Life is Good

Introduction: I’m making a statement today by the way I am dressed: Life is good

Have you ever seen the “Life is Good” tee-shirt designs? They have a tee shirt for just about all walks of life. Here are some samples (see Screen behind me).

Now, if we as people can come up with a statement like this in this earthly life, just think of the connotation the phase will take on in heaven. We will be able to truly say, Life Is Good! In fact, Eternal Life will be Great!

If I were to ask you what you need in life to be able to say, Life is Good, how would you respond?

I have always heard that the necessities of life are:

1. Food

2. Water

3. Shelter

We might add, companionship. Life would be hard alone. I mean after all; God created us for companionship. We need other people in our lives. God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.”(Genesis 2:18).

Well, I would submit to you that in our eternal state we are all going to be able to say, Life Is Good! Consider what God is going to provide for us in our eternal state.

Look at the text before us…

I. The water of life – 22:1

And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. There shall be no night there:

In our New Home, we are going to enjoy a pure river of water of life. One author penned, “The interior of the city is like a beautiful garden: reminiscent of the garden of Eden. Eden had four rivers (Genesis 2:10-14), but the heavenly city has only one.

In Psalm 46:4 we read,

4 There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God, The holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High.

And don’t miss the following words, “pure, clear, crystal”. This will be the best water ever! Your tastebuds will tingle like never before – it will be so good!

Are you aware that sparkling water is a 7.4-billion-dollar industry? But all sparkling waters – bubly, spindrift, Zevia, La Croix, and Kirkland will pale to the water of life. In heaven, this will be the water for all of those who dwell in the New Jerusalem. And it will be Oh so GOOD!

It won’t get any better than what God will provide for us in eternity. Life will be Good in the New Jerusalem!

We can’t live on earth without water for more than three days, and apparently, we will need water in the New Jerusalem.

Some think that the river is symbolic and that it speaks of the perpetual outflow of spiritual blessings to all the redeemed of all ages (Ron Hodges). I don’t think so. I believe that this is an actual river and that it will be the source of drinking water and possibly irrigation for the New Jerusalem. After all, it is mentioned three times in Revelation (see Revelation 21:6; 22:1,17).

This river of the water of life is proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. This tells me that all heavenly life is dependent upon God and Jesus Christ. In the same way, we need physical water here on earth to thrive, so we will need God and Jesus Christ in glory to thrive.

No Night There

This verse also tells us that there will be no night there. We won’t need the night. The night was designed by God for physical rest. The human body was meant to labor and then rest. In our eternal state, we will have perfect bodies that will never need rest. Therefore, no need for the night.

II. The Tree of life – 22:2

In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

The first time we read about the tree of life is in Genesis 3:22. In the Fall chapter – their innocence was lost. We read in Genesis that God sent Adam and Eve out of the garden and that He placed cherubim to guard the way to the tree of life lest Adam and Eve return to the garden and partake of the tree and live forever in a fallen state (Genesis 3:24). God protected Adam and Eve.

Now here in Revelation 22 we are once again introduced to the tree of life, but this time it's located on the new earth. Here we discover that the inhabitants of the New Jerusalem will eat from the tree of life.

Twelve Fruits

We are told that the tree of life will bear twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. Underline the words, “each tree”. This is plural.

Question: Is there more than one tree of life? Are there twelve trees? Are there hundreds, thousands of trees? And does each tree of life produce a certain fruit, or do they all produce a different fruit every month?

These heavenly trees will be so unlike earthly trees that bear fruit during a certain cycle of the year.

Debbie and I were recently over in Wenatchee, and we stopped at a fruit stand looking for Apples. We discovered that it was too early. Apples aren’t ready until October.

This will not be the case with the tree/s of life. They will bear fruit every month. We read in Ezekiel 47:12,

12 Along the bank of the river, on this side and that, will grow all kinds of trees used for food; their leaves will not wither, and their fruit will not fail. They will bear fruit every month, because their water flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for medicine.”

This fruit will allow us to enjoy our eternal state.

A Yummy Peach Every Day

I can remember when I served at Foothills Community Church near Mount Spokane. The church property had several peach trees on it. I looked forward to a morning ritual of parking my car and walking up to the tree to pick a nice juicy plump peach. I would carry it into my office, wash it, and for the next five minutes I would savor the taste of the peach.

The Healing of the Nations

Notice that our verse tells us that the fruit is for the healing of the nations. Ron Rhodes has an interesting take on this. He writes, “The word used for “healing” in this verse is therapeia. We derive the English word therapy from this word. The word carries the idea of “health-giving.” We should interpret this to mean that the leaves of the tree promote the enjoyment of life in the New Jerusalem and are not for correcting ills that do not exist.”

Think of the tree/s of life and think of savoring the fruit on these trees ten billion times more than any fruit tree on earth. What fruit do you enjoy? I told you about my peach tree and how much I looked forward to a juicy peach each morning. Well, in the New Jerusalem I will enjoy a different fruit every month, and it will be oh so good!

Life will be Good in the New Jerusalem!

III. There shall be no more curse – 22:3

And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him.

In the chapter, All Things New we looked at the No More List (Look back at Revelation 21:4). Well, eternity would not be a “Life is Good” place if the curse was still around. The curse has been dissolved in the same way as the old heavens and the old earth were dissolved.

God has removed the curse. No more anything that would cause hurt and pain. Gone forever gone! Life will be Good in the New Jerusalem!

