Blessed [are] they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.
14. that do his commandments ] Read, that wash their robes: cf. Rev 7:14. The change from one reading to the other is in the Greek only one of a few letters; it seems uncalled for to charge the copyists who introduced the received reading with a wish to substitute justification by works for justification by faith. There are plenty of Scriptural parallels for the sentence, read either way: but there seems to be no doubt which way St John in fact wrote it.
that they may have right ] Lit. that the right (or power, or license) may be theirs. The right of approaching the Tree of Life is a definite privilege, granted to a certain class, viz. those who “wash their robes.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Blessed are they that do his commandments – See the notes on Rev 1:3; Rev 22:7.
That they may have right – That they may be entitled to approach the tree of life; that this privilege may be granted to them. It is not a right in the sense that they have merited it, but in the sense that the privilege is conferred on them as one of the rewards of God, and that, in virtue of the divine arrangements, they will be entitled to this honor. So the word used here – exousia – means in Joh 1:12, rendered power. The reason why this right or privilege is conferred is not implied in the use of the word. In this case it is by grace, and all the right which they have to the tree of life is founded on the fact that God has been pleased graciously to confer it on them.
To the tree of life – See the notes on Rev 22:2. They would not be forbidden to approach that tree as Adam was, but would be permitted always to partake of it, and would live forever.
And may enter in through the gates into the city – The New Jerusalem, Rev 21:2. They would have free access there; they would be permitted to abide there forever.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 14. Blessed are they that do his commandments] They are happy who are obedient.
That they may have right to the tree of life] The original is much more expressive, That they may have authority over the tree of life; an authority founded on right, this right founded on obedience to the commandments of God, and that obedience produced by the grace of God working in them. Without grace no obedience; without obedience no authority to the tree of life; without authority no right; without right no enjoyment: God’s grace through Christ produces the good, and then rewards it as if all had been our own.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
14. do his commandmentsso B,Syriac, Coptic, and CYPRIAN.But A, Aleph, and Vulgate read, “(Blessed are theythat) wash their robes,” namely, in the blood of theLamb (compare Re 7:14).This reading takes away the pretext for the notion of salvation byworks. But even English Version reading is quite compatiblewith salvation by grace; for God’s first and grand Gospel”commandment” is to believe on Jesus. Thus our “right”to (Greek, “privilege” or “lawful authorityover”) the tree of life is due not to our doings, but to what Hehas done for us. The right, or privilege, is founded,not on our merits, but on God’s grace.
throughGreek,“by the gates.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Blessed are they that do his commandments,…. Either the commandments of God, Re 12:17 the precepts of the moral law, which are the whole duty of man; which are done either legally in order to obtain life, and then they must be perfectly done, which no man can do; hence none live, and are justified by the deeds of it, and consequently are not blessed, but cursed; or evangelically, when they are done in the strength of Christ, from love to God, in the exercise of faith upon him, with a view to his glory, and without dependence on them, acknowledging the imperfection of them, and looking unto Jesus for righteousness and life, in whom such find both, and so are blessed persons: or else the commandments of Jesus are intended, who is speaking in the context, Re 22:12 and is speaking of himself, and his, as the angel does in Re 22:6 Christ’s commandments are his new commandment of love, and the ordinances of baptism, and the Lord’s supper; which are to be observed in the same evangelical manner as the commandments of God, and to be kept exactly as they are delivered, without any alteration, addition, or diminution; and they are to be attended to immediately, and without delay; and such as regard them in a right way and manner are blessed; they have much pleasure and delight in the observance of them; these commandments are not grievous, especially when they have the presence of Christ, the discoveries of his love, and are under the gracious influences of his Spirit: or it may be rather the commandments in this book are designed, for it may be rendered, “that do its commandments”; keep the sayings of this book, as in Re 22:7 such as relate to the worship of God, and forbid the worship of the beast, which caution against idolatry, and exhort to come out of Babylon, and direct to follow the Lamb, and charge not to add or take from anything written in this prophecy; and such persons as keep the words of it are pronounced blessed, Re 1:3. The Alexandrian copy reads, “that wash their garments”; and so the Ethiopic version, and also the Vulgate Latin, which adds, “in the blood of the Lamb”, agreeably to Re 7:13 and such whose persons and garments are washed in the blood of Christ are blessed indeed; they are justified by it, pardoned through it, and both they and their services are accepted on account of it. The instances of their happiness follow,
that they may have right to the tree of life; or “power over the tree of life”; that is, Christ, not of government over him, but of enjoyment of him; a liberty of eating of the fruit of this tree, having interest in it, and so a right to partake of it; which right, or liberty, is not obtained by obedience to the commands of God, or Christ, or of this book, for this is what is due to God, and obligatory on men; and which, when done, is but their duty, and can merit nothing; though a cheerful and evangelical obedience to the divine will makes such appear to have a right to such a privilege, as the disciples of Christ are not made so, but appear to be such by bringing forth fruit, Joh 15:8 but to have interest in Christ, the tree of life, and a right, power, and liberty to eat thereof, is a free grace gift, Re 2:7 and happy are those who enjoy such a privilege! Pr 3:18.
And may enter in through the gates into the city: the Ethiopic version reads, “into this holy city”: and which intends not entrance into a particular church of Christ, the way into which is faith in Christ, and a profession of it, and submission to the ordinance of baptism; nor entrance into heaven, which, as a Gospel church, is often called a city, and into which none shall enter, but such who are justified by the righteousness of Christ, and are regenerated by his Spirit, the gates of it are Christ and his grace; but the holy city, the new Jerusalem, is meant, and entrance into that, which is so largely described in the preceding chapter, and particularly its gates; and they must be happy persons, indeed, who enter there; and their right to it is from, and lies in Christ, his blood, righteousness, and grace, under a sense of which they yield a ready obedience to his will, which makes their right to appear. Frequent mention is made of the gates of this city in the book of Zohar; and, says R. Isaac i,
“when the soul , “is fit” (or worthy, or has a right) “to enter through the gates of Jerusalem” that is above, Michael the great prince goes with it, who anticipates for it the peace of the ministering angels, wondering at him, and inquiring concerning it, saying, “who is this that comes out of the wilderness”, &c. So 3:6.”
i Medrash Haneelam in Zohar in Gen. fol. 77. 1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Blessed (). This is the last beatitude of the book and “deals with the issues of the higher life” (Swete).
They that wash their robes ( ). Present active articular participle of . See 7:14 for this very verb with , while in 3:4 the negative statement occurs. Cf. 1Co 6:11.
That they may have the right ( ). Purpose clause with and the future middle of (a common construction in this book, Rev 6:4; Rev 6:11; Rev 9:5; Rev 9:20; Rev 13:12; Rev 14:13), that there may be their right.”
To come to the tree of life ( ). “Over the tree of life.” On = “power over” see Rev 6:8; Rev 13:7; Rev 16:9; Luke 9:1. On “the tree of life” see Rev 2:7; Rev 22:2.
May enter in (). Purpose clause with and the second aorist active subjunctive of parallel with (future).
By the gates ( ). Associative instrumental case of (21:12), “by the gate towers.”
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
That do His commandments [ ] . Read oiJ plunontev tav stolav aujtwn they that wash their robes. Compare ch. 7 14.
That they may have right to the tree of life [ ] . Lit., in order that theirs shall be authority over the tree of life. For ejxousia right, authority, see on Joh 1:12. Epi may be the preposition of direction : “may have right to come to” (so Rev.) or may be rendered over.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Blessed are they that do his commandments , (makarioi hoi plunontes tas stolas auton) “Blessed are those continually washing their robes; sinners do the Lord’s commandments when they hear, repent, and believe in Jesus Christ, at which point of obedience to Christ they are saved, receive a pure heart, become children of God, Luk 14:35; Act 17:30-31; Gal 3:26; Eph 2:8-9; Act 15:9. Thereafter they are rewarded for obeying his commandments for holy living and Divine service afterwards, 1Co 3:8; 1Co 9:26-27.
2) “That they may have right,” (hina estai he eksousia auton) “In order that they will be (exercising) their administrative authority;” Gen 2:9; Gen 3:22-24. The “they” to whom this book was addressed is they of the redeemed of the Church (the bride) to whom the book was addressed.
3) “To the tree of life,” (epi to ksulon tes zoes) ‘Over the tree of life,” Rev 22:2, within the holy city, the new Jerusalem, residence of the Lamb’s wife, in the new heaven and the new earth, where the tree of life (a life-giving or sustaining fruit tree) is found for both her occupants and the blood-washed from among the nations who come to walk in the city, Rev 21:23.
4) “And may enter in,” (kai eiselthosin) “And that they may enter or go in,” have free access, Rev 21:25-26.
5) “Through the gates,” (tois pulosin) “By the gates,” the twelve gates, honoring the twelve tribes of Israel, with their names on the twelve gates, Rev 21:12; Rev 21:27.
6) “Into the city,” (eis ten polin) “Into the city,” the holy city, the new Jerusalem, Rev 21:2; Rev 21:9-10; Rev 21:16.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(14) Blessed are they that do his commandments . . .The reading of two of the best MSS. is, Blessed are they that wash their robes. If we adopt, as we probably ought, this reading, the line of thought suggested above is helped forward: there is in Him who is the First and the Last, refuge from the power of sin and law against which such solemn warning has been given. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin: the best who have striven and conquered were victors not by their own might, but by the blood of the Lamb (Rev. 12:11). If, however, we follow the Received text, we have a benediction which echoes the blessing promised to obedience in Rev. 22:7; Rev. 22:9 : this echoing of promises from point to point is in harmony with the spirit of the whole epilogue. (Comp. Rev. 22:7; Rev. 22:9; Rev. 22:7; Rev. 22:12.) The special blessing held out to those who wash their robes (or do His commandments) is the right or authority over the tree of life. Blessed are they . . . that they may have (and continue to have) authority over the tree of life, and that they may enter in by the gates into the city. Admission into the city by the gate, which is of one pearl, and the continuous access to the tree of life, are the privileges of the faithful; and these privileges are free to all, for warnings do not forfeit privileges, but rather do they urge us to use them.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
14. Have right All these expressions point to the tree of life as the final reward of a successful probation; and show that not the millennium is meant, but the final heaven beyond the universal resurrection.
May enter gates May be allowed a life in the new earth, of which entrance to the capital is a right.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Blessed are those who wash their robes so that they may have the right to come to the tree of life and may enter in by the entrances into the city.’
Christ is not just concerned to express His glory, He wants it to affect men’s behaviour and attitudes. In the final analysis only by being cleansed through the blood of Christ can men find entry to the tree of life and become part of the city that is comprised of the people of God. For ‘wash their robes’ compare Rev 7:14, where it indicates making them white in the blood of the Lamb. It is this which gives them the right to come to the tree of life, and to enter into the city. The Bible began with expulsion from the tree of life, now it ends with a welcome to the tree of life. It is a record of how that has been accomplished.
