Revelation 21:6 indicates that in the New Jerusalem Christ will be the spring of the water of life: “I will give to him who thirsts from the spring of the water of life freely.” Here we have the spring of the water of life, and in Revelation 22:1, the river of water of life. The water of life is the Triune God Himself as life to us. This water of life first has a spring and then a flow, a river. The flow comes from the spring, and the spring comes from the fountain. The fountain is the Father, the spring is the Son, and the flow, the river, is the Spirit. In eternity Christ will be the spring of the water of life, even as the Spirit will be the river and the Father will be the fountain.
As we consider the fountain, the spring, and the river, we see a picture of the Triune God flowing out as the water of life to dispense Himself into His redeemed people. According to the picture portrayed in Revelation 21 and 22, the river of water of life will flow in a spiral manner throughout the New Jerusalem and saturate the entire city. This is God’s marvelous dispensing.
Revelation 22:2 says, “On this side and on that side of the river was the tree of life, producing twelve fruits, yielding its fruit each month, and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.” In the New Jerusalem Christ will be the tree of life. The word for “tree” as in Revelation 2:7 and 1 Peter 2:24, is “wood” in Greek, not the usual word used for tree. In the Bible “the tree of life” refers to Christ as the embodiment of all the riches of God (Col. 2:9) for our food (Gen. 2:9; 3:22, 24; Rev. 22:14, 19). Here it refers to the crucified (implied in the tree as a piece of wood—1 Pet. 2:24) and resurrected (implied in the zoe life—John 11:25) Christ who is in the church life today, the consummation of which will be the New Jerusalem. In the New Jerusalem the crucified and resurrected Christ will be the tree of life for the nourishment of all God’s redeemed people for eternity.
It was God’s original intention that man should eat of the tree of life (Gen. 2:9, 16). Due to the fall, the tree of life was closed to man (Gen. 3:22-24). Through the redemption of Christ the way to touch the tree of life, which is God Himself in Christ as life to man, has been opened again (Heb. 10:19-20). The eating of the tree of life not only was God’s original intention concerning man, but this will also be the eternal issue of God’s redemption. All His redeemed people will enjoy the tree of life, which is Christ with all the divine riches as their eternal portion, for eternity.
According to Revelation 22:2, the tree of life grows “on this side and on that side of the river.” The one tree of life growing on the two sides of the river signifies that the tree of life is a vine, spreading and proceeding along the flow of the water of life for God’s people to receive and enjoy. It fulfills, for eternity, what God intended from the beginning. Today the enjoyment of Christ as the tree of life is the believers’ common portion (John 6:35, 57). In the millennial kingdom the overcoming believers will enjoy Christ as the tree of life as their reward (Rev. 2:7). Eventually, in the new heaven and the new earth, for eternity, all God’s redeemed will enjoy Christ as the tree of life as their eternal portion.
The tree of life is Christ as our life supply. First Christ is the Lamb of God for our redemption (John 1:29) and then the tree of life for our life supply. He is not only the redeeming Lamb of God but also the tree of life.
“The leaves” of the tree of life are “for the healing of the nations.” In the Bible, leaves are a symbol of man’s deeds (Gen. 3:7). The leaves of the tree of life symbolize the deeds of Christ. The regenerated believers eat the fruit of the tree of life, receiving Christ as their life and life supply inwardly, that they may enjoy the divine life for eternity; whereas the restored nations are healed by the leaves of the tree of life, taking the deeds of Christ as their guide and regulation outwardly, that they may live the human life forever. As the tree of life, Christ sustains the regenerated sons of God with Himself as the life supply, and maintains the restored peoples of nations with His deeds as the healing element, in the new heaven and new earth for eternity.
In the New Jerusalem Christ will still be the Son of Man eternally. John 1:51 indicates this: “Truly, truly, I say to you, you shall see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” In eternity future Christ will be not only God but also man, not only the Son of God but also the Son of Man. In eternity past He was God, solely and merely divine, having no humanity. But in eternity future He will be God and man, the Son of God and the Son of Man, both divine and human, having divinity as well as humanity. In eternity He will have two natures, two essences, and two substances—divinity and humanity. Eternally Christ will be the Son of Man to be the Lamb, the Husband, the temple, the lamp, the spring of water of life, and the tree of life. In eternity future Christ will have both divinity and humanity forever.
In eternity Christ will not only be the Lamb, the Husband, the temple, the lamp, the spring of the water of life, the tree of life, and the Son of Man—He will also be the Shepherd. In eternity we shall not have problems, but we shall still need Christ’s shepherding. A good shepherd not only solves the problems of the sheep but also feeds them. In fact, the most important task of a shepherd is the feeding of the sheep. Likewise, in the New Jerusalem our Shepherd, Christ, will feed us.
Concerning Christ’s eternal shepherding, Revelation 7:17 says, “The Lamb in the midst of the throne shall shepherd them and shall guide them to springs of waters of life.” As our Shepherd Christ will lead us to the springs of the waters of life. This indicates that He will shepherd us into Himself. He will lead us into Himself as the spring of the water of life so that we may enjoy the eternal dispensing of the Triune God, that we may express Him to the fullest extent for eternity.