Revelation 22 (River of Life & Conclusion)

Introduction

English Standard Version Chapter 22

The River of Life

22 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3 No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

Jesus Is Coming

6 And he said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true. And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place.”

7 “And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”

8 I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me, 9 but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.”

10 And he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. 11 Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy.”

12 “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”

14 Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. 15 Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

16 “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”

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 desires take the water of life without price.

18 I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.

20 He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!

21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.

This week we reach the conclusion of our study through John’s Apocalypse. For those of you who have been here throughout the duration of this study my hope is that you now have the tools necessary to understand, to enjoy, and to profit from this challenging, but incredible book. One of my earnest desires for this church, and of course the church abroad, is 1) that we would know how to rightly divide the word of truth, 2) to grow in our understanding of the Bible, and 3) as a result, come to know and love our Lord more deeply.

Ultimately, as we gain a more accurate understanding of God’s word, a clearer picture of who he is, his nature and his character comes into focus. The Bible is God’s self revelation and God reveals himself in every book of the Bible. Therefore, it’s always to our benefit and to God’s glory that we study the Bible. The Bible is how we get to know the one in whom we love. Therefore, my hope is that our study through Revelation has contributed to that end.

Review

And so with that, here we are, staring down the last chapter of John’s Apocalypse, Revelation chapter 22. And my plan today is threefold, 1) to exegete the remainder of this book, 2) to summarize the Apocalypse from beginning to end, and 3) to consider the major points of application of John’s Apocalypse to us today.

Beginning in chapter 21 John was given a vision of a new heaven and a new earth, which was intended to signify the onset of the new covenant era, the messianic age, by employing new creation language and symbolism. The coming of Christ resulted in the new covenant era and the establishment of the kingdom of heaven.

Then John sees a holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven, signifying the church, consisting of both Jews and Gentiles who share a common faith in Christ. The glory of the Lord had departed from the earthly temple in Jerusalem, and filled the church at Pentecost in the first century, who’s described here as the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God. The city is in the shape of a cube, just like the holy of holies, and John sees no temple in it, for the city, or the church, has become the dwelling place of God, we have become the temple of the Holy Spirit.

The city is protected by great high walls with twelve gates, three gates on every side, and the glory of the nations are brought into it. For as the Gospel is taken to the every nation under heaven, people from every nation, tribe, and language stream to this heavenly city. And nothing unclean ever enters the city, only those written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, and outside are the dogs, sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murders, idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

Paradise of God Restored

This city is meant to depict both the church today and at it consummation, when Christ comes again. But John’s description of this city doesn’t end in chapter 21. He goes on to describe a river flowing from the throne of God through the middle of the street of the city, which is where we pickup here in chapter 22, beginning in verse 1,

English Standard Version Chapter 22

22 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3 No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

As we’ve seen before, much of John’s imagery finds its origin in the book of Genesis in the Garden of Eden, or the paradise of God. Just like Eden this heavenly city is being established upon a mountain, just like Eden this heavenly city is adorned with precious stones, just like Eden, within this heavenly city comes a river, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God through the middle of the street, and just like Eden, in the midst of this heavenly city is the tree of life.

So, as we consider this imagery we need to keep in mind its overarching purpose in John’s Apocalypse. The point here in Revelation 21-22 is that what the first Adam lost, the last Adam, Jesus Christ, has recovered. And Jesus has secured it by the blood of the new covenant. This is the significance of the scroll back in Revelation chapter 5 which symbolized not only the covenant curses poured out upon unbelieving Israel, but the establishment of a new covenant that resulted in a new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven, the paradise of God restored.

And while we don’t fully perceive this reality as of yet with our waking eyes, the fundamental undoing of the curse has already been accomplished. Therefore, John sees a new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, the bride of Christ walking down the aisle of human history as it were.

River of life

Now, as it relates to the river of the water of life flowing from the throne of God through the middle of the street of the city, this had been anticipated by the OT prophets. Since the fall of Adam, the trajectory of redemptive history was a restoration of the paradise of God, therefore as history progressed the prophets were given increasing degrees of revelation depicting this future restoration.

This began most clearly with God’s covenant with Abraham, and eventually the nation of Israel. Again, we have to remember that the old covenant was never meant to be an end unto itself. It was meant to be subservient to the new covenant, therefore it served, first, to give rise to the seed of the woman promised to Eve back in Genesis 3:15, and, secondly, it served to typify and dramatize the new covenant, to dramatize the ministry of Christ as the lamb of God, to dramatize the kingdom of heaven, and to dramatize the Jerusalem that is above, which would come down out of heaven from God.

