My ten-year-old granddaughter and I had a lot of fun the other day, talking about fruit. We had just read the verses in Revelation 22 about the tree of life that bears 12 different kinds of fruit: “The angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month.”1
We tried to imagine what fruits those would be—of course, all our favorites would have to be there! We laughed, thinking how amazing the tree of life must be—growing coconuts, apples, peaches, mangoes, and papayas on the same branches!
It’s so wonderful, I thought, how God gives us glimpses of heaven to look forward to.
“Are there any other Bible verses about the tree of life?” Emily asked.
Inspired by her question, we did a Bible search and found quite a few verses about the tree of life. Not only is it mentioned in Revelation, the last book of the Bible, it’s also mentioned in Genesis, the first. In Genesis, the tree of life is in the Garden of Eden, along with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.2
The Bible contains many encouraging verses about heaven. There’s really a lot to look forward to! Heavenly rewards may mean something different to each of us—to Emily, it means getting to eat her favorite fruit whenever she wants—but God has promised those special rewards to every person who knows Jesus as the Savior!
Although we face tough times in our Christian life—after all, God has called us to be fighters and conquerors—He’s also given us many encouraging promises about the rewards and blessings that await us.
If you haven’t yet received Jesus, you can do so now by praying the following:
Jesus, please forgive me for all my sins. I believe that You gave Your life for me. I open the door of my heart and ask You to please come in and give me Your gift of eternal life with You in heaven. Amen.