Revelation 22:2 talks about a tree of life on either side of the pure river of water of life, having twelve manner of fruit
each month. The leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. Is this a real tree with 12 different fruits, or are there 12 trees, each having its own kind of fruit? Are they even real trees, or do they represent something else?
We know
that this river of water of life comes from out of the throne of Yahweh and of Yahshua (the Lamb, who was slain from the foundation
of the world, v. 1-5), and therefore is of a spiritual nature, so in this study we will see that these “trees”
and “fruits” are also of a spiritual nature. They are the people
who, over the past 6000 years, have been found worthy to be leaders under the King of kings and Lord of lords, who is Yahshua
Messiah. People living today are still qualifying for this position through obedience
to Yahweh’s Holy and Just Commandments in order to obtain immortality; life everlasting.
All throughout
the Bible we can read about these fruitful trees (people who love and live in truth), and we find those trees that bear no
fruit, that are dried up and uprooted. These wicked ones are referred to as tares
or chaff in Matthew 3:12.
TREES REPRESENT PEOPLE
Judges
9:8-14 gives a parable about trees wanting to anoint a king over them. These
trees first ask the olive tree to be their king, but finally get a bramble as their ruler.
This is the story of Gideon as that olive tree in Chapter 8:22-28 and the bramble is Abimelech, who had all but one
of the rightful heirs killed.
In
Song of Solomon 2:3, the Shulamite refers to Solomon as an apple tree among the trees of the wood or forest.
Isaiah
7:2 says the hearts of the people were moved like trees of the forest are moved when blown by the wind (all at once, in unison)
when they heard that Syria and Israel were coming to make war with Jerusalem (Judah).
In
Ezekiel 31:3 the Assyrian was a cedar of Lebanon with fair branches. Its height
was exalted above all the trees of the field. The whole chapter shows how this
tree lifted itself up higher and bigger than even the trees in the Garden of Eden. Verse
8 talks of lesser trees such as cedars, firs and chestnuts, which represent lower offices and subjects in his governmental
system. Verse 18 explains that this cedar is Pharaoh and his entire multitude.
There
is a parable within these verses that should be considered. Is Yahweh telling
us that the other trees in the Garden of Eden were other peoples, other races who were not then called into righteousness
as Adam was?
In
Daniel 4:10-16 King Nebuchadnezzar, in a vision, saw a tree whose height was great.
It grew strong and reached to the end of all the earth. It had fair leaves,
much fruit to feed all flesh. The beasts (people) dwelt under it and the fowls
(people) in its branches. Then the king sees this tree cut down, its branches
and leaves removed, the fruit scattered and the beasts and fowl leave. But there
remained a stump. In verses 20 through 27, Daniel interprets the dream. The tree was the king over the inhabitants in his kingdom, but his rulership was going
to be taken from him, or suspended for seven years. So we learn that this great
tree was a great king.
In
Mark 8:23-25, a blind man was brought to Yahshua for healing. Yahshua spit on
his eyes and put His hands on him. It is obvious that Yahshua deliberately gave
the man only partial sight, because He had the power to totally heal him the first time.
However, when he was asked what he saw, the man said, “I see men like TREES walking.” Yahshua put His hands again upon his eyes, this time restoring his vision clearly. This man was allowed to see how people are spoken of all through the Bible, to help us see what trees really
represent. (Romans 15:4 and I Cor. 10:11)
THE
VINES AND THE BRANCHES
In John 15:1-2, Yahshua says, “I am the true vine and my
Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that bears not fruit is taken away. And every branch that bears fruit, He purges it, that it may bring forth more fruit.”
Yahshua
says He is the TRUE vine, which is in contrast to Israel in Isaiah 5:1-7. There
was placed a vineyard in a very fruitful hill, and He looked for it to bring forth grapes, but instead it brought forth wild
grapes. So he took away its hedge of protection, broke down its walls, trampled
it down, let briars and thorns grow, (evil and unproductive people), and forbad anyone to water it or give it nourishment. Verse 7 says, “for the vineyard of Yahweh of hosts is the house of Israel,
and the men of Judah His pleasant plant.”
The last sentence in verse 6 gives us another parable. “I will
also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.” No wonder
Yahweh’s true ministers and prophets cannot speak to this rebellious house in any large capacity! Here the clouds represent ministers and the WORD is the rain!
Please read Job 29:21-23, for a clearer understanding of this.
THE REBELLIOUS TREES AND VINES
David
says in Psalm 37:35, “I have seen the wicked in great power and spreading himself like a green bay tree.”
