Let's take our Bibles again and
turn to Revelation 22. John, in the revelation of Christ
himself, saw, as we just looked, a pure river of water. It was a water of life. Clear
as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the
Lamb. That river is the river of heaven. There's not but one. One river. One Christ. The hope. The life. I am the way. Heavenly source, heavenly water,
heavenly beauty, the river of God. There is a river. It is
a river of grace. It flows from the throne of grace
and of the Lamb. We know that everything connected
with grace to a sinner must be. by the Lord Jesus Christ. It's
a river of power. It's from the throne of God and
the Lamb, and it is the power of God Almighty executed in the
redemption and salvation of God's elect. What does it take to save
a sinner? It takes God. It takes God satisfying
God. It is a river of purity, the
source of the saint's purity. It is the river of life and brightness,
for he is the bright and morning star. It is the river of life
blowing from the throne of God. Now, we want to look this morning
again in the second verse at another view of the city. It says, In the midst of the
street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which
bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree were
for the healing of the nations. Now one thing that we must ever
remember, if I'm writing out a set of notes
here to try to keep my mind on targeting the direction I'm going,
the best thing for me to do is to write up the top of those
notes, I must see Christ. If you're writing down or jotting
down a few notes, we'd be well to be reminded. Never look at
anything in light of these scriptures apart from seeing Him. If we see Him, we see a right. If we miss Him, we missed it. Whatever you saw, you didn't
see the gospel. because his brother Scott just
read, this is concerning his son. Separated under the gospel
of God, which is concerning his son. Men are standing up proclaiming
what they say is the gospel. And I've listened to a lot of
it, and I don't see the glory of God. I don't see redemption
by grace. I don't see redemption by blood. I don't see particular redemption.
I don't see the gospel of God. Therefore, as Paul said, I'm
amazed that you're so soon removed, separated from Him that called
you unto another gospel. This book is called The Revelation
of Jesus Christ. So we must see Him. To see Him,
the Spirit of God must give us eyes to see Him. It must set
forth the Person of Christ Himself in what we are seeing. And He
must give us light to see with. Because if He doesn't, we don't
see. We read a verse of Scripture and you look at that. Then all of a sudden, God turns
on the light and you say, I knew that. I just didn't see it that
way. It's amazing how we'll look at
a Scripture. That is such a Scripture this
morning. It's a Scripture that I truly
believe has got to be one of the most glorious pictures of
our hope in Christ that I've seen. I read it and just struggled
with it. Honestly, I asked the Lord, would
You teach me something about this? This was one of those Scriptures
that I prayed God be pleased to teach us something of Himself
and the wonder of His grace to us. We're looking this morning
in this last chapter in Revelation at truly the garden of God. This is God's bride. Song of
Solomon 5-1, he said, I'm coming to my garden, my sister, my spouse. The bride is the garden, the
kingdom of God Himself. Song of Solomon 416, Awake, O
north wind, and come thou south blow upon my garden, that the
spices thereof may flow out. The Bride Assembled is the garden
of God where He Himself visits, nurtures, feeds, prunes, admires
and she does Him. Now, this garden, the bride,
this holy Jerusalem, this is the very paradise of God Himself. In Luke 23, verse 43, Jesus said
unto that thief that was hanging on that cross beside Him, and
that thief looked at Him And God opened his eyes, gave him
eyes to see, gave him a heart to perceive and to ask and to
admire and to seek and to come. And he said, Lord, when You enter into Your kingdom,
would You remember me? Would You take note of me? And the Lord said unto him, Verily,
I say unto thee today, Shalt thou be with me in paradise. And I thought on that. I thought
that fellow had something to look forward to. So do you that
believe. Revelation 2.7, He that hath
an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which
is in the midst of the paradise of God." The park, the orchard,
is what that word is. Now, to understand the wonder
of the tree of life, that's what John saw. In the midst of the
street of it and on either side of the river, there were There
was there the tree of life. There was a sense in which there
were trees, the streams. One tree. The manifestation,
the eating of it. John saw a garden. It was one
tree of life made up the way he saw it as trees. And in the street of it, and
on either side of the river, there was the tree of life. Now, to understand this wonder
of this tree, we've got to go back. Now, here we are at the
very end of this book, last chapter. Now, to understand this tree
right here, let's go back to the beginning. Turn with me to
Genesis 2. Genesis chapter 2, verse 8. Genesis 2. John saw in the midst of the paradise of God a tree,
a tree of life. Genesis chapter 2, verse 8. And
the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden. And there he
put the man whom he had formed, and out of the ground made the
Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and
good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden,
