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Heavenly City · 1. The promise

Tree of life

Read it in the Bible: Genesis 1–3

A great tree with golden leaves and glowing fruit. The Bible begins and ends with a tree of life, and the story of Jesus begins here.

Read it
Genesis 1–3 and John 1:1–5
Where
The garden of Eden
Key words
"It was very good"
Real world
Bristlecone pines, nearly 5,000 years old

Find it on the map

Part 1 of 35 In the beginning

The Bible begins: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Genesis 1:1). God made light, land and sea, plants, animals and people, and "indeed, it was very good" (Genesis 1:31). In the middle of the garden of Eden grew "the tree of life" (Genesis 2:9).

But the first people, Adam and Eve, disobeyed God. Wrongdoing, which the Bible calls sin, came into the world, and they had to leave the garden and the tree of life behind (Genesis 3:22–24). Ever since, the Bible says, "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23).

God did not give up on the people he loved. The rest of the Bible tells how he made a way back to him through his Son, Jesus, who was there at the very beginning: "Through Him all things were made" (John 1:3). On the Bible's last page the tree of life stands again, and "the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations" (Revelation 22:2).

A Great Basin bristlecone pine in the mountains of the western United States. Some of these trees are nearly 5,000 years old. Photo: Dcrjsr, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Imagined The tree

At the center of the city grows a tree that never stops giving: shade for everyone, fruit in every season and leaves that make sick people well.

Real world Trees that heal

Many medicines come from trees and plants. Aspirin was developed from a substance found in willow bark, and a cancer medicine called Taxol was first found in the bark of the Pacific yew tree. The oldest living trees, bristlecone pines in the mountains of California, are nearly 5,000 years old.

Art In this artwork

The illustration shows an enormous tree with golden leaves and glowing fruit, its roots in a round marble pool of clear water.

Look closer

  • Find the glowing fruit.
  • Follow the roots into the pool.

Think about it

  1. What do you think "very good" says about the world God made?
  2. Why do you think the Bible begins and ends with a tree of life?
  3. What do trees give to people and animals?

Key words

Creation
Everything God made.
Sin
Doing wrong against God and other people.
Eden
The garden where the Bible's first people lived.

Use it in class

Sources

Bible quotations are from the Berean Standard Bible, which is in the public domain. The other facts on this page come from these sources:

  • The Bible, Genesis
  • The Bible, Letter to the Romans
  • The Bible, Gospel of John
  • The Bible, Book of Revelation
  • Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Aspirin"
  • National Cancer Institute, "Success Story: Taxol"
  • U.S. Forest Service, Great Basin bristlecone pine

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