This is the seventh statement of blessedness in the book. In Rev 1:3 those who read, hear and keep the prophecies of the book are blessed. In Rev 14:13 those who ‘die in the Lord’ are blessed. In Rev 16:15 those who watch and keep their garments by them in readiness for His return are blessed. In Rev 19:9 those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb are blessed. In Rev 20:6 those who share the First Resurrection are blessed. And in Rev 22:7 those who keep the prophecies of this book are blessed. Now those who are cleansed in the blood of Christ are blessed. For they, unlike the fallen Adam, have entry to the tree of life and entry into the city of God.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
DISCOURSE: 2532
OBEDIENCE, THE WAY TO LIFE
Rev 22:14. Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.
IN the inspired volume we do not find such a rigid adherence to systematic accuracy as the jealousies of controversial writers have subsequently introduced. The expressions which were used under the legal dispensation have been sometimes adopted also under the Christian dispensation; and the law of faith been delivered in terms nearly assimilated to those which were characteristic of the law of works. For instance, on one occasion, when a young man asked of our blessed Lord, what he must do to obtain eternal life; our blessed Lord answered, If thou wilt enter into life, keep the Commandments [Note: Mat 19:16-17.]. Now, if this direction be taken without due explanation, it will altogether invalidate the Gospel of Christ, and supersede entirely the whole work which our blessed Saviour came from heaven to accomplish for us. The answer was given in order to convince this self-deluded man, that he neither had kept the Commandments, nor could keep them, perfectly; and that, consequently, he must seek for salvation in the way provided for him in the Gospel. In like manner, the passage which I have just read to you must also be explained according to the analogy of faith. If we were to interpret it as importing, that our obedience to the Ten Commandments would entitle us to heaven, we must set aside all that the holy Apostles have written, and go back to Moses as our only instructor; or rather, I must say, we must consign over to perdition every child of man; since God has declared, that by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified [Note: Rom 3:19-20.]. To prevent any such fatal mistake, I will unfold to you,
I.
The true nature of evangelical obedience
When the commandments are mentioned, we are apt to confine our attention to the Decalogue, i. e. to the Ten Commandments which were written by God upon tables of stone, and delivered to Moses on Mount Sinai. But to us, under the Gospel, is another commandment given, and which is called in Scripture The law of faith [Note: Rom 3:27.]. To do Gods commandments then, we must,
1.
Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ
[The same inspired writer, who speaks to us in the text, says, This is Gods commandment, that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ [Note: 1Jn 3:23.]. In truth, till we have obeyed this command, all other obedience, except so far as the mere letter of the commandments, is impracticable; and, if rendered ever so perfectly, would be utterly ineffectual for our salvation. All spiritual obedience is the fruit of faith. We have no strength for it, till we have believed in Christ. It is only by grace received from Christ that we can perform any thing that is truly acceptable to God. A tree destitute of roots might as well produce its proper fruits, and in a perfect state, as we obey the law without the communication of grace from Christ to our souls. He himself has said, Without me ye can do nothing [Note: Joh 15:5.].
But, supposing we could of ourselves obey the law, even in its utmost extent, which not the most perfect man that ever lived could do, seeing that in many things we all offend [Note: Jam 3:2.],) still we never could atone to God for the sins we have already committed: after having done all that was required of us, we should still be only unprofitable servants [Note: Luk 17:10.]. And therefore we must come to God through Christ, relying wholly on the merits of his death, and pleading only his perfect righteousness as the ground of our acceptance before God [Note: Php 3:9.]. Till we have obeyed this command, we are under a sentence of condemnation; which can never be reversed, but through faith in Christ [Note: Joh 3:18; Joh 3:36.].]
2.
Comply with the whole of His revealed will
[The law of the Ten Commandments is not made void by the Gospel, nor is one of its requirements lessened in any degree. We are as much bound to love God with all our heart and soul, and to love our neighbour as ourselves, as Adam was in Paradise: nor if we have truly believed in Christ, shall we wish any one of its demands to be lowered. We shall see that law to be holy, and just, and good in every respect; and we shall pant after, and labour for, a perfect conformity to its every requirement. We shall not be satisfied with a literal observance of its precepts: we shall aspire after the highest possible attainments; and strive, according to our ability, to be holy as God is holy, and perfect even as our Father which is in heaven is perfect At the same time, our dependence will not be on our own obedience, but on the finished work of Christ; from a full conviction that there is no other foundation on which any man can build [Note: 1Co 3:11.], nor any other name but His whereby any man can be saved [Note: Act 4:12.].]
Having shewn what evangelical obedience is, let me point out to you,
II.
The blessedness attached to it
To understand this aright, we should look to Adam in Paradise
[He, whilst he continued in a state of innocence, had liberty to eat of the tree of life, which was to him a sacramental pledge, that, when his obedience should be completed, he should enter into the Paradise above. But when he had sinned, he was debarred from all access to the tree of life; because it could no longer be available for the benefits which, during his state of innocence, it assured to him. He might have ignorantly had recourse to it still as the means of life, if he had continued in Paradise: and therefore God drove him out from thence, and placed cherubims with a fiery sword at the gate of Eden, to prevent him from making any such rash attempt; that so he might be shut up to the salvation which was now revealed to him through the promised Seed [Note: Gen 3:22-24.].
Now the privilege which he forfeited is, through Christ, renewed to us: or rather, I should say, the privilege which he enjoyed in the shadow, is now imparted to us in the substance. He possessed his by obeying the commandments written on his heart; and we enjoy ours by obeying the commandments revealed to us in the Gospel. He possessed not his by any claim of merit, but by the free and sovereign gift of God: nor do we obtain ours but in a way of sovereign grace. Yet, as in his case, so in ours, the work and the reward are inseparable: and the very right conceded to him by works, is vouchsafed to us by faith. The very word which we here translate right, is, in another part of the same authors works, translated power: To as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name [Note: .]. There is between this passage and our text a perfect identity of import. In both cases, access to Christ, as the tree of life, was given by faith; and that access to Christ, and consequent participation of his benefits, was a pledge of eternal life.
True, in order to a full enjoyment of the final reward, there must be, as in Adams case, an obedience also to the moral law. But, in both cases, the reward is ultimately and equally of grace. What would have been vouchsafed to him without a Mediator, if he had continued obedient to Gods commands, will be vouchsafed to us through a Mediator, notwithstanding our past disobedience; provided we comply with the requisitions of the Gospel, by a life of faith, and by a life of holiness.]
In both cases, obedience is equally a condition of eternal life
[Persons are apt to take offence at the word condition. But the word is proper or improper, according to the sense we annex to it. Strictly speaking, obedience would not have given to Adam in Paradise any claim to heaven, any further than heaven had been promised to him as a reward, in the event of his continuing faultless throughout the whole period appointed for his probation. But to a person seeking salvation by the law, it would actually give ground for boasting, because he would demand salvation as a debt. But under the Gospel, however obedient we be, our hope of salvation is founded on Christ alone; and to all eternity must the glory of it be given to him alone. Hence, when we speak of obedience as a condition of eternal life, we mean no more, than that without it no salvation can be attained; obedience being the necessary fruit of faith, and the only possible evidence of our meetness for heaven. In this, its true and only proper sense, we most cordially adopt the language of our text, and say, Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have a right to eat of the tree of life, and enter in through the gates of the city. Whatever was accorded to Adam in Paradise, during his obedience to the law, shall be vouchsafed to us, if we be obedient to the Gospel. Was he strengthened and comforted by the tree of life? so shall we be, by a life of faith on Christ Jesus, who is the tree of life which beareth twelve manner of fruitsthe summer-fruits of prosperity, and the winter-fruits of adversity, according as the necessities of his people shall require. And, as the heavenly Paradise would have been his; so will that city, described in the foregoing chapter, be ours, with the freest participation of all its riches and of all its honours.]
ApplicationTo all then I say,
1.
Perform your duties
[Come to Christ, every one of you, as sinners, that you may be saved from wrath through himAnd endeavour to live altogether to His glory, shewing forth, in all things, your faith by your works ]
2.
Enjoy your privileges
[Go to the tree of life; take of it freely; and eat of it every hour of your lives. You are told, that the very leaves of that tree are for the healing of the nations. What then shall its fruits be? Verily, a life of faith in the Son of God, as having loved you and given himself for you, shall richly supply your every want; and be not a pledge only, but a foretaste also, of heaven itself. And go now, and survey the heavenly city, its foundations, its walls, its gates of pearls, its very pavement of the purest gold: it is all yours; yours by right, by title, by the strongest of all possible claimsthe promise and the oath of God. Live in expectation of it now, and you shall soon enjoy it for evermore.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
(14) Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. (15) For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.
The blessedness pronounced on the Lord’s people and the misery: on the ungodly, are strongly marked in these verses. Doing the commandments of God, as a right to the Tree of Life, is a comprehensive way of speaking, which includes in it an union with Christ, and a communion in all that belongs to Christ. When Christ was preaching in the days of his flesh, and had just mentioned of the sealing of the Father, the Jews put the question to him, what shall we do, that we might work the works of God, to which Jesus made this remarkable answer! This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent, Joh 6:27-29 . A belief in Christ, when that belief is inwrought by the Holy Ghost in the soul, will he followed with all the blessed effects, and fruits of obeying Christ’s commandments. But, where there is no work of God the Spirit in the soul, there can be no obedience to the commandments in the heart. Hence it is said, that without are dogs and sorcerers, and persons of all uncleanness, having never been renewed.
It is a sweet testimony of an union with Christ, when we derive all grace for obedience, from Christ. Jesus imparts everything suited to his members; and for this plain reason, because He is the head of all fullness. So that when Christ gives out of his fullness, while the advantage is theirs, the glory is His. When a child of God is first quickened, is it not Christ’s Spirit quickening? When a child of God is led on in the way of grace, is it not Christ’s grace, made sufficient for him, and the Lord’s strength made perfect in his people’s weakness. And what a fullness of glory for this communication, from the fullness of his grace, will be accumulated in that day, for Jesus’s everlasting crown of Mediator majesty; when Christ shall have the full ascription of glory, from the whole body of his members, and they are all come to this perfect man, Christ Jesus, according to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ! Eph 4:13 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
14 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.
Ver. 14. That they may have right ] That they may be assured of their interest in Christ and his kingdom. Plutarch tells of Eudoxas, that he would be willing to be burnt up by the sun presently, so he might be admitted to come so near it as to learn the nature of it. What then should not we be content to do or suffer for the enjoyment of Christ and heaven?
