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"Teaching the things concerning the kingdom of
God..."
Part 250
THE
(continued)
“In the midst of the street of it, and
on either side of the river, was there the tree of life…” (Rev. 22:2).
You
will observe that there is but one
street. One street in a city fifteen
hundred miles square! The literalist
would have trouble here. A literal city
fifteen hundred miles square and fifteen hundred miles high with but one street
would hardly provide for traffic, and especially for the hosts of the redeemed.
Whatever this street symbolizes must be pure as gold and clear as
crystal! That which is symbolized must
be perfectly transparent. It must endure
the fire test of the Holy Ghost fire of God.
There must be nothing counterfeit, false, or impure about it!
Let
us see now and take note that in reality there is no street! We would think
there would be a great number of streets in so vast a city with twelve gates of
entrance. Yet here there is only
one! However, there may indeed be many
streets in the city, but that is not what John is showing us here. It is not in the midst of the “street” that
the tree of life grows. How to translate
the Greek word rendered in the King James Bible as “street” is really not
difficult. “Street” in not a correct
translation. The Greek word used here is
found only in the book of
Revelation. The word is plateia meaning “plaza,” “square,” or “broad
space.” Simply looking at the Greek word
should reveal the close resemblance to our English word “plaza.” In Greek cities it was the “square,” the market
place where all the business was done.
This is an arrangement much adopted in many parts of the world. We have all seen the “square” of a town, the
center of the town, not only the geographic center but also the center of commerce and the seat of government. Often one finds the most central part of the
business district as well as the
There
are many wonderful truths to embrace, abundant revelation to inspire and thrill
our hearts in the scene John presents to us, but one of the most blessed is the
great truth that the street or plaza of the city is pure gold, as it were transparent glass (Rev. 21:21). The
Greek word is diaphanes meaning “to
shine through.” It means that the glory
of God is to shine through our walk! The glory of God is to shine through all
that we do and all that we are! Someone
says, “I don’t believe that’s what it means — I believe we are going to
literally walk on a street of pure gold, transparent like glass.” Well, my friend, if you would rather walk
around on a transparent gold street than to have the beauty and glory of the
Lord God Almighty to shine through your spiritual walk, go right ahead. As for me and my house, we prefer the glory
of God to SHINE THROUGH US! I see that transparency coming in God’s sons
today, a people so transparent that you can’t see them, you only see HIM
SHINING THROUGH. Oh, yes! I see the light and the beauty of the nature
of the Lamb of God shining through and how I rejoice to see this Day!
THE TREE OF LIFE
“In
the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve
manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every
Up
to this chapter the new Jerusalem seems to be all mineral and no
vegetable. Its appearance is as the
dazzling display of a famous jewelry store, but there is no soft grass to sit
upon, no green trees to enjoy, and no water to drink or food to eat. However, here introduced are the elements
which add a rich softness and personal refreshment and sustenance to this city
of elaborate beauty. First, get the
picture! In this broad open space and on
either side of the river of life is the tree of life. The literal meaning of this word “tree” is
wood, timber, or forest, for it is a collective noun just like the words
“city,” or “church,” — the idea is not that there is just one single tree. No, there is an entire park; whole rows of
trees alongside the river and the plaza.
The plaza is literally filled with
trees! And this forest, or if you
please, this forest of men, is on either side of the river. Trees throughout scripture signify men. Of
the righteous man the Psalmist said, “And he shall be like a tree, planted by
the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season: his leaf also
shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper” (Ps. 1:3). The prophet Isaiah adds this testimony, “To
appoint unto them that mourn in
In
the first
In
my meditations upon the holy city in the Revelation, I often return to the book
of Genesis. And there, at the very
beginning of the mystery of God and man we discover remarkable truths. It is significant to note that when God first
spoke and caused the light to shine out of darkness the record then states
simply, “And God saw the light, that it
was good.” And then with each successive creative
work He continues to reaffirm it:
God
saw that it was good.
God
saw that it was good.
God
saw that it was good.
God
saw that it was good.
God
saw that it was good.
It
is repeated six times for each of the six days.
And then, the resounding conclusion on the seventh day, the seven of
perfection, when the creation was complete — a creation which included man… “God saw that it was very good!”
Let those words flow over and into you…very good…very good!
Ah, yes, there was within man a quality of human goodness — but man
needed to walk in a higher consciousness than mere goodness, he needed to walk
in the
The
problem is that when man came into the knowledge of good and evil he did not
come into a better condition. He was able to distinguish between good and evil but he
didn’t come to KNOW GOD! He partook of a
tree that gave him a power of soulish discernment in the natural world, but in
so doing he forfeited THE LIFE AND GLORY AVAILABLE IN THE OTHER TREE — THE TREE
OF LIFE!
