The Garden

On each side of the river grew a tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, with a fresh crop each month.   Revelation 22:2

In his vision, John had been looking at the new Jerusalem from the outside, but now he was invited in. And as he entered, John saw a garden. The Bible story began in a garden, and as John entered the city, he would have immediately seen it—Paradise restored!

This paradise is even more glorious than the one Adam lost. The great difference is the tree that’s missing: the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This garden is free not only from the presence of evil, but even from the possibility of evil.

There is free access to the tree of life, which bears twelve different crops of fruit—one each month. Winter never comes. The variety speaks of the richness of life continually replenished in God’s presence. The pleasures of God’s new garden-city will surpass anything Adam knew in Eden. You will taste fruits Adam never tasted and enjoy pleasures Adam never knew.

In the first garden, Adam served God by ruling over the animals. But when the serpent came, Adam became subject to his lies. That’s been our story ever since. When John described us reigning “forever and ever” (Revelation 22:5), he was telling us that our lives will be ordered, our work fulfilled, and our relationships whole. Life itself will be brought under our control, freeing us to fulfill all the purposes of God.

John saw twelve entrances to the new garden-city—gates facing north, south, east, and west—letting people into the city from every direction. The old Eden was enjoyed by just one man and one woman, but now a great crowd that no one could number was streaming in through the gates to this new paradise of God.

God had come to Eden and cultivated a relationship with the man and the woman in the cool of the day. He came down as a visitor. But now God has gathered a vast community of people who have come to love him freely. He is no longer a visitor, and he announces this with a note of triumph: “God’s home is now among his people!” (Revelation 21:3).

For further reading, see Revelation 22