VERSE 7  When I returned, there along the bank of the river, were very many trees (teachers, instructors of mankind) on one side and the other.

“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.” (Psa 1: 1-3)

“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, Because the LORD has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn, To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.” (Isa 61:1-3)

VERSE 8 “Then he said to me, these waters pour out toward the eastern region (the world in the Millennium) and go down into the Arabah (the Jordan Valley) and on into the Dead Sea. And when they shall enter into the sea [the sea of putrid waters], the waters shall be healed and made fresh.” (Amplified Bible)

VERSE 9 And it shall be that every living thing that moves wherever the rivers go, will live. There will be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters go there; for they will be healed (restored), and everything will live wherever the rive goes.

“The Dead Sea is well named: it is a dead sea in several respects. No fish can possibly live in its waters because of the strong mineral salts with which it is permeated; of the Dead Sea we read, “For seven to eight miles around both the soil and waters of the streams are so saturated with mineral salts that even marine vegetable life is impossible.”

Again we read, “Not the slightest vegetation can exist there.” But away from the influence of the Dead Sea vegetation is dense and luxuriant.

There are neither towns nor villages, nor ports on its shore; no ships or boats ply across its waters; no signs of life anywhere, but instead we are told “We find the shores strewn for several hundred yards from the water’s edge  with gaunt trunks and branches of palm and smaller trees carried down by winter floods and cast on shore, denuded of bark, bleached and incrusted with salt, and by their grim skeleton appearance most suggestive of the name, Dead Sea. Could there possibly be a more desolate picture? Or a more wonderful picture of mankind dead in trespasses and sins? The Dead Sea has no outlet, picturing that mankind have in themselves no way of escape from death (Eccl 3:20). But there is one hope for the Dead Sea, and that is that a large body of water will someday flow into it and thus purify it of its brackishness, picturing the one hope of mankind, that someday the “river of the water of life” will reach them and they will thus be purified.

“And He said to me, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts.” (Rev 21:6)

The vision of the river of life will probably have a literal as well as a symbolic fulfillment. It has been shown that the land between the *Bay of Acre and the Jordan is low-lying; it would be a simple engineering matter to cut a large canal through this land or an earthquake might do it, then the waters of the Mediterranean Sea would fill in the large basin which is below sea level and which reaches from a point about 20 miles south of the Dead Sea to a point about ten miles north of the Sea of Galilee. Should this come to pass, according to the thoughts of the Pastor the language of Ezekiel appearing to demand that it should, then Jerusalem would become a deep sea port and have the finest land-locked harbor in the world; a fitting site for the capital of the whole earth. The erstwhile Dead Sea would become the busiest body of water, full of life, also the river Jordan typing “The curse which has rested on mankind for 6,000 years”, would be blotted out.” (Temple of Beauty Studies, Pages 81, 82)

*Acre – Akko a city and port on the bay of Haifa

“And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” (Rev 21:4)

VERSE 10 It shall be that fishermen will stand by it from En Gedi to En Eglaim; they will be places for spreading their nets. Their fish will be of the same kinds as the fish of the Great Sea, exceedingly many.

“There will be a multitude of fishers, typing all of God’s servants, from the Little Flock to the Great Company to the Ancient Worthies to each and every individual as they reach perfection.

It is interesting to notice that in accordance with John 21:3-6 some have gone fishing in the night time but they catch no fish. When the Millennial morning comes and our Lord commands his servants (fishers) to cast in the net, then the number of fish that will be caught will be exceedingly great.”

VERSE 11 But its swamps and marshes will not be healed; they will be given over to salt.

“The miry places (the swamps and marshes) type personal sin. The miry places will not be cleansed, teaching that those steeped in personal sin (the incorrigible) will not be saved.

“Behold, all souls are Mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is Mine; the soul who sins shall die.” (Ezek 18:4)

They shall be given to salt, (salt is a persevering agent) typing that the remembrance of this miry class will help preserve all mankind in righteousness forever.

VERSE 12 Along the bank of the river, on this side and that, will grow all kinds of trees used for food; their leaves will not wither, and their fruit will not fall. They will bear fruit every month, because their water flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for medicine.

The river flows in the midst of a street

“In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life (a wood or grove of life), which bore twelve fruits, each tree (thus implying more than one tree) yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree(s) were for the healing of the nations.” (Rev 22:2)

This street or roadway is designated the Highway of Holiness (Isa 35:8), on its banks a grove of trees thrive, called trees of life and referred to in Gen 2:9. The leaves of the trees shall be for medicine (leaves symbolize professions, teachings), teaching that those who come under its shadow (its guidance and instruction) will never suffer again, “There shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away” (Rev 21:4) and the fruit shall be for meat picturing that all will be found doing the will of the Heavenly Father. Jesus said “My meat is to do the will of him that sent me.” (John 4:34).

The trees will bear twelve manner of fruit twelve times a year; there are a thousand years in the millennial age, 12 x 12 x 1,000 = 144,000, the number of the Little Flock who throughout the countless ages to come will be the Bride of Christ and bear the name of our Father in Heaven (Rev 14:1).”

The trees represent the glorified saints, restored mankind is its fruitage (the Abrahamic promise) there are twelve tribes and each represents one of the basic character types of mankind.

Thus we conclude our look at the Healing waters and Trees, may the Lord add his blessing.