Rev.22:1,2 And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
Who/what nations need healing in heaven?
ok...i'll bite and see if anyone follows after. Why would we need "healing" during a time of perfection? Consider this...Adam and Eve were created in perfection, lived in a perfect place and would have never died in the Garden of Eden...however, the Tree of Life was there in the Garden.
ReplyDeleteCould it be that during eternity we will recieve some sort of energy or enhancement from teh leaves of the tree of life? After all we will be perfect, living in a perfect place where we will never die.
I want to encourage all those that may follow to not take the cop out answer and say, "We'll find out when we get there." please? We all know that we will eat and drink and work and play in Heaven...why would we need to eat and drink? Because God made us that way! It is the way God intended for us to be.
Anyway...thats my two cents and that means you have two cents.
I've heard three possible answers. I dunno if this is a cop-out or not, but I don't know. I've heard these suggestions.
ReplyDelete#1 - The Tree of Life is Jesus, and the only thing that can require "healing" (heal - to restore to a sound state, to cure) is our lack of knowledge. While we never had complete knowledge to begin with, we can always learn about God from Jesus the tree, partaking of his fruit and leaves of knowledge to turn our mind into a sound state. We will be ever learning, ever "healing" our lack of knowledge of an infinite God which can forever be learned of without knowing all there is to know of Him. With the phrase "healing", I suppose this is the only explanation that fully makes sense to me.
#2 - We eat from the tree just like we've eaten on earth and Adam and Eve ate in the garden. Adam was placed in a perfect Eden (land/Earth) and told to eat from the trees and till the ground (not a painful labor, but something to do to fill the time). Eating to keep the body up (keeping the body and garden give a sense of fulfillment to a man, knowing he is accomplishing something.) The "healing" in this is usually left out altogether, but I've heard two explanations. First, it is to keep our bodies living forever as it as to do in the garden and since we all eat of it, we will all live forever in our physical and perfect bodies which continue to live with our eating of the leaves. (Genesis 3:22) The second explanation was that the healing is the healing of the nations in heaven (bringing them all to the same tree). Not healing a pain, so much as bringing all separate people into one body/place.
#3 - The New Jerusalem is for the faithful church bride. The light of Jesus only shines there. The twelve tribes of faithful Israel are also at the gate to see the light of Jesus. All the unfaithful saints of all time are (depending on their faithfulness or lack their of) further and further away from the city and the light of Jesus. They are in outer darkness with weeping and gnashing of teeth. They are separated from the Jerusalem and Jesus, only to live on the other side of the new earth. They give praise and prayers toward Jesus, and the Kings of these nations bring their prayers and praises to the New Jerusalem for them. A river of life runs under the tree of life, where the leaves fall down into, and the river carries the leaves to the rest of the earth where the people gather the leaves to help heal their unfaithful state of lack of service.
My answer, I don't know. I choose #1 b/c in my mind, it best explains the word "healing" and "medicine" in the next scripture I'll post so all can see the parallel passage about that same tree.
Ezekiel 47:12 And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed: it shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary: and the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine.
Also wisdom is a tree of life in Proverbs 3:18, so learning from Jesus is gaining wisdom and thereby, partaking of a tree or the tree of life. It is presented the same in Proverbs 11:30. Also, #3 is inconsistent with Revelation 22:14, for it seems the faithful partake of the tree of life. If it is to heal the unfaithful, why is it for the faithful?
You know... I looked at the rest of that Ezekiel 47. Is it possible this New Jerusalem begins with the Millennial Reign, and so does the tree of life. Ezekiel 47 seems to suggest so. If that is the case (as in many places of prophecy) one part (that about healing) applies to the beginning of the prophecy - the millennial reign - and not to the complete fulfillment of the prophecy - the New Earth ages. Notice Ezekiel 47:7-11.
ReplyDeleteFor a similar type prophecy, look at Isaiah 65.
While sitting on the banks of the River of Life, we will be fishing and pulling out filleted catfish, but they will still have fins and when they fin us we will use the leaves of the tree to heal our wounds.
ReplyDeleteThe fillet catfish and maybe crappie also will go nicely with twelve manner of fruit that we will be harvesting off the Tree of Life.
The reason the Lord will put fillet catfish in the River of Life is because the nation of Israel could not have any during the Old Testament days.
I base this on the scripture that fish is what Jesus ate, when He showed himself to the disciples in the upper room and proved to them that He was not a ghost!!!!
Besides salvation, what a blessing, our glorified body will have the ability to eat!!
YES!!!
Michael, you are the consummate comments killer! I would think that someone who signs in as "Promise Land" would know all about the leaves of the tree and would forget about catfish for a while (Oh yeah, you are from East Texas where catfish is king)
ReplyDeleteWhat has been said thus far has merit & I know that this question ushers in speculation. My pastor once said that he thought the leaves of the tree were for the healing of our minds (being no longer able to remember sin and the past)
In bringing this up, I thought some of you who have been to seminary may have heard various ideas.
Two-thirds of the Three Amigos have responded. I guess the other is totally perplexed by the question or considers the issue a little too beneath his cranial powers.
Without a doubt, this question resides at the lower level, along side all those that require little intellectual stimulation. The question is perplexing but only because of the limitations that are now handcuffing most Bible students' thought processes.
ReplyDeleteThe other two enchiladas have been laid on the plate and eaten. The third, because of his prowess, is alive and well. He sits in his rightful place, plate center, and awaits further garnishing.
The leaves on the tree of life are for...the healing of the nations. Any other questions?
I just had to enlighten all of you on the meaning of this.
ReplyDeleteThe word "healing" here refers to service. The leaves represent the acts of service, therefore causing the tree to yield more fruit.
If you'll read on you'll see the next verses relating to service to God.
Proverbs 31:26 "She openeth her mouth with wisdom..."
ReplyDeleteThanks Julie
You're welcome, Bro. Neal. :)
ReplyDeleteInteresting explanations, just one question, why are all of Mike's comments illustrated with food?
ReplyDelete