There
has not been as much discussion over the years about the tree of life as there
has the forbidden tree from which Adam and Eve ate the fruit. But we learn from
3:24 that once the couple disobeyed, God drove man out of the garden and placed “cherubim, and a flaming sword . . . to guard the way to the tree of
life."
We
see the tree of life again in Revelation 22:2 where an angel shows the author the
holy city and the tree of life with “its twelve kinds of fruit.” If we
use our knowledge of the symbolic meaning of numbers in apocalyptic writing, we
note that twelve means the people of God.
How do we become God's people?
Between these two examples, we find in the Gospel of John Chapter 15 a vine bearing fruit. Jesus says, “I am the true vine.” He continues, “Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine,
neither can you unless you abide in me.
We have the cherubim placed in the garden with a sword to "guard the way to the tree of life." In Revelation we find the image of a sword again. “. . . and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword”(1:16) and "coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations"(19:15). Traditionally the image of a sword coming out of the mouth expresses combating lies with words of truth. Verse 13 of chapter 19 tells us that the figure with the sword is the Word of God.
Jesus is identified in the Book of John as the Word: "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth"(1:14) And he tells his followers, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me"(14:6)
We are reminded in the final chapter of Revelation that "on each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops(kinds) of fruit . . . And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations."
