REVELATION 22:1, 18-19

REVELATION 22:1

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb (Revelation 22:1 NIV)

In the new city of God the pure water does not issue from the temple as in Ezekiel but comes from the throne of God, since this whole city is a Most Holy Place with God as its center. Life from God streams unceasingly through the new world. The scene brings to mind the old hymn by Robert Lowry (1864): “Shall we gather at the river, / Where bright angel feet have trod; / With its crystal tide forever / Flowing by the throne of God?”

REVELATION 22:18-19

I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll. And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this scroll (Revelation 22:18-19 NIV).

These verses should not be taken as a warning against adding anything to the Bible. Early interpreters understood them as a warning to false prophets not to alter the sense of John’s prophecy --- i.e. Revelation (so Irenaeus, Haer. 30.2). Meredith Kline (Treaty of the Great King)[Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1963], 44) has likened the force of these words to the curses pronounced for disobedience in the covenantal law codes of the OT period (cf. Deuteronomy 4:2, 12:32). Verses 18-19 are a strong warning against any who would tamper with the contents of “this book” (Revelation), either textually or in its moral and theological teaching (cf. 1 Corinthians 16:22). So severe is the danger he is warning against that John says that those who teach contrary to the message of Revelation will not only forfeit any right to salvation in the Holy City but will have visited on them  the divine judgments (plagues) inflicted on the beast-worshipers.

ALAN F. JOHNSON (Revelation - Expositors Bible Commentary)