The Tree of Life

Will the Tree of Life be in the Lord’s millennial kingdom?

Rev. 22:1 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. Rev. 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. Rev. 22:3 And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: Rev. 22:4 And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads. Rev. 22:5 And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.

Consider the context in the book of Revelations, which is not always in chronological order. In Rev. 20, we have the 1,000-year reign of Christ on the Earth. Satan and him minions are bound up in the pit for a thousand years. But then, Satan is loosed for a bit. The nations are deceived. They rebel against Christ. The number of people in this revolution are as the sand in the sea. The people encompass “the beloved city” of Jerusalem.

Then what happens? Rev. 20:9 tells us that “Fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them.”

And then? The Great White Throne Judgment. “And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”

In Rev. 21, we get the new Heaven and the new Earth. Then we’re given a lengthy detailed description of New Jerusalem.

Then we’re given this reference to the Tree of Life in chapter 22. Did you notice that the first verse of chapter 22 began with the word “And?” It’s connected to, a continuation of, the previous chapter about New Jerusalem. Yet, what’s written about the Tree of Life is largely in the past tense. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations, past tense.

How can there be nations in the eternal state when Eph. 1:10 tells us the Lord is going to gather together in one all things in Christ? How can there be a need for healing from the leaves in the eternal state? Beyond that, how do you explain the Tree of Life? What is its purpose and its function? What happens when you eat the fruit?

The Garden of Eden

You may recall that the Tree of Life is only referenced in Genesis and Revelation. There are allusions to the tree of life in Proverbs in which wisdom is like unto a tree of life. Weirdly enough, three verses reference the Tree of Life in Genesis, and three verses reference the Tree of Life in Revelation. The Tree of Life is the great marker in the Bible that connects the beginning of all things to the end of all things. What was lost in Genesis is restored in Revelation. J.C. O’Hair would write that “As we have a new creation in Genesis 1, with its paradise, so we have a new creation in Revelation 22, with its paradise.”

A quick comment about the word “paradise.” I wouldn’t fight with anyone about this. This is really technical, but I think it’s important. When we think about the Garden of Eden, to us, that’s paradise. There’s no sin. The animal creation is tamed. The plant life is vibrant in a way we’ve never see. There was a pure river that flowed out of Eden into four heads. That water was pure, uncontaminated water. All of that to us is paradise, but it’s not paradise in the Biblical sense.

Paradise is mentioned only three times in the Bible, and the Bible is very specific about those locations and what God considers to be true paradise. Luke 24:43 gives us the account of what Christ told the thief on the cross, “Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.” He’s talking about Sheol inside the Earth. That is a true paradise.

Or you might remember how Paul said in 2 Cor. 12:4, “How that he was caught up into paradise” and he’s talking about the third Heaven, the abode of God Himself. What do those locations have in common? In both locations, we have the absence of Satan and sin. In both locations, we have the presence of God. Even in Sheol God is there with them. David wrote in Psa 139:8 If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell (Sheol), behold, thou art there. There is no place in Heaven or Sheol one can go to escape the presence of God. Even in death in Sheol, God is with them at all times.

All of this is why the Garden of Eden is not a true paradise in the Biblical sense. Eden was full of danger because of the presence of Satan.

There is a third reference to paradise in Rev. 2:7. This was in the letter to the Ephesians. The Lord says, “To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.” The Lord doesn’t say that the Tree of Life WAS in the paradise of God when it WAS on the Earth. He says that the Tree of Life IS, present tense, in the midst of the paradise of God. The Lord is talking about the current location of the Tree of Life RIGHT NOW, which is in the paradise of God, which is RIGHT NOW in Heaven.

Thus, neither the Garden of Eden nor the 1,000-year reign of Christ is a true paradise in the Biblical sense because you have either the presence of Satan or the presence of sin or both.

