Revelation

  Revelation 22: River of Life and Conclusion v1-5: The River of Life Continuing from the last chapter, the angel showed John a river, a water of life, bright as a crystal, flowing from the throne. The river streams through the middle of the city, and on both sides are the tree of life, with twelve kinds of fruits and yield monthly. The leaves were for  the healing of nations. (v1-2) It is apparent that the throne of God and the Lamb is inside the city of New Jerusalem, as the river flows from there and through the city.  Ezekiel 47:1-9 had described a similar river that exist when Christ ruled the earth for a millennium. He also mentioned that the leaves were for healing. Perhaps them temple Ezekiel saw is a model for the New Jerusalem's temple, which is the throne of God and the Lamb.  Again, this strange word of "healing of nations" is still puzzling. According to Revelation 21:5, that says "‘There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old o...

Revelation 21: New Earth and New Jerusalem v1-8: New Heaven and New Earth After the final judgement,  John saw a new heaven and a new earth, and that the existing ones have "passed away". (v1)  The "heaven" in Greek was Ouranos . It can be used to refer to three types of "heaven: - (a) the atmosphere (the blue sky), (b) outer space (night sky), and (c) Heaven, the place of God's throne. In this case it definitely refers to the sky, but perhaps also the outer space, the universe.  It does not refer to God's throne. Essentially a new universe is created, if it includes outer space. Peter had prophesied that there will be a new heaven and a new earth, and describe what will happen to the existing environment: "Looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat… Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for a new heaven and a new earth ...

 Revelation 20: The Millennium and the Great White Throne Judgment.  v1-3: Satan Bounded For 1000 years In previous chapter, John described how the anti-Christ and the false prophet were thrown into the lake of fire. Now John describe how Satan himself - the dragon or the ancient serpent (referring to the time of Eden) - were bound up with a great chain by an angel. The angel open the "bottomless pit" with a key, and threw him in and sealed the pit. He can no longer deceive the nations any longer, until a thousand years later, when he must be released for a while. (v1-3) Note that Satan, whose name is arch-angel Lucifer, is a powerful angel. Not only the pit is deep, he had to be tied up with a great (thick and heavy) chain. The pit then had to be divinely sealed until one thousand years later. We will look into why he must be released at that time.  Note that this brings up a fact of spirits life. All spirits appears to be immortal, including angels, demons, and human sp...