Trees of life.
I. THE SITE ON WHICH THEY GROW. "By the river upon the bank, on this side and on that side" All the blessings of Christianity are drawn from its central stream in the grace of Christ. But that stream fertilizes its banks, like the Nile, and many trees overshadow its waters. As the dry wady is pleasantly broken by a thread of green just where the watercourse winds through it, so the dreary and spiritually fruitless waste of the sin-stricken world has the cheering presence in its midst of Christianity and the fruits of the love and work of Christ. We must be near the stream if we would reach the trees, and we must be near Christ if we would enjoy his blessing. The closer the trees stand to the refreshing flood the more freely wilt they grow and flourish, and the closer all our Christian work and various institutions are to Christ the Better will they thrive.
II. THE NUMBER AND VARIETY OF THEM. "All trees for meat," etc.
1. They are numerous. Many Christian agencies cluster about the gospel of Christ. There is abundance of life and energy here. However many may seek for grace from Christ, there is enough for all.
2. They are of various kinds. Thus they are suited to different orders of minds, to different circumstances and needs, and to different good ends. There is a rich variety in the blessings of the gospel, like the variety of nature, in which many kinds and species contribute to the general well-being of the whole.
III. THEIR PERENNIAL FRESHNESS.
1. They are evergreen. Most earthly comforts fade and pass away in course of time. Human good things are subject to shifting seasons. The fickle, changeful, transient character of the comforts of this world should drive us to the everlasting refuge of the Rock of Ages and the never-fading freshness of the trees of life. God's grace never fails. The blessings that spring from Christianity are independent of the fluctuations of outward life. It is possible to enjoy the green leaf in the garden of the Lord when all around is bare and desolate in wintry death.
2. Their fruit comes continuously. "It shall bring forth new fruit every month."
IV. THE GREAT SERVICE THEY RENDER.
1. They supply food. "The fruit thereof shall be for meat." Thus God nourishes the interior life of his people with heavenly fruit. Excluded from the earthly Eden, they can eat of the better fruit of the unseen and spiritual paradise. Souls live on Christ, the heavenly Manna. His flesh is meat indeed.
2. They give medicine. "And the leaf thereof for medicine." We need spiritual healing as well as feeding—healing from the bite of the serpent sin, from the crushing blow of adversity, from all that makes heart and soul sick. This too is provided in the grace of Christ the "good Physician." Balm of Gilead may fail us, but the Divine Herbalist has decoctions from the leaves of the tree of life that cure all soul ailments.