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Revelation
EDEN LOST AND RESTORED
Gen 3:24
Better is the end of a thing than the beginning.’ Eden was fair, but the heavenly city shall be fairer. The Paradise regained is an advance on the Paradise that was lost. These are the two ends of the history of man, separated by who knows how many millenniums. Heaven lay about him in his infancy, but as he journeyed westwards its morning blush faded into the light of common day-and only at eventide shall the sky glow again with glory and colour, and the western heaven at last outshine the eastern, with a light that shall never die. A fall, and a rise-a rise that reverses the fall, a rise that transcends the glory from which he fell,-that is the Bible’s notion of the history of the world, and I, for my part, believe it to be true, and feel it to be the one satisfactory explanation of what I see round about me and am conscious of within me.
1. Man had an Eden and lost it.
Look at the condition of the world: its degradation, its savagery-all its pining myriads, all its untold millions who sit in darkness and the shadow of death. Will any man try to bring before him the actual state of the heathen world, and, retaining his belief in a God, profess that these men are what God meant men to be? It seems to me that the present condition of the world is not congruous with the idea that men are in their primitive state, and if this is what God meant men for, then I see not how the dark clouds which rest on His wisdom and His love are to be lifted off.
Then, again-if the world has not a Fall in its history, then we must take the lowest condition as the one from which all have come; and is that idea capable of defence? Do we see anywhere signs of an upward process going on now? Have we any experience of a tribe raising itself? Can you catch anywhere a race in the act of struggling up, outside of the pale of Christianity? Is not the history of all a history of decadence, except only where the Gospel has come in to reverse the process?
But passing from this: What mean the experiences of the individual-these longings; this hard toil; these sorrows?
How comes it that man alone on earth, manifestly meant to be leader, lord, etc., seems but cursed with a higher nature that he may know greater sorrows, and raised above the beasts in capacity that he may sink below them in woe, this capacity only leading to a more exquisite susceptibility, to a more various as well as more poignant misery?
Whence come the contrarieties and discordance in his nature?
It seems to me that all this is best explained as the Bible explains it by saying: 1 Sin has done it; 2 Sin is not part of God’s original design, but man has fallen; 3 Sin had a personal beginning. There have been men who were pure, able to stand but free to fall.
It seems to me that that explanation is more in harmony with the facts of the case, finds more response in the unsophisticated instinct of man, than any other. It seems to me that, though it leaves many dark and sorrowful mysteries all unsolved, yet that it alleviates the blackest of them, and flings some rays of hope on them all. It seems to me that it relieves the character and administration of God from the darkest dishonour; that it delivers man’s position and destiny from the most hopeless despair; that though it leaves the mystery of the origin of evil, it brings out into clearest relief the central truths that evil is evil, and sin and sorrow are not God’s will; that it vindicates as something better than fond imaginings the vague aspirations of the soul for a fair and holy state; that it establishes, as nothing else will, at once the love of God and the dignity of man; that it leaves open the possibility of the final overthrow of that Sin which it treats as an intrusion and stigmatises as a fall; that it therefore braces for more vigorous, hopeful conflict against it, and that while but for it the answer to the despairing question, Hast Thou made all men in vain? must be either the wailing echo ‘In vain,’ or the denial that He has made them at all, there is hope and there is power, and there is brightness thrown on the character of God and on the fate of man, by the old belief that God made man upright, and that man made himself a sinner.
2. Heaven restores the lost Eden .
The highest conception we can form of heaven is the reversal of all the evil of earth, and the completion of its incomplete good: the sinless purity-the blessed presence of God-the fulfilment of all desires-the service which is blessed , not toil-the changelessness which is progress, not stagnation.
3. Heaven surpasses the lost Eden .
The perfection of association-the nations of the saved. Here ‘we mortal millions live alone,’ even when united with dearest. Like Egyptian monks of old, each dwelling in his own cave, though all were a community.
2 The richer experience.
The memory of past sorrows which are understood at last.
Heaven’s bliss in contrast with earthly joys.
Sinlessness of those who have been sinners will be more intensely lustrous for its dark background in the past. Redeemed men will be brighter than angels.
The impossibility of a fall.
Death behind us.
The former things shall no more come to mind, being lost in blaze of present transcendent experience, but yet shall be remembered as having led to that perfect state.
Christ not only repairs the ‘tabernacle which was fallen,’ but builds a fairer temple. He brings ‘a statelier Eden,’ and makes us dwell for ever in a Garden City.
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
Revelation
THE LAST BEATITUDE OF THE ASCENDED CHRIST
Rev 22:14
The Revised Version reads: ‘Blessed are they that wash their robes that they may have the right to come to the Tree of Life.’
That may seem a very large change to make, from ‘keep His commandments,’ to ‘wash their robes,’ but in the Greek it is only a change of three letters in one word, one in the next, and two in the third. And the two phrases, written, look so like each other, that a scribe, hasty, or for the moment careless, might very easily mistake the one for the other. There can be no doubt whatever that the reading in the Revised Version is the correct one. Not only is it sustained by a great weight of authority, but also it is far more in accordance with the whole teaching of the New Testament than that which stands in our Authorized Version.
‘Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the Tree of Life,’ carries us back to the old law, and has no more hopeful a sound in it than the thunders of Sinai. If it were, indeed, amongst Christ’s last words to us, it would be a most sad instance of His ‘building again the things He had destroyed.’ It is relegating us to the dreary old round of trying to earn Heaven by doing good deeds; and I might almost say it is ‘making the Cross of Christ of none effect.’ The fact that that corrupt reading came so soon into the Church and has held its ground so long, is to me a very singular proof of the difficulty which men have always had in keeping themselves up to the level of the grand central Gospel truth: Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but by His mercy. He saved us.’
‘Blessed are they that wash their robes, that they may have right to the Tree of Life,’ has the clear ring of the New Testament music about it, and is in full accord with the whole type of doctrine that runs through this book; and is not unworthy to be almost the last word that the lips of the Incarnate Wisdom spoke to men from Heaven. So then, taking that point of view, I wish to look with you at three things that come plainly out of these words: – First, that principle that if men are clean it is because they are cleansed; ‘Blessed are they that wash their robes.’ Secondly, It is the cleansed who have unrestrained access to the source of life. And lastly, It is the cleansed who pass into the society of the city. Now, let me deal with these three things: –
I. If we are clean it is because we have been made so. The first beatitude that Jesus Christ spoke from the mountain was, ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit.’ The last beatitude that He speaks from Heaven is, ‘Blessed are they that wash their robes.’ And the act commended in the last is but the outcome of the spirit extolled in the first. For they who are poor in spirit are such as know themselves to be sinful men; and those who know themselves to be sinful men are they who will cleanse their robes in the blood of Jesus Christ.
I need not remind you, I suppose, how continually this symbol of the robe is used in Scripture as an expression for moral character. This Book of the Apocalypse is saturated through and through with Jewish implications and allusions, and there can be no doubt whatever that in this metaphor of the cleansing of the robes there is an allusion to that vision that the Apocalyptic seer of the Old Covenant, the prophet Zechariah, had when he saw the high priest standing before the altar clad in foul raiment, and the word came forth, ‘Take away the filthy garments from him.’ Nor need I do more than remind you how the same metaphor is often on the lips of our Lord Himself, notably in the story of the man that had not on the wedding garment, and in the touching and beautiful incident in the parable of the Prodigal Son, where the exuberance of the father’s love bids them cast the best robe round the rags and the leanness of his long-lost boy. Nor need I remind you how Paul catches up the metaphor, and is continually referring to an investing and a divesting – the putting on and the putting off of the new and the old man. In this same Book of the Apocalypse we see, gleaming all through it, the white robes of the purified soul: ‘They shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy.’ ‘I beheld a great multitude, whom no man could number, who had washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.’
And so there are gathered up into these last words, all these allusions and memories, thick and clustering, when Christ speaks from Heaven and says, ‘Blessed are they that wash their robes.’
Well then, I suppose we may say roughly, in our more modern phraseology, that the robe thus so frequently spoken of in Scripture answers substantially to what we call character. It is not exactly the man – and yet it is the man. It is the self- and yet it is a kind of projection and making visible of the self, the vesture which is cast round ‘the hidden man of the heart.’
This mysterious robe, which answers nearly to what we mean by character, is made by the wearer.
That is a solemn thought. Every one of us carries about with him a mystical loom, and we are always weaving – weave, weave, weaving – this robe which we wear, every thought a thread of the warp, every action a thread of the weft. We weave it as the spider does its web, out of its own entrails, if I might so say. We weave it, and we dye it, and we cut it, and we stitch it, and then we put it on and wear it, and it sticks to us. Like a snail that crawls about your garden patches, and makes its shell by a process of secretion from out of its own substance, so you and I are making that mysterious, solemn thing that we call character, moment by moment. It is our own self, modified by our actions. Character is the precipitate from the stream of conduct which, like the Nile Delta, gradually rises solid and firm above the parent river and confines its flow.
The next step that I ask you to take is one that I know some of you do not like to take, and it is this: All the robes are foul. I do not say all are equally splashed, I do not say all are equally thickly spotted with the flesh. I do not wish to talk dogmas, I wish to talk experience; and I appeal to your own consciences, with this plain question, that every man and woman amongst us can answer if they like – Is it true or is it not, that the robe is all dashed with mud caught on the foul ways, with stains in some of us of rioting and banqueting and revelry and drunkenness; sins of the flesh that have left their mark upon the flesh; but with all of us grey and foul as compared with the whiteness of His robe who sits above us there?
Ah I would that I could bring to all hearts that are listening to me now, whether the hearts of professing Christians or no, that consciousness more deeply than we have ever had it, of how full of impurity and corruption our characters are. I do not charge you with crimes; I do not charge you with guilt in the world’s eyes, but, if we seriously ponder over our past, have we not lived, some of us habitually, all of us far too often, as if there were no God at all, or as if we had nothing to do with Him? and is not that godlessness practical Atheism, the fountain of all foulness from which black brooks flow into our lives, and stain our robes?
The next step is. The foul robe can be cleansed. My text does not go any further in a statement of the method, but it rests upon the great words of this Book of the Revelation, which I have already quoted for another purpose, in which we read ‘they washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.’ And the same writer, in his Epistle, has the same paradox, which seems to have been, to him, a favorite way of putting the central Gospel truth: ‘The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin.’ John saw the paradox, and saw that the paradox helped to illustrate the great truth that he was trying to proclaim, that the red blood whitened the black robe, and that in its full tide there was a limpid river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the Cross of Christ.
Guilt can be pardoned, character can be sanctified. Guilt can be pardoned! Men say: No! We live in a universe of inexorable laws; “What a man soweth that he must also reap.” If he has done wrong he must inherit the consequences.’
But the question whether guilt can be pardoned or not has only to do very remotely with consequences. The question is not whether we live in a universe of inexorable laws, but whether there is anything in the universe but the laws; for forgiveness is a personal act, and has only to do secondarily and remotely with the consequences of a man’s doings. So that, if we believe in a personal God, and believe that He has got any kind of living relation to men at all, we can believe- blessed be His name! – in the doctrine of forgiveness; and leave the inexorable laws full scope to work, according as His wisdom and His mercy may provide. For the heart of the Christian doctrine of pardon does not touch those laws, but the heart of it is this: ‘O Lord! Thou wast angry with me, but Thine anger is turned away, Thou hast comforted me!’ So guilt may be pardoned.
