Revelation 22 -
CHAPTER -- XXII --
The Tree and the River of Life
p 763 -- VERSE 1.
And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding
out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. 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.
(Excerpt taken from
Daniel and Revelation by Uriah Smith 1897-1911 Editions)
The angel continues
to show John the wonderful things of the city of God. In the midst of the
street of the city was the tree of life.
The Broad Street. -
Although the word street is here used in the singular number, with the definite
article the before it, it is not supposed that there is but one street in the
city; for there are twelve gates, and there must of course be a street leading
to each gate. But the street here spoken of is the street by way of
distinction; it is the main street, or, as the original word signifies, the
broad way, the great avenue.
The River of Life. -
The tree of life is in the midst of this street; but the tree of life is on
either side of the river of life; hence the river of life is also in the midst
of the street of the city. This river proceeds from the throne of God. The picture
thus presented before the mind is this: The glorious throne of God at the head
of this broad way, or avenue; out of that throne the river of life, flowing
lengthwise through the center of the street; and the tree of life growing on
either side, forming a high and magnificent arch over that majestic stream, and
spreading its life-bearing branches far away on either hand. How broad this
broad street is, we have no
p 764 -- street
diagram means of determining; but it will be at once perceived that a city
three hundred and seventy-five miles from side to side in either direction,
would be able to devote quite an ample space to its great avenue.
A very natural
conception of the arrangement of the streets of the city would be that shown in
the accompanying diagram; namely, the throne in the center, and a grand avenue
in which is the river of life and the tree of life extending out in four
directions to the wall of the city on all of its four sides. This would give
all corresponding parts of the city equal access to the grand avenue. It would
also furnish opportunity for one magnificent gate in the center of each side of
the city, opening upon the grand avenue. The length of each of these four
branches of the avenue (depending of course on how much space is allotted to
the throne) would be at least some one hundred and eighty miles. It may be said
that this is carrying speculation a degree too far. Perhaps it is. But it is
assumed that those who hope soon to enter into that city, will not be averse to
a little innocent speculation in that direction.
The Tree of Life. -
But how can the tree of life be but one tree, and still be on either side of
the river? 1. It is evident that there is but one tree of
life. From Genesis to Revelation it is spoken of as but one - the tree of life.
2. To be at once on both sides of the river, it must
have more than one trunk, in which case it must be united at the or in
its upper branches, in order to form but one tree. John,
p 765 --
(picture
omitted)
p 766 -- caught away
in the Spirit, and presented with a minute view of this wonderful object, says
that it was on either side of the river. Another who has been privileged to
behold in vision the marvelous glories of the heavenly land, has borne similar
testimony: "We all marched in, and felt that we had a
perfect right in the city. Here we saw the tree of life and the throne of God.
Out of the throne came a pure river of water, and on either side of the river
was the tree of life. At first I thought I saw two trees. I looked again, and
saw that they were united at the in one tree. So it was the tree of life
on either side of the river of life; its branches bowed to the place where we
stood; and the fruit was glorious, which looked like gold mixed with
silver." Experience and Views, pp. 12, 13. And why
should such a tree be looked upon as unnatural or impossible, since we have an
illustration of it here upon earth? The banyan tree of India is of precisely
the same nature in this respect. Of this tree the Encyclopedia Americana thus
speaks: "The ficus Indica (Indian fig, or banyan
tree) has been celebrated from antiquity from its letting its branches drop and
take root in the earth, which in their turn become trunks, and give out other
branches, a single tree thus forming a little forest."
In just this way the tree of life could extend and support itself.
The tree of life
bears twelve kinds of fruit, and yields its fruit every month. This fact throws
light upon the declaration in Isa. 66:23, that all flesh shall come up
"from one new moon to another " to worship before the Lord of hosts.
The words new moon should be rendered month. The Hebrew has (hhodesh), the
second definition of which Gesenius gives as "a month." The
Septuagint has mhn ek mhnoV (men ek menos) "from month to month." The
redeemed come up to the holy city from month to month to partake of the fruit
of the tree of life. Its leaves are for the healing of the nations; literally,
the service of the nations. This cannot be understood as implying that any will
enter the city in a diseased or deformed condition to need healing; for then
the conclusion would follow that there will always be persons there in that
condition, as we have no reason to understand that the
p 767 -- service of
the leaves, whatever it is, will not be perpetual, like the use of the fruit;
but the idea of disease and deformity in the immortal state is contrary to the
express declarations of other scriptures.
*******
VERSE 1. And he showed me a pure river of
water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the
Lamb. 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.
Water equals life.
Without water we
human beings cannot live. We are comprised of a lot of water. Without water we
die of thirst in very short order.
A pure river of
water of life.
The source of this
water of life is the throne of God and the Lamb.
To drink from this
pure water of life that comes from the throne of God and the Lamb, this would
be beyond any sort of water we've ever had to drink before in our entire life.
Water from God, from our Savior, life from our God and Savior in a tangible way.
