He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. Revelation 2:7
Growing up as a little boy in West New Annan, I used to admire the lovely Cobequid Mountain hills that formed the back of our farm. I would see the large areas of maple trees, the huge spruce, and the many other species of trees that adorn those hills, and wonder if there will be trees in Heaven. As a youngster, I figured that if there were no trees in Heaven, it wouldn’t be much of a place. I still dearly love trees (no, I am not a tree-hugger environmentalist, my brain hasn’t gone that mushy yet) and I am glad to report that there will be at least one tree in the Glory. Our text tells us that the tree of life is there, and it undoubtedly far outshines any of the trees on the hills of New Annan.
Yes, this is the same tree that was in the Garden of Eden, which our first parents eschewed in favour of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. At some point after the fall, God transplanted this lovely tree in Heaven. And it occupies the same place in the Glory as it did in the garden: the midst. We read more about this tree in Revelation 22. We are told there that the tree bears twelve manner of fruit. May I make a little suggestion as to what this fruit is? Remember there were two trees specifically mentioned in Eden. If the one that our ancestors partook of was to impart the knowledge of good and evil, the other was to impart the knowledge of good. That’s why it is called the tree of life.
What do we know about good today? Pitifully little! Just what we can wrest from the Scriptures with our feeble and contaminated minds. But in Heaven, we will forever be able to eat of the tree of life, and be filled with the knowledge of God and His goodness.
In a world that seems bent on exploring the depths of evil, may we incline our minds to the good, to learn and know more of the God who is taking us to taste forever of His goodness. -Jim MacIntosh