Therefore, the prophets of the old covenant era looked forward the new covenant era, an era that would be ushered in by the Messiah. And the prophets utilized the circumstances of their own context to describe that future time, they employed the imagery of their old covenant era (the temple, Jerusalem, the kingdom of Israel, etc.) to describe the coming new covenant. The old covenant was intended to provide the people of God a frame of reference by which to recognize the new covenant when it came.

Living water prophesied

Therefore, among other things, the prophets spoke of the living water that John describes here. When describing the new covenant era the prophet Joel wrote in Joel 3:17-18 of a fountain that would come forth from the house of the Lord,

“So you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who dwells in Zion, my holy mountain. And Jerusalem shall be holy, and strangers shall never again pass through it. “And in that day the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the streambeds of Judah shall flow with water; and a fountain shall come forth from the house of the LORD and water the Valley of Shittim.”

Then later the prophet Zechariah similarly wrote in Zech. 14:8,

Zechariah 14:8 ESV

On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea. It shall continue in summer as in winter.

Then also by the prophet Ezekiel, when he was given a vision of a restored Temple after the destruction of the one in Jerusalem by the Babylonians, but Ezekiel’s vision wasn’t intended to depict an earthly temple. Instead, at many points, what he saw corresponds with what John describes here in Revelation 21-22. Therefore, Ezekiel was given a vision depicting what would come to pass in John’s day, when a new Jerusalem would come down out of heaven from God. Listen to how Ezekiel describes the temple in his vision in Ezekiel 47:1-9, and notice especially the river, its origin, and the effects of the river, and how it parallels what we read here in Revelation 22,

“Then [the angel] brought me back to the door of the temple, and behold, water was issuing from below the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was flowing down from below the south end of the threshold of the temple, south of the altar. … and it was a river that I could not pass through, for the water had risen. It was deep enough to swim in, a river that could not be passed through. And he said to me, “Son of man, have you seen this?” Then he led me back to the bank of the river. As I went back, I saw on the bank of the river very many trees on the one side and on the other. And he said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, and enters the sea; when the water flows into the sea, the water will become fresh. And wherever the river goes, every living creature that swarms will live, and there will be very many fish. For this water goes there, that the waters of the sea may become fresh; so everything will live where the river goes. … And on the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither, nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing.”

The similarities are uncanny, just like John’s vision, there’s a river of water coming from beneath the threshold of the Temple (or from the throne of God in John’s case), a river with many trees along its banks just like the tree of life in John’s vision that’s on either side of the river, a river that gives life wherever it goes, trees that produce fruit for food every month, and their leaves for healing, just like the trees in John’s vision who bear twelve kinds of fruit each month, and their leaves for the healing of the nations.

Jesus gives living water

And if you think about it, this shouldn’t be too surprising when you consider Jesus’ ministry described earlier in John’s Gospel. Do you remember Jesus’ interaction with the woman at the well? When Jesus said to the woman, “Give me a drink.”? In John 4:9-10 we read,

John 4:9–10 ESV

The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”

then he goes on in verse 13-15,

English Standard Version (Chapter 4)

13 … “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”

Obviously, the woman at the well misses Jesus’ point, but we’re meant to understand that Jesus is the source of this living water. Listen to what Jesus says later in John 7:37-39,

John 7:37–39 ESV

On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

In other words, it’s the Spirit of God that indwells and sustains the church, like water that sustains a tree. And when we believe in Christ we partake of that living water. This is why John’s vision in Revelation 22 depicts a river of living water coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, running down the middle of the street of the city. It’s the source of life that sustains the city, that sustains the church. And this isn’t only a future reality, but this living water sustains the church today.

Tree of life

We also see on either side of this river the tree of life. This is interesting because we tend to think of the tree of life as a singular tree in the midst of Eden, however, both in John’s vision and Ezekiel’s vision the tree of life seems to be a reference to a particular kind or type of tree that lines the banks of this river of the water of life. And in both visions the trees bear fruit every month, indicating that they never go out of season, that these trees continually sustain the people of God.

And both Ezekiel and John describe their leaves as for healing, or the healing of the nations. In other words, they describe the effects of the Gospel, that as the Gospel takes root around the world, people from every tribe, tongue, and nation are healed, indwelt and sustained by the Spirit.

You may recall Jesus’ parable of the mustard seed in Matthew 13:31-32 when Jesus compared the kingdom of heaven to the grain of a mustard seed,

Matthew 13:31–32 ESV

He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”

Jesus’ point was that the kingdom of heaven would begin as small and seemingly insignificant as a mustard seed, but would eventually grow larger than all of the garden plants and into a tree, and that when it did birds would come from far away to make their homes in its branches and to find refuge in it. This is the same idea here in Revelation 22, that the nations are streaming to this city, and that the leaves of these trees are for the healing of those nations.