The Tree of Life

Gen 2:9 And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

What we have in this verse is the mere acknowledgment of the existence of the Tree of Life in the midst of the Garden, which is a contrast to the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The one produces life. The other produces death.

Let’s talk about the tree of knowledge of good and evil. How does one explain the name of that tree? Consider Gen 2:15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. Gen 2:16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: Gen 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. The traditional view of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is that after they eat the fruit, they would gain the knowledge of good and evil, or as one writer put it, they’d become “experimentally sensible of the difference between good and evil.”

For me, that doesn’t make a lot of sense. I’d suggest that Adam gained the knowledge of good and evil because of the very existence of that tree and the rules about that tree. What would Adam know of evil in his original state of righteousness before the fall? That tree and its rules taught Adam about good and evil before he would have to face the serpent. The existence of that tree taught Adam that it was good to obey God and not eat from it and it also taught him that it would be evil to disobey God and eat from it because there will be consequences. That tree existed to teach Adam about good and evil before he would ever face his inevitable encounter with the devil. That tree was designed to adequately teach him that evil exists, that there is wrong, and he must always do good by obeying God.

If that tree hadn’t existed before he encountered the devil Adam wouldn’t have known about evil. What the name of that tree means is that God adequately taught Adam about good and evil before his encounter with pure evil by teaching him about the existence of good and evil.

Because of the commands about that tree Adam now possessed the conceptions of good and evil. One writer wrote that “the tree is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, because by the command concerning it man comes to this knowledge.” Adam could never say to God he wasn’t prepared for what happened. The very fact that God gave him a command taught Adam about God’s authority, whose right it is to command, and taught Adam about his responsibility, his duty to obey. And this command with the explanation about the consequences of disobedience awakened in Adam the conscious knowledge that he had a moral responsibility to obey his Creator.

One writer said, “From the knowledge of the fundamental relation of the creature to the Creator springs an immediate sense of the obligation he is under to render implicit obedience to the Author of his being.” And all of this knowledge would set the stage for what was to come. And what was to come was the man’s first taste of information warfare. How much of God’s Word do you know? How much do you believe in what He told you?

Now if you ate of that tree, the result was death, separation from God,but if you ate from the Tree of Life, the result was life. How did that work?

Some writers suggested that Adam had to continually eat of the Tree of Life in order to stay alive. The Bible doesn’t say that. In fact, what God says in Gen. 2 really contradicts that thought. He said in Gen 2:16, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat... He doesn’t say here that you MUST keep eating from the Tree of Life to stay alive. He only says, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat... He was at liberty to eat from the Tree of Life as much as every other tree except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Plus, why should Adan have to do anything to keep alive when it’s the wages of sin that produces death? Why should Adam have to eat of the Tree of Life to stay alive when he hadn’t sinned yet? Adam was not going to succumb to death because he had not sinned. Sin is the only way Adam could die physically and spiritually. We just read in Gen 2:16 that Adam had full access to the Tree of Life. I used to think that everything in the Garden happened so fast, Adam never had the chance to eat of the Tree of Life.

However, I am inclined to think that Adam ate of the Tree of Life regularly. I think that eating from the Tree of Life in his righteous, sinless state was a life-enhancing, body-enriching, and spiritually-satisfying food that could possibly be consumed in the Garden. That experience of eating the fruit was this enjoyable, life-enriching experience for humans in a sinless state. This was life-enhancing, whereas eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil produced death. This wasn’t death in the sense that their bodies stopped living. This was death in the Biblical, spiritual sense – separation from God.

So whereas the tree of knowledge of good and evil produced death, eating from the Tree of Life produced life. In other words, eating that fruit was so richly rewarding, so life-enhancing, soul-enriching, that its fruit served as a constant reminder to Adam of how valuable and how rewarding it is to stay in fellowship with God, to stay in an intimate relationship with Him.

I’ll bet that after Adam disobeyed God and fell under the sin curse, one thing he wanted more than anything was to return to the Tree of Life so he could feel as good as he did before he came under the sin curse, which is why God had to station two massive Cherubims at the entrance to the Garden.