Character may be sanctified and elevated. Why not, if you can bring a sufficiently strong new force to bear upon it? And you can bring such a force, in the blessed thought of Christ’s death for me, and in the gift of His love. There is such a force in the thought that He has given Himself for our sin. There is such a force in the Spirit of Christ given to us through His death to cleanse us by His presence in our hearts. And so I say, the blood of Jesus Christ, the power of His sacrifice and Cross, cleanses from all sin, both in the sense of taking away all my guilt, and in the sense of changing my character into something loftier and nobler and purer.
Men and women! Do you believe that? If you do not, why do you not? If you do, are you trusting to what you believe, and living the life that befits the confidence?
One word more. The washing of your robes has to be done by you. ‘Blessed are they that wash their robes.’ On one hand is all the fullness of cleansing, on the other is the heap of dirty rags that will not be cleansed by you sitting there and looking at them. You must bring the two into contact. How? By the magic band that unites strength and weakness, purity and foulness, the Saviour and the penitent; the magic band of simple affiance, and trust and submission of myself to the cleansing power of His death and of His life.
Only remember, ‘Blessed are they that are washing,’ as the Greek might read. Not once and for all, but a continuous process, a blessed process running on all through a man’s life.
These are the conditions as they come from Christ’s own lips, in almost the last words that human ears, either in fact or in vision, heard Him utter. These are the conditions under which noble life, and at last Heaven, are possible for men, namely, that their foul characters shall be cleansed, and that continuously, by daily recurrence and recourse to the Fountain opened in His sacrifice and death.
Friends, you may know much of the beauty and nobleness of Christianity, you may know much of the tenderness and purity of Christ, but if you have not apprehended Him in this character, there is an inner sanctuary yet to be trod, of which your feet know nothing, and the sweetest sweetness of all you have not yet tasted, for it is His forgiving love and cleansing power that most deeply manifest His Divine affection and bind us to Himself.
II. The second thought that I would suggest is that these cleansed ones, and by implication these only, have unrestrained access to the source of life: ‘Blessed are they that wash their robes, that they may have right “to the Tree of Life.” ‘That, of course, carries us back to the old mysterious narrative at the beginning of the Book of Genesis.
Although it does not bear very closely upon my present subject, I cannot help pausing to point out one thing, how remarkable and how beautiful it is that the last page of the Revelation should come bending round to touch the first page of Genesis. The history of man began with angels with frowning faces and flaming swords barring the way to the Tree of Life. It ends here with the guard of Cherubim withdrawn; or rather, perhaps, sheathing their swords and becoming guides to the no longer forbidden fruit, instead of being its guards. That is the Bible’s grand symbolical way of saying that all between – the sin, the misery, the death – is a parenthesis. God’s purpose is not going to be thwarted, and the end of His majestic march through human history is to be men’s access to the Tree of Life from which, for the dreary ages – that are but as a moment in the great eternities – they were barred out by their sin.
However, that is not the point that I meant to say a word about. The Tree of Life stands as the symbol here of an external source of life. I take ‘life’ to be used here in what I believe to be its predominant New Testament meaning, not bare continuance in existence, but a full, blessed perfection and activity of all the faculties and possibilities of the man, which this very Apostle himself identifies with the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ. And that life, says John, has an external source in Heaven as on earth.
There is an old Christian legend, absurd as a legend, beautiful as a parable, that the Cross on which Christ was crucified was made out of the wood of the Tree of Life. It is true in idea, for He and His work will be the source of all life, for earth and for Heaven, whether of body, soul, or spirit. They that wash their robes have the right of unrestrained access to Him in whose presence, in that loftier state, no impurity can live.
I need not dwell upon the thought that is involved here, of how, whilst on earth and in the beginnings of the Christian career, life is the basis of righteousness: in that higher world, in a very profound sense, righteousness is the condition of fuller life.
The Tree of Life, according to some of the old Rabbinical legends, lifted its branches, by an indwelling motion, high above impure hands that were stretched to touch them, and until our hands are cleansed through faith in Jesus Christ, its richest fruit hangs unreachable, golden, above our heads. Oh! brother, the fullness of the life of Heaven is only granted to them who, drawing near Jesus Christ by faith on earth, have thereby cleansed themselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit.
III. Finally, those who are cleansed, and they only, have entrance into the society of the city.
There again we have a whole series of Old and New Testament metaphors gathered together. In the old world the whole power and splendor of great kingdoms were gathered in their capitals, Babylon and Nineveh in the past, Rome in the present. To John the forces of evil were all concentrated in that city on the Seven Hills. To him the antagonistic forces which were the hope of the world were all concentrated in the real ideal city which he expected to come down from Heaven – the New Jerusalem. And he and his brother who wrote the Epistle to the Hebrews, whoever he was – trained substantially in the same school – have taught us the same lesson that our picture of the future is not to be of a solitary or self -regarding Heaven, but of ‘a city which hath foundations.’
Genesis began with a garden, man’s sin sent him out of the garden. God, out of evil, evolves good, and for the lost garden comes the better thing, the found city. ‘Then comes the statelier Eden back to man.’ For surely it is better that men should live in the activities of the city than in the sweetness and indolence of the garden; and manifold and miserable as are the sins and the sorrows of great cities, the opprobria of our modern so-called civilization, yet still the aggregation of great masses of men for worthy objects generates a form of character, and sets loose energies and activities which no other kind of life could have produced.
And so I believe a great step in progress is set forth when we read of the final condition of mankind as being their assembling in the city of God. And surely there, amidst the solemn troops and sweet societies, the long loved, long-lost will be found again. I cannot believe that, like the Virgin and Joseph, we shall have to go wandering up and down the streets of Jerusalem when we get there, looking for our dear ones. ‘Wist ye not that I should be in the Father’s house?’ We shall know where to find them.
‘We shall clasp them again,
And with God be the rest.’
The city is the emblem of security and of permanence. No more shall life be as a desert march, with changes which only bring sorrow, and yet a dreary monotony amidst them all. We shall dwell amid abiding realities, ourselves fixed in unchanging but ever-growing completeness and peace. The tents shall be done with, we shall inhabit the solid mansions of the city which hath foundations, and shall wonderingly exclaim, as our unaccustomed eyes gaze on their indestructible strength, ‘What manner of stones and what buildings are here!’ – and not one stone of these shall ever be thrown down.
Dear friends! the sum of all my poor words now is the earnest beseeching of every one of you to bring all your foulness to Christ, who alone can make you clean. ‘Though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before
Me, saith the Lord.’ ‘The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin.’ Submit yourselves, I pray you, to its purifying power, by humble faith. Then you will have the true possession of the true life today, and will be citizens of the city of God, even while in this far-off dependency of that great metropolis. And when the moment comes for you to leave this prison-house, an angel ‘mighty and beauteous, though his face be hid,’ shall come to you, as once of old to the sleeping Apostle. His touch shall wake you, and lead you, scarce knowing where you are or what is happening, from the sleep of life, past the first and second ward, and through the iron gate that leadeth unto the city. Smoothly it will turn on its hinges, opening to you of its own accord, and then you will come to yourself and know of a surety that the Lord hath sent His angel, and that he has led you into the home of your heart, the city of God, which they enter as its fitting inhabitants who wash their robes in the blood of the Lamb.
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Rev 22:14-15
14Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city. 15Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying.
Rev 22:14 “Blessed” This is the last of the seven blessings for believers found in Revelation (cf. Rev 1:3; Rev 14:13; Rev 16:15; Rev 19:9; Rev 20:6; Rev 22:7; Rev 22:14).
“those who wash their robes” This is a metaphor for trusting in the atonement of Christ (cf. Rev 7:14). Believers are accepted because He was accepted (cf. Eph 1:6). Believers live because He died. Believers have resurrection life because He lives!
There is a Greek manuscript variant in this phrase.
1. “wash their robes” is in MSS (fourth century) and A (fifth century), as well as the Vulgate. The UBS4 gives it an “A” rating, meaning “certain.”
2. “keep the commandments” is in 046, an uncial MS from the tenth century, minuscule MSS (1 and 94) from the twelfth century, and the Peshitta (Syrian) version.
“they may have the right to the tree of life; and may enter by the gates into the city” These are two metaphors for eternal salvation through Christ. One goes back to Gen 2:9; Gen 3:22 (cf. Rev 2:7; Rev 22:2; Rev 22:14; Rev 22:19) and the other to Rev 21:2; Rev 21:9 to Rev 22:5.
Rev 22:15 “Outside are” This is very difficult to interpret unless it is a metaphor for the lake of fire (cf. Rev 21:8).
“the dogs” This is another strange allusion because there should be no evil people left at this point in the book. In Deu 23:18 this term refers to male prostitutes of the Canaanite fertility cult. In other parts of the Old and New Testaments it refers to wicked people (cf. Psa 22:16; Psa 22:20; Mat 7:6; and Php 3:2). Let me quote Robert H. Mounce at this point from his commentary on Revelation in the New International Series:
“The verse does not intend to teach that in the eternal state all manner of wicked men will be living just outside the heavenly city. It simply describes the future with the imagery of the present. The contrast is between the blessedness of the faithful and the fate of the wicked” (p. 394).
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Blessed. Greek. makarios. Fiftieth (App-10) and last occurance in N.T. Compare the forty-two occs. of the Hebrew equivalent, ‘ashrey, the first in Deu 33:29 (Happy).
do His commandments. The texts read “wash their robes”, but it is probable that the reading of the Received Text is correct. It is a question of reading in the original MSS., and not of translation.
that = in order that. Greek. hina.
right. App-172.
to = over. App-104.
through = by. No preposition.
into. App-104.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Rev 22:14. , of Him) of Him, who is coming: Rev 22:12. He Himself speaks concerning Himself. There is a very similar phrase, ch. Rev 5:10 : them, that is, us.- ) explains the blessedness here mentioned, as ch. Rev 14:13; and for makes the discourse exceedingly emphatic.- , the tree of life) of which they who eat, live for ever: Gen 3:22.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Chapter 59
Our Lords final beatitudes
‘Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city’
Rev 22:14
A beatitude is the sure and certain promise of immortal bliss, eternal happiness, and supreme delight. The Lord Jesus pronounced nine beatitudes in his sermon on the mount (Mat 5:3-12). The apostle Paul, by divine inspiration, gave us what some have called ‘the last beatitude’ in Act 20:35 – ‘Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ Everyone knows that it is more blessed in this world to be rich and have the means to give than it is to be poor and have nothing to give. But the words of our Lord mean: It is more blessed to give to others than it is to receive from them. It is more blessed to give what we have, be it little or much, for the good of others, than it is to increase what we have. Many give for the hope of gain, to get more. Gods people give according to their ability, to do good, hoping for nothing in return. It is more blessed to give our labor to those who need it than it is to be paid for our labor from those who do not need it. It is blessed to give and labor for those who are grateful and appreciative. But it is more blessed and honorable to give and labor for those who are ungrateful and unappreciative, for then our gifts and our labors are to God alone.
