“down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.”
Revelation 22:2 NIV
“Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear fruit, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing.””
Ezekiel 47:12 NIV
I am a Tree
The two scriptures above are so similar you might think it was the same author describing the same scene to two different audiences. You would be simultaneously wrong and right. You would be wrong because Ezekiel was an Old Testament prophet and Revelation was written by John, a New Testament apostle. They both had separate visions describing the same scene in the city of God, easily 600 years apart! Incredible! You would be correct because the real author is of course, God, who through His Spirit is telling a story of the eternal Kingdom to as many audiences as have ears to hear!
those of us who have spent any time in the Bible might be prompted to add a third, well known, passage of scripture to the mix:
“That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.”
Psalms 1:3 NIV
Verse 1 of Psalm 1 begins with the words “Blessed is the one who”, indicating that what follows applies to anyone, anywhere, anytime. And what follows, two verses later, is the image of a river, a tree, its fruit and its leaves; eerily similar to Ezekiel and Revelation. The difference is that the tree, here, is associated with a very definite identity - “the one who”. That is “anyone, anywhere, anytime who… is like a tree…”
Yes, I am suggesting that even though there is one tree of life - His name is Jesus - somehow; by his bafflingly glorious wonder-working grace, power and design; He has purposed that we who are in Him should be trees of life with Him and through Him and in Him, bearing fruit for every season and leaves that never wither! Populating the City of God. Providing nourishment and healing for the nations!
It, perhaps, makes a little more sense (and only a little) that Revelation 22:1 talks of the tree of life; singular; all along and on both sides; plural; of the river. My God! What have you done! I am a tree! My God! We are the tree of life!
He has purposed that we who are in Him should be trees of life with Him and through Him and in Him
Fruit and Leaves
What do you think? Is it too much of a stretch to suggest that the fruit represents institutions, structures, products, personalities etc that are delectably wholesome. Nourishing nations towards growth and advancement and every kind of prosperity…. And the leaves represent the relationships, systems and governments that make it all work? That’s what I believe.
People - with lives like trees - drawing on the Spirit like a tree planted by the river draws water - vast - extending their branches - producing nutritious fruit - creations that delight and develop the world - with systems and structures like healing leaves - eradicating sickness and poverty - healing age-old rifts and hurts - creating joyful relationships and synergies and alignments - making the world hum with unprecedented peace and contentment.
Planted…
“That person is like a tree planted…”
The imagery of planting is of a seed deliberately being put into the ground in order to provide the right environment for it to grow into the plant it was designed to be. The process of planting a seed is called sowing and the idea is that what is grown is unrecognisably more glorious than what is sown. So dramatic is the difference between a seed and the plant it becomes that scripture likens it to death and resurrection…
“Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.”
John 12:24 NIV
And then takes it further with the unsurprising analogy to life in the Spirit…
“So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.”
1 Corinthians 15:42-44 NIV
In the last Few posts we have talked much about the offering of our bodies. Denying Ourselves. Dying to self. All of this mortification is not simply a killing off but a sowing, for the purpose of producing something that is unrecognisably more glorious than what was sown.
In line with this, can we now get to one of my favourite portions of scripture…
“So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit.
As was the earthly man (the first Adam), so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man (the last Adam), so also are those who are of heaven.”
1 Corinthians 15:45, 48 NIV (bracket context added by me)
As IS the heavenly man - Jesus - a life-giving spirit, so also ARE those who are of heaven - Christians!
Notice the tenses used. Jesus IS the heavenly man. So we also ARE those who are of heaven. Present tense. Not future tense.
WE ARE LIFE-GIVING SPIRITS! LIKE JESUS!
This wrecks me.
How do we activate this life-giving power?
“…The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body…”
1 Corinthians 15:42-44 NIV
There is no honour or strength or beauty that our current lives have that is worth protecting or saving. Compared to the Spirit they are ugly, dishonourable and weak!
I am a seed
But there is indeed a life that we have in the Spirit. Colossians 3:3 says it is hidden with Christ in God.
Hidden…
Proverbs 25:2 says:
“It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings.”
Proverbs 25:2 NIV
God has concealed/hidden our real lives in Him. My role, as a king (yes, we are a royal priesthood), is to search it out. As I sow the seed of my life into the ground, what my flesh perceives and abhors as death to self, my spirit welcomes and craves as hiddenness in God - the perfect environment to grow. What my flesh kicks against as its grave, my spirit embraces as its garden. As I die I am transformed and reborn by the power of God. I send out my roots - ever so delicately at first - burrowing ever deeper into the dark and messy unknown of God - invisible to the naked eye and for all intents and purposes dead to the world - seeking out my real life.
what my flesh perceives and abhors as death to self, my spirit welcomes and craves as hiddenness in God
The oxymoronic Christian life
I am a tree but I begin as a seed. I must grow upwards, stretching out my branches bearing fruits and leaves that will save the world and display God’s splendour. To support this I must, at the very same time, grow downwards - into ever increasing obscurity… and never ending strength. I must simultaneously become less and more for the glory of God.
Next up: The Throne
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