and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And a river
went out of Eden to water the garden, And from thence it was
parted and became four heads. There in the garden in Genesis,
in Eden itself, the paradise of God, there was the tree of
life. It was the tree. The tree of
life. Same tree in Revelation 22 too
that we looked at. The tree of life. was in the midst of the garden,
just like the tree of life was in the midst of the street of
our text. That is, the very presence in
the presence of that garden was the tree of life. Of this tree, that is, in Genesis
2, of that tree, man could freely eat. That's what he said. It was good for food. Of all
the trees you can eat, this tree was wonderful to behold. This tree was symbolically set
forth in type, in picture, no other than the precious Lord
Jesus Christ. It was the tree of life. John 17 sets forth life. That is, to know Him. This is
life eternal, that they may know Thee, that they may know You,
the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. This
is life! To know God, to be pure before
God, to be set apart for God. and by God, and to be redeemed
by God. That's life. Redeemed, set apart,
chosen, kept, to know, to understand. 1 Corinthians 1.30 says, But
of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us, and
here's life eternal, to know God. He's our wisdom. We've got to be pure before God
and righteousness. Set apart for God, He's our sanctification. We've got to be bought and paid
for. Our sins are going to have to be dealt with. He's our redemption. But of Him, or ye in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption. Christ is our life. He's our wisdom. Turn with me
to Proverbs 3. Proverbs 3. Proverbs 3, verse
13. Proverbs 3, 13. Happy is the man that findeth
wisdom. and the man that getteth understanding. For the merchandise of it is
better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof
than fine gold." That's going to perish, but not him. She's
more precious than rubies, and all the things that thou canst
desire are not to be compared to her. Length of days is in
her right hand. and in her left hand riches and
honor, her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.
She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her. Happy
is everyone that retaineth her." Christ Himself. Wisdom. Wisdom. The Scripture says back
in Genesis chapter 2, concerning that tree. The Lord said in Genesis
2, verse 16 and 17, And the Lord God commanded the man, saying,
Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat. Now, did that include the tree
of life? Absolutely. Every tree. Every tree. Look
at verse 17, But of the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil, thou shalt not eat of it. For in the day that thou eatest
thereof, thou shalt surely die." Now, it doesn't really matter. I know there have been a lot
of people speculating, you know, what do you think that tree was?
Maybe an apple tree. Maybe it was a fig tree. Maybe
Adam took the leaf of that fig tree and tried to cover himself. It doesn't really matter. But
for sure, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil symbolized this one thing of
this, I am sure. That set forth the absolute sovereignty
of Almighty God. His right to rule over man and
man's responsibility to obey and honor God. I know that. That
tree right there said this, I'm God. I'm God. And the day you disobey me, In
the day you do not honor Me, in the day you rebel against
Me, in the day that you eat of that tree, you are going to die. Now, before man ate of that tree,
man was innocent before God. He was in a state of innocence. A state that was ignorant of
evil. In that innocence, he walked
with God. I know that. He walked with God
in the cool of the day. He understood his need of God's
fellowship and loved it, looked forward to it. He visited with
God. Man was pure from the presence
and the guilt of sin. He was innocent. But in the day that he ate, of
that tree, something happened. The Scripture says he died. He died spiritually immediately
and began to die physically. And left in that state, he'll
die eternally. From that point, here was man's
legacy. Chapter 14, in verse 2 and 3,
this is what the Scripture says, ìThe Lord looked down from heaven
upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand
and seek God. They are all gone aside, they
are all together become filthy. There is none that doeth good,
no, not one. In the day that Adam ate of the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he died. Now, man possessed
the knowledge of good and evil. That was the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil. Man ate of it and died and possessed
the knowledge of good and evil. How's that? This is what man now had. He
knew good without the power to do it. And he knew evil without the
power to avoid it. He knew good without the power
to accomplish it. And he knew evil without the
power to avoid it. Now let me show you why I say
that. Man, every man, all men, possess
in their conscience the knowledge to do good. This is the plight
of all false religion. Let me show you what I mean. I was telling you about those
Mayans that I went down in Mexico. They knew. They know that their
God needs to be appeased. They know that. They know that
their God is angry. Their God demands blood. Their
God must be propitiated. Their God is angry. They know
that their God Needs to be satisfied. They know
that. And every false religion, I don't
care who it is standing in a pulpit today, what they're saying, Gary,
is this. God's going to have to be satisfied.