In Chapter 1, Yahweh gives a vision to Isaiah, which describes the things to come upon this harlot daughter who was
once a “faithful city” (v. 1). Verse 28 tells the sinner that
he will be consumed. Verse 30 says that the wicked shall be as an oak whose
leaf fades, and as a garden with no water, and every evil will be burned up. The
city will then become a “city of righteousness.” Zion is redeemed. (See Rev. 21). Yahshua died for this
purpose.
Isaiah
5:24 says, “Therefore as the fire devours the stubble, and the flame consumes the chaff, so their root shall be as
rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised
the word of the Holy One of Israel.”
Jeremiah has much to say about the Great Tribulation coming upon Yahweh’s people because of idolatry, unrighteous
judgments, thefts, murders and the desire to listen to false ministers. Jeremiah
5:31 says, “and my people love to have it so.” Ch. 6:1, “Blow
the trumpet…for evil appears out of the north, a great destruction upon Jerusalem.” In verse 8, Yahweh pleads with Jerusalem (symbolic of Christianity) to be instructed (learn of Him) lest
He depart from them. Yahweh says this northern invader will glean the remnant
of Israel as a vine and turn back their hand like a grape gatherer into the basket (v. 9).
But the people refuse to walk in the old paths, where is the good way, and Israel said, “We will not walk
in it.” (v. 16-17).
In
chapter 8 of Jeremiah he says Judah holds fast to deceit and says the law of Yahweh was written in vain, and they know not
his judgments. Yahweh therefore says in verse 13, “I will surely consume
them, there shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade.” Isaiah 64:6 says, “But we are all as unclean things, and all our righteousness is as filthy rags,
and we all do fade as a leaf.”
Ezekiel 15:2, “Son of man, what is the vine tree more than any tree, or than a branch which is among the trees
of the forest?” This vine tree is symbolic of sinful, ungrateful man
and Israel in particular. Just as the vine wood is tough, twisted, unworkable,
and fit only for Judgment. Psalm 80:8-12 confirms this: “Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt; you have cast out the heathen, and planted it. You prepared
room before it, and did cause it to take deep root, and it filled the land. The
hills were covered with the shadow of it, and the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedars.
She sent out her boughs unto the sea, and her branches unto the river. Why
have you then broken down her hedges, so that all they which pass by the way do pluck her?”
In Ezekiel 17, Yahweh tells the people a parable concerning the King of Israel, Zedekiah. You must compare verses 3-5 with verses 12 & 14 to understand the interpretation. A great eagle, (Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon) came to Lebanon and took the highest branch of the cedar
(King Zedekiah). He cropped off the top of its young twigs (his princes), carried
it into a land of trade, and set it in a city of merchants (Babylon). He took
also of the seed of the land (king’s seed) and planted it in a fruitful field, by great waters like a willow. It became a spreading vine of low stature. It brought forth
branches that reached toward the great eagle full of feathers, the King of Babylon, and looked to him for sustenance.
Then
we see a second eagle who is Pharaoh (v. 7 & 17) toward whom Zedekiah then leaned for help. Verses 9 & 10 show that he does not prosper. He “withers
in all the leaves of its spring.” It is plucked up by its roots. Because the king did not look to Yahweh for deliverance, but to the arm of the flesh,
the east wind of destruction blew and he withered in the furrows and the fruit was cut off.
In
Job 14:33, Job’s friend Eliphaz knew just as Jeremiah did (Jer. 8:13), that Yahweh would “shake off his unripe
grapes like the vine, and shall cast off his flower like the olive.”
Joel prophesied in chapter one of the coming invasion by an innumerably strong nation represented by insects. Just as the palmerworm, locust, cankerworm, and the caterpillar are different forms
and stages of development of insects, which work throughout the whole year, this army will devour the same. Through Joel, Yahweh tells us that the invaders are a nation of people.
Verses 6 and 7 tell us what this great army does. “He has laid
my vine waste, and barked my fig tree; he has made it completely bare and cast it away; its branches are made white.”
“The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languishes, the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple
tree, even all the trees of the field withered, because joy is withered away from the sons of men” (v. 12). Our joy can be full if we keep the Commandments.
This is found in John 15:10-14.
Habakkuk
3:17, “Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall
fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls.”
Matthew 3:10 tells us what happens to unproductive people. “And
now also the axe is laid to the root of the tree, therefore, every tree which brings not forth good fruit is hewn down
(#1581 to frustrate, cut off, hinder), and cast into the fire.”
Matthew 7:15-20 compares false prophets in sheep’s clothing with bad fruit on a corrupt tree. These are also cut down and cast into the fire.