No curse

Then John goes on there in verses 3-5,

English Standard Version Chapter 22

3 No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

Again, this is a picture of restoration, no more curse. And we understand that even now the curse has been fundamentally undermined, and it’s unraveling has begun even now, even though creation awaits being set free from its bondage to corruption, and while we await the redemption of our bodies. This is both a present and future reality.

See his face

And similarly, we see his face, even now, through the eyes of faith, in 2 Corinthians 3:18 the Apostle Paul wrote that “we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.” Yet we still look forward to the day, as John put it in 1 John 3:2, when “we shall see him as he is.”

Light of men

Then in verse 5 John says that, “night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever." As I pointed out back in Revelation 21:22-25, I don’t think this verse is meant to describe the removal of the material sun or the removal of lamps, but rather it’s meant to describe how God will be our everlasting light, that it’s a reference to Isaiah 60.

Or as John put it at the beginning of his Gospel when he wrote in John 1:4-9,

“In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.”

In other words, during the era of the old covenant the world was shrouded in darkness, whereas at the advent of Christ, Jesus, the light of the world, brought an era of light at the dawning of the new covenant, and by the light of the Gospel the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into the city, and there will be no night there, for the Lord will be their everlasting light. This is also probably why Jesus refers to himself later there in verse 16 as “the bright and morning star.” A symbol of his messianic reign that began at his resurrection and ascension to his throne in heaven, and a fulfillment of Balaam’s prophecy in Numbers 24:17, that a star would come out of Jacob.

Epilogue

And then John closes his book much in the same way he opened it. Now, we’re not going to have time to look at all of it but He emphasizes there in verse 6 that “these words are trustworthy and true,” and then reiterates that God “sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place.” And if you’ll recall, this was precisely how John opened his book in Revelation 1:1 when he wrote, “The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place.”

In fact, he emphasizes this point twice here in chapter 22 and twice back in chapter 1. There in verse 10, he writes, “And he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near.” And then back in chapter 1, verse 3, he wrote, “Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.”

Now, this is key to understanding John’s Apocalypse, because it clarifies the timing of these events, and it limits them to the first century when the book was written. John isn’t saying that Jesus’ coming described here will be sudden, but that the timing of his judgment is near, that it’s soon to take place.

John is also told there in verse 10, “not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book,” which is noteworthy, because the prophet Daniel at the end of his book, in Daniel 12:4 (hundreds of years earlier) was told to “shut up the words and seal the book, until the time of the end.” In other words, Daniel was told to seal up the words of his prophecy because the time was still in the distant future, whereas John is told not to seal up the words of his prophecy because the time was near. In fact, John essentially unseals what Daniel was instructed to seal up in his day. The messiah had come, and the end of the old covenant with him. “This generation” which Jesus had spoke of in Matthew 24:34 during his Olivet discourse would be destroyed for their unbelief and the new Jerusalem would be revealed out of heaven from God.

Summary of John’s Apocalypse

Which is probably a good segway for us to consider John’s Apocalypse in light of everything that we’ve seen from chapters 1 through 22. In short, the Apocalypse is the climax of redemptive history, it’s not a book meant to describe the second coming of Christ, but rather his first coming. It’s the climax of redemptive history, because it depicts the war between the seed of the woman and the serpent, between Christ and his offspring and the devil and his offspring. John’s Apocalypse chronicles the impact of Jesus’ ministry, and the effects of his ascension to his throne in heaven.

At first, the Apocalypse serves as a covenant lawsuit against unbelieving Israel for her violation of the old covenant. The old covenant had established the descendants of Abraham in the land of Canaan, established them as a covenant nation, and the old covenant served to give rise to the seed of the woman, however, Israel repeatedly broke the terms of the covenant, and by the time of Christ they had prostituted themselves to Rome, and condemned Jesus to death. They were marked by their cry, “We have no king but Caesar!” Therefore, Jesus told them, “your house is left to you desolate.”

This is why Jerusalem is portrayed as both a false prophet and a great prostitute in the Book of Revelation. And it’s why the covenant curses of Deuteronomy chapter 28 rain down upon her from chapters 6-19 in the form of 7 seals, 7 trumpets, and 7 bowls of wrath. Jerusalem plays a major role throughout the Apocalypse because the covenant curses signal the end of old covenant. And these events were what Jesus described in Matthew 24 to his disciples as the great tribulation, when he told them, “when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies” get out of the city, and for those who are in Judea flea to mountains.

Jerusalem is also portrayed as a beast, because of the threat she posed to the early church. However, her ability to destroy the church hinged upon her relationship with a more formidable beast, the Roman Empire. We’re told in chapters 12-13 that these two beasts were animated against the church by the devil who had been thrown out of heaven as a result of Christ’s ascension to his throne.

