORD, the LORD will answer all our questions and make everything understandable. We will be saints - triumphant over darkness.
We remain in darkness about some things. How come I work my tail off and never seem to get ahead of the bills? How come I study for hours and hours and never get an A? How come that guy can run and jump and shoot the basketball so well and I can’t? How come that person got the promotion and I didn’t? It is very frustrating to be in the dark.
How come I work real hard at my godliness and still fall into sin? How come I work real hard at my godliness and nobody seems to notice that I am connected with Jesus and gives me a chance to talk about Jesus with them? How come I work real hard at my godliness and the people who notice ridicule me for doing it? It is very frustrating to be in the dark.
Is there a solution to our frustration? The verses before us today say: His name will be on their(our) foreheads 5 There will be no more night. They(we) will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them(us) light. In eternity when we are with the LORD, it will be very apparent to us and to everyone else that we are valued and valuable because we belong to the LORD. We will be saints - triumphant over darkness.
“His servants will worship him.” Worship for most of us is a habit. We say “God is worth a lot to me” in a variety of ways. We say it with the ways we use the blessings He gives us. The most important blessing He gives us is His gift of eternal life. He informs us of that blessing through His Word. We use that Word regularly in our homes. We use that Word weekly here with the rest of the spiritual family. God through His Word keeps us holding onto His blessing of eternal life. Worship is a good habit to have.
We gather with others to worship. We say “God is great and God is good” and others hear us. We sing “Jesus lived and died and rose to give the world forgiveness, holiness, and eternal life,” and other people hear us. When they hear us, the Holy Spirit keeps them holding onto His blessing of eternal life. Worship is a good habit to have.
When we realize the benefit for ourselves and others of worshiping, we get into it. We sing with enthusiasm. We think about the meaning of the words of the songs as we sing them. We pray out loud when called upon to do so. We pray in our minds when called upon to do so. We think about the meanings of the words of the prayers as we pray them. We read along with the sections of the Bible when they are read. We focus on the words from the Bible so that we understand them as they are being read. We listen to the message from God’s Word so we understand what it means for us. Worship is a good habit to have.
Habits often have down sides to them. When you do something a lot, it is easy to think that you know everything there is to know about what you are doing. So we disengage our brains. When someone in the family is reading the devotion, I am thinking about something else. When the congregation is praying together, I am thinking about something else. When the congregation is singing a hymn, I am thinking about something else. When the Scripture is being read and discussed, I am thinking about something else. Why? Because I have heard all this before and I know what it’s about. Worship has become a meaningless habit.
Habits often have down sides to them. When I am deciding whether I am going to gather with others to worship, I decide that I don’t need to do it this time, because I have done it so often already. I am strong in my faith in Jesus. I am a godly person. I never even consider that my presence worshiping with others props them up in their faith in Jesus and in the desire to be godly. I never even consider that if I am not there, I am not carrying out that important role. I never even consider that if everybody took a totally selfish approach to gathering for worship, there would never be a gathering. Worship can become a selfish habit.
Habits often have down sides to them. When I gather to worship with others, I am satisfied that I am present. I don’t pray along. I don’t sing along. I don’t read along. I don’t think along. Worship has become something I am present at because God told me to be present. Worship has become a disinterested habit.
What are we going to be doing in eternity? {3} “The throne of God will be in the city, and his servants will worship him.” We will have an ongoing visual reminder that God is King of Kings and Lord or Lords. No more meaningless, selfish, disinterested worship. Our worship will be perfect. We will be saints - triumphant over bad habits.
What are we going to be doing in eternity? {3} “The Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will worship him.” We will have an ongoing visual reminder that Jesus sacrificed Himself to wash away our sins. Was perfect so we can be part of God’s family. Is alive again so we can spend eternity with Him. No more meaningless, selfish, disinterested worship. Our worship will be perfect. We will be saints - triumphant over bad habits.
This section of Scripture gives us a little hint of what eternity with the LORD is going to be like. Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing 2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. What does that remind you of? Listen to some other Scripture. Streams watered the whole surface of the ground. A river watering the place flowed. Anybody recognize that? That is the garden of Eden. Everything perfectly productive when God created it. Everything perfectly productive again in eternity.
Did you notice what kind of tree it was? The tree of life. Does that sound familiar? In the middle of the garden( of Eden) were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In the garden of Eden the tree of life, which had fruit which evidently had the power to bestow everlasting life, grew in the middle of the garden. In Revelation John sees the tree of life growing once more and he says that its leaves serve to heal the nations. Nations had to be healed of their sickness of sin. Jesus came and did that. This tree then has the power to restore everlasting life.
Did you notice where the river of the water of life was flowing from? {1}Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God . As you would expect a vision given to John by Jesus backs up the verbal teachings of the Bible. Life comes from God. Physical life, but more importantly eternal life. It is a gift from God. The gift has no impurities. Stated the way we usually state is: Eternal life is by grace not on the basis of what we do.
There is another part of the answer to the question, “Where was the water of life flowing from?” Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne...... of the Lamb. Eternal life can only come from God because of the Lamb. God is holy. He demands that punishment fall on sinners. Jesus took sinners place. God’s punishment fell on Jesus just as it had been pictured for millenia falling on lambs. Eternal life is by grace because of Jesus.
Did you notice anything strange about the tree? {2}yielding its fruit every month. Ordinary trees don’t do that. They bear fruit at one time of the year. They don’t bear fruit for most of the year. Any guesses as to what this means that a tree is bearing fruit every month? In eternity everything is complete and total. Productive all the time.
Did you notice anything else strange about the tree?{2} bearing twelve crops of fruit. I don’t know any tree that bears twelve different crops of fruit. What does this mean? Again best guess. In eternity with the Lord everything is complete and total. Complete range of variety of product.
I mentioned earlier some things that frustrate us Christians. Here is another one. I never am as productive as I want to be. That is true in my spiritual life as well as my physical life. I don’t seem to be growing in my relationship with Jesus as much as I want. I don’t seem to be increasing my production of godliness as much as I want. I seem to get stuck in the same old ruts all the time. I don’t seem to branch out into new areas of living my life for the LORD. Stagnation is very frustrating.
What is the ultimate solution to my frustration. {2} On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. In eternity when we are with the LORD, we will be perfectly productive with a complete variety of godliness. We will be saints - triumphant over stagnation.
LORD Jesus, thank You for making us winners.