Revelation 22:1-2
by Susan Wilds McArver
Download this Bible study as a PDF 
Then he showed me the river of the water of life, bright as
crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb, down the
middle of the city’s street. And on either side of the river stood a
tree of life yielding twelve crops of fruit, one for each month of
the year; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the
nations.
The book of Revelation stands as one of the most seriously
misunderstood — and misused — books of the Bible. Over the centuries,
its strange, vivid and highly-colored imagery
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In addition to questions found in this
study, here are some general questions that can
be used:
1. What is God saying to us through this
passage?
2. What does this passage tell us about
God?
3. How does this passage speak to us as a
community?
4. What does this passage teach us about
our neighbors and our world? |
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has led some to dismiss it as impenetrable and others to relish it as a
detailed blueprint for earth’s destruction.
Revelation defies both of these interpretations. Instead, its primary
“revelation” is of a faithful God who draws all peoples, all nations, to
a new heaven and a new reality. The “river of the
water
of life, bright as crystal” flows directly from God, in a glowing
reflection of the life-giving waters that stream throughout the pages of
the Bible, from its first book to its last. Nourished and nurtured by
this water, the very leaves of the tree of life, planted so tenderly by
God at the creation, now serve as healing balm, as calming shade, in the
New Jerusalem.
Here at the climax of the book — and of the Bible itself — we catch a
glimpse of the wondrous new world to which God draws us. And that vision
is indeed a revelation — an image of harmony and wholeness, of healing
and embrace, of fulfillment and hope.
Susan Wilds McArver teaches at Lutheran
Theological Southern Seminary in Columbia, South Carolina.
Questions on Revelation 22:1-2
- How do you read the Book of Revelation? Is it a book of promise
and hope?
- What part does healing play in your life of faith?
- How do you hear the phrase “and the leaves of the tree were for
the healing of the nations”?