Matthew
12:33-36 is our destiny in “words.” “Either make the tree
good, and its fruit good, or else make the tree corrupt, and its fruit corrupt; for the tree is known by its fruit. Oh generation of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak good things…an evil man out of the evil treasure
of his heart brings forth evil things…every idle word that men shall speak they shall give account of it in the day
of judgment.” This word “idle” is not just cursing, or
picking fun at anyone. It is much more dangerous than you would think. In Strong’s concordance it is #692: “Not working, inactive, inoperative, lazy, useless words.” These idle words make you unfruitful and you will be condemned by them (v. 37).
Mark
11:13, Yahshua, while on His way to Bethany, saw a fig tree and wanted to eat some figs, because He was hungry, but when He
got up to it there were no figs, just leaves. He then cursed this tree and it
dried up. The Scripture also tells us “the time of figs (fruit) was
not yet.” He had come to seek fruit before the time, but still cursed
it even though it had leaves and could have produced fruit later. On the next
day, as they passed by the tree, Peter say the fig tree dried up from the roots (v. 20).
Yahshua said, “Have faith in Yahweh, for verily I say to you whosoever shall say to this mountain, be removed
and cast into the sea and shall not doubt in his heart…he shall have whatever he said.”
Could this mean that we as believers can curse our enemies (unfruitful trees) who are anti-Christ, and they will be
dried up? Possibly, but you had better not have any unforgiveness or other sin
in your heart when you ask (v. 25).
Yahshua
spoke in parables, both to the public and to his apostles. In Matthew 18:6, He
told of a vineyard, but instead of Grapevines, this one had a fig tree. Coming
to look for fruit, He found none, so He said to the vinedresser (Father Yahweh, John. 15:1-2),”Behold, these three
years I came seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none, cut it down; why cumber it the ground,” but the dresser said,
“Master, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and fertilize it.
And if it bear fruit well, and if not, then after that you shall cut it down.” The scripture does not say
how old this fig tree is, but there is a law about eating the fruit of your newly planted trees in Leviticus 19:23-25. “And when you shall come into the land and shall have planted all manner of
trees for food, then you shall count the fruit uncircumcised; three years shall it be as uncircumcised…it shall not
be eaten. But in the fourth year all the fruit shall be holy with which to praise
Yahweh. And in the fifth year, you shall eat the fruit.” So after four years, if the fig tree has no fruit, it will be cut down and burned.
Are
people given 3 years to learn the WORD in order to become a skilled disciple having fruits?
In
Jude, starting with verse 8, he tells of filthy dreamers who defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities. They have gone the way of Cain (v. 12). “They
are clouds without water (symbolic) trees whose fruit withers, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots.” They are the walking dead and shall die the second death to be put into the grave.
Revelation
7 takes place just after the sixth seal is opened and describes the sealing of the 144,000 saints before the seventh seal
is opened. In verse 3, a messenger says, “Hurt not the earth neither the
sea nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our Elohim in their foreheads (minds).” There is no mention here about not hurting the people. When
we understand the parable, we realize that these trees are symbolic of people. The
servants receiving the mark of Yahweh (or sealing) are protected. The rest of
the people have no protection.
Revelation
8:7 shows that the first trumpet plague falls after the 144,000 have been sealed. It
falls as hail and fire mixed with blood (these are also symbolic) on one third of the trees and all green grass to burn them
up. We learn from Job 5:25 that Job’s offspring is AS the grass of the
earth. Psalm 37:2 tells us evildoers “shall be cut down like the grass
and wither like the green herb.”
GRASS
It
seems that there is a difference between the “grass of the earth” (Job’s seed) and “green grass.” In the fifth trumpet (Rev. 9:4), mention is made of “grass of the earth”,
“green things,” and “trees”. The only 3 places that grass
of the earth is mentioned are Job 5:25, Rev. 9:14; and Psa. 72:16. If all “green
grass” was burned up in Rev. 8:7 (first plague), then who or what is this “grass of the earth” that is not
hurt, if not Job’s seed in Rev. 9:4? “But hurt (be unjust) only
those men who have NOT the seal in their forehead.”
Isaiah 40:6-7, “All flesh is grass”, and “surely the people are grass”. Isaiah 51:12, “Son of man shall be made like grass”. James
1:10, “But the rich, in that he is made low, because as the flower of
the grass he shall pass away.”
Psalm 90:5-6, “You carry them (man) away as with a flood; they are as a sleep; in the morning like
grass which grows up. In the morning it flourishes and grows up; in the evening
it is cut down, and withers.
YAHWEH'S FRUITFUL TREES
Beginning
in I Chronicles 16:33, “Then shall the trees of the wood sing out at
the presence of Yahshua because He comes to judge the earth.”
Psalm 52:8, “I am like a green olive tree in the house of Yahweh;
I trust in the mercy of Yahweh forever and ever.”
