Revelation 22:2 In the middle of the street of it, and on either side of the river,
was there the tree of life, which bore twelve manner of fruits, and
yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the
healing of the nations. AKJV
The
symbolism about a tree of life and twelve fruits, twelve apostles,
twelve tribes of Israel, twelve months and anything else that could be
ascertained by it are relatively unimportant in comparison to what is
being taught with these illustrations. Which is that the tree is for the
healing of the nations. For those who are still wrestling with the idea
of these prophetic illustrations talking about a new physical planet or
heaven, especially if you have read the article up to this point. Apply
some reason to this. Revelation 21-22 is
the "new heaven and new earth." If this were actually speaking about a
new physical heaven and earth; a place where there is no more
death, sickness or sin, no tears or sadness. A place where people have new spiritual bodies that
cannot die. What need is there of healing for the nations? They not only
no longer exist as we know them but no longer suffer the ill effects of
sin since it is not present and sickness and death has already been
conquered? Keep this in mind as the literal meaning of the illustrative
language is pointed out with other scripture.
Here are some simple building blocks that will
make understanding this easier.
AKJV
1. That life is in Jesus.
John 1:4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
2. They that have truly put their trust
in him have eternal life: John 3:36 He that believes on the Son
has everlasting life:.... 5:24 Truly, truly, I say to you, He that hears
my word, and believes on him that sent me, has everlasting life,....
3. The water of life is already flowing
inside them that believe. John 4:14 But whoever drinks of the
water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I
shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into
everlasting life.
4. The water of life is already flowing
through them that believe. John 7:36....If any man thirst, let
him come to me, and drink. 38 He that believes on me, as the scripture
has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. 39 (But
this spoke he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should
receive:....
5. Jesus used the same type of
terminology to describe the fruit of the tree. John 15:1
I am the true vine, and my Father is the farmer. 2 Every branch
in me that bears not fruit he takes away: and every branch that bears
fruit, he purges it, that it may bring forth more fruit. 3 Now you are
clean through the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me, and I
in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in
the vine; no more can you, except you abide in me. 5 I am the vine, you
are the branches: He that stays in me, and I in him, the same brings
forth much fruit: for without me you can do nothing. 6 If a man abide
not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather
them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you abide
in me, and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it
shall be done to you. 8 Herein is my Father
glorified, that you bear much fruit; so shall you be my
disciples.....16 You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and
ordained you, that you should go and bring
forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatever you
shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
6. Gods people are ordained to bear lots
of kinds of fruit. This is some of that fruit. Galatians
5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance:.....Ephesians 5:9
(For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and
truth;) Isaiah 5: For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of
Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant:
and he looked for justice, but behold
oppression; for righteousness, but
behold a cry. Yes, ultimately this personal and cultural fruit
is to bear national fruit. Matthew 21:43 Therefore say I to
you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation
bringing forth it fruits.
Some
who are reading this may be thinking: "Since there is horrible sin going
on all over the world. Wars, oppression, murder, sickness, famine,
death, environmental destruction. How can Revelation 22:2 be talking
about the same thing these scriptures listed are talking about?
Obviously it can't because the nations are not "healed." The answer to
that is those are the wrong questions to ask and therefore producing the wrong answer. The right question is, "how have the nations been being healed or, in what way are the nations
been being healed?" This is easily observable but lets start
by going back over just a little prophecy and history first.
From the
very beginning the Bible prophesied an age when all the earthly promises
of God will come to pass. Promises of peace, prosperity, freedom, the
ability to raise children without fear. The freedom to serve God
according to the dictates of ones conscience. An age when the wicked no
longer bear rule over the whole earth. It then gives a prophetic
timeline as to when this is going to begin to happen. After four gentile
empires rule over and oppress the saints. It names them as Babylonian, Medo\Persian,
Greek and Roman. It even gives the date, (if you know where to look,)
when the Roman Empire would end which was 1453 A.D. The age that
follows this was commonly expressed in the illustrative language of the
OT prophesies as a time when the Kingdom of God is higher or greater
than all the kingdoms of the earth. When Jesus came he shed further
light about the nature of this kingdom in his parables. How it will grow
and be dominate the
earth. His explanations about this kingdom were nothing along the lines
of what people were thinking, just as it is today. Nothing along the
lines of people who, like the Samaritan woman
shown in verse 21:1 focus on the
illustrations themselves rather than what the illustrations were
actually referring to. All of this is carefully documented on hundreds
of pages of scripture and teaching on
wordservice.org.
