Tree of Life in Revelation 22:2

From a question on Quora:

In Revelation 22:2, is it one tree of life bearing 12 fruits, or 12 trees of life bearing different fruits? 

The minister could be right — it is twelve trees — or he could be wrong — it is symbolic of twelve human behaviors or attributes produced by the Holy Spirit’s work in a believer’s life. Or he could be half-right because there are twelve trees that symbolize twelve attributes.

Observe the context.

Let’s take verse 2 together with verse 1:

• Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. (Revelation 22:1–2, NASB; in good translations, italics indicate the words are interpolated by the translators to help the sentence make sense in English.)

Notice that “in the middle of its street” at the beginning of verse 2 is actually the ending of verse 1.

Let the Bible define its own terms.

When cross-referencing, give priority to the same author speaking on the same subject.

How does the same writer, John, define the the River?

• Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’” But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. (John 7:38–40, NASB)

So the river symbolizes God the Holy Spirit and His work. Right away, we should recognize that Revelation 22:1–2 is not to be taken as literal alone. Rather, the passage is filled with symbolism.

Notice that God the Son is called the Lamb. This does not mean Jesus of Nazareth was a sheep. Rather, the title evokes His sacrifice on behalf of those who will receive justification as a gift from the great Giver of gifts.

"Literal interpretation" includes recognizing typology.

So if the River is the Holy Spirit, the the Tree of Life is probably symbolic, too. In Genesis 3, the tree of life is described as though it were a literal tree. Since various persons and things throughout the scriptures have both literal existence and symbolic meaning (“typology”), there’s no scriptural reason to reject Eden’s tree of life as either literal or symbolic. I believe we get a clue about the symbolism of Revelation's tree of life in Proverbs 3.

• 13 How blessed is the man who finds wisdom
  And the man who gains understanding….
  18 She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her,
  And happy are all who hold her fast.

If the tree or trees of life is (are) symbols, then they represent behaviors or attributes, such as wisdom and understanding, that convey and bring blessing. Coincidentally, Proverbs 3 identifies twelve such attributes or actions (depending on how you count them):

1. Knowledge (see Psalm 1:2–3)
2. Obedience
3. Kindness
4. Truthfulness
5. Faith (see Jeremiah 17:7-8)
6. Confession
7. Humility
8. Respect
9. Holiness (see Psalm 1:1, 3)
10. Giving
11. Submission (to correction)
12. Wisdom / Understanding (see Proverbs 3:13 and following, especially verse 18)

The New Testament often cites the Old Testament.

Having established that the tree of life could be symbolic, whether the tree of life in Revelation 22 comprises one tree with multiple fruits or multiple trees of various types becomes more clear. We can confirm that tree of life refers to multiple trees by cross-referencing the prophet Ezekiel’s vision of heaven:

• By the river on its bank, on one side and on the other, will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither and their fruit will not fail. They will bear every month because their water flows from the sanctuary, and their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing. (Ezekiel 47:12, NASB)

The meaning of bearing every month (Ezekiel) or each type of tree bearing in its own time (Revelation) speaks more to the perpetual production of fruit than to the types of trees taking turns. In other words, the emphasis is on the constancy of the Spirit’s work.

Now let’s put the picture together: In Revelation 22, tree of life is a collective noun. It refers to a class of object that has variety within the class. There may be a total of twelve trees of twelve types, or there may be a billion of each of 12 types. The separation of right-bank from left-bank trees is irrelevant. They share unity in their source.

A central feature of heaven's operation is that God the Holy Spirit flows forth from God the Father and God the Son, performing the work of God. The work of the Holy Spirit continuously produces in God’s people the the traits that result in abundant lives that not only are blessed, but also are blessings to others.

Literal and symbolic meanings are not mutually exclusive.

Returning to Eden’s tree of life, we should remind ourselves that what Ezekiel and John saw could be both literal and symbolic. We do not have to choose one or the other. Our focus should be on the traits that can cause our lives to become more abundant, as well as on God, whose Holy Spirit is the cause of those traits.

By the way, once you digest the symbolism, you can see the Trinity identified in Revelation 22:1-2.


Since I've already posted an earlier version of this on Quora, I can't copyright it; but I still ask that, when you "borrow" it, please give credit where credit is due.

Did "righteous men" who had concubines sin?

Question on Quora:

In the Bible it was said that some righteous men had concubines. Is it not a sin?

Indeed, some “righteous” men had concubines, multiple wives, and even children by incest. Yes, they committed sin. Multiple spouses and non-spouses deviated from God’s perfect plan (See Matthew 19:4-6), but God tolerated “for the hardness of your hearts” in ancient times; there were more destructive sins. And as the scriptures record, it always came at a cost, causing family divisions, subterfuge, and sometimes violent strife.

The confusion comes from misunderstanding what righteous means.

There are two ways to be “righteous.” The way that occurs to us first is to achieve righteousness through human merit. Merit includes three main methods.

1. Heritage. Some think God will count them as righteous because they are descended from Abraham, or maybe grandpa was a preacher.
2. Church. Many think that a church can convey righteousness to them through membership or ceremonies such as confession and baptism. (Have you watched the Godfather movies?)
3. Good works. This includes church activities (#2), refraining from doing evil, and doing loving or charitable acts.

The problem is:

• (1) we will stand alone before God for judgment; deeds cannot be inherited — or as they say, God does not have grandchildren.
• (2 & 3) nobody can be good enough. For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23) We all blow it. We all sin. And God cannot simply overlook sin and “forgive” it without becoming unjust.
  
  Many think, “I will do good things that will outweigh the bad.” That does not work because we already owe to our Creator the good things we do to justify ourselves. It’s like falling behind on your rent and trying to pay April’s rent with June’s paycheck. We can never catch up or get ahead.

The result is that God cannot allow us to defile His holy presence, and we could not bear the brightness of His glory. If He did not cast us into outer darkness, we would willingly flee there.

The second way to be “righteous” is through accounting. God knew nobody would become righteous by their own merit, so He provided an alternative. God Himself would become a man called Jesus of Nazareth, live a perfect life, and like a big brother, take the punishment that we all deserve.

God placed all our guilt on Jesus, and, in exchange, credits the righteousness of Jesus to all who will receive it. He (God) made Him (Jesus) to be sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him (Jesus). (2 Corinthians 5:21.) God offers this exchange to us as a gift.

Going back to the three methods of human merit: Trying to earn the gift or even partially earn it insults the Giver. You can’t earn God’s favor by insulting Him.

The righteousness of “righteous” men in the Bible came not through their deeds or their restraint from sins such as polygamy. It came through recognizing their guilt, confessing their sinfulness, and trusting God.

In the Old Testament times, the things they trusted God for varied because the object of trust was gradually defined. Since the death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, however, the object of trust has been explicitly defined. We call that definition “the gospel.”

For more background, see:

• Polygamy in the Bible - What Does God Say?
• What does the Bible say about polyamory?