The blessing of the tree

Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. - Revelation 22v14

I am not to sure all that is involved in the tree of life. I suspect from putting two and two together in my head that the tree of life is the tree of eternal life. It was in fact in the Garden of Eden. I conjecture that if Adam and Eve had only eaten from that tree instead of the tree of knowledge of good and evil they would still be alive today. I suspect that is why God sent an angel who ‘guarded the way to the tree of life’ so that they could no longer eat from it and they would indeed die.

Eternal life is quite a thought. One of my favourite episodes of the old Twilight Zone is ‘Long Live Walter Jameson.’ Walter is a college history professor who is about to marry a colleague’s daughter. In the course of the story we discover that Walter is, in fact, over 2000 years old and received an eternal life potion from one of the Greek scholars. Poor Walter has lived through all of history. He fought in the American Civil War. He has had many wives who he marries and watched them grow old and die. The key line, when his colleague talks about how wonderful it would be to live forever is simply, ‘I am tired.’

In all of the eternal life stories the same truth comes out. Eternal life in this sin cursed world is not all that it is cracked up to be. It would be horrible to watch your friends and people you love grow old and die time after time after time. I don’t think I have any interest in living forever here.

In the new heaven and new earth things will be different. Remember, there is no death there. No sorrow, no crying, and no tears. The way to the tree of life will be unblocked and we will eat freely of it. The right to eat from that tree, taken away in the Garden will be restored. Matt mentioned this morning that a preacher said that things come full circle from Genesis to Revelation. I like that wording. It is indeed a new heaven, a new earth, and a new blessing of eternal life.

I like fruit. I was at a market Saturday and the owner of one of the fruit stands let me sample kinds of fresh sweet fruits. I loved it, but I know that one day I will really love eating from the fruit of the tree of life!