So lets answer the right question. "Are the nations being healed and if
so how?"
The how is quite simple. The preaching and
teaching of and about the Gospel which started when the messiah came.
Then later, much later; actually not until the fall of the last part of
the Roman Empire 1453 AD; the Bible starting to get into the hands of
the general public in Northern Europe. These two factors transformed
populations which then naturally gave birth to nations based in Biblical
principle which has taken quite a bit of freedom fighting. The
impetuous behind all of it? Gods hand not only providentially but
miraculously Isaiah 9:7 Of the increase of his government
and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his
kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice
from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of
the LORD of hosts will perform this.
In what way have the nations been being healed?
1. Actual (not figurative) idolatry was
the great sin, the great destroyer of the ancient world. Especially when
it was imposed upon the peoples through human government to secure the
interests of the rulers over the ruled. Every where the Gospel was
preached in power the first thing to come tumbling down and bowing at
the feet of Jesus was the power of idolatry over the people. The very
thing that held all nations in a stranglehold and kept them in perpetual
separation from God was now being rendered powerless before the power of
the preached Word. I say "preached Word" because the phenomena of the
Bible getting into the hands of common men for them to read and study
themselves as a matter of course was yet over a thousand years off. So
great was the decimation to the power of idolatry that despotic human
governments who enslaved the peoples to their will could no longer use
it to keep the populations ignorant\superstitious and separated from the
author of their freedom. A new order of things had to be created to
keep the peoples subjugated. Enter the state run catholic churches.
Where the Bible itself was kept, by law in many cases, from the people
and the state run priesthood communicated to the people just enough to
keep them ignorant\superstitious and easily manipulated by the rulers.
The people remained enslaved but power of actual idolatry to the pagan
gods was dealt a death blow. This is one of the things the nations are
being healed from. Actual idolatry.
2. Permanent despotic human government
via the idea of kings and emperors. Again this is something that has
existed since the world began. Mankind had only known real freedom in
small family government. Once it began to have conflicts with others
though that freedom would fall prey to the despotism of kings. Generally speaking outside of ancient Israel real
freedom was only a dream. Today the idea of a king or
emperor is an abomination to the nations even though many are ruled by
dictators and even though human freedom is such a fragile thing that
needs to be constantly guarded and nurtured. This freedom all came about when
the Bible illegally got into the hands of the general public through the
invention of the printing press. By the way the first commercial
printing press in Europe went on line the exact time the Roman Empire
ended. The idea, the ideology based in Biblical principle that developed in northern Europe via the
entire population having access to and reading their own Bibles gave us
the free world. Contrary to this, through the same technology the French
rejected Bible reading and embraced other (leftist) ideologies that led to
the worlds first bloody atheistic revolution. That
gave rise to communist\leftist ideology that enslaved much of the world
that had not yet had the Gospel preached in power to them. So the
nations are in the process of being healed of despotic human government.
The idea of the ruler and ruled is slowly but surely fading away.
3. Legal human slavery.
There is lots of hoopla going on in todays world by those ideologically
opposed to Biblical principle regarding the history of slavery in United
States. A political agenda is disconnecting human slavery from its
history and using it to discredit the ideal of America and its founders
to get the ignorant to reject the Biblical principle the nation was
founded upon. The purpose is to get the people to allow the corrupt to subvert government by, of and for
the people. Human slavery however put within its historical context
speaks something entirely different than the narrative of today's
leftist ideologues. The historical narrative is basically this: Up
to half of all human beings to ever walk the earth before slavery
started to become illegal were the property of others. Add to this that
in reality all were slaves to the kings and emperors of the ancient
world and we have a history of the perpetual slavery of mankind. All
races, families nations were enslavers at one time or another in their
history and all races, families and nations were slaves at one time or
another. This was the reality on the ground until despotic human
government began to be overthrown after the fall of the Roman Empire in
1453. Once that started to be successful the effort to rid the world of legal human slavery by force was
led by Christians and others who had accepted Biblical principle. So up
to this point the nations have been being "healed" of the malady of
legal human slavery.
