And on the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither, nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing.”
Ezekiel's vision ends with a river flowing out from under the temple, lined with trees that never lose a leaf. The verse gives the reason they thrive, and names what they give: food and healing.
The Source Explains the Supply
The trees are not remarkable in themselves. Everything hangs on the last clause of the verse, which one writer urges his readers to weigh carefully.
John Alfred TrenchNow read the twelfth verse, and notice that along the banks of this glorious river "all trees for food shall grow, whose leaves never fade, nor the fruit be consumed" (endless supply)... Why? "because their waters issued out of the sanctuary." Note well this statement.
This water has no distant or hidden origin, and that changes its character:
Both this river and the river of Revelation flow from the sanctuary-throne. They are not like Egypt's river, which comes from a distant source that may not even be known. God is enthroned among an obedient people, and He is the spring of this blessing — deep, wide, and never-ending. This is His needed, generous service to creatures who "live and move and have their being" in Him.
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A Real Land, Really Changed
Is this picture language, or a real landscape? One writer says it is both.
F. B. HoleWhen His throne is exalted in Zion, the living waters will flow out (see Ezekiel 47:1-12) and bring amazing fertility to the very earth. This passage is doubtless a symbol of spiritual blessing, but we must first take it in its literal sense. The curse will be lifted off the face of creation.
The same river runs into the Dead Sea. One writer asks what that will do to the riches stored there today.
A. J. PollockSomeone may ask: what will become of the wonderful chemical riches of the Dead Sea that we have heard so much about? We answer: in one stroke these riches will vanish, and the healing of the Dead Sea will be a kind act of God. The curse will be largely lifted off the earth. These chemical riches are valuable as fertilisers today. In that happy world they will be of no use. The soil will need no fertiliser. Pests will not attack the plants, and frost and drought will not kill them, as our verse implies.
Why Medicine Is Still Mentioned
The leaf for medicine is a small detail with a large consequence. One writer uses it to fix which age this vision belongs to.
Frederick W. GrantBut in Ezekiel everything is clearly earthly, and the blessing is not yet full. The waters run down into the salt sea and heal it, so that great numbers of fish live in it. Yet there are muddy places and marshes that are not healed. They are left to salt. In the Old Testament prophet and in the New, we see that the earth is still in the millennial state, not the eternal one. In both, the leaves of the tree are for medicine. In both, there is still need of healing.
Fruit for Us, Leaves for the Nations
One writer points out that the fruit and the leaves serve two different groups, in two different places.
W. H. WestcottIt is probable that Ezekiel 47:12 refers to the same thing as Revelation 22:2. In both passages we learn that not only does the Tree yield food, but the leaves are to be used for medicine. Revelation clearly applies this feature of the Tree of Life to the nations — those spared to enter the millennial blessing on earth. We shall not need medicine in heaven, beloved saints of God. There will be no crippled or diseased bodies there, and no more broken, sorrowing hearts. Ours is to eat the fruit of all that Christ is, in its season — always varied, never dull. But look around today, and see the open sores and the fevered state of the nations on earth. How comforting to know that the Tree of Life will give them healing in its season.
Blessing That Spreads Outward
The fruit does not stay on the riverbank.
H. H. SnellThen Israel will blossom and bud, and fill the whole earth with fruit. Out of the earthly city will flow earthly glory, government, and blessing. The people of Zion will be joyful in their King, while they and the saved nations walk in the light of the golden city.
Summary
- Source. The trees live because their water comes from the sanctuary. God enthroned among His people is the spring, not some distant, unknown source.
- Supply. The source never fails. So the leaf never fades, the fruit is never used up, and fresh fruit comes every month.
- Reach. The same stream heals the Dead Sea and lifts the curse off the soil. The land will need no fertiliser, and no pest, frost or drought will spoil the crop.
- Remedy. The leaf is for medicine. That marks the scene as the millennial earth, the age when Christ reigns here, and not the eternal state. Healing is still needed, and it is there.
- Result. Food by the river, medicine for the nations, blessing flowing out from the city until the whole earth bears fruit.