We will never drink
anything as exquisite as this water, never, and only by the grace of God will
we partake in the water of life.
The tree of life
with its twelve manner of fruits, how amazing is this?!
I read this article recently-
A man grafting a
tree so much that it yields 40 different kinds of fruit. A man made tree, designed to bear fruit in a
way you'd never find in nature on its own.
Yet the tree of life will be a GOD given tree, a tree meant
purposefully, without any grafting, to yield 12 different kinds of fruit. The
fruit will be special and why wouldn't it be, it is the fruit of the tree of
life!
Remember this--
Gen 3:22 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is
become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his
hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:
Gen 3:23 Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from
the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
Gen 3:24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the
east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every
way, to keep the way of the tree of life.
We were no longer
allowed to eat of this tree. Banned from the tree yielding its special fruit
lest we eat of it and live forever. God
would NOT allow sinful man the ability to live forever in sin. Living forever
was DENIED to sinful man. And once again
that draws me back to the insane belief that man continues to live on after
death in a way that they know they are living, they know others are not living,
they are conscious of their loved ones not in heaven living upon earth,
watching them. This is insanity at its best because Satan has been able to
cause this insane thinking upon almost the entire population of humanity in one
form or another. What gives us life- that breath God gives to us, it goes back
to God who gave it.
Ecc_12:7 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it
was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.
That spirit-breath
is not an invisible duplicate of ourselves separated from our bodies. If this
were so wouldn't we ALL just want to die as soon as we are aware that we can
live as a disembodied person? We are under the delusion that this spirit living
person we become after death feels no pain, doesn't cry, has no more heartache
so what stops people from wanting this life over living now in the agonies of a
flesh existence? Truly if people believe they go on to exist on another plane
with their loved ones what stops them from wanting that life above all? They are under the impression that we must
suffer out whatever length of years of flesh filled life we are given for
reasons we can't truly comprehend. Or perhaps part of them, some small part of
them knows the truth is, there is NO immediate living in any form after they
die.
We were kept from
the tree of life- lest we eat of it and live in a sinful manner forever.
What does this tell
us, truly, what does this say to us?
We absolutely do NOT
live forever in any way, not until our Savior returns for us and gives us
immortality, raising the dead from their graves to give this immortality to
them, if they have chosen life over death.
What point is there
in having a tree of life if you already live forever? What point is there is
there to this…
Rev 22:2 …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.
What's the point?
Truly we need to ask ourselves these logical questions. We need to look for the
TRUTH.
Don't sit there and
tell me it is perfectly harmless for people to believe in their loved ones
going to heaven to be with other loved ones and Jesus immediately after death.
It is DEADLY to hold that belief! It is contrary to the TRUTH. It is believing
in the DEVIL'S LIES, the very first lie he told Eve-
Gen 3:2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may
eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
Gen 3:3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the
midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye
touch it, lest ye die.
Gen 3:4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall
not surely die
Joh_8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the
lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and
abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a
lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
He LIED.
Do you think Adam
and Eve believed that lie after they saw the dead body of their son, Abel? Do
you think they believed Abel went on to a better place? Seriously, do you
really believe God would make death just another form of life, and a better one
at that? Where is the punishment for sin? Where is the determent in even
telling them they would die if death meant something better?
I can only shake my
head and continue to not comprehend why people insist on believing in immediate
life after death in heaven.
Psa_13:3 Consider and hear me, O LORD my God: lighten
mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death
And why did Jesus
raise Lazarus from the dead if he were already gone on to a better life? Why?!
I go on and on about
this, but I must!
DO NOT BE DECEIVED!
Please!
We will live with
our God, our Savior, in heaven and we will live with them in the New Jerusalem
upon earth made new, and we will eat of the tree of life and drink from the
pure water of life. All by the GRACE of GOD we will enter immortality with HIM.
Heb 11:39 And these all, having obtained a good report
through faith, received not the promise:
Heb 11:40 God having provided some better thing for us,
that they without us should not be made perfect.
Heb 11:13 These all died in faith, not having received
the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and
embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the
earth.
Heb 11:9 By faith he sojourned in the land of promise,
as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the
heirs with him of the same promise:
Heb 11:10 For he looked for a city which hath
foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
The promise of
becoming an heir to the city whose builder and maker is God.
None of them
realized that promise- not yet.
They will realize it
along with us- at the same time.
They 'received NOT
the promise, God having provided some better thing for us, that THEY without US
should NOT be made perfect.'
They 'all died in
faith NOT having received the promises'.
We do not receive
the promise, not until our Savior returns for us! Stop believing you inherit that promise upon
death, it's a lie and opens the door to spiritual blindness, being allowed to
believe all you want to believe, yet never truly being known by Jesus who is
TRUTH.
Please, Father God
in Heaven, please… we would be YOURS! We believe! Help Thou our unbelief!
In the name of Jesus
Christ our Lord and Savior, now and forever, and ever!
AMEN.
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