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The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · February 11, 1868

FromReview and Herald, Vol. XXXI, No. 9

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THE LEAVES OF THE TREE OF LIFE.

By John Nevins Andrews

THESE are said to be for the healing of the nations. Rev. xxii, 2. These nations are the nations of the saved that shall walk in the light of the city. Rev. xxi, 24. They are the redeemed out of every nation. Rev. vii, 9. Those who have access to the tree of life are commandment-keepers. Rev. xxii, 14. These are the very persons who have eternal life. Matt. xix, 17. The inhabitants of the new earth shall never be sick. Rev. xxi, 4; Isa. xxxiii, 24.
Why then is it said that the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations? Two answers may be returned: 1. The word rendered “healing” in this sentence is literally translated “service;” but it is only in a secondary or figurative sense that this is made to signify healing. Certainly there are other kinds of service for the immortal saints besides healing them of diseases.
2. But if the idea of healing be insisted upon, this is the proper answer. When God brought Israel out of Egypt he said to them: “If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee.” Ex. xv, 26. We are informed that “there was not one feeble person among their tribes” at this time. Ps. cv, 37. So it follows that when the Most High says to Israel, “I am the Lord that healeth thee,” he speaks not of restoring them from sickness, but of preventing disease from coming upon them. If the leaves of the tree of life are used with any reference to disease, it is not to cure, but to prevent it. They may in this way be for the healing of the nations just as God represented himself as healing the Israelites. Then the fruit of the tree of life will cause men to live forever; Gen. iii, 22; its leaves will prevent disease of any kind.
I think either of these answers removes the difficulty; but I prefer the first.
J. N. A.