As if that wasn’t enough, He also put a giant flaming sword spinning in every direction. Why? I suspect the whole visual spoke of the depths of Adam’s desperation to get back into the Garden so he could eat of the Tree of Life again. He wanted desperately to go back to what he was. He wanted desperately to go back to the life he had. He wanted desperately to go back to feeling as good as he did before he sinned. I’ll bet you he saw those Cherubims, who were the size of skyscrapers, and he saw that giant spinning flaming sword, and he never felt intimidated by them. His desperation to return to the Garden and the Tree of Life was greater than any fear he felt looking at those scary Cherubims. He looked at that those Cherubims and that sword and he still calculated in his mind every possible means he could try to get back into the Garden to eat of the Tree of Life again, and when he finally concluded it was totally impossible, he moved on. Some might say, “That’s not in Scripture,” to which I’d say, “How else could you possibly explain the two big Cherubims AND the flaming sword?” The only logical answer is that it speaks to Adam’s desperation to get back to the Tree.

Let’s look more closely at what God says after the fall.

Gen 3:21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them. 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: 3:23 Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. 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.

First, after dressing them in animal skins, the Lord said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil… What did He mean by that? Is the Lord saying Adam is now a fallen sin-cursed creature like the Lord? No, of course not. Some books called this “ironical upbraiding.” I call this “sympathetic scolding.” It’s like a parent today helping a kid get cleaned up after he hurt himself and she says, “Oh, you just HAD to become a god and now look at you. Look at what you’ve done to yourself. Do you feel like a god now? You’re worse off than you were before. And now, because of what you’ve done, I have to cut you off from the Tree of Life.”

The Lord says in the second half of vs. 22, and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever… Adam and Eve are banished from the Garden because if they ate of the Tree of Life, their physical bodies would live forever, which would essentially make Adam and Eve immortal sinners.

What does this tell us about eating the fruit from the Tree of Life? If you’re under the sin-curse and you eat of that fruit, you become immortal, you live forever in your sin-cursed condition. Eating from the Tree of Life was an eternal blessing to a person who was in a sinless, righteous state. If you ate from the Tree of Life, that was an eternal blessing to your body so long as you were in a sinless state. If Adam had partaken of the Tree of Life before he sinned, wouldn’t the result be the same if he had partaken of the Tree of Life after he sinned? The fruit would likewise be an eternal blessing to him while he’s in a sin-cursed condition, which meant that eating from the Tree of Life would keep him in that sin-cursed condition forever. He’d become an immortal sinner.

So if he partook of the Tree of Life and then sinned, then that act of sinning would annul the eternal blessings he’d receive from the fruit while he was righteous. He could not eat of the Tree of Life after he sinned because that would affect his physical body in such a way that both He and Eve would have become immortal sinners.

The bigger point is this: eating from the Tree of Life was an eternal blessing to a person who was in a sinless, righteous state. If you ate from the Tree of Life, that blessing to your physical body was eternal. When the Lord said, “and take also of the tree of life; and eat and live for ever,” He’s talking about a one-time act. If Adam had to continually eat of the tree, that verse would’ve said “taketh” instead of “take.” That one-time consumption of the fruit of the Tree was so dangerous the Lord stationed those cherubims with that flaming sword that “turned every way” so that there was positively no way by which Adam could ever sneak back, eat, and become an immortal sinner.

The Eternal State

Let’s now consider Rev. 22. The context is the new Earth.

Rev 22:1 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. Rev 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. Rev 22:3 And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: Rev 22:4 And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads. Rev 22:5 And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.

First, notice in vs. 1 that John begins with the word “And.” This is a continuation of what he was talking about in the previous chapter.

What was he talking about in the previous chapter? New Jerusalem, the size, scale, height and depth of this massive, 1,500 mile-high building. The base of it – the width and the length – would take up most of the North American continent. We cannot conceive of how massive this is.

