In view of the previous explanation, an apparent contradiction arises. The Book of Revelation clearly indicates that the willing and obedient of mankind—after the marriage of the Lamb, after the completion of the Little Flock—will have access to the tree of life⁶ on a human plane or level of existence (Rev. 22:2,17). Indeed, the hope of the world lies in an opportunity yet to be extended to every member of Adam’s race—after corrective judgment—to walk up the highway of holiness to an inheritance of eternal life (Isa. 35:8–10; John 1:9; 5:25–29; 1 Tim. 2:6; Heb. 2:9). 

Still another question demands consideration. The Apostle Peter states that faithful disciples of the Master will become partakers of the divine nature; that is, they will possess self-inherent life, a life wherein death is an absolute impossibility (2 Pet. 1:4; Rev. 20:6). Likewise, the Apostles Paul and John concur that such individuals will never need, either literally or figuratively, to partake of any life-giving fruit for their sustenance, for they will possess a life welling up within themselves (John 4:14; 1 Cor. 15:53; Rev. 22:17). 

Why then, it may be asked, when Jesus was addressing a spiritual class with spiritual hopes, does he allude in verse 7 to an earth-Edenic paradise that was lost but is to be an earth-Edenic paradise restored (Gen. 3:17–19; Rev. 22:1–4,14,15)? Was this allusion not designed to assist the primitive Ephesian Church to a realization of the mercy of God? If there is yet hope for a sin-sick world (the living and the dead) to again gain access to the tree of life (after retributive judgment and contingent upon everlasting obedience), would there not also be a glimmer of hope for backsliding Christians to regain close fellowship with their Master and Lord (upon stringent terms of self-discipline)? The point of comparison in this promise to the first Church is not so much to emphasize the necessity to partake of food to sustain life but is, rather, to indicate the need for restoration to the “garden” of God’s favor. 

To state the matter another way, the lesson is one of a renewal to fellowship with God, of a reinstatement to divine favor, of access to a former relationship, of recovery from a fallen to an upright status.⁷ Therefore, by prompt and proper deeds of repentance, these Christians could attain their former spiritual condition of favor and harmony with God and His Saviour, and ultimately receive the inheritance of the saints. Thanks be unto the Lord for all that is implied by these words addressed to Ephesus! They reveal some of the depths of His forgiving grace: He was not ready to forget the work and labor of love they had shown toward His name. 

Message to Smyrna (A.D. 70–313) 

Verse 8: 

And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; . . . 

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6. The expression “the midst of” should perhaps be omitted, as it is not found in some of the most ancient manuscripts. However, its inclusion does not alter the sense or meaning, as both the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil are spoken of as being in “the midst of” the garden (Gen. 2:9; 3:3). The latter was good for food and pleasant to the sight; yet because of the penalty attached to it, this tree proved to be a tree of death rather than of life.

7. An example is provided by Mark, who, though formerly disapproved of by Paul, was later reinstated into the Apostle’s favor, evidently because of his compliance with the conditions referred to here by Jesus (Acts 15:37,38; 2 Tim. 4:11).