Now, God wants to save you. Now, you're going to have to
come back and satisfy God. Adam, in the day he ate of the
knowledge of good and evil, he knew good. He knew that God had
to be satisfied. Let me ask you this. Why did
he cover himself with a fig leaf? Why did he do that? Well, first
of all, he knew this. He knew that God was going to
be angry with him. He knew that. He knew that there
was something good that had to be done. I'm going to have to
hide my nakedness before God. He knew good without the ability
to do it. And he knew evil without the
ability To avoid it. Why was he doing that? He knew
he was wrong. But I don't know what to do about
it. I just can't pray long enough. I heard people say, well, pray
through. Pray through what? What do you
mean pray through? Read. Get into the Scriptures. Serve God. How? What do you want me to do? Do
you want me to pass out tracts? What do you want me to do? Adam
knew. He knew good. He knew that God
was going to have to be satisfied. So he covered himself. Why did
he cover himself? He knew evil, but he couldn't
avoid it. He did the best he could. He
got him a fig leaf and tried to cover himself before God.
The Scripture says, He ate, and the eyes of them both were opened. They knew that they were naked. What did He do? The best He could. Right here, we have man's first
attempt to cover himself before God. Why? Because he knew good, that God
was going to be satisfied. But he didn't know how to do
it. He knew evil, that he himself had rebelled against God, and
how am I going to hide myself before God? He didn't know how. God himself killed an animal.
There we see the first time the gospel is preached in the book
of Genesis. God killed an animal, covered
them both, clothed them. Right there we see the difference
between man's attempt to cover his nakedness and God's ability
to cover it. False religion is continually
trying to cover itself with self-righteous works. False religion, they know
something about good. I mean, they're preaching something
about satisfying God. But they don't know how God is
satisfying. They don't see Christ in it.
They see themselves. Why? Because their belly is their
God. True repentance before Almighty
God evidences itself in what the Scripture says is good works. Faith. Works that are meet, fit
for repentance. God's people. evidence themselves
because of what God has done for them. False religion is trying
to accomplish a righteousness before God. God's people walk
in the righteousness that God has established. That's the difference.
After Adam ate of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil,
the mercy of Almighty God was seen in Genesis chapter 3, verse
22. Verse 24. Genesis chapter 3, verse 22. Now here's what had happened.
God told Adam, in the day you eat thereof, you eat of the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil, you're going to die. What
you're going to know is this, you're going to know good but
not able to accomplish it. You're going to know evil and
not have the ability to avoid it. You're going to die. You
die. Genesis 3.22, ìAnd the Lord God
said, Behold, the man is become as one of us to know good and
evil.î He knew it. ìAnd now, lest he put forth his
hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat and live forever,î
that is, in that state, ìtherefore 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 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." Now, I looked at that
Scripture, and I'll be honest with you, I read that and I thought,
well, there's one thing that I know that's obvious. When it
says, Behold, the man is become as one of us, I know that Man
didn't become as one of the Godhead. I knew that. But what does it
mean? Behold, the man is become as
one of us. This is the literal interpretation. Behold, the man is become. That word exists. Behold, the
man exists. When it says, as one of us, that
is interpreted once for all. Man has a soul that lives. It lives. It's lived. Not like
an animal that dies and is just gone. Man's soul created in the
image of God. He was a living soul. All men are going to stay somewhere
forever. This is the point I'm trying
to make. Behold, the man exists once for all. As one of us exists
forever, how? To know good and evil. Man has
rebelled in the garden and all mankind, now as this man, one
sin, one man's disobedience, all mankind knows and is born
like this, to know good and evil. All men are religious. They all
know that God somehow needs to be satisfied, and they don't
know how to do it. And they know that they themselves
are evil, and they can't avoid it. All men. 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 forever
in that state. God sent him out so he couldn't
eat. of the tree of life. Had man eaten of the tree of
life in that fallen condition, he would stay right there. But
here we see the glorious grace of Almighty God. While we see
the eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, to
be a willing act of disobedience on the first Adam's part. And that's what it is. When Adam
ate of that tree, God Almighty had said, this is where you're
going to be. You're going to obey Me. You
disobey Me. And you're going to die. When Adam ate of that tree, he
died because of disobedience. That makes sense, doesn't it?
