Bringing Sinners to the Tree of Life

The Solution to What Ails Our Culture and Community

Good Morning,

We are working through the last two chapters of the Book of Revelation at Bethany in the months of November and December. It’s been a good way to close out the year. The focus of John’s visions gifted and granted to him by the God of grace is to help the young first century church have hope in the midst of unprecedented pressures from all comers. Being able to have peace with what the future holds is what makes Christianity so different from all other world religions. I was talking to someone the other day and I said that maturity in the believer’s life really shows itself not so much in how we react to things in the moment (though it does), but how we see it in light of the Lord’s eternal plan and purpose. For today’s prayer and worship help I want to spend some time thinking about how this same principle can be applied to the worries and anxieties we may or may not have about the nation in which we live.

In the second verse John writes, “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.” I made the point in the sermon last Sunday that when we think of Heaven and the future blessings we receive in Christ that salvation does not, and cannot, bring us back into the same situation Adam was in the Garden. As wonderful as it was to be in a place of pure bliss and to live in the warmth of the day it pales in comparison to the glory that we see pictured in the city with the golden streets. In the picture drawn for us in that verse we see reference made to the Tree of Life. When our first human father lived in Eden it was the source his nourishing, and a daily reminder that every thing that we have as creatures comes by the grace of God.

John Calvin described, following the early church father Augustine, the tree of life as a sacrament. Our catechism gives definition to that word when it says:

Q. 92. What is a sacrament?

A. A sacrament is an holy ordinance instituted by Christ; wherein, by sensible signs, Christ, and the benefits of the new covenant, are represented, sealed, and applied to believers.

It can seem obvious to us that in the Garden, Adam would need this tangible, sensible, physical blessing of grace since he was a man who had an appetite and I would imagine the fruit that came off the tree tasted sublime. But why do we need a tree in a city founded in a place where we don’t need to eat or drink for those days have passed?

While we may not need to eat or drink in the New Jerusalem there certainly is a need to see and be reminded forever and ever that Christ is our Redeemer, that He is the healing of the nations and that He is the fullness of all the benefits which we receive in the new covenant. Our appreciation for what our Lord has accomplished on our behalf is certain to only grow in the limitless, sinless, unbelievably wonderful place which we can only imagine as we exist here on earth. Part of the reason why we do not experience the awesomeness of worship as could be imagined is due to the fact that we have a worldly understanding of what Heaven is like. If our mind can only consider the glory that is to come as marginally better than our life now, just without the pain, then it is no surprise we don’t get much out of what happens on the Sabbath morning and evening. That is part of the reason why we need to meditate and rest on what the tree of life means for us today, and what it means for our world.

Every time you turn on the TV or scroll through social media there seems to be something else on fire and something else to fret about. It’s easy to just say “these people need Jesus” and then not mean it. What that entails is just exclaiming it at the screen and then not actually being interested that they know Christ. When is the last time you saw someone being bananas on talking show, paused it, and then prayed for that individual, his/her cause, and their family that the Lord when open eyes, not to your particularly political position, but to the free gift of grace offered in the savior of sinners? I am a bit of a broken record on this point, yet we have not because we ask not. Maybe the reason why things don’t get better because we don’t offer the leaves of the tree of life to those most in need of it. Rather than trusting in the means provided we trust in basically nothing but bluster to change the world.

Resting in the power of God to heal what is broken calls for the believer to look unto Christ and the simple truth which is revealed in His word. For the church to bring the good news of the gospel unto the nations means believing in its power. To actually want sinners brought to salvation begins with seeing the work of the Holy Spirit in our own lives. Remembering the moment when we first believed and ate of the tree of life which is Jesus is an encouraging mercy that can only motivate us to do what is necessary so that others may enjoy what we have in the freedom of peace.

In closing, we can talk a lot about political ideas, even biblical principles about what needs to be done in order that our countries look like what God would have them to be, and those conversations are vital. However, they are worthless if we don’t first focus on what our primary mission is as the people of the covenant, and that is to make sure those outside the family become just as much sons and daughters of the living God as we are. Thinking about Heaven, the gorgeous picture of the world as it will be when the King of Kings returns in power and glory should be all we need to share the gospel with those who need to hear it, and be blessed by their own experience of the sacrament of presence available alone in Jesus Christ, the savior of sinners, sinners such as you and I.

Last word:

https://tonyreinke.com/2009/07/09/calvin-on-the-sacraments/

Blessings in Christ,

Rev. Benjamin Glaser

Pastor, Bethany ARP Church