Revelation 22:2
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.
Revelation was always a book in the Bible that I avoided - all I ever understood about Revelation was the judgement day that was to come. What I never realised, until I was restored to Christ and attended a church that I was spiritually fed at, that the book of Revelation is full of many beautiful pictures, such as the Christ’s letters to the seven churches (ch2-3); Christ as the Judge and the scrolls being opened (ch4-5) and the second coming of Christ (ch19). At the end of the book of Revelation, we read about a “new Heaven and a new Earth” - God’s perfect recreation of the world as it should have been.
The verse I want to study briefly is Revelation 22:2. I found this fascinating that the “new Heavens and the new Earth” will have a tree with twelve fruits, one for “every month”. Reading from various commentaries and the Reformation Study Bible, they suggest that the fruit of the tree refer to both the body and the soul, always blossoming and bearing fruit each month.
Ezekiel 47:12 also mentions that the fruit will grow every month - “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.”
I love reading Matthew Henry’s commentary on verses that I want to gain a better understanding of, as well as other verses to look-up. He writes that “the tree is never empty, never barren; there is always fruit upon it” because verse 2 says it “yielded her fruit every month”. We know that Heaven will be perfect and pure, real Paradise (Luke 23:43) but this verse suggests that tree full of fruits will continue to be produced for eternity - because that is what Heaven will be, eternal life (John 4:14).
Revelation 21:4 says, “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” So we also know that God not only will remove all the sin, pain, tears and sorrow, but Heaven will not be like the earth we live in today. These fruits will be “righteous”, wholesome, pure because our bodies will be new and perfect, like Christ’s (2 Peter 3:13)
These few thoughts are basic and short, but I hope it brings a desire to study God’s Word more, especially books that you think you may not understand. It is worth studying because every word is breathed from God, therefore we should read it (2 Timothy 3:16).
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