While the two beasts were allied against the church for a time, eventually Rome turned on the great prostitute and devoured her, and Jerusalem was finally destroyed in AD 70. Then at the end of chapter 19 Christ is depicted as riding out on a white horse with the church close behind, and he’s described as having a sharp sword coming out of his mouth with which to strike down the nations, and to rule them with a rod of iron. Signifying the triumph of the Gospel. The beast and the false prophet are described as being thrown in the lake of fire, and then the devil is described as being bound from deceiving the nations for a thousand years.

Therefore, the Book of Revelation is not only a covenant lawsuit against unbelieving Israel, but more importantly it depicts the establishment of the new covenant. The seven sealed scroll described back in chapter 5 represents not only the covenant curses of the old covenant, but the establishment of the new covenant. This is why the Lamb who was slain is the only one found worthy to open the scroll. And why the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fall down before the Lamb and sing a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.”

Therefore, when we reach chapters 21-22 of the Apocalypse we’re told that John saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Not that the material cosmos would come to an end, but that the dawning of a new creation, of a new covenant had arrived. The inauguration of a new heaven and new earth. And while the Jerusalem below had been destroyed John saw the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. While the harlot had been put away and stoned for her sexual immorality, a pure and spotless bride revealed from heaven, the wife of the Lamb.

Appeal for repentance

Now, as we close I want to take a minute to consider a few points application from the Book of Revelation. The first point of application is that we should understand that the Book of Revelation is an appeal for repentance. In fact, it’s a final appeal for repentance to those in the first century just prior to the great tribulation. Throughout the OT the office of the prophet was typically intended bring God’s law to bear upon the consciences of God’s people that they might turn from sin and turn to God. Which is why we see seven letters written to seven churches in chapters 2-3. In nearly every letter the churches in Asia Minor are rebuked for one kind of compromise or another. Which becomes a theme throughout the book. Those who compromise their faith are described as those who bear the mark of the beast on their hand and on their forehead. Signifying that that their allegiance is fundamentally with the beast. That the pressures exerted by state and by Jerusalem had caused many to compromise their fidelity to Christ, and to join with the great prostitute in her sexual immorality. However, those who remain faithful to Christ are described as having the seal of God on their foreheads, indicating that God owns them. Therefore, you should ask yourself, who owns me? Whose name do I bear upon my forehead?

Comfort

The second point of application is that we should realize the Book of Revelation is meant to comfort the church. To the faithful we’re reminded that Christ is ruling and reigning from his throne in heaven. That Satan is not in control, but that he is subject to Christ, and that he has been restrained from deceiving the nations. That we conquer by blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony, and that the church rides out with Christ conquering and to conquer.

Preservation

Which is closely related to the third point, that Jesus will preserve his church. Jesus preserved the church in the first century through the great tribulation, therefore he is more than capable of preserving his church now. There is no opposition that the church can’t weather or overcome. And Jesus preserves his church by preserving its members. He is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless on the last day. He is able to keep your from compromise, and he is able to keep you until the end.

Sanctification

Our fourth point of application is sanctification, that suffering is meant to prove us and to improve us. We’re told that in Acts 14:22 that after the Apostle Paul had been stoned at the city of Lystra that he and Barnabas returned to Lystra some time later, “strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.” Paul knew that the persecution he faced in Lystra might rattle the faith of the new believers there so he returned to strengthen them.

While God preserved the church through the great tribulation of the first century, the church was not exempted from suffering and persecution. Paul would famously write later in Romans 5:3-5,

Romans 5:3–5 (ESV)

Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Suffering is meant to produce in us good fruit. If your suffering is not producing in you good fruit, if it’s not causing you to mature, then something is wrong.

In Jesus’ famous parable of the sower in Matthew 13 Jesus describes how tribulation and persecution reveals the true nature of our faith, whether our faith is genuine or not. He writes in Matthew 13:20-21,

Matthew 13:20–21 ESV

As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.

If you’re a new believer this is especially important to understand. Get it in your head now that you will experience persecution and tribulation on account of your faith, and be prepared that when you do 1) remember that it’s normal, and 2) don’t let it shake your faith, instead be resolved for it to embolden your faith, realizing that you have had the privilege to share in the sufferings of your Lord. Understand that suffering is mean to prove us and improve us.

Warning

And finally, the point of application. Take heed of judgments found in Scripture, take heed lest you fall under the same judgement in the future. Books like John’s Apocalypse ought to be a big warning sign, don’t go here. God’s judgments are a mercy to those who heed them. When you read verses like Revelation 22:12,

Revelation 22:12 ESV

“Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done.

and verses like Revelation 22:15,

Revelation 22:15 ESV

Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

take heed, don’t play sin, don’t keep it as a pet, don’t take it lightly, flee from it, and run to Christ, find refuge in Christ, confess your sins to him, for he faithful and just to forgive us our sins.

Prayer