The Tree of Life and the Crystal River

Old Testament

And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden.

Psalm 23:1-3

The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
He restores my soul.

My soul thirsts for the living God.

I will pour water on him who is thirsty…

He shall be like a tree
Planted by the rivers of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither,
And whatever he does shall prosper.  

There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High. God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved.

With joy you will draw water
From the wells of salvation.

The Lord will guide you continually,
And satisfy your soul in drought…
You shall be like a watered garden,
And like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.

“Along the bank of the river, on this side and that, will grow all kinds of trees used for food; their leaves will not wither, and their fruit will not fail. They will bear fruit every month, because their water flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves
for medicine.”

“Rejoice with Jerusalem…that you may feed and be satisfied with the consolation of her bosom, that you may drink deeply and be delighted with the abundance of her glory.” For thus says the Lord: “Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river…”

The New Testament

Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”

“Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”

Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirst, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”

“The Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts.”

And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. 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. And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city.

Let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirst come. And whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.

Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done as in heaven so also upon the earth.

The Heavenly Doctrines

The Tree of Life in the Holy City, New Jerusalem

By “the tree of life” is meant the Lord as to the Divine love.

"Happy are they that do His commandments, that their power may be in the tree of life, and they may enter in through the gates into the city" means that they have eternal felicity who live according to the Lord’s commandments, to the end that they may be in the Lord and the Lord in them by love, and in His New Church by knowledges concerning Him.

The holy city, or New Jerusalem, is the Lord’s New Church.

As everything of love and of faith proceeds from the Lord, so do all knowledges of good and truth which make and form love and faith. Because all knowledges of good and truth look to the Lord, and proceed from Him, and this is what is meant by “the tree of life in the midst of the paradise of God” and the “tree of life bearing twelve fruits.

"Tree" is mentioned in many places, and by it is meant the person of the church, and in the universal sense the church itself, and by its “fruit” the good of life. The reason is that the Lord is “the tree of life,” from whom comes all good with the person of the church, and in the church.

Faith, and thence the Lord's presence are given through the knowledges of truths from the Word—especially concerning the Lord Himself. But love and thence conjunction are given through a life according to His commandments. For the Lord says (in John 14) “He that hath My commandments, and doeth them, he it is that loveth Me; and I will love him; and will make an abode with him.

Bearing Twelve Fruits

The tree of life bearing twelve fruits means the Lord in His Divine Love—from Whom all good flows forth even though it appears that a person does good of himself—is in the inmosts of the truths of doctrine and thence of life in the New Church. 

“Fruits” symbolize the goods which a person does from love or charity.

‘Twelve fruits’(Rev. 22:2) means all things of charity.

Yielding its fruit every month symbolizes that the Lord produces good with a person according to every state of truth with him, from which is his understanding.

Leaves for the Healing of the Nations

And the leaves of the tree were for the medicine of the nations, symbolizes rational truths by which they who are in evils and thence in falsities are led to think soundly, and to live becomingly…. That rational truths are symbolized by “leaves,” is because by “a tree” is symbolized a person. By “the branches” a person’s natural truths are meant, by “the leaves” his rational truths, by “the flowers” the first spiritual truths in the rational, by “the fruits” the goods of love and charity. By “the seeds” are meant the last and the first things of a person.

Rational truths are those which proximately receive spiritual truths. For the rational of a person is the first receptacle of spiritual truths. The perception of truth in some form is in a person’s rational, which the person himself does not see in thought.

River of Water of Life

By “living waters” or “waters of life” are meant Divine truths from the Lord.

And he showed me a pure river of water of life bright as crystal, going forth from the throne of God and of the Lamb, means Revelation now opened and explained as to its spiritual sense, where Divine truths in abundance are revealed by the Lord for those who will be in His New Church, which is the New Jerusalem.

By “the pure river of water of life bright as crystal” is symbolized the Divine truth of the Word in abundance, translucent from its spiritual sense, which is in the light of heaven. Divine truth in abundance is symbolized by “a river” because truths are symbolized by “the waters” of which a river consists and by “the waters of life” those truths from the Lord through the Word.

And by “bright as crystal” is meant that these truths are translucent from the spiritual sense which is in the light of heaven. That the river was seen “to go forth out of the throne of God and the Lamb,” means that it is out of heaven from the Lord. By “God and the Lamb” are meant the Lord as to the Divine Itself from which all things are and as to the Divine Human.

The Divine truths concerning the Lord, that He is the God of heaven and earth, which then proceed from Him, and are received by those who will be in the New Jerusalem…are those which are meant in particular by “the pure river of water of life bright as crystal, going forth from the throne of God and of the Lamb.”

Let Him that Thirsts for the Water of Life

“To thirst” symbolizes to desire truths as in “Unto him that thirsteth I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely” (Rev. 21:6). To those who desire truths for any spiritual use, the Lord will give from Himself through the Word all which conduce to that use.

“And let him that thirsteth come; and let him that willeth take the water of life freely,” means that he who knows anything of the Lord’s coming, and of the New Heaven and the New Church, and thus of the Lord’s kingdom, should pray that it may come. And he who desires truths should pray that the Lord may come with light, and he who loves truths will then receive them from the Lord without labor of his own.

The Lord’s Second Coming

The Lord’s second coming, is not in person, but in the Word....

The New Christian Church is not being established through miracles such as the Lord’s birth on earth, but through revelation of the spiritual sense of the Word and teachings about life after death, and these surpass all miracles.

The whole of Revelation from beginning to end describes the present state of the Christian church, and prophesies the Lord’s second coming, His conquest of the hells, the creation of a new heaven of angels and then the establishment of a new church on earth. All these things were there foretold, but they have not been revealed before the present time. The reason is that Revelation, like all the prophetical parts of the Word, was written purely in correspondences, and if these had not been revealed by the Lord, hardly anyone could have correctly understood a single verse.

It is believed that the church is where the Word is, and where the Lord is known; but still the church consists of those only who from the heart acknowledge the Divine of the Lord, and who learn truths from the Lord by the Word and do them.

The New Church “is to worship one visible God in whom is the invisible like the soul in the body.”

This New Church, truly Christian, which at this day is being established by the Lord, will endure to eternity…. In this New Church there will be spiritual peace, glory, and internal blessedness of life.