Reflection: Ezekiel 47, Psalm 1, and Revelation 22: “Leaves for Healing”
WCIU Journal: Health and Disease Topic
October 27, 2014
by Beth Snodderly
This Reflection is part of the Scripture as International Development series.
The word pictures of leaves that do not wither and that give healing are one of the ways the Old and New Testaments describe God’s will for all people. The presence of God in a society or individual life makes a crucial difference in their level of development The current Ebola crisis and many plagues throughout history have at their root a lack of good sanitation which would be present in any society following the principles of God’s Word. The Old Testament is full of instructions to Israel for national development—personal, societal, health, sanitation, spiritual, etc. The principles from God’s instructions to Israel can help any society figure out how to start getting things right—international development. Being right with God is at the root of the solution in every case, including fighting disease.
Before the first coming of Jesus, the Temple represented the presence of God. In Ezekiel chapters 46–47, a river flows out eastward from the presence of the Lord. “Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear fruit, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing” (Ezek. 47:12).
As Israel was returning to its land and receiving instructions for developing it into a fruitful and peaceful place to live, Ezekiel’s prophecy would have given comfort and encouragement to the people. Ezekiel’s word picture would have reminded them of the psalmist’s similar promise that the person “whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on [God’s] law day and night … is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers” (Psalm 1:2, 3)—international development!
After the second coming of Jesus, there is no need for a Temple, “because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple” (Rev. 21:22). In addition, the glory of God gives the new City its light and the nations will walk according to this light. “The kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. … The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful …” (Rev. 21:23-27).
This is a picture of a fully “developed” world. In this world, as in Ezekiel’s prophetic foretaste, a river flows out from the presence of God and “on each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations” (Rev. 22:2).