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).
Revelation 22:14 is the last blessing in the Bible, and it is our first promise for this month. What a wonderful experience it will be actually to enter the New Jerusalem through one of those gates of pearl and then to walk with the redeemed multitude to the river of life, reach our hands up among the leaves of the tree of life, pluck its fruit, and know that we have a right to it! Yes, the wonder of it has held us in meditation many a day in the past and will do so many a time in the days to come if the Lord tarries.
But what about those first words? What gives us the right to the tree of life and to the Holy City itself? What brings these blessings? Let us read again: "Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right..."
They with joy may enter the city,
Free from sin, from sorrow and strife,
Sanctified, glorified, now and forever,
They may have right to the tree of life.
__P. P. Bliss
Some prefer the translation "Blessed are those who wash their robes" (RSV). Those who wash their robes from the stain of sin do keep God's commandments, and all that they do is really done by the Lord Himself, as we read in Philippians 2:12, 13: "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." So you see, God both wills it and does it. Our obedience is His obedience, and it is ours by "faith which worketh by love" (Gal. 5:6). So the final blessing of the redeemed in glory is through the grace of God.
MEDITATION PRAYER: "Make me to go in the path of thy commandments; for therein do I delight" (Ps. 119:35).
Revelation 22:14 is the last blessing in the Bible, and it is our first promise for this month. What a wonderful experience it will be actually to enter the New Jerusalem through one of those gates of pearl and then to walk with the redeemed multitude to the river of life, reach our hands up among the leaves of the tree of life, pluck its fruit, and know that we have a right to it! Yes, the wonder of it has held us in meditation many a day in the past and will do so many a time in the days to come if the Lord tarries.
But what about those first words? What gives us the right to the tree of life and to the Holy City itself? What brings these blessings? Let us read again: "Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right..."
They with joy may enter the city,
Free from sin, from sorrow and strife,
Sanctified, glorified, now and forever,
They may have right to the tree of life.
__P. P. Bliss
Some prefer the translation "Blessed are those who wash their robes" (RSV). Those who wash their robes from the stain of sin do keep God's commandments, and all that they do is really done by the Lord Himself, as we read in Philippians 2:12, 13: "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." So you see, God both wills it and does it. Our obedience is His obedience, and it is ours by "faith which worketh by love" (Gal. 5:6). So the final blessing of the redeemed in glory is through the grace of God.
MEDITATION PRAYER: "Make me to go in the path of thy commandments; for therein do I delight" (Ps. 119:35).
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