Psalm 92:12, “The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree;
he shall grow like the cedar of Lebanon.”
Psalm 96:12, “Let the field be joyful and all that is therein,
then shall all the trees of the forest rejoice.”
Proverbs 3 teaches about the rewards of Wisdom. Verse 18 says that wisdom
is “a tree of life to those who lay hold upon her, and happy is everyone that retains her.”
Proverbs 11:30, “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life;
and he that wins souls is wise.” By speaking truth we bring others
to repentance and baptism. We offer to them eternal life; we offer them Yashua
the living Savior.
Proverbs
13:12-13, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick; but when the desire comes,
it is a tree of life. Whoso despises the Word shall be destroyed, but he that
fears the commandment shall be rewarded.”
Proverbs 15:4, “A wholesome tongue is a tree of life.”
Isaiah 61:3, “To appoint unto those who mourn in Zion, to give
unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they might
be called trees of righteousness, the planting of Yahweh, that He might be glorified.”
Yahshua is spoken of symbolically in Scripture as a plant, a tree, and sometimes as a vine. Isaiah 53:2 speaks of the Messiah, “For He shall
grow up before him like a tender plant and like a root out of a dry ground (Judah); He has no form nor comeliness, and when
we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him.” This
is clearly referring to Yahshua as we read verse 5. “He was wounded
for our transgressions”, and “with His stripes we are healed.”
Matthew wrote of this as Yahshua healed Peter’s mother-in-law of fever, and healed all that were sick. Matthew 8:17, “That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, Himself
took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.”
Ezekiel 34:23-31 explains Yahshua’s kingdom and it is ruled by LOVE. The
word “David” is Strong’s #1732 and means “love”. Yahshua
has made with us a “covenant of peace” as He is the “Prince of Peace”.
The “beasts of the land”, “those that serve themselves of them (the flock 34:8)”, can no longer
devour us as the Pharisees did the houses of widows in Matthew 23:14, and Isa. 10:2.
Verse 31 says that the flock is “men” and these “sheep” will dwell safely (#982 a place of
refuge, trust, confidence). “The tree of the field shall yield her fruit…and
they shall be safe in the land, and shall know that I am Yahweh when I have broken the bands of their yoke, and delivered
them out of the hand of those that served themselves of them (v. 27).”
“And I will raise up for them (the flock) a plant of renown, and they shall no more be consumed with hunger in
the land (v. 29).”
Yes, the Word of Truth, the fruit from this tree, will be food for all those who seek it. It is a spiritual food, revealed by the Holy Spirit of Truth himself; Yahshua the Messiah through us and
His Word, as the Gospel is taught.
Psalm
1 begins with a blessing for the man who delights in Yahweh’s Law upon which he meditates day and night (v. 3). “He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth
its fruit in its season; its leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he does shall prosper.”
Jeremiah 17:5-8, “For thus says Yahweh…Blessed is the man who trusts (#982 place of refuge) in Yahweh
and whose hope the Messiah is. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters,
and that spreads out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat comes, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not
be anxious in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.”
There is a river of living waters that is flowing out from the sanctuary in our Kingdom. Ezekiel writes about this river and its healing power. In
Ezekiel 47:1 these waters issue out from under the threshold of the house. This
house is called the sanctuary in verse 12.
In
verse 7 Ezekiel writes, “at the bank of the river were very many trees on the one side and on the other.” Verse 12 says that these trees are “for meat (food), whose leaf shall
not fade (never shall die), neither shall its fruit be consumed; and it shall bring forth new fruit according to its
months, because their waters issued out of the sanctuary and its fruit shall be for food and its leaves for medicine.”
Isaiah 55:12, “For you shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace; the mountains and the hills shall
break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their HANDS.” The word “hands” is Strong’s #3709 and can mean LEAVES.
Revelation
2:22 – “To him that overcomes will I give to eat of the tree of Life, which is in the midst of the paradise
of Yahweh.”
Revelation 22:1-2 “And he showed me a pure river of water of
life, clear as crystal, coming out of the throne of Yahweh …[out] of the Lambs.
In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, the tree(s) of life, which bare twelve fruits,
…yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree(s)… for the healing of the
nations.”
John
4:14, “But whosoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give
him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”
Proverbs 18:4, “The words of a man’s mouth are deep waters, the wellspring of wisdom, a flowing river
(#5158 brook, flood).”
The saints of the living God are the trees by the river from the 12 tribes of Israel.
The leaves for healing are their hands as they lay hands on the sick and they shall be healed.
Mark
16:18, “…they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” This is also in Matthew 10:8 and Luke 4:40.
First Printing:
March 1996
Second: March 2005