On top of everything this angel showed John about New Jerusalem, he also showed him a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.

Where is the throne of God and of the Lamb? It’s atop New Jerusalem. I don’t think New Jerusalem is a pyramid. It’s box. And 1,500 miles above the Earth is the flat top of New Jerusalem, a city as big as the North American continent, and it’s there that we will find the throne of the Lord and God the Father.

In Rev 21:22 John wrote, And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. In other words, there’s no temple inside New Jerusalem. Both the Father and the Son ARE the temple of New Jerusalem.

So if the Father and Son ARE the temple and there’s no temple inside New Jerusalem, then they have to be on top of New Jerusalem. This means the top of New Jerusalem is a flat surface and the entire structure is shaped like a box.

So whereas God in time past would abide inside the Jews’ temple, now, in the eternal state, He IS the temple and all of us will abide IN HIM. And where is He? He is atop New Jerusalem, 1,500 miles above the Earth on a flat roof almost the size of the North American continent.

Somewhere on the top of this roof of New Jerusalem is the throne of the Father and the Son. Then John tells us in 22:1, And he (the angel) shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.

On top of New Jerusalem, a river is proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. This River is connected to the river flowing out of Eden just as the Tree of Life connects Genesis to Revelation. This is Eden recovered but it’s more than that. What was lost in the Garden will not only be fully restored in the eternal state, but everything in the universe will also be greatly enhanced beyond all comprehension with New Jerusalem on the Earth and the presence of God and the Lamb. And flowing out of their thrones is a river, a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal. Why is it called water of life? This is living, running water. It’s not like a stagnant, muddy, dead, little pond. This is water that has life to it, eternal energy, has this overwhelming vitality flowing through the water.

This is the payoff to the setup in the previous chapter when the Lord, talking about the eternal state, and said in Rev 21:6 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. And here in chapter 22, we’re now seeing in the eternal state water of life flowing freely from the thrones of the Father and Son atop New Jerusalem and now anyone can drink from that water.

What does that mean?

Just as we’ve been talking about the Tree of Life, now we’re reading about the water of life. This is water that provides the same eternal life enriching blessings to sinless saints in their glorified bodies just as the fruit of the Tree of Life provided life enriching blessings to Adam when he existed in his sinless state before the fall.

The Tree of Life and the water of life are eternally linked, which links the beginning of all things to the eternal state. You can’t have a Tree of life without a water of life to sustain it. Both the tree and the water give life enriching blessings when consumed by saints in their glorified bodies, and both the Tree of Life and the water of life are treated in Scripture as just another glorious benefit, part of the rich reward of salvation and of being in an intimate oneness with the triune Godhead.

Notice how the water is clear as crystal. This reminds me of the sea of glass, clear as crystal, in the throne room of Heaven, which to me speaks of an enhancement in God’s new throne. What was merely glass in Heaven is now this life-enhancing substance given to all who freely come.

The water of life was also referenced at the end of Rev. 7 in which the elder told John that all those Gentiles who were saved and martyred during the Tribulation, the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes (Rev 7:17). The Gentiles who get saved and get killed during the Tribulation will be led by the Lord Himself to these very rivers of living waters that’ll be flowing from His throne in the eternal state, just as He would lead all of His own people. We had in the Garden of Eden Adam’s expulsion from the Tree of Life, and we have here in the eternal state the invitation to the water of life. All are invited to take of the water of life freely.

In Scripture, living water was always a spiritual allusion to the life-giving rewards of studying the Word of God. But now that water which was spiritual has come and entered the physical realm and every child of God is invited to freely drink.

We made the same case about Mystery, Babylon. That which had only existed in the spiritual realm as Babylon, the home base of operations for Satan, had in the Tribulation, finally come out into the physical realm in the New Babylon headed up by the antichrist. The same is true for the water of life. That which was only spiritual has now entered the physical realm and every child of God is invited to freely drink.

