City of Jerusalem Rev 22:1-15  CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO

In this chapter we see some characteristics of earthly Jerusalem during the millennial reign of Jesus.  In Revelation 21, we saw characteristics of New Jerusalem.  But this chapter tells us some about earthly Jerusalem.  We see that:

v.1, 3 – The throne of God and of the Lamb is there – Ezekiel 43:1-7 shows us that the Lord will dwell there and reign from there during the millennium [Isaiah 9:6-7, Luke 1:32]

v.1 – A pure river of water flows out – Ezekiel 47:1-5 describes the river

v. 2 The tree of life is there – Ezekiel 47:6-12 – these are multitudes of just one tree – this tree bears 12 “manner of fruits” which provide meat for the nations that come up to Jerusalem in their month [so, there will be 12 nations during the millennium (Deuteronomy 32:8) and they will come up to worship the Lord] – the leaves will be for medicine to heal the nations – interestingly, the closer we get to the return of the Lord the more people are becoming interested in vegetarian diets and herbal medicines

v.3 There is no more curse – In Genesis 3:17 the earth was cursed because of man’s sin – in the millennium, this curse on the earth will be removed [Romans 8:20-22] – there will still be problems that result from Adam’s sin, though – for instance, men will still die [Romans 5:12, 1 Corinthians 15:25-26] – there will still be disease because people will still need healing from the tree of life – all this will change in the New Heavens and the New earth

v.4 God will be there – Ezekiel 48:35, Zechariah 2:10-13

v.5 No night will be there – Just like Revelation 21:23, since God is light and he is there

v.5 Israel will reign from there – Isaiah 60:11-12, Revelation 20:4, with the 12 apostles ruling over them [Matthew 19:28]

v.14 Only the righteous will enter there – they that do his commandments – keeping the commandments will be essential during the millennium [Matthew 5:19]

v.15 The rest of men are kept out – the wicked people during the millennium [Isaiah 26:10] will not be able to enter the city – also on the outside of the city, south of town, will be hell on earth for those who disobey the Lord [Isaiah 66:23-24] – these folks will be cast into the lake of fire at the end of the millennium, following the White Throne Judgment [Revelation 21:8]