Revelation 22:2, “The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.”
Short Thoughts:
May our words and deeds be like leaves from Calvary’s Tree of life, by which the nations are healed of sin’s curse and death’s shadow and made to know their God.
Long Thoughts:
This passage is, of course, talking about what is typically called the “eternal state” or “heaven” or the New Heavens and Earth, or the New Creation….it is John’s anticipation of the final state for all those who have trusted Christ. In that context—where all those who have opposed God in Christ have been cast into the Lake of Fire (19:15)—its interesting to consider what the “healing of the nations“ might entail. However, that’s not the point of today’s picture.
Rather, what caught my attention was the Greek word Xulon (ξύλον) used for “tree” in “Tree of Life.” The same word is used to refer to the cross in Acts 5:30, 10:39, 13:29; Galatians 3:13; and 1 Peter 2:24. Now, that in and of itself is perhaps not terribly significant, however the combination of this word with the concept of reconciliation between God and man (alluded to by renewed access to the Tree of Life), and the healing of the nations (“nations” typically meaning enemies of God in Revelation) points toward the fruit of Christ’s work at the cross.
It seems to me (and I believe it did to John as well) entirely appropriate to make the connection between the Tree of Life and the tree of the cross. At the Tree of Life, humanity rebelled against God and so received the fruit of death…at Calvary’s Tree (a “tree of death”), God bears humanity’s rebellion and its consequences and so produces for His people the fruit of eternal life. The true “Tree of Life” is the cross (the “salvific stem”) upon which Life Himself hangs in love so that we might be folded into His own everlasting life (Acts 3:15).
At the very least, the Tree of Life that will bless and heal the New Creation is a product of Christ’s death and resurrection….but I think it will in some ways be more than that…What, I cannot say; however, I can’t imagine that we will ever look at trees in the regenerated universe and not muse with wonder over the “tree” upon which our Lord of Life died so that we might forever live….
And for our present experience—even before the New Heavens and Earth—I think we can still, in a sense, take these leaves of healing to the nations. What are the leaves of the Tree of Life in this age? I would contend that they are the words and deeds of Christ-besotted saints that bear witness to the slain and risen Son…May we, then, go daily—hourly—to the Tree of Life (which is what the cross becomes in light of the resurrection), gather its leaves, and spread the healing virtues of our crucified and risen Lord in both self-giving deeds and gospel-explicit words.
