THE GLORIFIED STATE Devotion 6 of 25 "In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations." (Verse 2) THE TREE OF LIFE Our first exposure to "the tree of life" is in Genesis 2:9. You may recall it was a single tree in an isolated place, "the midst of the garden" of Eden. It was not accessible from every place in the garden. It also competed with another tree, "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." – Tomorrow:
Glory is a condition in which no separations or divisions exist. There is a single "street," and a solitary "river" – absolute focus and singularity. That is a depiction of perfect harmony and blessing. How different from our experience in this world! Here, "the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh" (Gal 5:17). False prophets are found as well as true ones (1 John 4:1). The lie is brought to us as well as the truth. Simultaneously, the saints experience contradictory things: honor and dishonor, evil report and good report, unknown and well known, dying and living, chastened and not killed, sorrowful yet always rejoicing, poor yet making many rich, having nothing yet possessing all things (2 Cor 6:8-10). In "this present evil world," we are exposed to a multiplicity of streets and rivers. There is a broad way and a narrow way (Matt 7:13-14). There is a river that makes glad (Psa 46:4), and a flood associated with our enemies (Isa 59:19). Even when we resolve to do good, we find a certain law that "when I would do good, evil is present with me" (Rom 7:21).
Glory will find us completely relieved of such grievous contradictions! There will no competing influences. Nothing will be within us from which we need to separate, or which we need to deny (Tit 2:12), put to death (Col 3:5), crucify (Gal 5:24), or bring under subjection (1 Cor 9:27). The wicked will cease from troubling (Job 3:17). The total absence of conflict of any kind is pictured in the words, "they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." (Isaiah 2:4).
Now, the Spirit will emphasize the completeness of the glorified state. There will be no appetite developed by grace that will not be gratified, and no thirst created by faith that is not assuaged. Our text assumes a longing for the condition described. Grace is preparing those who live by faith for the fulfillment of these promises. Any approach to religion that does not make these texts inestimable is suspicious, to say the least, and should be avoided.
Additionally, there will be no effects of sin that will not be thoroughly remedied. Not a single vestige of the curse or its impact us will remain. There will not be a single longing or desire that is not abundantly satisfied!
With the entrance of sin, humanity was barred from "the tree of life." After Adam and Eve were cast out of the garden by the very same God who placed there, the "tree of life" became totally inaccessible. As it is written, "Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life" (Gen 3:22-24).
Thus, the Lord placed a cap, so to speak, on what men could know and experience. With sin, humanity entered into the realm of restriction and severe limitation The primary stricture related to access to God, Divine knowledge, and spiritual growth. As long as we are in the flesh, this circumscription will remain. They are in much larger measure than we dare to imagine, even though grace allows us to touch the fringe of truth and handle what we do not fully comprehend.
Our limitations are so extensive the Spirit must speak to us in the language of our text. The "tree of life" is "in the middle of the street." Any place and everyplace we can be found, "the tree of life" will be accessible, i.e., access to the life of God will be absolutely unhindered and free. As if that did not suffice, the tree of life, like a giant forest, is "in the midst of the street and on either side of the river" that flows like a mighty torrent from the throne. Absolutely no communication of any sort will move us beyond the source of life.
In this world we receive "grace for grace," one blessing piled, as it were, upon another (John 1:16). The loving favor of God meets us in the pit as well as upon the mountain. We taste of it when we are suffering need or when we abound. It teaches us to be content in diverse conditions. Grace not only brings the things of God to us, it enables us to recover from the debilitating environment of this world, and the "vile body" in which we are temporarily housed.
But in the world to come, life itself will be exponential, as we leap from one degree of life to another. Our responses and expressions will swell and grow without restriction, together with our insights and delights. There will be nothing that makes for death, and everything that makes for joyful life. What a picture is given here!
PRAYER POINT: Father, my heart is discontent with inner war and outward conflict. Yet, I know that while I am in the body, these are circumstances I must face in Your strength. Through Jesus I thank You for the prospect of free access to the tree of life, and the total absence of conflict and turmoil.