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.” The tree of life signifies Christ, the embodiment of the Triune God (Col. 2:9), as the divine life for our food. Because God and life are abstract, the abstract God needs an embodiment, and this embodiment is Christ. Christ is the embodiment of God as life. As such an embodiment, Christ is the tree of life for God to dispense Himself into us.
We need to differentiate between Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God and the Spirit as the consummation of the Triune God. The embodiment came first. After Christ as the embodiment passed through all the steps of the process, He became the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). This Spirit is the consummation of the processed Triune God. Whereas Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God is the tree of life, the Spirit as the consummation of the Triune God is the water of life.
Revelation 22:2 tells us that the tree of life is “on this side and on that side of the river.” This indicates that the tree of life grows on the two sides of the flow of the Triune God.
The fact that the one tree of life grows on the two sides of the river indicates 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 (Gen. 2:9). The tree of life was closed to man due to his fall (Gen. 3:22-24), but was opened to the believers by the redemption of Christ (Heb. 10:19-20). 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 Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth, all God’s redeemed will enjoy Christ as the tree of life as their eternal portion (Rev. 22:14, 19).
Since the tree of life grows on the two sides of the river of life, it does not grow upward but spreads like a vine. For this reason, it is available along the flow of the water of life. Christ, as the tree of life, is the life supply available along the flow of the Spirit as the water of life. Where the Spirit flows, there the life supply of Christ is found. This is all in and with the divine nature as our holy way, as signified by the golden street. This is both the supply of the city and the way the city is supplied.
Revelation 22:2 also tells us that the tree of life produces “twelve fruits, yielding its fruit each month.” The fruits of the tree of life will be the food of God’s redeemed for eternity. These fruits will be continually fresh, produced every month, twelve fruits yearly.
The mention of “each month” indicates that in the new heaven and new earth the moon will still be there to divide the twelve months. The sun will also be there to separate day and night into periods of twelve hours each.
The fact that there are twelve fruits means that the fruit of the tree of life is rich and sufficient for the completion of God’s eternal administration. The number twelve signifies completion in God’s administration for His economy eternally. Thus, the twelve fruits are for the eternal completion in God’s administration for His economy.
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