Now with a new Heaven and Earth, the presence of the entire triune Godhead on the Earth, with the thrones of the Father and Son atop New Jerusalem, the elimination of all sin, all uncleanness, all the saints who ever lived now together as one (Eph. 1:10), and God is all in all (1 Cor. 15:28), meaning that we’re in God and God is in us, the result is a literal paradise (in the Biblical sense of the word) greater than either Sheol or Heaven ever could be.

So atop New Jerusalem, you have this massive river, the water of life, flowing continually from the throne of God and the Lamb. And this massive river flows across the entire landscape of the top of New Jerusalem.

Look at 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. These passages have always bothered me. How do you explain this? In the midst of the street of it and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life? What does that look like?

First, he writes, In the midst of the street of it. The street of what? New Jerusalem. Rev. 21:21 tells us the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. The city of New Jerusalem, on top of the box, has only one street and that is a street of gold, kinda transparent like glass.

John says In the midst of the street of it and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life. I think he means the base of the Tree of Life is so big that it covers both the street and the river of life, which suggests that they run parallel together. Perhaps the street of gold is next to it, but the way this is worded suggests to me that the street of gold is OVER the river of life, but the river is wider than the street. So the river can be seen on both sides of the street. Both the river of life and the street of gold, they both lead to the throne of God and the Lamb.

Then John says that In the midst of the street of it and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life. I think he means the base of the Tree of Life is so big that that center of the tree is in alignment with the center of the street, and the base of the Tree covers both the street and the river of life that runs underneath it and can be seen on either side of the street.

The base of the Tree of Life is wider than both the street and the river combined.

Then in vs. 3 John writes, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it. In what? What’s the context? The Tree of Life in the previous verse. I think John is saying that where the water of life and the Tree of Life meet, that’s where the throne of God and the Lamb will be atop New Jerusalem. Tree of Life is massive, mountain-sized big, and it’ll cover the entire river of life and the street of gold running down the middle of, all of which leads to the thrones.

The throne of God and the Lamb will be where the river and the Tree meet.

They’ll be connected to the Tree in some way that John could safely write that the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it. We have to be careful with this phrase, in it. Webster was very clear that in Old English in merry Old England, the word in is in many cases synonymous with the word on. Webster said, “This use of the word is frequent in the Scriptures; as, let fowls multiply in the earth. This use is more frequent in England than in America. We generally use on, in all similar phrases. So when John writes that the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, it could mean on it, in the sense of attached to it, near it, next to it. I think the most likely scenario is that the Tree of Life will serve as a backdrop to the throne with the street and river coming out of it.

But notice John writes in vs. 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.

As soon as John sees the Tree of Life, he understands how it functions. The tree will bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month. Why twelve fruits? Does the Tree of Life produce twelve fruits a month or a different fruit every month? I think that verse means twelve fruits a month. It bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month.

Is each of the twelve fruits designated to be consumed for each of the twelve tribes of Israel? How can that be in the eternal state He has already gathered together in one all things in Christ? We are all one. Are we, the members of the Body of Christ going to be added to the fold of the twelve tribes of Israel? There’s no way.

What’s the significance of twelve? As Bullinger points out in his book “Number in Scripture,” twelve “is a perfect number, signifying perfection of government, or of governmental perfection.” There were twelve patriarchs from Seth to Noah and from Shem to Jacob. There were twelve sons of Israel. Twelve tribes of Israel. Twelve people were anointed in the OT. Twelve apostles. In Matt. 26:53, the Lord mentions having the power to call upon twelve legions of angels, which signifies the perfection of angelic powers.

