Revelation 21:10,22-22:5
The 6th Sunday of Easter | 5/25/25 | Revelation 21:10,22-22:5 | Evan McClanahan |
English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles (or other version)
Revelation 22:10, 22-22:5
10 And in the spirit he carried me away to a great, high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God. I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. 23 And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. 25 Its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. 26 People will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. 27 But nothing unclean will enter it, nor anyone who practices abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
22 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 2 through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 3 Nothing accursed will be found there any more. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him; 4 they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
The Tree of Life Restored
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
„I have read the whole Bible from Genesis to Revelation!“ That is a frequent boast of American Christians. There is a certain pride in America and an unusual focus on reading the Bible. Being a Protestant nation and being founded on the principles of „sola scriptura“ and „religious freedom,“ many Americans have felt a certain amount of guilt if they have never read the Bible from cover to cover.
I remember, for example, a scene in the old show „Roseanne.“ This was in the 80s, before Roseanne Barr became one of the most listened-to political thinkers of our day. I don’t remember the exact context, but I remember Roseanne being exasperated that someone had given her a Bible to read and the person who gave her the Bible said that only the most important parts were highlighted. But when Roseanne opened the Bible she found that every word on every page had been highlighted. That’s American Christianity.
Protestants in America – at least those who have not sold out to some false version of Christianity – are uniquely interested in the Bible. We have Bible study. We sell study Bibles. We consume Bible podcasts. That doesn’t mean that America is as biblically literate as I would like. But, compared to our counterparts, we seek out the Bible and want to know what it says more than just about any nation on earth.
(Though it is quite possible that our Christianity is on the wane while Christianity in South America and Africa will continue to grow.)
But, in a way, the Bible does us all a favor by placing the problem and solution right at the beginning and end of the book itself. The reader can see the difference between a life at enmity with God and a life that enjoys God’s gifts even without reading „the whole Bible from Genesis to Revelation!“ They can just read Genesis and Revelation. Heck, they can even just read Genesis 2-3 and Revelation 21 and 22.
For the Spirit, in his wisdom, inspiring Moses (who I believe wrote the first five books of the Bible) and John (who I believe wrote Revelation) bookended these 66 books with simple, but powerful stories about trees. It’s so simple, anyone can understand it. In Genesis 3, we hear, of course, about the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Adam and Eve were told to refrain from eating from this tree, that, if they ate of it, they would die. I think we all know what happens next: they do eat the fruit, and humanity is plunged into the Fall. We need to be rescued and it is the wooden cross of Christ that saves us.
But there is also the Tree of life, mentioned in Genesis 2 and Revelation 22. What is this mysterious Tree of Life? Is it a real tree? A metaphor? If it was once in the Garden of Eden, can we find it somewhere on earth still? Surely the „Tree of Life“ didn’t die? And if it is metaphorical, is the rest of the story in Genesis 3 metaphorical?
Let’s look at the mentions of the Tree of Life in Genesis 2 and 3:
From Genesis 2:9: „And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.“
Then, after the crafty serpent has done his work, after Adam and Eve have fallen into sin, Adam, Eve, and the serpent all receive their punishment. God says, „Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.“
Well, I think Google maps has covered the whole earth and we have yet to find the Tree of Life. So I think we can conclude that it has long since died and been grown over a hundred times. Death was the result of the fall into sin after all. As nature took its course and consumed the Garden of Eden, the cherubim and flaming sword were no longer needed.
But the larger point is that the tree of life was taken from man. It was no longer available. It was offered by God, and then taken away. Man would now have to contend with death. Death and its effects would constantly hover over everything we do. Our parents would die, our children would die. We would fight pointless wars, and even the „good“ wars would be the necessary evil due to sin. We would not enjoy the freedom and innocence of a world without crime and corruption. We would know the tragedy and sadness of loneliness, boredom, and anxiety.
And sure enough, we see all of those sad realities throughout the entirety of the Bible. Yes, the Old Testament tracks God working through floods and patriarchs and tribes and kings, pointing toward a future messiah who will save God’s people from their sins. And, of course, the New Testament is the fulfillment of that promise, with Christ living and dying for God’s people, ushering in a new world, as said last week in Revelation 21, a „new heavens and a new earth.“
And lo and behold, what do we see returning in John’s apocalyptic vision? The tree of life! „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 through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.“
This is surely a fantastical vision. Which isn’t to say that it is not real. Only that John is trying to communicate something so wonderful for us that we can barely imagine it. Previous to these verses, we hear of foundations and gates made of every previous gem known to man, streets paved with gold, and the lighting being from the glory of God himself. And from the tree (or is it a kind of tree that is called the „tree of life,“ not a singular tree?), comes everything needed for life.
Most lovely is the promise that this tree will provide leaves that „are for the healing of the nations.“ All of the hurt and pain among humans at war with one another will be done. All of the dumb conflicts will be forgotten. The nations (which is probably a denotation of ethnicities more than nation-states) will be erased as we will finally see one another as just one human race, bound together by God’s love.
But after speaking last week about how different nations approach matters of law and justice differently, it is nice to hear of the healing among the nations. I actually listened to a debate recently where one of the speakers said that he would die and enter heaven as a part German/part English man. I thought, „How silly!“ Yes, we will be bodily resurrected and that includes the body we have now I believe, but to tie that to a nation state is absurd.
There will be no nations in heaven because there will be no lack for anything! We won’t have to organize civilly to distribute scarce resources. We will finally live as Adam and Eve did for the fall: in a lovely garden, with more than what we need.
Yes, it is a wonderful vision, to be given back that which was lost with the Fall, the tree of life. That is why the whole story of the Bible can almost be told in these few chapters, right at the beginning and the end. That is the story of man and God: what we lost, God restored.
If only that vision could be known by all the world! If only Israel and Palestine shared that vision of God’s restored Kingdom! If only Ukraine and Russia shared it…which they should since in theory they are both Orthodox Christians. If only those persecuting Nigerian Christinas. If the Pakistanis and Indians could look forward to being together near the tree of life.
At least we can, here in Houston, be available to those from around the world, willing to share this vision with those who have only lost the tree of life, and possess no promise of it in their future. Much like Paul traverses in Acts 16 to other nations to share this news with the first European Christinas, we, too, have a message to those from all nations: our future in Christ includes the restored Tree of Life, which will heal the nations, and finally offer us the peace that we all seek.
In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
©Evan McClanahan
First Lutheran Church
Houston, TX, USA