The connection of the holy city with the earth, though not on it, is
everywhere seen. The river of God refreshed the city, and the tree of life,
whose fruits ever ripe were food for the celestial inhabitants of it, bore
in its wings healing for the nations. Only the glorified ever ate the fruit
of constant growth; but what was manifested and displayed without, as the
leaves of a tree, was blessing to those on earth. We see grace
characterising the assembly in glory. The nation and kingdom that will not
serve the earthly Jerusalem shall utterly perish-it preserves its earthly
royal character; the assembly its own: the leaves of the tree it feeds on
are for healing. There is no more curse. The throne of God and the Lamb is
in it. This is the source of blessing, not of curse; and His servants serve
Him; often they cannot as they would here. Note too again here, how God and
the Lamb are spoken of as one, as constantly in John's writings. His
servants shall have the fullest privilege of His constant presence, shall
see His face, and their belonging to Him as His own be evident to all.
There is no night there, nor need of light, for the Lord God gives it; and,
as to their state, they reign not for the thousand years, as they do over
the earth, but for ever and ever.
This closes the description of the heavenly city and the whole prophetic
volume. What follows consists of warning, or the final expression of the
thoughts of and relationship with, Christ of the assembly.
The angel declares the truth of these things, and that the Lord God of the
prophets-not as the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, nor as
directly teaching the assembly as dwelling in it by the Spirit -the Lord
God of the prophets has sent His angel to inform His servants of these
events. "Behold," says Christ, speaking as of old, in the prophetic spirit,
rising up to His own personal testimony, "Behold, I come quickly. Blessed
is he who keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book." The assembly
is viewed, not as the subject of prophecy, but as " the things that are,"
time not being counted, specially time to come. Those that keep it are
those concerned in the book, who are warned that Christ will soon be there.
No doubt we all can profit by it, but we are not in the scenes it speaks
of. John, impressed with the dignity of the messenger, fell down and would
have worshiped him. But the saints of the assembly even if made prophets
of, were not to return into the uncertainty of ancient days. The angel was
a simple angel, John's fellow-servant, and fellow-servant of his brethren
the prophets: he was to worship God. Nor were the sayings to be sealed, as
with Daniel: the time was at hand. When it closed its testimony, men would
remain in the same state for judgment or blessing. And Christ would quickly
come, and every man receive as his work was. Verse 7 was a warning, in form
of blessing, to those in the circumstances referred to, to keep the sayings
of the book, but this verse 12 is the record of Christ's coming to the
general judgment of the quick.
Finally, Christ announces Himself, having taken up the word in Person in
verse 12, as Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end-God before and
after all; and filling duration. I suppose we are to take as the true
reading: " Blessed are they that wash their robes, that they may have a
right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the
city." The redeemed, cleansed ones, can enter there and feed on the tree of
life; for I suppose it is the fruit here. Without are the unclean and
violent, and those who love Satanic falsehood and idolatry, sin against
purity, against their neighbor, against God, and follow Satan.
This closes the summing up. The Lord Jesus now reveals Himself in His own
Person, speaking to John and the saints, and declares who He is, in what
character He appears to say it to them. "I am the root and offspring of
David"-the origin and heir of the temporal promises of Israel; but much
more than that-He is the bright and morning Star. It is what He is before
He appears, in both respects; only the former regards Israel born of the
seed of David according to the flesh. But the Lord has taken another
character. He has not yet arisen as the Sun of Righteousness on this
benighted globe; but, to faith, the dawn is there, and the assembly sees
Him in the now far-spent night as the Morning Star, knows Him, while
watching according to His own word, in His bright heavenly character-a
character which does not wake a sleeping world, but is the delight and love
of those who watch. When the sun arises, He will not be thus known: the
earth will never so know Him, bright as the day may be. When Christ is in
this place, the Spirit dwells in the assembly below, and the assembly has
its own relationship. It is the bride of Christ, and her desire is toward
Him.
Thus " the Spirit and the bride say, Come." It is not a warning from one
coming as a judge and a rewarder, but the revelation of Himself which
awakens the desire of the bride according to the relationship in which
grace has set her. Nor is it a mere sentiment or wish: the Spirit who
dwells in the assembly leads and suggests her thought. But the Spirit turns
also and the heart of him who enjoys the relationship, to others. "Let him
that heareth "-let him who hears the voice of the Spirit in the assembly
join in the cry, and say, Come. It is one common hope, it should be our
common desire; and the sense of what is coming on the earth and the sense
of failure in things that are, ought only though it be in truth an inferior
motive, to urge the cry in all. But while still here, the saint has another
place also. Not only do his desires go after God upwards and the heavenly
Bride groom, but he reflects God's known character, by having His nature
and Spirit as manifested also in Christ's love and in possession of the
living water, though not of the Bridegroom. He turns round and invites
others "Let him that is athirst come," and proclaims it forth then to the
world, "Whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely." Thus the
whole place of the heavenly saint, conscious of the assembly's place, is
brought out in this verse, from his desire of Christ's coming, to his call
to whosoever will to come.
The integrity of the book is preserved by a solemn warning of the danger of
losing a part in the tree of life[see note #22]
and the holy city. Christ then cheers the saint's heart, by assuring that
He would quickly come; and the heart of the true saint responds with
unfeigned and earnest desire, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus." And then, with
the salutation of grace, the book closes leaving the promise and the desire
as the last words of Jesus on the heart.
Let the reader note here that, in the beginning and end of the book, before
and after the prophetic statements, we have in a beautiful way the
conscious position of the saints.
The first, at the opening of the whole book, gives the individual conscious
blessing through what Christ has done; the latter, the whole position of
the assembly thus distinguishing clearly the saints under the gospel from
those whose circumstances are prophetically made known to them in this
book. "Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own
blood, and made us kings and priests to God and his Father." As soon as
Christ is named (and it is so in both cases), it awakens in the saints the
consciousness of Christ's love and their own place in relationship with
Him. They are already washed from their sins in His own blood, and made
kings and priests to God and His Father-have their place and state fixed,
before any of the prophetic part is developed, and in the coming kingdom
will enjoy that place, not of being blessed under Christ, but of being
associated with Him. Here they have their place simply in the kingdom and
priesthood; it is individual title resulting from His first coming. They
are loved, washed in His, own blood, and associated with Him in the
kingdom.
At the end of the book, Christ is revealed as, the Morning Star, a place
forming no part of the prophecy, but that in which the assembly, who has
waited for Him, is associated with Him for herself, and the kingdom.
(Compare the promise to the overcomers in Thyatira.) [see note #23]
This draws out in active love (not as before, simply being loved and what
we are made)- love first directed towards Christ in the assembly's known
relation to Himself, then to the saints who hear, then to the thirsty, then
to all the world. The desire of the assembly, as the bride with whom the
Spirit is, is directed to Christ's second coming for herself-to the
possessing the Morning Star; then the Spirit turns to the saints, calling
on them to say to Jesus, Come-to join in this desire. But we have the
Spirit though not the Bridegroom; hence whoever is athirst is called on to
come and drink, and thus the gospel proclaimed abroad, "Whosoever will, let
him take the water of life freely." It is love acting in the saint all
round from Christ to sinners in the world.