4. The state of the woman. Look no
further than the plight of woman in the lands of Mohamed verse the lands
that have had the Gospel preached to them in power for centuries to see
how nations have been healed of the oppression of the weaker sex.
5. Sexual deviancies along the sexual
abuse of children use to be the accepted norm in the ancient world. This
along with idolatry were the first things to really take a hit when the
Gospel first began to be preached. It was one of the primary reasons for
the persecution of the early believers. Most of the Roman emperors were
involved in some pretty horrendous sexual deviancies and the use of little children for sex
was just the norm in the imperial courts. Same thing among the kings and elite's
and in pagan practice around the whole world. Again look to the world
that has not really been influenced by the Gospel yet to see the
difference culturally in this area. The rise of sexual immorality in the
western world, if left unchecked will certainly give rise once more to the
normalization of little children used for the sexual pleasure of adults
which is essentially defacto slavery. The rise of this is mostly the
result of modern Christian's false teaching about it being the end
times. These false teachings have had the natural and unavoidable
effect of the withdrawal of Christian thought being the dominate
influence in cultures and nations to keep these great evils at bay.
Because of this withdrawal from the battlefield for cultural dominance the wicked
have found it easy to influence and even impose sexual deviancy
on the land. In other words the rise of
certain evil's is not because it is the end times but because the entire
world is reaping the fruit of false teachings about Bible prophecy in
the churches. That is what articles like these are designed to combat.
If we want to see sexual normality, lawful sexual conduct restored in
the western world it has to be through God led great awakenings of the
truth and his grace and power and then
afterwards direct political and even armed confrontation if the
powers that be that will resist what God is doing among the massess.
This will not happen as long as the majority of Christians do not
understand the duty, the calling and the imperative from God to become
politically and culturally dominant in the lands where the Gospel is
transforming the peoples. The Bible prophecy regarding this current age
has to once more be embraced rather than the end time prophecy of the
last two ages.
There are ways God has designed all this to work, for his will
to be done on earth as it is in heaven; for instance:
Think of the most godly and influential Biblical principle embracing
Christians in the US senate or
house. There are simply not that many of them are there. Yet God's will is that
half of the congressmen and senators them be like them, that they be the
norm instead of the exception. That the rest who may not be
Christians come under their influence. Two things have to happen for
that to be reality. First, the people need Christ through truth bringing
spiritual revival. Second; Christians once more need to understand
their obligation to serve in government the same way they serve in
ministry. They need to answer this call. Churches who produce dozens of
pastors, ministries, and other churches yet fail to produce dozens
of successful politicians are failing God in knowledge and duty. The
main reason they are is evident. "If it is the end times, why
bother? Isn't it more important to get people saved and going to
heaven?" That is the crux of the matter. A lie has been accepted as
Gospel truth, no doubt created and propagated by the same demonic forces
behind the anti Christ progressive movement for the purpose of eliminating
any real opposition to it. So now Christians and the western
nations founded in Biblical principle no longer have a scriptural vision
for the future to fight for in faith. Plus they no longer have a
scriptural vision to present to their nations to compete against the
demonically inspired anti-Christ vision\agenda of the left. The
only warfare now fought is a defensive war of attrition to hold on
to what our forefathers gave us without any concept of the scriptural
vision that empowered them to overcome a much more powerful and
politically entranced evil than we face today. So it can be
clearly seen how nations who have had the Gospel preached to them in
power for centuries have been healed from deviant and dangerous sexual
practices.
6. The rule of law and middle class
prosperity. The world had always been dominated by the few, the haves,
the rulers. The vast majority were the ruled, the have not's. This
all began to change with the overthrow of despotic human government in
the lands influenced by the Word of God. Instead of the rule of men the
rule of law that all men were subject to was imposed by the will of God
and the people. Freedom and the rule of law based in Biblical morality
and principle gives rise to opportunity , creativity,
entrepreneurialism, inventiveness, the creation of wealth and quite
sustainable general prosperity. The world has never seen the
wealth nor a wealthy and large middle class like it has seen in the last
couple hundred years in the lands where Biblical principle has
prevailed. Be warned that those who set themselves against this
prosperity and the path to it. those who seek to control it and
gain access to it through government coercion. Those who impose unwarranted
restrictions upon the lawful creation of wealth and those who want to
have access to that wealth through unlawful means are being motivated by
the spirit of anti Christ. This is a specific and constant promise
throughout the Bible to rid the world of the conditions that brought
perpetual poverty to the masses. Gods care for the poor and the needy,
especially as it relates to Bible prophecy was to be ultimately
fulfilled through creating the conditions that produced wealthy nations
with the bulk of that wealth concentrated in the middle class.
