1st Thursday of Advent (December 5). THE TREE of LIFE

Prepare to Listen.  The leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.
 
Prayerfully Read Revelation 22:1-5
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2through the middle of the street of the city.  On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.  3Nothing accursed will be found there any more.  But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him; 4they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.  5And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign for ever and ever.
 
Prayerfully Wonder and Reflect
What intrigued or surprised you in this passage today?

This passage from the end of our Bible is fascinating, filled with reminders of other biblical texts.  As Wilcock noted, “Reminiscences of the rest of the Bible [come] thick and fast.”[1]  Ezekiel’s vision of a river (ch. 47) is there.  He saw a river flowing from the temple, giving life to trees that bear fruit and have leaves for healing.  Revelation interprets and expands this vision.  The tree’s leaves are for the healing of the nations, plural, not just one nation.  The Genesis creation account is also here.  Rivers flowed from Eden, in the middle of which was the tree of life, the only other mention of the tree of life.  The Bible begins and ends with it, with God creating and God remaking creation.

Crucial to the remaking is the tree of life.  It’s a symbolic not literal tree and neither Genesis nor Revelation explain it.  In Revelation, the tree is watered by the river that flows from the throne of God and of the Lamb, a river that brings life to all.  It seems that life is a key theme from the beginning of creation to its re-creation.  It is also a key theme in the ministry and teaching of Jesus.  He is the life (Jn. 14:6) and he came to give abundant life (Jn. 10:10) and it’s life for all nations.  Our interpretations may differ but should all point to Jesus, the life-giver.  And in the end we’ll all worship truly, seeing God face to face, reigning together with Christ, forever marked with his name on our foreheads, a visible indication of to whom we belong.

One tree on either side of the river means it’s symbolic not literal.  What do you think is a symbolic message for you now?

Prayerfully Respond
Lord, your desire is for the healing of all nations, not merely my own.  Help me live in anticipation of that new creation by welcoming all I meet, regardless of who or what they are.  Amen.
 
Live obediently.  Live in hope of this new creation of all things.
[1] Wilcock, Michael.  The Message of Revelation.  Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.  1975, p. 211.