"The Healing of the Nations."
By G. W. A.
IN Revelation, the twenty-second chapter and second verse, speaking of the paradise of God and the tree of life, it says, "And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations." It has often been a subject of query with myself, perhaps so to others, what was taught by this expression, the nature of the healing, its subjects, etc. Doubtless it will be conceded by all Bible students that this verse is fulfilled in the kingdom of God, after the saints are made immortal. To the view that the Greek word ϑεραπείαν [therapeian], here rendered healing, should in this instance have the signification of service, a position common with Adventists, I have no particular objection. Still the primitive idea of the word, according to all the authorities I have seen, is fully retained in the expression "healing." With a knowledge of this fact it has often suggested itself, In what sense are the people of God in Heaven to be healed? or how will the leaves of the tree of life be for the service of the redeemed? They are already immortal, and have right to the tree of life; how, then, do these "nations of the saved" need healing in the heavenly land? An answer to these questions recently suggested itself, and as it was quite satisfactory to the writer, it is now given to those who love to think on the truths of the Bible. First, there is but one infirmity of which I can think, which will follow us into the kingdom of God. That is the infirmity of dwarfishness. No doubt we are painfully degenerated from the fair proportions and majestic stature of the primal pair. Consequently we are to some extent physically deficient in being "in the image of our Maker;" for man was created in the image of his God; but not always will it be thus. When Michael's trump shall peal out the resurrection blast, we, saints, shall all be changed, pigmies though many of us are. But we immediately mount up on wings as eagles, and ascend to the paradise of God; have right to the tree of life; its fruit is for food, but its leaves serve the purpose of a remedial agent. They are, as the apostle says, "for the healing of the nations." We use those leaves, their life-giving properties infuse new life into our dwarfed bodies, our very systems start into active growth, and we all grow up to the157original size and proportion of the noble prototype of the race, father Adam, the man of Eden. Then will be beautifully as well as literally fulfilled what the Lord said by Malachi, the prophet, "They shall go forth and grow up as calves of the stall." Then will every effect of the fall disappear, and all things be gloriously "made new." Such, readers, briefly, is our view of the declaration that "the leaves of the tree were for the healing, or service, of the nations." G. W. A.