Twelve is also the foundation in the New Jerusalem. Twelve gates. Twelve pearls. Twelve angels. The measurements of New Jerusalem are multiplications of twelve. All of this, to me, is yet again indicative of the fact that life in the eternal state on the Earth is still very Jewish. Hence the name New Jerusalem. But the twelve fruits is symbolic more so of the perfection of God’s government now here on Earth and Israel is merely a part of that. There is still a government, tons of activity, and a richness of life we can’t conceive. This is a perfect life with a perfect government. I think everyone will be able to freely eat of the twelve fruits, which offer twelve kinds of blessings to all saints in their glorified bodies in the eternal state. Our glorified bodies are perfect in need of nothing, but God still wants you to enjoy and benefit from experiential things He’s created, like eating from the Tree of Life or drinking from the water of life. Be blessed in your bodies by the things He’s created for your enjoyment. It is the richness of new life that is enjoyed when you are living in the presence of God in His kingdom.

What about the time element here? You have this reference to every month. Surely, John doesn’t mean that there will be time in the eternal state.

That’s exactly what he means.

I’d suggest that there will always be time. You consider, for example, the fact that there will always be a sabbath for Israel. You remember the Lord saying in Exo 31:16 Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. How long is perpetual? It’s forever. It’s never ceasing. It’s continuing forever into a future time. It’s eternal. The new covenant does not end the perpetual statutes that were in the old covenant. The law will still exist. Remember what the Lord said in Jer. 31:33, “After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.” The law isn’t going away in the new covenant. It will now exist in their hearts. The removal of sin is what enables them to naturally obey the law.

Some might say, “What about Rev. 10:6 that says there should be time no longer?” Do you remember the context? That was about the angel making preparations for the seventh trumpet, which was at the midway point of the Tribulation. Are you telling me that time ended halfway into the Tribulation? In the next verse, Rev. 10:7, you’ll read, “But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel.” Clearly, time is continuing as it had been. Time no longer means that there will be no more delay in executing the final seven judgments. Time has run out. But in the eternal state, there will always be time. Why? Because time was necessary for labor, and we will all be busy with our angels in our administrative roles from our heavenly seats in His kingdom.

The Leaves for the Healing of the Nations

All of this brings us back to the question we asked at the beginning of the message. Will the Tree of Life be here on the Earth for the millennial reign?

Notice what John writes about the leaves in vs. 2, “and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.” He speaks of how the leaves functioned in the past tense, “the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.”

How can there be nations in the eternal state? How can anyone get hurt in the eternal state? There won’t be, and no one will.

I think this means the Tree of Life will also be here on the Earth for the millennial reign. During those thousand years, the leaves will provide healing to the mortals in their normal human bodies that make up the nations. People will get hurt. The leaves will be used to heal them.

You may recall the Lord’s letter to the church at Ephesus in Rev. 2. Look at verse 7. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. Consider in this verse how those who overcome the tribulation will have access to the Tree of Life. This is an immediate reward in the kingdom for overcoming the tribulation, which is by obeying the commandments of the Lord. This, to me, is an obviously immediate reward in the kingdom given to some who overcome the tribulation, which means that the Tree of Life will be here on the Earth during the kingdom. Notice also how access to the Tree is only granted by the Lord and only to those who obey His commandments.

However, in the eternal state, all will have access. All will be invited to partake of the Tree and the water of life. Consider also that there is a distinction in purpose between the fruit and the leaves. The leaves only bring temporary physical healing, but eating the fruit yields an eternal blessing to someone who is already in a sinless state.

The rest is pretty straightforward. 22:4 And they shall see his face (whose face? God the Father. Now wait a minute, Joel. Didn’t you say God the Father will be here on the Earth during the kingdom. Yes. We’re never told He leaves when He came down and stood before the Ancient of Days. But not everyone in the millennial kingdom will see His face. Some will misbehave badly and be exiled and they will have gone their whole lives without seeing God the Father, but EVERYONE in the eternal state will see His face.)

22:4 And they shall see his face and his name shall be in their foreheads (No one knows His name now, but everyone will know His name in the eternal state). 22:5 And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.