Look at Act 20:35. ‘I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how that he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.’
It tells us three things about the children of God in this world. First, Gods saints are honest, hardworking men and women. They work for their living. They work hard. They work for the glory of God (Eph 6:5-8; 1Th 4:11; 2Th 3:10; 1Ti 5:8). Gods people are not lazy, loitering dolts, but productive members of society. Second, Gods people work, not merely to enrich themselves, but to support the weak, the poor, the needy, and the work of the gospel (Eph 4:28). Believers are not greedy, grasping people, but generous, giving people. We work to support our families, the work of the gospel (churches, pastors, missionaries, etc.), and, those who are not able to support themselves. Third, Gods saints in this world who give with willing and cheerful hearts are blessed of God. The fact that they give with willing hearts, freely and cheerfully is proof that they are loved of God. Our giving does not cause God to love us and bless us with his grace. But it is a proof that he does love us and has blessed us (2Co 9:7). Giving men and women shall be constantly supplied by God with the ability to give (2Co 9:8; Php 4:19; Luk 6:38). Generous, open-hearted, and open-handed men and women, those who give willingly and cheerfully because they love Christ are blessed with Gods unspeakable gift, Jesus Christ, and everlasting glory in him (2Co 8:9; 2Co 9:15). ‘Blessed!’ – The text says, giving men and women are ‘blessed.’
These are the beatitudes of our Lord, his sure, unconditional promises of supreme happiness and eternal bliss to his people. These beatitudes and the blessedness they promise are not conditioned upon the character and conduct of those to whom the promises are made. Rather, their character and conduct is the result of the blessing bestowed (Eph 1:3).
Our Lord gives seven final beatitudes are given to his people in the book of Revelation
Here are the last seven beatitudes given to Gods elect in the Word of God. Here, in the last Book of the Bible, are seven sure and certain promises of immortal bliss, eternal happiness, and supreme delight given to all who believe.
1. Supreme happiness and eternal bliss are connected with the public ministry of the Word
‘Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein (Rev 1:3). ‘Blessed is he that readeth.’ John Gill suggested that the word ‘readeth’ here means to read with explanation. The faithful gospel preacher reads Gods word to the church and explains the meaning of the words. That is what it is to preach the Scriptures. And the man who does so is blessed of God, with grace, with gifts of knowledge and understanding (Jer 3:15), and with the ability to preach the gospel, teaching the Word of God. That man is blessed of God in the preparation and in the preaching of Gods message to his people (Eph 3:8). ‘Blessed are they that hear the words of this prophecy.’ Those who hear the Word of God faithfully read and proclaimed are blessed in the providence of God, for this is the means of grace, the means by which God calls, comforts, corrects, and cleanses his elect (Isa 52:7; Rom 10:14-17; Eph 4:8-16; Eph 5:26). Those who hear in faith with understanding hearts are blessed with divine grace and eternal life (Joh 3:5-7; 1Co 2:9-14). ‘Blessed are they that keep those things which are written therein.’ Those who keep the Word in their hearts are the children of God. Their hearts have been prepared by grace. The Word has been sown in their hearts by grace. And they keep the Word by grace. They receive the Word as seed sown in good ground; and it brings forth fruit (Mat 13:23). They receive the Word by the power and grace of God the Holy Spirit (1Th 1:4-5).
2. Supreme happiness and eternal bliss is promised to all who die in the Lord
Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them (Rev 14:13). There is a great, indescribable blessedness connected with death for the believer. ‘Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his saints’ (Psa 116:15). Read 2Co 5:1-9. ‘They rest from their labours.’ (See Heb 4:9-11). As soon as a sinner comes to Christ in faith, he begins to keep a sabbath rest. Ceasing from his own works, he rests in Christs purchase, trusting him alone for acceptance with God. That is what the Old Testament sabbath day typified. We also rest, at least in measure, in our Lords providence (Rom 8:28). But as soon as Gods saints leave this world of woe, they enter into the perfect rest of his presence. ‘And their works do follow them.’ Our works do not go before us to prepare a place for us in heaven. Christ did that (Joh 14:1-3; Heb 6:20). We do not carry our works with us as the ground of our acceptance with God or the basis for reward in heaven. Every believer knows that his righteousnesses are filthy rags before God (Isa 64:6). But our works do follow us to heaven for the praise, honor, and glory of Christ.
3. Supreme happiness and eternal bliss is promised to those who persevere in the faith of Chris
‘Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame ‘ (Rev 16:15). Gods saints live in anticipation of Christs coming to carry them home. We look for his second coming at any moment; and we look for him to come and carry us away by death at any moment. We are watching for him. We do not watch for him as we ought. But we do watch for him in faith. This is the constant life of faith. Faith never quits. Thus, we keep our garments, the garments of salvation, persevering in faith (Mat 10:22; 1Co 15:1-3; Heb 3:14; Heb 10:23). Those who do not persevere unto the end, those who cast away the faith of Christ, never truly knew him. Being found naked, they shall be ashamed and cast away forever (Mat 22:12-14).
4. Supreme happiness and eternal bliss is promised to all who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb
‘Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb’ (Rev 19:9). The call here spoken of is the effectual call of grace, by which God the Holy Spirit brings chosen, redeemed sinners to Christ, creating faith in them by his irresistible power (Psa 65:4; 1Co 1:26-31). This is that distinctive, distinguishing call which separates the precious from the vile (Rom 8:29; 1Co 4:7).
5. Supreme happiness and eternal bliss is promised to those who are born of God
‘Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years’ (Rev 20:6). This is not a promise to be fulfilled in some imaginary millennial kingdom. The first resurrection is a spiritual resurrection. It is the new birth (Joh 5:25; Eph 2:1-5). All who have been resurrected representatively with Christ must be resurrected from spiritual death by the Holy Spirit in the new birth, and shall be resurrected physically at the second coming of Christ (Job 19:25-27). It is by virtue of this first resurrection that Gods saints are made kings and priests unto God. ‘And they shall never perish’ (Joh 10:28)
6. Supreme happiness and eternal bliss is promised to all who keep, or obey, the words of Christ
‘Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book’ (Rev 22:7). ‘The sayings of the prophecy of this book’ are the commandments of the gospel issued to sinners in the book of Revelation. They are all matters of faith, acts of faith which grace alone can enable us to perform, but commandments we are responsible to obey. Our Lord requires us, by an act of faith, to buy of him everlasting salvation (Rev 3:18; Isa 55:1-3). He demands that any of his saints, desiring communion with him, open the door to him (Rev 3:20).Yet, we know that if we open to him, it is because he put his hand to the door and opened it first (Son 5:2-6). The Son of God also demands that all who follow him make a clean break from all false religion (Rev 18:4). And he calls whosoever will to come to him and drink of the water of life freely (Rev 22:17). All who obey his voice of grace have been blessed with grace from eternity (Eph 1:3), and shall be blessed with grace forever.
7. Supreme happiness and eternal bliss is promised to all who obey the commandments of God
Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city’ (Rev 22:14). His commandments are very simple (1Jn 3:23). Believing Christ, we offer to God perfect righteousness and the complete fulfilment of all his commandments (Rom 3:28-31). All who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ have the right to live forever. By the gift of God, the purchase of Christ, and the imputation of righteousness to them, they are worthy to inherit eternal life (Col 1:12).
Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible
The Privileges of the Blessed
Blessed are they that wash their robes, that they may have the right to come to the tree of life, and may enter in by the gates into the city.Rev 22:14.
The first Beatitude that Jesus Christ spoke from the mountain was, Blessed are the poor in spirit. The last Beatitude that He speaks from heaven is, Blessed are they that wash their robes. And the act commended in the last is but the outcome of the spirit extolled in the first. For they who are poor in spirit know themselves to be sinful men; and they who know themselves to be sinful men will cleanse their robes in the blood of Jesus Christ.
I always regard this as a test text. I should like to ask every Sunday-school teacher, every district visitor, every worker in an inquiry room, to take it, just as it stands, and expound it. And if he stumbles over it, or muddles it, I should like to send him back for a while to a form in Gods school, there to learn Christ from Christ Himself, before he ventures to teach others. I said learn Christ; not theologies, not systems of doctrine, but Christ. Christ is here in every word, Christ Jesus, Gods Anointed Saviour of poor sinners; all and in all to souls. If a man cannot preach Christ from this passage, He does not know the Gospel so as to be a fit teacher either of babes, or of strong men. It is not a difficult passage, if a man has first the root of the matter in him, and then has sat, as a little child, at the feet of the Holy Ghost to be taught, as He alone can teach, Gods beautiful equipoise of truth.1 [Note: A. C. Price, Fifty Sermons, ii. 105.]
The text tells us (1) who are the Blessed of the last Beatitude, and (2) what are their Privileges. The Blessed are they that do his commandments, or, as in the Revised Version, according to another reading, they that wash their robes. Their privileges are right of access to the Tree of Life and entrance through the gates into the city.
I
The Blessed
We are face to face at once with a difficulty of reading. The A.V. had Blessed are they that do his commandments, following one reading; the R.V. Blessed are they that wash their robes, following another. The difference, which seems so great in English, is due to the exchange of only a few letters in Greek. But the change from the Authorized Version to the Revised is generally hailed by expositors as a relief. Blessed are they that do his commandments, says Maclaren, carries us back to the old law, and has no more hopeful a sound in it than the thunders of Sinai. If it were, indeed, among Christs last words to us, it would be a most sad instance of His building again the things he had destroyed. It is relegating us to the dreary old round of trying to earn heaven by doing good deeds; and I might almost say it is making the cross of Christ of none effect. The fact that that corrupt reading came so soon into the Church and has held its ground so long, is to me a very singular proof of the difficulty which men have always had in keeping themselves up to the level of the grand central gospel-truth: Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us.
Dean Vaughan speaks even more strongly against the reading. If this is the saying of Christ, he says, we must bow to it. If it pleased Him to leave as His last word to the Churches the condemning sentence, it is not for us to remonstrate or to rebel. If it was the will of Christ to replace His Church, by the very latest of His revelations, on a footing of meritorious obedience, it must be so, and, though with downcast looks and tottering steps, we must set ourselves to follow. Yet we cannot check the rising thought, We trusted that it has been he which should have redeemed Israel.
But is there this difference between the readings? There is, and more than this difference, if they who do his commandments have not yet washed their robes; or if, to put it from the other side, the washing of the robes were not one of the commandments that had to be done, and indeed the sum and substance of them. It is quite true that our right of access to the Tree of Life is not of works, but of grace; yet when we have been saved by grace we proceed to keep the commandments of God. This is the evidence of our salvation, and the enjoyment of it. If a man love me, he will keep my wordsthat is doing His commandmentsand my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him (Joh 14:23)that is enjoying access to the Tree of Life.
