The Tree with its Twelve Harvests
"In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of
the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve manner of fruits, and
yielded her fruit every month—and the leaves of the tree were for the
healing of the nations."—Revelation 22:2.
Faith looks into the unseen past, hope into the unseen
future. The 'things hoped for' are very glorious. Eye has not seen them, nor
ear heard them; but 'God has revealed (the name of this book is the
"Revelation") them unto us by His Spirit.' That Spirit has given us (1)
eyes to see; (2) objects to look upon; and (3) light to
see them with.
It is the glory of the new creation, and specially of the
new Jerusalem, that is here described. It is no longer, as at first,
Paradise alone without a city, and with only our first parents to inhabit
it; nor is it Jerusalem alone without Paradise, and without a river, and
without a tree of life. It is Paradise, and Jerusalem together. The city is
in the garden, and the garden in the city; the tree of life springing up in
fruit-bearing beauty, and the bright river flowing through the street and
under the shade of the trees. Nor is this Paradise without its 'Adam,' nor
this city without its Solomon. The second Adam is here, the Lord from
heaven. The throne of God and of the Lamb is here. All is heavenly, yet all
is earthly too; all is divine, yet all is human. There is perfection
everywhere—there is glory over all. It is the perfection of the material and
visible, as well as of the spiritual and invisible. Creation has reached its
summit—the eternally predestined height from which it cannot fall.
Into the regions of this glory we would seek to enter
now. Time is fleeting. The world passes away. Our life is but a vapor. This
present world is a waste, howling wilderness. Darkness and clouds are here.
The ice and frost, the blast, the storm, the earthquake are here. Night, and
death, and the curse, and the grave are here. We eagerly look beyond these,
and anticipate the promised perfection and blessedness of the new creation.
I. The STREET of the city. The word refers to
the main or broad street of the city. A wide central street, in the midst of
which the river flowed, is the picture here. It is the great street of a
well-built city—the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is
God. The city is the 'heavenly Jerusalem,' the 'holy city,' of which we
become citizens even now in believing, so that 'our citizenship is in
heaven,' and we, 'are come to Mount Zion, the city of the living God,'
realizing ourselves as already in the city, and the city as already here.
That glorious city is to be the eternal center of the universe, the seat of
government, and the center of social life and blessed being. We need not try
to sketch the city and its street, nor to answer the question, Is all this
to be real and material, or is it only spiritual? Spiritual certainly, in
the sense in which our resurrection bodies are to be (1 Corinthians 15:44),
but still real and material; for the gold and gems, the walls, and
foundations, and gates, are evidently given to indicate something material,
corresponding to all these, and which could only be represented to us by
these. This 'street,' or great thoroughfare of the celestial city, suggests
to us all that a similar street in any of our great cities now calls up to
view. It is the place of concourse; the place of fellowship; the place of
splendor; the head and heart of the city—that city which is to be the
metropolis of the universe, as the lower Jerusalem is the metropolis of
earth.
II. The RIVER of the city. This is described
in the previous verse. It is like, and yet unlike, all earthly streams. Its
source is divine; its waters are bright; its flow is endless. Jordan, and
Nile, and Euphrates cannot be compared to it. This magnificent river flows
right through the center of the street, which is in the center of the city,
dividing it into two, so that the whole city equally gets the benefit of its
waters. It distributes on both sides its heavenly blessing as it pours
along, carrying on its fair bosom refreshment, and gladness, and beauty.
'Well-watered' is this city; and with provisions for every beneficent
purpose. It is 'the river, the streams of which make glad the city of our
God' (Psalm 46:4); it is the river of peace, for on it 'shall go no war
ship, neither shall mighty ship pass thereby' (Isaiah 33:21). It contains in
it all physical blessings which a river can contain, and it is the symbol of
all spiritual blessings. 'You shall make them drink of the river of Your
pleasures' (Psalm 36:8). Not from any earthly source does this river flow;
not even from the rock of the desert; not from the sanctuary (Ezekiel 47:1);
not from the eternal hills—but from the throne of God and of the Lamb.