He died because of disobedience. Here we see in the glorious gospel
that Christ, our tree of the knowledge of good and evil, that
tree was God's right. Christ Himself was made to be. was made our tree of the knowledge
of good and evil. But for him, he was made sin. Adam was made sin by disobedience. Christ was made sin by obedience. He said, I lay down my life. Adam was made answerable to God
because of disobedience. Christ was made answerable at
Calvary, willingly. Adam placed himself answerable
for God by disobedience, Christ by obedience. Christ is our tree
of the knowledge of good and evil. Adam, by his transgression,
brought sin into this world, and death by sin, by disobedience. Christ, by his obedience, to
God's purpose, will, and covenant was made sin to suffer the judgment
and wrath of God for us. Adam by disobedience, Christ
made answerable by His obedience. Christ is the saint's tree of
the knowledge of good and evil for obedience. to Almighty God, and He is the
tree of life for righteousness. That tree that stood, that tree
of the knowledge of good and evil, God said this, obedience
is what it's going to take before me for you to have life. Obedience. There's only been
one. When Adam ate of that tree, God
said, you're answerable. You die in that state and you
will forever perish. Christ made himself answerable. I will make myself answerable.
This is God's demand. You obey and you live. Christ
said, I'll make myself answerable. And I'll make myself answerable
for all that you've given me. by the putting away of sin by
His precious blood. Christ gives the privilege now
to eat to all for whom He has died. Look at Revelation 2, 7.
Now, realizing this, Adam ate of that tree, made himself answerable
by disobedience, and because now he possessed the knowledge
of good without the ability to accomplish it, and the knowledge
of evil without the ability to avoid it, Christ Himself, by
His obedience, knew what it was going to take to please God.
And He had walked perfectly. The perfect Lamb of God walked
before God's law without spot, without stain. That's my beloved
Son in whom I'm well pleased. He knows what it's going to take
to please me. Obedience. I'm pleased with Him. And he himself, man who knew
evil but wasn't able to avoid it, there's the spotless Lamb
of God. Everything that God demanded
was found in his Son. His Son made himself answerable
before Almighty God. Adam made himself answerable
and fell. Christ made himself answerable
and we live. Revelation 2, verse 7, He that
hath an ear. That's what I just read a while
ago. Let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches, to him
that overcometh, that is, in the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ, will I give to eat of the tree of life which is in
the midst of the paradise of God." As a thief. And that's what Adam was. He
was a thief. Sitting there, setting himself
up to rob the Almighty God of his right. to be God. How do I know that
Satan came to Eve and said, if God said, in the day you eat,
you'll die, you're not going to die. You're not going to die.
God knows that you'll be like Him. You'll be gods. You'll know. You'll have good and evil. You'll
know. As a thief, Adam was turned out
of paradise for disobedient eating. Christ, who was made sin, is
our substitute, grants the privilege to now enter paradise by eating
of himself. Adam ate disobediently and died. Men, by the grace of God, given
a heart, eat obediently of Christ and live. That thief on the cross
that we talked about a minute ago? I'll tell you what he did.
He ate of the bread of heaven. And he lived. Lord, would You
remember me? I'm feasting on You. I'm feasting
on Your grace. I'm feasting on You. You're the bread of life. I know
You are. How did he know that? God showed him that. Back in
the book of Revelation 22, The thing I notice now, in the first
garden there were two trees, the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil, the tree of God for right, for obedience. In this garden now, in Revelation
22, there is just one tree. Why? Because all that enter into
this city, Christ, who is their tree of the knowledge of good
and evil, He died once. He obeyed God one time. This
man, by one sacrifice, hath forever perfected them that believe. One tree now,
the tree of life. No need for any other. Christ
having been made to be that tree once, willingly, obediently made
sin, Now He ever liveth to make intercession for us. Not but
one tree now. One tree. The tree of life, the
Scripture says, bears twelve manner of fruits and yielded
her fruit every month. What is that saying? Well, you
know there are twelve months in a year. This tree bears twelve
months. her fruit every month, every
month. Twelve manner of fruits every
month. What is being said is that everything
that is continually needed for the eternal sustenance of God's
redeemed in heaven is provided by the tree of life, Christ Himself. I looked up the word tree. They're
the tree of life. We've heard that. The tree of
life. You know what the word tree is actually interpreted?
