Now we come to the last chapter of Revelation, Chapter 22:

       Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street (Revelation 22:1-2).

       This is a river, not a lake or a pond. As this water of life is God’s Word, this speaks of how His Word is always moving—it’s never stagnate. So also is the nature of all who are led by The Spirit.

         This living water comes from the very throne of God, or from His authority. It is in the middle of the street, which speaks of how the living water, or water that brings life, is usually found between the extremes on either side.

       On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations (Revelation 22:2).

       The Tree of Life is Jesus, and those who abide in Him do not have seasonal fruit, but rather they bear fruit continually. Leaves are where photosynthesis takes place, which is the process of turning light into life. That is what we are each called to be, those who turn truth into life.

       There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him.

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

       And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever (Revelation 22:3-5).

       The reason why the beast could not put his mark on these is because His bondservants have the name of The Lord on their foreheads, and Satan cannot put his mark over God’s mark. Those who have stood resolutely against the darkness will have eternal life and eternal light from The Lord Himself.

       And he said to me, "These words are faithful and true"; and the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent His angel to show to His bond-servants the things which must soon take place (Revelation 22:6).

       Here we see again the emphasis on how it is His bondservants who are given the revelation of the things to take place. This creates an important question: Are we bondservants or are we still living for ourselves?

       "And behold, I am coming quickly. Blessed is he who heeds the words of the prophecy of this book."

       I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed me these things.

       But he said to me, "Do not do that. I am a fellow servant of yours and of your brethren the prophets and of those who heed the words of this book. Worship God" (Revelation 22:7-9).

       Here we again see John falling down to worship an angel. If he, the most mature of all the apostles as the only original one still alive, would have this tendency, how much more do we need to be careful to only worship God? Angels are not Gerber babies, and there can be a tendency when we see such awesome beings to fall down before them. We must resist this as they are ministering spirits sent to serve the heirs of salvation.

       Neither should we be so presumptuous to think that we have the authority to order them about. When Jesus walked as a man, He did not even presume to do this. Rather, He said that if He asked His Father, would He not send twelve legions of angels? We are made lower than the angels at this time, and we should treat them with all the dignity and respect they deserve. However, we neither worship nor presume authority over them. We look to our Father for what we need, and only worship Him.