What are "the leaves for the healing of the nations"? Study Revelation 22 with context, apologetic analysis, and cross-references.
Dr. Lucas D. Shallua Commentary · REVELATION 22 — THE RIVER OF LIFE, THE TREE OF LIFE, AND THE FINAL INVITATION
They signify that the new creation includes complete health, wholeness, and reconciliation among peoples. Since there will be no sickness or death, the healing is probably a picture of abundant life and the flourishing of the redeemed nations, rather than a cure for illness. It is also a promise that the divisions that mark the nations today will be healed, and that the effects of the curse will be fully reversed.
It means to enjoy direct and unveiled fellowship with God, which is the greatest hope of the believer. In the old covenant, no one could see God and live, but in Christ the redeemed see Him. It is the fulfillment of the hope of the pure in heart, and it is the reason for which humanity was created.
The warning is addressed to those who deliberately alter the book's message, and the consequence shows that such persons do not truly belong to Christ. It does not mean that a believer who makes a mistake in interpreting the book is lost. This commentary holds that those who are truly in Christ are kept, and that perseverance in faith is the evidence, and that the warning functions as a safeguard to protect the word of God.
It does not say that people cannot change now, since the invitation of verse 17 is open to all. It describes the fixing of character at the end, and it urges people to respond while there is time. The point is that the choices made now have eternal consequences.
It expresses the imminence of Christ's return, His readiness to come at any time, and the certainty of His promise. The New Testament teaches that God's patience is the reason for the delay (2 Peter 3:8–9), and that believers are to live in readiness. The time is near in the sense that the final events have been set in motion by the first coming of Christ, and that no more prophecies need to be fulfilled before the rapture, according to the pre-tribulational view.
The warning in verses 18–19 is in line with the early church's recognition that the canon of Scripture is complete, and that no new revelation can add to it. This commentary affirms that prophecy continues as a gift of the Spirit in the church, but that it is subordinate to Scripture and must be tested by it, and that it does not add to the canon.
The last chapter completes the vision of the eternal state begun in chapter 21 and closes the whole book, and the whole Bible, with an epilogue. The first five verses describe the garden-city, with the river and the tree of life, returning to the imagery of Eden, where the story began. The rest is an epilogue (verses 6–21) in which the angel, Jesus, and John each give final assurances, warnings, and invitations. It echoes the prologue in chapter 1: the book is trustworthy and true, it was sent by Christ through His angel to His servants, the time is near, and a blessing is promised on those who keep it. The chapter ties the book together and brings it to a call for response: come to Christ, and come, Lord Jesus.
The ending of Revelation is also the ending of the Christian Bible, and it gives a sense of closure to the whole story, from Eden to the new Eden, from the tree of life lost to the tree of life regained, from the curse to the removal of the curse. This unity of the Bible, which was written by about forty authors over fifteen hundred years, and which is consistent in its message of creation, fall, redemption, and new creation, is one of the arguments for its divine inspiration. The reliability of the text of Revelation is supported by a number of early manuscripts, including papyri from the third and fourth centuries, and by quotations from Irenaeus and others in the second century. The earliest Christians' prayer, "Maranatha," preserved in Aramaic in 1 Corinthians 16:22 and in the Didache, which is among the earliest Christian writings outside the New Testament, shows that the expectation of Christ's return was part of the earliest devotion of the church. The prophecies of the book have inspired believers through centuries of persecution, from Roman times through the present day, and they have given them courage and hope. The final invitation, "Come," is an example of the message of the entire Bible: God invites sinners to receive free grace.
This study preserves the hard questions, explanations, context, apologetic note, and references from Dr. Shallua's Commentary.