Swete has some difficulty in deciding between the readings. If the Greek letters were changed in the course of transcription, he thinks it slightly more probable that wash their robes arose out of do his commandments, than that the reverse occurred. But the evidence of the documents is in favour of wash their robes; and in the Johannine Writings the phrase is keep his commandments, do occurring only once, in 1Jn 5:2. On the whole, then, he thinks, wash their robes may with some confidence be preferred.
1. I need not remind you, I suppose, says Maclaren, how continually this symbol of the robe is used in Scripture as an expression for moral character. This Book of the Apocalypse is saturated through and through with Jewish implications and allusions, and there can be no doubt whatever that in this metaphor of the cleansing of the robes there is an allusion to that vision which the Apocalyptic seer of the Old Covenant, the prophet Zechariah, had when he saw the high priest standing before the altar clad in foul raiment, and the word came forth, Take away the filthy garments from him. Nor need I do more than remind you how the same metaphor is often on the lips of our Lord Himself, notably in the story of the man who had not on the wedding garment, and in the touching and beautiful incident in the parable of the Prodigal Son, where the exuberance of the fathers love bids them cast the best robe round the rags and the leanness of his long-lost boy. Nor need I remind you how St. Paul catches up the metaphor, and is continually referring to an investing and a divestingthe putting on and the putting off of the new and the old man. In this same Book of the Apocalypse, we see, gleaming all through it, the white robes of the purified soul: They shall walk with me in white; for they are worthy. I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, who had washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
All three made their way to the beautiful valley of Ivirna, where the lands of the chief Manaune were situated. The welkin rang with merry shouts of Kua tau mai Rori! (Rori is found!). The news spread all over the island the same day, so that crowds came to see this poor fellow. And a miserable skeleton he was, his skin almost black through continual exposure. A feast was made for him by the people of Ivirna, but he scarcely tasted the unaccustomed food. He was then led in procession round the island by his protector and others; the crowning point was for him to bathe in Rongos Sacred Fountain, in token of his being cleansed from a state of bondage and fear, and being allowed to participate freely in all the good things of the dominant tribe.1 [Note: W. W. Gill, From Darkness to Light in Polynesia, 234.]
White was widely considered among the ancient nations as the colour of innocence and purity. On this account it was appropriate for those who were engaged in the worship of the gods, for purity was prescribed as a condition of engaging in Divine service, though usually the purity was understood in a merely ceremonial sense. All Roman citizens wore the pure white toga on holidays and at religious ceremonies, whether or not they wore it on ordinary days; in fact, the great majority of them did not ordinarily wear that heavy and cumbrous garment, and hence the city on festivals and holidays is called candida urbs, the city in white. Especially on the day of a Triumph white was the universal colourthough the soldiers, of course, wore not the toga, the garb of peace, but their full-dress military attire with all their decorationsand there can hardly be any doubt that the idea of walking in a Triumph similar to that celebrated by a victorious Roman general is present in the mind of the writer of the Apocalypse when he uses the words, they shall walk with me in white. A dirty and dark-coloured toga, on the other hand, was the appropriate dress of sorrow and of guilt. Hence it was worn by mourners and by persons accused of crimes.2 [Note: W. M. Ramsay, The Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia, 386.]
2. The foul robes can be cleansed. The text does not state the method. That has already been declared. They washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb (Rev 7:14). In his Epistle, St. John has the same paradox: The blood of Jesus his Son cleanseth us from all sin (1Jn 1:7). St. John saw the paradox, and he saw that the paradox helped to illustrate the great truth which he was trying to proclaim, that the red blood whitened the black robe, and that in its full tide there was a limpid river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the cross of Christ.
In one of the letters written by Dr. Dale during the first year of his ministry at Carrs Lane, he says: If all the truths which have been realized and made precious eras of our religious progress, all the facts which at different times have assumed to our spiritual consciousness the hardness and grimness of a rock, all the wisdom which has come from the lips of others, or has been painfully learnt from doubt and difficulty and sin and folly, could be kept visibly and consciously before the mind, how different our life would be. Why, even that blessed text, The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin, which sometimes comes down on the heart like a whole heaven of peace and joy and glory, will at other times be as meaningless as the darkest sayings of the prophets, or as powerless as the vainest utterances of human folly. And then just as one is bemoaning its darkness, it will suddenly blaze out in astonishing brightness, and almost startle the heart by its revelations of safety and strength.1 [Note: A. W. W. Dale, The Life of R. W. Dale of Birmingham, 79.]
3. But it is not a past washing only that is spoken of here. It is also a daily washing of the robes of the redeemed even now. It is not, Blessed are they that have washed. The Greek is the perpetual presentBlessed are they that keep washing. Having once washed the whole body in the fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness, they have need constantly to wash the feet, soiled afterwards, and again and again, by contact with the dust and the miry clay of this world. Blessed are they that evermore wash their robes, by an ever-repeated application of the blood of sprinkling alike to the accusing conscience and to the sin-stained life.
It is a most dangerous thing to fall into the habit of letting any committed sin pass sub silentio (as it were) between man and his soul. Scripture indeed counsels no morbid self-scrutiny. Harm may be done by it. A man may walk timidly and slavishly before God by reason of it. We are not taught that many express words, or perhaps any express words, need pass about particular wrong thoughts, acts, or words, in direct converse on the subject between God and the soul. But if so, it must be because the intercourse is so thorough that it need not be microscopic. The man does not wash each separate spot and stain, because he washes the whole robe, and them with it. One way or another, the tablets of memory and the tablets of conscience and the tablets of life must be sponged clean every eveningand in only one way, by what Scripture calls the blood of the Lambthat is, the atonement made once for all for all sin, applied in earnest faith to the individual mans heart and soul in the sight of God.
I have been told, says the Rev. D. M. Henry of Whithorn, Wigtownshire, that in this district in days gone by, those who were communicants of the Church might be known by the washings on the ropes in their greens, or, if they had no greens, on the dykes and hedges near their houses on the week before the communion Sabbath. And on one communion Sabbath morning, as I had occasion to go over the dewy fields very early, I met a working man near a rock in the middle of a field well away from the town, to whom I said, when I came up to him, Dear me, James, you are early about. To which he replied, Ay, I always come out at sunrise on the communion Sunday to prepare; and then something told me quite plainly that he had been at prayer at the rock-side before I had appeared.
4. The washing of their robes is done by the blessed themselves. Blessed are they that wash their robes. On the one hand is all the fulness of cleansing; on the other is the heap of dirty rags that will not be cleansed by our sitting there and looking at them. The two must be brought into contact. How? By the magic band that unites strength and weakness, purity and foulness, the Saviour and the penitent; the magic band of simple affiance, and trust, and submission to the cleansing power of His death and of His life.
A long list of uncouth, monosyllabic names at the end of Dr. Gordons church directory attests the patient interest which the Clarendon Street Church has taken in the Chinese of the city. A school was organized many years ago for these strangers. Its proportions grew rapidly. More than one hundred laundrymen from all parts of Boston and from adjacent towns meet each Sabbath. That conversion is much the same experience among all peoples can be clearly seen from the following:
Chin Tong came into the mission school a raw, uncouth, unresponsive Chinaman. Unlike most of his fellows, he was in his person very unclean and unsavory. The teacher to whom he was assigned worked with him month after month without making upon him the least apparent impression. One Sunday the text, If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, was marked in his New Testament and assigned for the next lesson. When he turned up the following Sabbath the verse was almost obliterated from the page by the incessant movement of his finger back and forth over the lines. One word alone puzzled him, the word cleanse. However, this was easily explained to one whose daily work was over tubs and ironing-boards. During the next week a young man called twice at the teachers home, but would not leave his name. When the hour for the Chinese school came round again, the teacher took her seat in the accustomed place. Presently a man in Occidental dress entered and sat down beside her. It was Chin Tong, but so changed as not to be recognizable. His cue was off, his hair shingled, his long finger-nails pared, his face clean as a new coin, his clothes new and well cared for. The text had done its work. Jesus Christ make me clean inside and outside, he explained. Heart, mind, and person had been transformed.1 [Note: A. J. Gordon: A Biography, 341.]
II
Their Privileges
Their privileges are two: Right to come to the Tree of Life and Entrance into the City. Now the Tree of Life is in the midst of the Paradise of God, and the Paradise is in the centre of the City of God. So we come first through the gates into the City.
i. Entrance into the City
The city is the society of the redeemed. In relation to Christ it is spoken of as a bride. In relation to the followers of Christ themselves as a city, the city in which they dwell together. In the old world the whole power and splendour of great kingdoms was gathered in their capitals, Babylon and Nineveh in the past, Rome in the present. To St. John the forces of evil were all concentrated in that city on the Seven Hills. To him the antagonistic forces which were the hope of the world were all concentrated in the real ideal city which he expected to come down from heaventhe New Jerusalem.
What are the characteristics of this city of God into which the blessed of the last Beatitude enter?
1. It is a city of social activities.Genesis began with a garden; mans sin sent him out of the garden. God out of evil evolves good, and for the lost garden comes the better thing, the found city. Then comes the statelier Eden back to man. For surely it is better that men should live in the activities of the city than in the sweetness and indolence of the garden; and manifold and miserable as are the sins and the sorrows of great cities, the opprobria of our modern so-called civilization, yet still the aggregation of great masses of men for worthy objects generates a form of character, and sets loose energies and activities, which no other kind of life could have produced.
Why do our citizens appear to care less for London than their citizens care for Florence, or Venice, or Rome, or Pisa? Is it because we are interested mainly in a few famous thoroughfares and buildings and have never yet begotten a civic patriotism enlightened and powerful enough to care for the back streets and obscure houses? Are we satisfied if our millionaires are richly housed in Park Lane, that their destitute neighbours should be rack-rented for the use of a cellar in St. Pancras or Soho? It is the old story. We perish for lack of vision. The cure is to breed citizens who shall be penetrated with the civic ideal. No man with the New Testament in his hand can complain of lack of guidance in the matter of citizenship. Here is Paul, the hero of the Apostolic age, boasting his local patriotism to the city of Tarsus, proud of its commercial and educational traditions; glorying, secondly, in his imperial citizenship, and looking beyond the narrow boundaries of Tarsus to the frontiers of the Roman Empire to whose civilization and citizenship he was free-born; and, finally, claiming the supreme privilege of his citizenship to the Kingdom of God, his membership of a society that acknowledges no limitations of race, or tongue, or land, but exists to create a universal brother-hood on the basis of a universal righteousness. There are still thousands of excellent Christians who admire and extol Pauls devotion to the Kingdom of God, who have no use for his local patriotism or his imperial citizenship. Yet the lesser flags do not challenge the supremacy of the august Standard that is the symbol of Christs universal rule.1 [Note: C. Silvester Horne, Pulpit, Platform and Parliament, 182.]