When you see political polices that effect different results than
this despite the claim about the intents of the politician. Know that is comes from
Satan and not God. So the poverty of the poor masses in the nations are
healed through the work of God through the Gospel, his Word
and his saints.
Ezekiel's vision of the tree of life.
Ezekiel 47 AKJV 1
Afterward he brought me again to the door of the house; and, behold,
waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward: for
the forefront of the house stood toward the east, and the waters came
down from under from the right side of the house, at the south side of
the altar. 2 Then brought he me out of the way of the gate northward,
and led me about the way without to the utter gate by the way that looks
eastward; and, behold, there ran out waters on the right side. 3 And
when the man that had the line in his hand went forth eastward, he
measured a thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters; the
waters were to the ankles. 4 Again he measured a thousand, and brought
me through the waters; the waters were to the knees. Again he measured a
thousand, and brought me through; the waters were to the loins. 5
Afterward he measured a thousand; and it was a river that I could not
pass over: for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that
could not be passed over. 6 And he said to me, Son of man, have you seen
this? Then he brought me, and caused me to return to the brink of the
river. 7 Now when I had returned, behold, at the bank of the river were
very many trees on the one side and on the other. 8 Then said he to me,
These waters issue out toward the east country, and go down into the
desert, and go into the sea: which being brought forth into the sea, the
waters shall be healed. 9 And it shall come to pass, that every thing
that lives, which moves, wherever the rivers shall come, shall live: and
there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters
shall come thither: for they shall be healed; and every thing shall live
where the river comes. 10 And it shall come to pass, that the fishers
shall stand on it from Engedi even to Eneglaim; they shall be a place to
spread forth nets; their fish shall be according to their kinds, as the
fish of the great sea, exceeding many. 11 But the miry places thereof
and the marshes thereof shall not be healed; they shall be given to
salt. 12 And by the river on the bank thereof, on this side and on that
side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither
shall the fruit thereof be consumed: it shall bring forth new fruit
according to his months, because their waters they issued out of the
sanctuary: and the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof
for medicine
Here we have another
prophecy about the New Jerusalem accurately predicting exactly what we
have been seeing happening in the earth. The water of life and the
tree(s) of live bringing healing to the nations of the world. Here is a
breakdown of the paragraph to show this.
1. If time is being illustrated by
cubits in the first half of the paragraph. Then it follows, as to what
we are historically and presently witnessing is that these waters: John 7:36....If any man thirst, let
him come to me, and drink. 38 He that believes on me, as the scripture
has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. 39 (But
this spoke he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should
receive:.... are growing wider and deeper in the earth.
Simply due to the fact that there are an ever growing number of
real Christians in the world. To give a historical for instance from
memory which may be slightly inaccurate. In the days of the apostles a
average of hundred of people per day accepting Christ was pretty
phenomenal. In 1900 AD 3000 per day. In the 1980's 20,000 per day. For
the last decade between 100-200,000 people per day. The volume of water,
like in the vision is increasing as time goes on.
2. Verse 8 uses the Dead Sea as good
illustration of the world dead in sin. Then verse 9 says everywhere the
living waters go shall be healed, shall live. Not just the dead sea
itself but everything that is alive wherever the rivers go
"will live." John 4:14 But whoever drinks of the water that I
shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him
shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. John 3:36 He that believes on the Son
has everlasting life:.... 5:24 Truly, truly, I say to you, He that hears
my word, and believes on him that sent me, has everlasting life,....