The wood. Now, I tell you this, we don't
put any stock in the piece of wood on which Christ died. What
was accomplished on that tree? When Paul says, we preach Christ
and Him crucified. The preaching of the cross. Not
the piece of wood. Someone said, if we had the very
cross on which Christ died, what should we do? Burn it. Just burn
it. They're looking for the Ark of
the Covenant over there. They think they may have found it,
the actual Ark of the Covenant. What should they do? Burn it.
Bury it. Run over it with a bulldozer.
Why? You say, that's blasphemy. No,
it's not. You know what they'll end up doing? Worshipping it.
That's what they'll do. The tree of life. is the cross. That is the tree of life. Not the piece of wood, but what
was accomplished. That's the tree of life. The
cross. The crucifixion. How is that
the tree of life? That's where God put away sin
for all that He's eternally loved. Christ. His cross. His crucifixion. His substitution. That is our tree of life. And of this tree, and the leaves
of the tree were for the healing of the nations." Well, obviously, there's not
going to be any sickness in heaven. I know that. Why? Because there's no sin. God has
put away sin. He cast it as far as the east
is from the west. He put it as far as his back.
He's cast it into the depths of the earth. There's no sin.
Why is there sickness now? Sin. That's how men are dying. Why? Because of sin. Rebellion
of God. Well, then to what does this
portion of Scripture? The leaves. And the leaves of
the tree were for the healing of the nation. Turn back with
me in closing. I'm going to stop. I think I've
got four minutes, I think. Look back at Psalm 1. Psalm 1. Remember I told you a while ago
we looked at that. Psalm 1. Look at verse 3. He shall be
like a tree, planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth
his fruit in his season, that twelfth manner of fruit. All
that is needed, is what he says. Twelve manner of fruit. Twelve
months in a year. It's continually. It's always
there. Whatever is needed to feast, to eat, to remain, to
stay, He provides. And His leaf also shall not wither,
and whatsoever He doeth shall prosper. Now, in closing, the
Scripture says, And the leaves of the tree were for the healing
of the nations. The leaves. That is to say, the
sprouts is one interpretation. Look that word up. As I've said
before, get a concordance and just look it up. It means the
sprouts. And you know what the other interpretation
is of the leaves? The tribes. That's what it means. the leaves, the tribes, the sprouts
are the tribes. Just get this in your mind and
I think it'll make it clear. He's the vine and we're the branches. We're grafted into Him. Grafted
into the vine, the leaves prosper. The tribes. This portion of Scripture
right here, John saw in the midst of the street, and on either
side of the river, there the tree of life, which bared twelve
manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month, and the
leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nation." Those
leaves, those sprouts, those tribes did not get there because
they willed to be so in themselves. In the day of His power they
were But these leaves right here were for the healing of the nations.
What he's saying is this, out of every tribe, every nation,
every kindred, every tongue, God has a people grafted in in
the eternal purpose and will of Almighty God into the vine. And these leaves, these sprouts
that never wither, His leaf back in Psalm 1, His leaf will never
wither. Why? Because they are grafted
into the vine. God's people. We are the branches. We are the leaves of this tree. We are in Him. We are the city. He is in the midst of the city. And the purpose of these leaves
being chosen and engrafted in Him is for the healing, the cure
of the nation. Healing by the grace of God from
the curse of sin. Healing. Spiritual healing. John said, I saw a river that
just flows from the very throne of God. Pure, clear as crystal. And in the midst of the street,
in the midst, in the presence of Him who is the Way, I saw
the tree of life. The leaves of that tree was for
the healing of the nations. All that we have, all that we
are, all that we shall ever be is by the grace, mercy, compassion
of Almighty God. He who was made sin, made himself
answerable by obedience. He is our tree of life. All right,
Gary.