Today’s passage recalls another important Bible story—Adam and Eve’s rebellion in the Garden of Eden. A quick look at Genesis 3 yields the scene where God forbids Adam and Eve from partaking of the Tree of Life. Genesis 3:22-23 says, “Then the Lord God said, ‘See, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever’— therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken.” God exiles Adam and Eve from the Garden because of their direct and willful disobedience of God’s commandment. God banishes them from their perfect home and removes them from the intimate relationship they had shared. No longer will they converse with God in the cool of the evening as they did before they rebelled. A barrier erected by sin separates human creatures from their Creator.

In today’s passage in Revelation, we see the consequences of humanity’s original rebellion being reversed. Redeemed humanity now has free access to the Tree of Life and its lush and abundant harvest. Not only does the tree provide nourishment in the form of fruit which ripens each month, it also offers healing properties from its leaves. No longer separated from God by their sin, the residents of the new Jerusalem see God face-to-face. In the new city of God, the new Jerusalem, God restores the intimacy humanity knew in the Garden of Eden.