3. Like verse 10 Jesus also used fish
and fishermen to illustrate souls being saved. Luke 5: 4 Now
when he, ( Jesus) had stopped speaking, he said unto
Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a haul. 5
And Simon answering said to him, Master, we have toiled all the night,
and have taken nothing: nevertheless at your word I will let down the
net. 6 And when they had this done, they caught a great multitude of
fish: and their net broke. 7 And they called to their partners, which
were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they
came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink. 8 When
Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from
me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord. 9 For he was astonished, and all that
were with him, at the haul of the fishes which they had taken: 10 And so
was also James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with
Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, Fear not;
from now on you shall catch men. Matthew 13: 47
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a
net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind:
48 Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and
gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.
4. The great sea in verse 10 is
referring to the ocean which is often used in prophecy to illustratively
to refer to the nations. Isaiah 60:5 Then you will see, and
flow together, and your heart shall fear, and be enlarged;
because the abundance of the sea shall be
converted to you, the wealth of the nations shall come unto you.
Revelation 13:1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea,
and saw a beast rise up out of the sea,
having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and
upon his heads the name of blasphemy. 2 And the beast which I saw was
like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his
mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his
seat, and great authority. (These are the four gentile empires
named in Daniel.)
5. In verse 11 we have the illustration
of the places where the waters have not gone yet that like the dead sea
are "salted," not "healed." Exactly as we have been seeing. Nations not
effected by the Gospel, or, effected by those effected by the
Gospel are not being " healed." To the degree to which a nation has
accepted Biblical principle is the degree in which it lives and
prospers. The degree with which its people have been influenced by the
preaching of the Gospel in power and the number of Christians dwelling
in a land is usually but not always the degree in which the nation
itself walks in that Biblical principle. There are of course nations
that have had the preaching of the Gospel in power that have not yet
seen and accepted the wisdom of running their affairs according to
Biblical principle . Also there are nations that forsake that principle.
Plus
there are nations who accept varying degrees Biblical principle via
nature or by adopting that principle based on the examples of other
nations even though they have not had a great influence of the Gospel and the Word
of God yet.
6. Verse 12 is quite prophetic in a way
that perhaps Ezekiel didn't understand. As a man full of the Spirit of
God it's possible that he new exactly what the the water of life
was illustrating. It's very doubtful he grasped the meaning of the many
different types of tree's he saw though. In Johns vision an
illustration of one tree of life sufficed due to the fact that by the
time he received his vision, what the Apostle Paul said in Ephesians had
become common knowledge. Ephesians 3:4 Whereby, when you read,
you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ 5 Which in
other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it is now revealed
to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; 6 That the Gentiles
should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his
promise in Christ by the gospel:......14 For this cause I bow my knees
to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 Of whom the whole family in
heaven and earth is named....One family of all nations and
peoples therefore one tree to heal the nations. Therefore
remember, that you being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are
called un-Circumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the
flesh made by hands; 12 That at that time you were without Christ, being
aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants
of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: 13 But now in
Christ Jesus you who sometimes were far off are made near by the blood
of Christ. 14 For he is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken
down the middle wall of partition between us; 15 Having abolished in his
flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances;
for to make in himself of two one new man, so making peace; 16 And that
he might reconcile both to God in one body by the cross, having slain
the enmity thereby: 17 And came and preached peace to you which were
afar off, and to them that were near. 18 For through him we both have
access by one Spirit to the Father. 19 Now therefore you are no more
strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of
the household of God; 20 And are built on the foundation of the apostles
and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; 21 In
whom all the building fitly framed together grows to an holy temple in
the Lord: 22 In whom you also are built together for an habitation of
God through the Spirit. This revelation was not common in Israel
back in Ezekiel's day like it was in Johns day; that the faithful of
all nations should share in the inheritance of the faithful in Israel
and become one family. The symbolization of this in Johns vision
by one tree of life who's leaves were for the healing of the nations was
reflecting established fact rather than future revelation. If God
had shown Ezekiel the vision with one tree the readers of would think
the one tree represented the physical descendants of Abraham alone.
So in Ezekiel's vision God was actually revealing what would one
day become that established reality; that the many tree's, the different
kinds of tree's who's leaves and fruit for food and medicine to heal the
nations represent the faithful of all nations and peoples. You can
see the same thing in other prophecies about the New Jerusalem. That the
house of the Lord, the house that believers
are, the house that is built out of people of all nations for a
habitation of God is built out of all types of trees which illustrate
the different nations.