In a speech he delivered at the opening of the Manchester Art Treasures Exhibition in 1878, the Bishop said: I have no wish, like Mr. Ruskin, to retire into the solitude of a Westmoreland valley. I like to hear the thud of the steam-hammer and the whistle of the locomotive. I like to live in the midst of men and women who are dependent on their industry for their daily bread. Where I find content and good relations subsisting between men, that is my bit of blue sky, of which I want to see more and more.1 [Note: T. Hughes, James Fraser, Second Bishop of Manchester, 242.]
2. It is a city of reunion.Scripture leads us to associate the reunion of dead and living with a world from which all idolatry and all selfishness will have been for ever cast out by the unveiled presence of that one Person whom to know is life, whom to serve is glory. St. Paul used to speak of meeting there his own converts, Asiatic and European, and seemed to say that it would scarcely be heaven to him if they shared it not with him. He which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present uswith you. What is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? So large was his conception of the amplitude of the glory, and of its characteristic features of human sympathy as well as of Divine communion.
Surely there, amidst the solemn troops and sweet societies, the long-loved, long-lost, will be found again. I cannot believe that, like the Virgin and Joseph, we shall have to go wandering up and down the streets of Jerusalem when we get there, looking for our dear ones. Wist ye not that I should be in the Fathers house? We shall know where to find them.
We shall clasp them again,
And with God be the rest.2 [Note: A. Maclaren, A Years Ministry, i. 52.]
3. It is a city of abiding.The city is the emblem of security and of permanence. No more shall life be as a desert march, with changes which only bring sorrow, and yet a dreary monotony amidst them all. We shall dwell amidst abiding realities, our-selves fixed in unchanging, but ever growing, completeness and peace. The tents shall be done with; we shall inhabit the solid mansions of the city which hath foundations, and shall wonderingly exclaim, as our unaccustomed eyes gaze on their indestructible strength, What manner of stones, and what buildings are here!and not one stone of these shall ever be thrown down.
The third essential development of Marius thought is that of the City of God, which for him assumes the shape of a perfected and purified Rome, the concrete embodiment of the ideals of life and character. This is indeed the inevitable sequel of any such spiritual developments as the fear of enemies and the sense of an unseen companion. Man moves inevitably to the city, and all his ideals demand an embodiment in social form before they reach their full power and truth. In that house of life which he calls society, he longs to see his noblest dreams find a local habitation and a name. This is the grand ideal passed from hand to hand by the greatest and most outstanding of the worlds seersfrom Plato to Augustine, from Augustine to Dantethe ideal of the City of God. It is but little developed in Paters Marius the Epicurean, for that would be beside the purpose of so intimate and inward a history. Yet we see, as it were, the towers and palaces of this dear City of Zeus shining in the clear light of the early Christian time, like the break of day over some vast prospect, with the new City, as it were some celestial new Rome in the midst of it.1 [Note: J. Kelman, Among Famous Books, 61.]
ii. Access to the Tree
As the city is social, the tree of life is individual. In the city we enjoy the society of the redeemed; at the tree of life we enjoy fellowship with God, a fellowship which is the peculiar privilege of each one of those who have washed their robes. We receive a name which no one knows except the Giver and the receiver of it. The promise is particular: If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
The tree of life stands out in the first page of Gods Word as a sacramental symbol to unfallen man. It was a visible and tangible thinga tree growing in the garden like other trees, but so inscribed with the word of God that in the use of its fruit unfallen man could receive the spiritual assurance of Gods love and favour. In this respect it differed from the other trees of the garden. They were Gods permitted gifts to satisfy mans animal wants; but the tree of life has regard to the higher needs of his spiritual nature, which even then had a genuine sacramental instinct, and hungered for some tangible assurance of Gods abiding grace.
When Adam sinned, the way to the tree of life was no longer open to him; and this healthful sacrament became at once forbidden fruit. In very mercy its use was forbidden to him, and put beyond his reach. Evidently its withdrawal has a peculiar solemnity about it: it is to save man from a fresh blunder and a new sin. The dreamthat if only, by any means, he could retain the coveted assurance of Gods love, all would be well, and all his disobedience would be neutralized, and all his sin forgottenmust at once be rudely broken. Even more than that, there is a dreadful possibility of his destroying all hope of restoration, if he rush in and claim the old symbol of Gods love. For him to feed on the tree of life, when in a state of sin and anger and shame, would practically mean a second death.
But when we have washed our robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, we have again as good a fitness to approach the tree of life as in primeval innocence. It is our fitness that constitutes our right. It is in being cleansed that the new right to come and eat is valid. Not unsullied innocence itself can come with surer step to have the bread of Gods own life given to it than impurity that has been graciously cleansed away. The pardoned rebel, in his robes washed white, has a title to life as good as the angels, who have never defiled their garments.
I am going to a city
Where the living never die,
Where no sickness and no sorrow can molest;
From this body to release me
He is speeding from on high;
He will greet me and escort me to my rest.
Charles M. Alexander, the singer-evangelist, once told the following story of the origin of the hymn of which the above is the chorus:
I always like to know how hymns came to be written, and so I asked the man who wrote this hymn how he came to do so. He told me that a friend of his went from New York City to the country. He was far gone in consumption, but in the deceptive nature of the disease thought that he was growing better day by day, till one morning he said he was so much improved in health that he was returning to the city the next day. The writer of the hymn went to see him in the afternoon, and found him in bed again. Why, he said, I thought you were going to the city tomorrow? The sick mans face lighted up, and he answered, Im going to a city, but it is a city where the living never die, and where no sickness and no sorrow can come. After his death, his friend, remembering his words, wrote this hymn.
1. Access to the tree of life is a matter of right, not of reward. This we might illustrate by reference to the case of a pupil who is being promoted from a school of one grade to a school that is of a grade higher. He is promoted, not for the purpose of rewarding him for the faithful work he has done in the inferior grades, but because the superior grade is the place for him. He has acquired the right to a place in that grade. That pupils are sometimes promoted before they have acquired the right, and prematurely advanced out of consideration of favouritism, is undoubtedly the fact, but advancement on such grounds invalidates the whole scheme of promotion and, in all ordinary relations,in everything, one may say, except in religion,is amenable to universal disapproval. Whether in schools or in matters of civil service, individual merit is regarded as the essential condition of promotion; and to set up some other principle of preferment in matters of the future world, and to assume that there is some other legitimate title to the tree of life than simple individual right to the tree of life, and right to a residence in the celestial city, is to break with what we all recognize as justice in affairs of mundane experience, and to let our future condition be decided by a so-called system of Divine determination too arbitrary and evasive to be tolerated by any responsible human society. If, then, the pupil is promoted, it is not to reward him for his work; and if he is not promoted, it is not to punish him for his lack of work. There is a place where he belongs, and in any well-regulated system of school administration the place where he belongs is the place where he will be kept or put.
2. But if the right is more minutely examined, it will be found to be
(1) A right of promise.This is the promise which he promised us, even the life eternal (1Jn 2:25). The promise is made sure by the washing of the robes in the blood of the Lamb. For how many soever be the promises of God, in him is the yea: wherefore also through him is the Amen (2Co 1:20).
(2) A right of inheritance.As many as received him, to them gave he the right to become children of God (Joh 1:12). And this Johannine assurance is confirmed by St. Paul: Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus (Gal 3:26). And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ (Rom 8:17).
(3) A right of fitness.This is the special right of the text, and it is as sure as the others, however astonishing that may be. Made fit for the inheritance of the saints in lightthat is one thing. That is the entrance which is abundantly ministered unto us through the gates into the city. Fitness also for fellowship so close and intimate that because He lives we live also; and that I live, and yet no longer I, but Christ liveth in me. That is the right to the tree of life.
Almost beyond belief it seems blessed in the eternal kingdom to have right to the Tree of Life. All is of Gods grace, nothing of mans desert. Of His grace it pleases Him to constitute such a privilege our right; and our right thence-forward it becomes, whilst first and last all is of grace. For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast. As the hart desireth the water-brooks, doth our soul so long after that Tree of Life? Surely yea, if we be not lower than the beasts that perish. Alas! not surely at all, unless our present longings can stand one test which too often shames them. For already we have a right to our own precious Tree of Life, Christ in the Sacrament of His most Blessed Body and Blood. Whoso longs not for Christ here, wherefore should he long for Him there? Because our Saviour longed for us on earth, we are convinced that He longs for us in heaven. If we long not for Him on earth, who shall kindle our longing for Him in heaven?
Good Lord Jesus, our only Hope; because we cannot help ourselves, help Thou us. Because we cannot quicken ourselves, quicken Thou us. Because we cannot kindle ourselves, kindle Thou us. Because we cannot cleanse ourselves, cleanse Thou us. Because we cannot heal ourselves, heal Thou us. For Thou hast no pleasure in our impotence, lifelessness, coldness, pollutions, infirmity. If Thou desire our love, who shall give us love where-with to love Thee except Thou who art Love give it us? Helpless we are, and our helplessness appeals to Thee.1 [Note: Christina G. Rossetti, The Face of the Deep, 537.]
The Privileges of the Blessed
Literature
Bayley (J.), The Divine Word Opened, 548.
Grant (W.), Christ our Hope, 327.
Johnston (S. M.), The Great Things of God, i. 320.
Keble (J.), Sermons for the Christian Year: Miscellaneous, 267.
Maclaren (A.), Expositions: Epistles of John to Revelation, 380.
Maclaren (A.), A Years Ministry, i. 43.
Meyer (F. B.), Blessed are Ye, 131.
Norton (J. N.), Old Paths, 239.
Parkhurst (C. H.), A Little Lower than the Angels, 80.
Price (A. C.), Fifty Sermons, ii. 105.
Ramsay (W. M.), The Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia, 386.
Rossetti (C. G.), The Face of the Deep, 537.
Wickham (E. C.), Words of Light and Life, 94.