God’s Presence

We are going to have the presence of the throne of God and the Lamb – God, and Jesus Christ will be with us. As I have said in the past, God with us will take on a whole new meaning. What was once a promise will now be a reality for us. Life will be Good in the New Jerusalem!

What will we do besides drink from the water of life and eat from the tree of life? Well, we will forever enjoy being in the very presence of God and His Son, Jesus Christ. Our text tells us…

And His servants shall serve Him.

There will be a Service

The Greek word for “serve” used here can mean “to serve” or “to render religious service.” After all the Bible does say that we will be kings and priests. (See Revelation 1:6; 5:10; 20:6). We will all have duties and responsibilities in the New Jerusalem. And get this, our service to God will not be a burden. It will not cause us to sigh or feel overworked. No one will look at a clock. There will be no time in glory as we know it today. Our motto will be: Life will be Good in the New Jerusalem!

IV. We will see his face – 22:4

They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads.

The “They” include all the redeemed – that’s us! All of us who know Jesus Christ will see our Father’s face. There was a time when that was not permitted (Exodus 33:20), but this won’t be that time. In Matthew 5:8 we read,

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

Dr. John MacArthur writes, “The Greek verb translated “see” (horao) is in a tense that denotes a future, continuous reality. In heaven we will continually be seeing God.” (Adapted from John F. MacArthur, The Glory of Heaven).

God will not hide His face from us in the New Jerusalem.

His Name on our Foreheads

We also read here in verse 4,

And His name shall be on their foreheads.

God will tag us in heaven. This speaks of ownership.

Get this: Life is Good is a Trademark for a clothing line. So, being tagged by the name of God on our forehead is a Trademark. It defines ownership. Remember, we were REDEEMED by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. God owns us! We have been purchased.

As a teenager, we used to sing a song entitled: His Banner Over Me is Love. Here are the lyrics:

I am my beloved's and he is mine and his banner over me is love. I am my beloved's and he is mine and his banner over me is love I am my beloved's and he is mine and his banner over me is love. There's one way to peace by the power of the Cross and his banner over me is love. He leads us to his banqueting table and his banner over me is love He is the vine and we are the branches and his banner over me is love.

Back in Revelation 3:12, we read about a promise to overcomers. Overcomers are all those who by faith come to Jesus Christ. Here is what we read,

12 He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name.

Life will be Good in the New Jerusalem!

V. There will be no night there – 22:5

They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever.

No Night There

We have already seen back in verse one that there is no night there. Well, here we read that there will not be a need for a lamp (artificial light), nor the light of the sun (God’s created source of light for the first earth). Why? Because God Himself will give us light.

God gives them Light

In Ezekiel 10:4, we have this description of God. It reads,

Then the glory of the Lord went up from the cherub to the threshold of the temple, and the temple was filled with the cloud and the court was filled with the brightness of the glory of the Lord.

In Habakkuk 3:4 we read,

His radiance is like the sunlight; He has rays flashing from His hand, And there is the hiding of His power.

Who are the “they” in the second half of Revelation 22:5? It is the saints. It will be us. We shall reign forever and ever.

“To infinity and beyond” as theologian Buzz Lightyear says.

Life is going to be Good in the New Jerusalem!

VI. Faithful and true – 22:6

Then he said to me, “These words are faithful and true.” And the Lord God of the holy prophets sent His angel to show His servants the things which must shortly take place.

God is Faithful

How can we be sure that what I am teaching today is true, and that it is going to happen? Well, this is the promise of verse 6,

These words are faithful and true.

One of the attributes of God is His faithfulness. God is not 89% dependable. No, He is 100% dependable! One of my very favorite verses in the New Testament is 1 Thessalonians 5:24,

He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.

God is True

How true is God? Is He sometimes true? Is He part-time true? 8 out of 10 times true? No! Ten billion times NO. God is always 100% of the time true.

Finally, Look at how verse 6 closes,

And the Lord God of the holy prophets sent His angel to show His servants the things which must shortly take place.

This is a very interesting verse in the light of our series. The Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to show His servants the things which must shortly take place. Look closely at what is being said here:

· God spoke

· Prophets wrote

· Angels showed

· Servants see

Everything prophetically will happen just as God laid it out from eternity past. Every word that God shared with the prophets concerning the end times will be carried out completely. All of it will transpire!

In Amos 3:7-8 we read,

Surely the Lord GOD does nothing, Unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets. A lion has roared! Who will not fear? The Lord GOD has spoken! Who can but prophesy?

Life will be Good in the New Jerusalem because God is faithful and true. Don’t you ever doubt our faithful and true God?

Conclusion: So, what is going to make Life Good in the New Jerusalem?

1. We will have the glorious river of the water of life flowing from the throne of God. It will be our drinking and irrigation source.

2. We will have the tree/s of life (many trees possibly) all bearing twelve different fruits each month, and the leaves will be for the healing of the nations.

3. We will be forever free from the curse. The curse will have been removed, and the throne of God and the Lamb shall be there. And we will get to serve God throughout eternity.

4. We shall see the face of God, and His name will be on our foreheads.

5. We shall have perpetual daylight. No night in heaven. The Lord gives us light. And we shall reign forever and ever.

6. We can have the assurance of all this because God is faithful and true. What God had shared with the prophets will come to pass exactly as he revealed it.

Say it with me: Life will be Good in the New Jerusalem.