Isaiah 60
AKJV 5 Then you shall see, and flow together, and your heart shall fear,
and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted to
you, the wealth of the Gentiles shall come to you. ..... 10 And the sons
of strangers shall build up your walls, and their kings shall minister
to you: for in my wrath I smote you, but in my favor have I had mercy on
you. 11 Therefore your gates shall be open continually; they shall not
be shut day nor night; that men may bring to you the wealth of the
Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought.....13
The glory of Lebanon shall come to you, the fir tree, the pine tree, and
the box together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary; and I
will make the place of my feet glorious. ....... and they shall call
you; The city of the LORD, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel...... I
will make you an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations.
Isaiah 55: 11 So shall
my word be that goes forth out of my mouth: it shall not return to me
void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper
in the thing whereto I sent it. 12 For you shall go out with joy, and be
led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth
before you into singing, and all the trees of
the field shall clap their hands.
Ezekiel 31 AKJV 1 And
it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the third month, in the first
day of the month, that the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2 Son of
man, speak to Pharaoh king of Egypt, and to his multitude; Whom are you
like in your greatness? 3 Behold, the
Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches, and with a shadowing
shroud, and of an high stature; and his top was among the thick boughs.
4 The waters made him great, the deep set him up on high with her rivers
running round about his plants, and sent her
little rivers to all the trees of the field. 5 Therefore his
height was exalted above all the trees of the
field, and his boughs were multiplied, and his branches became
long because of the multitude of waters, when he shot forth. 6 All the
fowls of heaven made their nests in his boughs, and under his branches
did all the beasts of the field bring forth their young, and under his
shadow dwelled all great nations. 7 Thus was he fair in his greatness,
in the length of his branches: for his root was by great waters.
8 The cedars in the garden of God could not
hide him: the fir trees were not like his boughs, and the chestnut trees
were not like his branches; nor any tree in the garden of God was like
to him in his beauty. 9 I have made him fair by the multitude of
his branches: so that all the trees of Eden,
that were in the garden of God, envied him. 10 Therefore thus
said the Lord GOD; Because you have lifted up yourself in height, and he
has shot up his top among the thick boughs, and his heart is lifted up
in his height; 11 I have therefore delivered him into the hand of the
mighty one of the heathen; he shall surely deal with him: I have driven
him out for his wickedness. 12 And strangers, the terrible of the
nations, have cut him off, and have left him: on the mountains and in
all the valleys his branches are fallen, and his boughs are broken by
all the rivers of the land; and all the people of the earth are gone
down from his shadow, and have left him. 13 On his ruin shall all the
fowls of the heaven remain, and all the beasts of the field shall be on
his branches: 14 To the end that none of all the trees by the waters
exalt themselves for their height, neither shoot up their top among the
thick boughs, neither their trees stand up in their height, all that
drink water: for they are all delivered to death, to the nether parts of
the earth, in the middle of the children of men, with them that go down
to the pit. 15 Thus said the Lord GOD; In the day when he went down to
the grave I caused a mourning: I covered the deep for him, and I
restrained the floods thereof, and the great waters were stayed: and I
caused Lebanon to mourn for him, and all the
trees of the field fainted for him. 16 I made the nations to
shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast him down to hell with them
that descend into the pit: and all the trees
of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, shall be
comforted in the nether parts of the earth. 17 They also went
down into hell with him to them that be slain with the sword; and they
that were his arm, that dwelled under his shadow in the middle of the
heathen. 18 To whom are you thus like in
glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? yet shall you be brought
down with the trees of Eden to the nether parts of the earth: you
shall lie in the middle of the uncircumcised with them that be slain by
the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, said the Lord GOD
Ezekiel 17:22 Thus said
the Lord GOD; I will also take of the highest branch of the high cedar,
and will set it; I will crop off from the top of his young twigs a
tender one, and will plant it on an high mountain and eminent: 23 In the
mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it: and it shall bring
forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar: and under it shall
dwell all fowl of every wing; in the shadow of the branches thereof
shall they dwell. 24 And all the trees of the
field shall know that I the LORD have brought down the high tree, have
exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the
dry tree to flourish: I the LORD have spoken and have done it.
AKJV
Back To The New Jerusalem
|