down the middle of the main street of the city. On either side of the river stood a tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit and yielding a fresh crop for each month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.

— Revelation 22:2

Along both banks of the river, fruit trees of all kinds will grow. Their leaves will not wither, and their fruit will not fail. Each month they will bear fruit, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will be used for food and their leaves for healing.”

— Ezekiel 47:12

Out of the ground the LORD God gave growth to every tree that is pleasing to the eye and good for food. And in the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

— Genesis 2:9

22 Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil. And now, lest he reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever…”

23 Therefore the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.

24 So He drove out the man and stationed cherubim on the east side of the Garden of Eden, along with a whirling sword of flame to guard the way to the tree of life.

— Genesis 3:22-24

Thoughts on Today’s Reading

Grace, mercy and love from Christ to you.

John saw the Tree of Life on each side of the river. God restores and even expands what humanity forfeited in Eden. In Genesis 2-3, Tree of Life grew alongside the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the center of the garden of Eden. Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Their act of defiance indicated their choice of self-reliance rather than choosing to find their sustenance in God. Consequently, God banished them from the garden, denying access to the Tree of Life.

As in Ezekiel’s vision, the Tree of Life (either a single great tree or many trees), in Revelation 22, lines the riverbanks of the Holy City. Christ’s redeemed people now fully experience God’s gift of eternal life in a city overflowing with the fruit of God’s life-giving power. This Tree of Life, so full of vitality, produces 12 crops of fruit, one for each month, and the leaves on the tree bring “the healing of the nations.” They portray the lavish abundance of God’s provision.