III. The tree of life. This carries us back to
Paradise, with its unfallen glory. It is the 'tree of righteousness' (Isaiah
61:3); the 'plant of renown' (Ezekiel 34:29); the tree of the old creation,
and the tree of the new; the living and life-giving tree. There is the
earthly tree and the heavenly tree, just as there is the earthly and the
heavenly Jerusalem; the tree of the lower Paradise, and the tree of the
upper Paradise; but the glory of the terrestrial is one, and the glory of
the celestial is another. Here we have the celestial; and yet, when we read
this chapter in connection with the forty-eighth of Ezekiel, we see that the
two are connected the one with the other—like the upper and the nether
springs; like the higher and the lower stories of the great palace; like the
outer and the inner courts of the great temple. This tree of life lines the
river of life; extending like a fringe along its margin on both sides,
between it and the street; shooting up like a long avenue of palms in the
midst of the broad street, through the center of which the river flowed. A
wondrous tree; or rather a forest of wondrous trees pleasant to the eye,
good for fruit, and excellent for shade and fragrance, under whose shadow we
shall sit down with great delight, in the day when the tabernacle of God is
with men.
IV. The FRUIT of the tree. It is 'good for
fruit.' Take it either physically or spiritually, it is so. Take it in both
ways—referring to both body and soul—the food of our risen life, the
sustenance of our risen bodies and perfected souls, it is 'good'—it is 'very
good.' It nourishes and cherishes. It imparts and sustains the incorruptible
life. It communicates its celestial properties to the whole being of the
redeemed—body, soul, and spirit. It bears twelve kinds of fruits, or rather
'twelve fruits'—that is, harvests or crops. Like the orange tree among us
now, it is always blossoming, and always bearing. The revolving year is one
perpetual harvest, every month producing new fruit. The description of the
'celestial' is very like that of the 'terrestrial' in Ezekiel, which runs
thus—'many trees were now growing on both sides of the river! All kinds of
fruit trees will grow along both sides of the river. The leaves of these
trees will never turn brown and fall, and there will always be fruit on
their branches. There will be a new crop every month, without fail! For they
are watered by the river flowing from the Temple. The fruit will be for food
and the leaves for healing.' (Ezekiel 47:7, 12). Here then is the food of
the redeemed—eternal nourishment, suited to their redeemed being! Here is
perpetual spring, perpetual summer, perpetual autumn—no winter, no
withering, no famine, no decay! Life for eternity, sustained by the fruit of
the live-giving tree, which shall nourish all the parts and powers, mental
and material, of our everlasting and incorruptible nature!
V. The LEAVES of the tree. These are for
health. As the fruit is for food to the celestial dwellers, so the leaves
are for healing. It may be also that these leaves are needful for the
preservation of health. In any case, we see the meaning of the words, 'The
leaves of the tree are for the healing (or health) of the nations.
All this is beyond doubt connected with the Lord Jesus
Christ—'the Lamb as it had been slain;' for as every infliction of the curse
here or hereafter is connected with Him as such, so every part of present
and future blessing is linked with Him. We might in this aspect say, Jesus
is the river, He is the tree, He is the fruit, He is the healing leaf. But
perhaps it is more correct to say, He is the fountainhead of all blessing in
heaven and earth, in this world and in that which is to come; and these
material things are the channels through which He pours out His fullness.
(1.) The bright and refreshing river. Weary man of
earth, come here. There are waters for you, enough and to spare. All free
and all accessible. 'Come to the waters;' 'let him who is athirst come;' 'I
will give to him who is athirst of the fountain of the water of life
freely;' not merely of the 'water' or of the 'river,' but of the 'fountain,'
'the spring shut up, the fountain sealed.'
(2.) The plenteous and life-giving fruit. It is the
'bread of life;' it is better than angels' food. It is the hidden manna; the
fruit of the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God. Eat,
for it is the nourishment you need; eat, for it is free and within your
reach; eat, for it is living and life-giving food. You will find it sweet to
your taste. It confers immortality on the eater. He who eats of this fruit
shall live forever.
(3.)The healing leaf. We cannot say of this tree,
'Nothing but leaves;' still there are leaves in abundance, and each leaf is
precious. It is like the hem of Christ's garment, through which healing came
to all who touched it. It is like 'the handkerchiefs and aprons' from Paul's
body that healed the sick (Acts 19:12); or like 'the shadow of Peter
passing-by' (Acts 5:15) that 'over shadowed' and healed the sick of
Jerusalem. These were healings for the body. In like manner there come
healings for the soul. Christ is the healer of a sick world. The simplest
touch in any part heals. Will you be made whole? Take a leaf from the
healing tree. Are you sick again? Take another and another. Take them every
hour!