Fuente: The Great Texts of the Bible
Blessed: Rev 22:7, Psa 106:3-5, Psa 112:1, Psa 119:1-6, Isa 56:1, Isa 56:2, Dan 12:12, Mat 7:21-27, Luk 12:37, Luk 12:38, Joh 14:15, Joh 14:21-23, Joh 15:10-14, 1Co 7:19, Gal 5:6, 1Jo 3:3, 1Jo 3:23, 1Jo 3:24, 1Jo 5:3
may have: Joh 4:12, 1Co 8:9, 1Co 9:5,*Gr.
to the: Rev 22:2, Rev 2:7
and may: Rev 21:27, Joh 10:7, Joh 10:9, Joh 14:6
Reciprocal: Gen 2:9 – tree of life Lev 20:8 – And ye Lev 26:3 – General Deu 5:29 – keep all Deu 11:27 – General Deu 32:47 – General Deu 33:28 – Israel Jos 1:8 – observe Ezr 7:10 – to do it Psa 1:1 – Blessed Psa 15:2 – worketh Psa 24:4 – pure Psa 26:9 – Gather not Psa 32:1 – Blessed Psa 101:8 – cut off Psa 111:10 – do his commandments Psa 118:19 – Open Psa 118:20 – This gate Pro 7:2 – Keep Pro 19:16 – keepeth the Pro 29:18 – but Eze 18:5 – if Eze 18:11 – that Eze 41:12 – separate Mat 5:3 – Blessed Mat 7:24 – whosoever Mat 12:50 – do Mat 22:8 – but Mat 28:20 – them Luk 6:47 – doeth Luk 11:28 – General Joh 13:17 – happy Col 1:12 – made Col 3:4 – our 2Ti 1:10 – and hath Jam 1:25 – this 2Pe 1:10 – if 1Jo 2:3 – if we Rev 12:17 – which
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Rev 22:14. Blessed is from MAKARIOS, and in the King James Version it has been rendered “blessed” 43 times and “happy” 6 times. The reason forRev 16:15 essedness or happiness is their right to the tree of life. The word right is from the word EXOUSIA, which also means power or authority. It is a very serious passage in view of the notions oRev 19:9 eople as to the lot of the unsaved. As an outburst of sentiment or emotion it is said, “How could God refuse to admit any person to the eternal happiness when He has it within his power to grant it.” But the last part of the statement is not true, for God cannot do that which is not right. (Tit 1:2; 2Ti 2:13.) If those who do the commandments are the ones who have the right to the tree of life, then it wouRev 20:6 e right for others to have access to it. And if they would not have a right to it, it would be wrong for them to have it. And since God cannot do wrong it follRev 22:7 He cannot admit any person to the city who has not done the commandments. It is clear that having right to the tree of life requires the right for entrance into the city, for we learned at verse 2 that the tree is growing inside the city.
Comments by Foy E. Wallace
Verse 14.
(3) The seven apocalRev 22:14 titudes of the bride of the Lamb, the victorious church–22:14-16.
Verse 14: Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.
This beautiful beatitude was the last of a cluster of the blessed passageRev 22:14 lation, and it rises to the highest heights of the mountain ranges of the visions of the blessed in the descriptions of their trials. After the first pronouncement of blessing in chapter one, their contexts appear as a sort of parentheses in the subject matter of the visions.
There are seven of these beatitudes in Revelation, which deserve to be listed as a parenthesis here:
The first beatitude was the blessing for them that read, heard and kept the words of the Seer, because the time was so near–Rev 1:3.
The second was the benedictory for the future martyrs who should die in the cause of the Lord from henceforth– Rev 14:13.
The third was in praise of the state of grace for those who were aware of the imminence of ominous events and who lived in sustained preparation to meet the crisis– Rev 16:15.
The fourth included the faithful saints who survived the persecutions and participated in the renewed and continuous fellowship of the victorious Bride in the marriage supper of the Lamb–Rev 19:9.
The fifth was the blessed state of victory shared by the martyrs who “livRev 22:15 igned with Christ” in complete victory, which was symbolized by elevating the souls under the altar (chapter 6) to positions on the throne (chapter 20) and which symbolized the resurrection of the cause for which they died, and therefore figuratively designated the first resurrection in which the enthroned souls had part –Rev 20:6.
The six2Pe 2:12 xhortatory to all who had received the completed apocalypse, and maintained faithful adherence to all of the sayings embodied in the visions–Rev 22:7.
The seventh was the blessing of reward for all, after the scenes of persecution had been accomplished, and the trials of the tribulation were ended, who through obedience entered the opened gates into the city of the new Jerusalem, the Deu 23:18 Bride of the Lamb, the victorious church of Christ–Rev 22:14.
This high note of hope in the form of beatitudes permeated the apocalypse from the first chapter to the last, and the character of them adds to the accumulation of evidence that the visions of Revelation belonged to the tribulation period of the early churches.
Returning to the text of Rev 22:14, the important words do his commandments constitute an imperative command. The condition of entering this City of God, the church, was obedience to the gospel.
The revisions that have changed the phrase “do his commandments” to “wash their robes” have served only to weaken the text and obscure its meaning. It is a specific gospel text which should not be generalized by a tampering with its words, a thing that all of the late so-called revisions appear to be specializing in doing. The text is sublime as it reads and it means that the gospel must be obeyed.
The clause that they may have right to the tree of life meant the title to it. The word right does not here merely mPro 17:22 ht or privilege of entering the city–but indicates the title of inheritance. The one who enters “through the gates into the city” has right to the tree of life–to the inheritance of the life which is the fruit1Co 6:18-20 e, as set forth in the comments on verse three of this chaGen 4:8 t is an edifying concept of the source of spiritual life in the church of God and of Christ.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Rev 22:14. Blessed are they that wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter in by the gates into the city. The thought of the blessed reward that had been spoken of fills the mind of Him who is to bestow it, and He accordingly continues in this and the next following verse to enlarge upon it. Those who are to enjoy that reward are evidently conceived of as one class, the Church of Christ as a whole, not two classes, Jewish and Gentile Christians. All have washed their robes, and in that respect they are one. In the two last clauses of the verse their blessedness is presented under two points of viewfirst, they have a right to, literally, they have authority over, the tree of life, so that they may eat continually of its fruit; secondly, they enter in by the gates into the city. This last we might have expected to be mentioned first, for the tree of life grows within the city. But the first is the most important, and therefore receives the place of prominence. It is also possible that, as it is the right to the tree of life that is spoken of, the eating of the tree may be separately viewed. The order may befirst, the right; secondly, the entering; thirdly, the eating.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
The American Standard renders the first part of this verse, “Blessed are they that wash their robes.” Such would refer to the washing in Christ’s blook ( Rev 1:5 ) which can only be ours if we keep his commandments, so the rendering is basically the same. It is by such continual obedience, or washing, that we will gain access to the tree of eternal life and an entrance into the eternal city.
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
CATHOLICISM EXPOSED AND PURITY VINDICATED
14. Blessed are they who wash their robes, in order that access unto the Tree of Life shall be theirs, and they may enter through the gates into the city. Here you see we correct an important error in the English version, which reads: Blessed are they who do His commandments. You see the true reading from the critical Greek is, Blessed are they who wash their robes. This translation is corroborated by the Revised Version, which is translated out of the Sinaitic manuscript, which lies before me. Why is not our English Bible correct? Because it passed through the Dark Ages a thousand years, during which not one man in a thousand could read or write, while ignorance, brutality, and barbarism filled the world. The art of printing had not been invented. Therefor they must undergo the tedious and laborious work of writing the Scriptures by hand. The result was two thousand errors found their way into our English New Testament. Do those errors affect the plan of salvation? They do not. The way to heaven is so plain that wayfaring men, though fools, cannot err therein (Isa 35:9). You find salvation flooding the Bible like a heavenly ocean, from the Alpha of Genesis to the Omega of Revelation. Then why is it important for us to correct these errors? So that we may know the whole will of God. While doubtless nearly all of these errors crept in inadvertently, I trow some of the most important were purposely made by corrupt, intriguing priests, to vindicate their craft and palliate their guilty consciences. How do you know that the Greek Testament, from which you write these commentaries, is correct? This Sinaitic manuscript was discovered by Dr. Tischendorf in the Convent of St. Catherine, on Mt. Sinai, in 1859. The chirography locates it far back in the post-apostolic times, before the Dark Ages set in. Hence it is free from the corruptions of the Dark Ages. The discovery of this manuscript was a sunburst on the Christian world, flooding the inspired pages with the light of original exegesis. True religion imputes all salvation to God, while false religion imputes it to man. Just as the people of this world have taken the government of the nations out of Gods hands, so they have usurped the government of the Church, and even taken the plan of salvation into their own hands. There is much Roman Catholicism in the English Bible. When the English Church made that translation in 1611, she was full of Romish heresies. Romanism and all the fallen Churches preach salvation by works, while the true gospel teaches that you are saved by grace, and not by works. You see in this verse, as your English reads, heaven is assured to those who do His commandments. Dont you see that is the Romish heresy of salvation by works? Millions of people, depending on their good works to save them, now lift up their wails in hell. The Bible everywhere teaches that purity is the only condition of admission into heaven.
Hence you see the true translation of this passage, Blessed are they who wash their robes, is in perfect harmony with the uniform teaching of the Bible; while the English, Blessed are they who do His commandments, offering salvation by works, antagonizes the great truth revealed throughout the Bible, that we are saved
by grace through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not by works, lest any one may boast (Eph 2:5; Eph 2:9).
15. Dogs, sorcerers, fornicators, murderers, idolaters, and every one who maketh and loveth falsehood, are outside. This verse is the antithesis of the preceding. That tells us who are saved. There is but one class, and they are those who wash their robes in the blood of the Lamb. This tells us who are excluded and forever left out of heaven. The dog, in the Bible, constantly symbolizes impurity. Consequently, we see that all of the impure i.e., unsanctified are left out of heaven. Sorcerers would take in all of the actual heretics of all ages, who have depended on human arts and devices instead of the plain word of God. Fornicators really takes in every soul who is not entirely sanctified, because nothing but the full sanctification of your heart saves you from spiritual fornication, and enthrones Jesus as the only lover of your soul. Murderers includes all people having the malevolent affections which lead to, and are the essence of, homicide. Idolaters comprehends every devotee except the truly sanctified worshiper of the Most High, as none others are entirely free from idolatry in some of its forms or phases. Popular religion is full of idolatry. You see that all these are left out of heaven. Last of all, in this dark catalogue, every one who practiceth and loveth falsehood. This statement of the Holy Ghost is weepingly comprehensive, excluding from heaven all who do not take the Bible for their only guide, and live and die in the delightful practice of and obedience to its blessed truths. Hence we see from these discriminations of the Holy Ghost that, while only one class is admitted into heaven i.e., those who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb; i.e., the wholly sanctified many different classes are forever excluded from the city of God.
16. The glorified Savior here testifies to His Divinity and humanity. As God, He is the root of David; as man, He is the offspring. Meanwhile, He is the bright morning-star of all human hope.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
22:14 Blessed [are] they that do his commandments, {7} that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.
(7) The blessedness of the godly set down by their title and interest there: and their fruit in the same.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
This final blessing in the book (cf. Rev 1:3; Rev 14:13; Rev 16:15; Rev 19:9; Rev 20:6; Rev 22:7) announces God’s favor on those who cleanse themselves by turning to Christ for salvation (cf. Rev 7:14; Rev 21:27). The robe one wears is a figure for one’s works, which others see (Rev 19:8; cf. Rev 7:14).
People who wash their robes in the blood of the Lamb will have access to the tree of life (i.e., they will live forever in the new creation). They will also enter the New Jerusalem by its gates (i.e., they will be able to enjoy intimate fellowship with God).