God Have Mercy, I Hope It’s Trees (Part 1)

Revelation 22:2 shares with us a vision of the tree of life. It bears twelve kinds of fruit, one for each month, so it is always sharing its gifts with the hungry. Even its leaves serve the healing of the nations. These trees flank the river of life in God’s new earth. It’s no wonder why trees are used as the image here. Trees have been very important throughout the history of humanity. They produce fruit year after year that people can eat. They provide shade. When cut down, they provide building material. They outlive us, so they are gifts that we give to future generations. There is great depth of meaning in our relationships with trees. Unfortunately, though many of us love trees on an individual level, our society doesn’t seem to value trees as much. Of course, we need to cut them down on a massive scale for the sake of wood for fires and buildings, especially now with the price of lumber being so high. Furthermore, our reliance on fossil fuels pushes us to clear trees that cover land where coal and oil may be found. And in addition to clearing them, we also care less than we should about the effects that pollution and climate change may have on them, such as rapid growth resulting from extra carbon dioxide making individual trees more susceptible to wind and storm damage. But if trees are undervalued and sometimes disregarded by our culture, where do we turn for what trees had provided us in the past? What will bear the fruit of life and provide healing to the nations? Perhaps we should reimagine this picture of paradise from Revelation with something that society today may replace trees with if given the chance to rewrite this.

We are an industrial society. Industry has gotten us this far, and though our economy has largely moved away from manufacturing jobs as free trade agreements have moved most of those overseas, many people in the United States still wish for the old times to return. Many of us would like to see more factories brought back into the country. Maybe we would imagine factories on either side of the river of life. Sure, they may pollute the river a little, but as long as it flows downstream, we don’t have to worry about it. It won’t be in our backyard. Factories can line the river, where thousands of workers can go to spend their days producing much needed widgets, gizmos, and gadgets for daily use. The factory owners can keep most of the money themselves, but the workers can go home knowing that they can feel good about working so hard and not asking for too much in return. Paradise for everyone, except for those poor people downriver of course.

So maybe that isn’t exactly how we picture God’s new world. Besides, we have largely moved away from manufacturing anyway. Maybe a different kind of economic structure would better replace the trees. How about a skyscraper of life? It is tall and features remarkable architecture, a testament to our engineering prowess and creative ingenuity. These behemoths would shadow the river of life. They provide the fruit of massive sales firms and call centers offering great deals to clients both rich and poor. Through the power of global trade, they bring peace and security. No one will fight anymore if everyone has the same big box store. We can find peace through solidarity, and solidarity through massive global franchises. The good news here is that they wouldn’t even pollute the river. Maybe they would have some cleverly placed solar panels to power the work going on inside, totally clean and efficient. With these mammoth monuments to mammon, we could organize the whole of society. Life could be built around their towering power. They could provide diversity training, so you could convince yourself that you are better for having heard that you should pronounce a person’s name correctly. They could provide twenty-four hour access to goods and services, so you would never have to go without the opportunity to buy a giant blanket. They could provide in-house therapists, so you could make sure your boss was taking care of your mental health needs. And of course, they could provide plenty of overtime opportunities so you never had to be bored and could always have enough money to spend at a different business. Paradise for everyone.

Okay, so that isn’t exactly what some of us were hoping for, but there are other possibilities. We elect politicians to make sure our needs are met. Maybe we can replace these skyscrapers with congress chambers and courts. Those can be life giving. The river would be lined with beautiful structures, some of the finest modern reimaginings of ancient Roman styles ever seen. Within those houses of cold marble would meet great leaders, wise and compassionate. They would carefully discuss the needs of people and then say that they had developed a solution to whatever the problem is. They would say that, but then they would say that their political rivals are blocking their work so that they can’t get it done. If not that, they would say that they had found the solution but they were lacking funds, so it would just be unrealistic at this point. If not that, they would say that the solution will be implemented carefully over the next three decades and then they would turn it over to some agency that would be tasked with carrying it out. Of course, they would also task the agency with regulating itself, so no one would really be sure how well the implementation process was going. All the while, we the people would be arguing over who is doing a better job, while hoping that their solutions actually start working soon. Well, this one at least has pretty buildings. 

Maybe it isn’t business or government, but rather the business end of government that will truly make life better. Maybe the river of life could be surrounded by military bases of life. Sure, their fruit may be dangerous to handle and devastating to be downrange of, but they could provide order and structure. They bring peace to the nations through the destruction of dangerous people. If no bad guys are left alive, then no one will fight. And if even some persist, they’ll probably be too scared to step out of line when the airfleet flies overhead. The setting sun would cast the shadows of tall razor wire-topped fences onto the river of life, reminding us that peace and life come best through security and order. As long as you don’t step out of line, you’ll enjoy the new heavens and the new earth. Paradise.

I’m sure we could imagine more man-made structures that could line the shores of God’s heavenly river in the paradise of a new earth. And while there may be some appeal to some of the scenarios above, I think we recognize that they don’t quite fit our image of a perfect world. Of course, the new heaven and new earth haven’t come yet. I can’t say for certain what will really line the shores of that glorious river, but God have mercy, I hope it’s trees.