He chose good and evil — but missed Life! In the
Let
us consider with care the great truth that good was not the same as life. Life was something better, greater, and
higher than goodness! And, thank God, in
the new Jerusalem city of
The
truth of this is powerfully presented in the following vision given to Pablo
Manzewitch. He writes:
In
November, 1986, I was in the little town of
Then
God opened the eyes of my spirit and a voice from within said, “I will show you
why.” Suddenly I saw a beautiful leafy
tree with many different fruits of diverse colors and sizes. I saw this
group of people who were not flowing in the service: they were sitting
under the shade of this strange tree avidly eating of its fruit. One thing drew my attention: those who were
eating of those fruits tried very hard to share them with others. They persistently tried to convince those
around them to eat of them, telling them that it would make them possessors of
great gain. I drew near to observe more
closely this unusual tree which was before me and somehow I understood the
significance of the difference in the color and size of its fruits. I observed and understood that one of them
signified “good doctrine”. Another was
“decency and order in the service”.
Still another — and the most outstanding of the fruits — I understood
was “knowing how to do things right” or “how to avoid ridicule”. Each one of these fruits looked so lovely and
was so attractive and desirable.
The
voice within me again spoke and said, “This tree is called the Knowledge of Good and Evil. He that eats of it shall die, because he
puts himself in the place of God, judging
by his own criterion what seems to be right or wrong.” Then he said to me, “Look what will happen to
them.” I saw that this tree produced
monsters. As these people ate of the
different fruits of the tree, a terrible transformation occurred in their
beings. Their bodies disappeared and I
could only see their heads and their hearts.
In the beginning, their size and aspect were normal, but as they partook
of those different fruits from that strange tree, their heads began to grow in
an exaggerated manner and their hearts noticeably shrank. They became more and more hardened until they
were changed into beings with enormous heads and hearts that were minuscule and
hard.
Immediately
after that, I saw a narrow path that became
more and more narrow as one advanced upon it. All of these people were walking upon this
lane and each step they took caused it to become more narrow. Because of the great multitude of people in
this condition who were walking on this path, they began to experience some
real difficulties. With their huge heads
they began to bump against each other
very violently. This gave them terrible
headaches. At the end of this path I saw
a very large cross about seven feet tall by about three feet wide. Behind the cross flowed a beautiful river
with cool and clear waters. He who would
have access to this river would have to go by way of the cross. I saw that the cross had a very small door
which was quite narrow. He who wanted to
get to the other side and enter this place of refreshing was forced to pass
through that narrow little door through the cross; there was no other entrance
except through there.
I
saw all these people draw near to that little door of the cross because all of
them wanted to pass through to the other side to the place where the river
was. But the problem was that their
heads were so large and hardened there was no way that they could get through
the little door. I saw these people
persistently pounding on that door with their heads, but they could not pass
through. They wept much because they
couldn’t enter. Some even wanted to
Suddenly
the scene changed and I saw another tree.
At first sight it didn’t seem nearly as attractive as the first and I
had to look very closely to be able to appreciate it. This second tree had lots of fruit, but it
seemed to be of only one kind which was very large. A voice told me, “This is the tree of
Life.” Then I saw this other group of
people who were simple, without much instruction in doctrine and without
pretensions. They were under the shadow
of this second tree and all were eating of its fruit. Soon I was able to observe a transformation
taking place in them, also. But it was
totally contrary to that which had happened to those I had seen before. While they were eating the fruit, their heads
— which had been of normal size before — began to shrink. At the same time that their heads became
smaller, their hearts began to grow until they were as large as the heads of
the first group had been. These, too,
were walking on that narrow path which led to the narrow little door of the
cross. Moreover, their hearts bumped
against each other in the same way that the heads had bumped in the former group,
but these people did not hurt themselves.
On the contrary, they seemed quite comfortable. Then I thought in my spirit, “What a
problem! These won’t be able to go
through the door of the cross either because of their huge hearts. What will these people do to be able to
enter?”
As
these drew near to the cross, they could very easily get their heads through
the narrow door. And when their hearts
merely touched the cross, they immediately melted and became as water. In reality, this water was their melted
hearts which simply flowed into the river which ran on the other side of the
cross. Every heart which touched the
cross and melted caused the river to increase in its flow and it became bigger
and bigger. These creatures with small
heads got to the other side with no difficulty at all. Their hearts were completely mixed and made
one with the waters of that river which flowed ever more abundantly on the
other side of the cross.
Again
when I looked within my spirit, I saw those beings with their huge heads and
little, hard hearts. It seemed to me
that I could still hear them praying and crying on this side of the cross. Their prayers went something like this: “God! We are your servants and we want to work for
You in Your vineyard.” Then I heard, as
it were, someone speaking to them: “But the only thing you are able to do is to
plow the ground. The rest of your lives
you will have to wallow in earthly things until you change your attitude and repent of having
eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Because now you believe that you can judge
between what is right and wrong (choosing the good, of course!), you will
Finally,
I saw those monsters in a very large field, working the soil and sowing their
seed, but the field was dry and sterile.
