reheads.

5. And there shall be no night there: and they need no candle, neither
light of the sun: for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall
reign for ever and ever.

Vs. 1-5.--These verses, being a continuance of the description of the
"holy city," naturally belong to the preceding chapter.--The angel
proceeds to show John the source and current from which emanate all
heavenly blessings. The allusion is to Ezekiel, xlvii. 1-12; but both he
and John call our attention to man's primeval state, when our first
parents dwelt in Eden. This abode of the blessed is beautified and
enriched with all the products, delights and attractions which are
adapted to the refined senses of holy creatures,--"pleasant to the eyes,
and good for food." It is Paradise restored, by the "doing and dying" of
the second Adam. It is also Paradise _improved_, having not only the
"tree of life," as the first had, but also, in addition, the "water of
life." The "tree of life" was to sinless Adam a symbol and pledge of
immortality to himself and all his posterity whom he represented in the
Covenant of Works. Now that heaven is procured for all believers by the
second Adam, it is emblematically represented to our weak apprehension
by directing our attention to the primitive and earthly Paradise. This
is repeatedly done in Scripture. The Lord Jesus, before he expired upon
the cross, said to the penitent thief,--"To day shall thou be with me in
Paradise. (Luke xxiii. 43.) Paul was "caught up" thither, (2 Cor. xii.
4;) and he calls the place "heaven," (v. 2;) and in this book, (ch. ii.
7,) the Lord promises,--"I will give to him that overcometh to eat of
the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God." The
"tree" is an emblem of Christ, (Song ii. 3;) the "river of the water of
life" symbolizes the Holy Spirit, (John vii. 38, 39;) for as the Son and
the Holy Ghost proceed from the Father, the former by generation, the
latter by emanation from eternity,--so "that eternal life which was with
the Father" in the person of the Son, and purchased by the Son, is
communicated by the Holy Ghost to all the redeemed by regeneration. (2
Cor. iii. 6; Rom. viii. 2.)--Thus, the eternal duration of life in glory
"proceeds out of the throne of God and the Lamb." On each side of the
river "the tree of life" is accessible by the inhabitants; and the
fruits of the tree, ripe in all months of the year, and adapted to every
taste, each one may "put fort