The present paragraph is the final portrait (of four) relating the vision John received concerning the New Jerusalem. The first vignette (Revelation 21:9–14) had shown John the protection God grants to those within this city (ultimately his church, Revelation 21:2). The second (Revelation 22:15–21) had revealed something of the glorious perfection of this most holy city. In the third, the Lord had highlighted the global attraction of the city. Now in the last (Revelation 22:1–5), the Lord provides us with a sense of life in the city. These four pictures of the church the Lord is building form the inevitable and blessed consequence of Satan’s defeat (Revelation 20:10; Revelation 19:20) and the triumph of the Lord Jesus Christ (Revelation 20:11–15).
1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb