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“And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life” (Revelation 22:1-2).
Yesterday we talked about the river that flowed out of the Garden of Eden, but here we find a heavenly river proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In heaven this may not be an actual river of water as we know it, but it means the same as other rivers in the Bible — a continuous flow of blessing.
This river does not need to break up into several other rivers, but there is something else unusual about it. The tree of life is not only in the middle of the street, but also on both sides of the river! I have never seen a tree that straddled a river; that does not happen in this world.
But the tree of life is a picture of the Lord Jesus, who will be the One on whom our eyes are fixed when we get to heaven. There will be wonderful blessing there, but it will all be because of the Lord Jesus and His work on the cross.
The tree of life is mentioned ten times in the Bible; see if you can find them all! (It is actually mentioned eleven times, as the phrase “book of life” in Revelation 22:19 really should read “tree of life.”)
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