Well, a question came in on Facebook a number of days ago, in response to the Revelation seminars and sermons that have been posted there (and here). I thought it would be good to directly answer some questions from time to time…so here goes!

This is a good question. You are obviously reading The Revelation of Jesus Christ very carefully!

Although the Holy Spirit is not mentioned in the chapters on the new heaven and the new earth (Revelation 21-22), He is there. We know this for at least three reasons.

One, wherever the Father and Son are present, so is the Holy Spirit. The persons of the Trinity are so united in life and work that they always live and work as one. Further, the Spirit is the “bond,” if you will, between the Father and the Son. So wherever we meet the Father and Son in Scripture, or in the case of the last book of the Bible, the Almighty and the Lamb, we meet the Spirit.

Two, John tells us in the beginning of the book that the Holy Spirit is “before the throne of God” (1:4). Which means that whenever we see/hear of the throne, the Spirit is there, even if He is not explicitly named.

Three, John tells us that in the new creation there is “a river of the water of life” coming from the throne (22:1). That “river” is the Spirit. How do we know? For many reasons, but chiefly because Jesus Himself makes this connection. At the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles, which, in part, celebrates God miraculously providing water in the wilderness, and celebrating the fact that the water is a picture of the coming gift of the Spirit, Jesus stands up and declares, “If anyone is thirsty, come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture says, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water'”(John 7:37-38). John, who remembers this event, and writes the Revelation of Jesus Christ, then says, “This Jesus spoke of the Spirit whom those who believed in Him were to receive” (7:39). What a wonder! In the new heavens and the new earth, the Holy Spirit will flow freely, all the obstacles of sin having been removed, and we will experience with all creation His massive, total, life-giving healing.

I hope this helps! Blessings!