The only thing that would grow and that they could harvest were thorns,
thistles, and foul-smelling weeds. I saw
that they were very tired, bathed with sweat, and filthy from the dust of the
earth, but they still insisted on
plowing the field. They were
content because they were doing it for
God, but the only thing they reaped was pain and bitterness of spirit — end quote.
From
the
Can
we not see by this that the “fruit” of the tree of life is just what
There
are times when we are in the midst of trouble and turmoil and the adversary
would make us feel we are defeated, but the Lord would make us to be such
strong, vibrant trees and bear such wonderful fruit that no matter what comes
we will always have fruit. In every
situation and circumstance He is able to make all grace abound toward us in
such measure that we will always have all the good fruits of the spirit. Not that men might admire our tree and say,
“My, isn’t that a beautiful tree,” but that they may partake of its fruit and
be quickened thereby. I have observed in
my walk with God through the years that some people have been believers for
many years and begin to be puffed up with pride. They think that for so many years they have
served God and been faithful and therefore they deserve recognition and God’s
favor because of what they are. They
become trees to look at, and when you come into touch with their lives they
can’t give you a morsel of anything, and
when it comes to the leaves on the tree the medicinal properties have
evaporated, there is no healing balm, no remedial, restoring power — they are
barren. They are just trees to look at.
What
a street, what a plaza, what a square is this!
“In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was
there the tree of life.” What would you
expect to find in the midst of the plaza?
Multitudes of people, the hurrying of eager feet! In the plazas of great cities a thousand
interests concentrate themselves. Men of
all stations of life meet and pass.
There the joys and sorrows of the human experience jostle each other
unsuspectingly.
Why
do men not see the city? Why do they not
eat of the fruit of this tree of life?
Is it because they are so far away?
Someone says, “But there are no sinning, sorrowful, needy people in the
city of
This
city, remember, is not in the far-away heavens; it is a city that comes down
from God out of heaven. The heavenlies
descend into the earthlies!
I
know that I shall
A
This
tree that now I know to be
The
life of Christ that’s within me.
All
other trees may come and go,
But
this Christ Tree — I love Him so!
This
tree in me is shining bright
Because
its fruits are love and light.
This
fruit of love that transforms all
Removes
all trace of
O
Tree of Life, I climb thy boughs,
And
there we make our wedding vows.
From
vows, conception brings to birth
The
sons of God upon this earth!
Those
sons for whom creation groans
Shall
rule and reign from out His throne
Till
all mankind is free from strife
And
all become a tree of life.
— Audrey Schaffer
TWELVE FRUITS OF THE TREE
“In
the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the
tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every
We
have already learned that the river of life is not a literal river, and since
we don’t have a literal river, we cannot have a literal tree of l
As
to the fruits of the tree, the King James Bible refers to them as “twelve
manner of fruits.” Similarly, the
Revised Standard Version says “twelve kinds of fruit.” Actually, the word “manner” is not in the
Greek
The
THE LEAVES OF THE TREES
“In
the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the
tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every
The
emphasis in recent decades on the use of herbs for healing and health may seem
new to many, but it is not. It is rather
a renewal of the ancient medicinal methods of healing that stretch back to the
very beginning of the human race. Herbs
were the first “drugs” that mankind had at their disposal. The world over, nearly all tribes and
cultures had some knowledge of the plants that can relieve pain and restore
wholeness. In most cases what ancient
civilizations learned about treating illnesses with herbs has been proven
correct by modern researchers. The first
herbal “drugstore,” then, encompassed all of nature, with its amazing array of
medicinal plants. There are many herbs
that will work equally as well on one particular disease; some work better for
one person than another, but there are many alternatives given. Various parts of the plant may be used — the
root, bark, flowers, berries, leaves, and sometimes the whole plant. Leaves are used for many, many different
conditions, and that brings us to the exciting symbolisms of the tree of life
in the city of
There
has
In
that mingled beauty of city and garden, the pure river running through the
plaza, the forest on either side of it, our eyes are attracted to the healing
leaves of those trees of life. It has
been thought to be one of the incongruities of John’s picture that there should
be provision for healing in a city where all is pure, vibrant life and
perfection! But as we have shown
previously, there is no inconsistency at all, for the provision is made for all
who have newly arrived from the sins,
bondages, hurts, and cruelties of human life, who come with wounds long open, with
griefs that nothing on earth could soothe, with terminal disease of long
standing, that need assuaging and healing so that new life in Christ can begin.
Healing for all, John says — for
all comers! Mighty cherubim with a
The
Christ, who is the Living Word of God, is the tree of life and His words of life are the leaves.
He says that His spirit and l
“Now
after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the
To be continued… J. PRESTON EBY
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