The tree of life, again

There is one detail at the very end of the Bible that should make the whole book click shut like a key turning in a lock. Go back to its opening pages. Humanity has been put out of the garden, and behind them, barring the way to the tree of life, stands an angel with a flaming sword turning every direction, the gate to that tree closed and guarded. The long ache of the human story begins right there, locked out of life. Now turn to the last pages. John is shown a river, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb, and growing on both its banks, on this side and on that, the tree of life, and its leaves are for the healing of the nations. No flaming sword now. No guarded gate. Free access, on both banks, to all who come. The story that opened with paradise lost ends with paradise restored, and more than restored, surpassed: not one tree behind a barrier but a tree on either side of a river of life. The exile from the tree is over. The lock that closed in Eden has finally turned open.

Think about the healing you have ached for through all of this, the part of you that still is not whole. Scripture shows you its source, and it shows it at the very end. A river of the water of life pours from the throne, and on both its banks grows the tree of life, its leaves for healing, and no flaming sword bars the way anymore. What humanity lost at the beginning is handed back at the end, and handed back more freely than it was first given, a single tree become a tree on either bank. So whatever in you still aches to be made well is not a lost cause, not a door permanently shut. There is a tree, and there is a river, and they are at the center of the city that cannot be shaken, freely given to all who come. The long exile from life is ending. You were locked out at the start of the story; you are welcomed in at the end, to the very source of the healing you have longed for.