Healing, Death, and Glorified Bodies in the New Earth

You are drawing together several important eschatological texts. The tension is clear: the new creation is described as free from death and sorrow, yet Revelation still speaks of the tree of life and leaves "for the healing of the nations." How can healing exist where there is no more death?

Key passages

First, the explicit statements about the end of death:

"And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away." Revelation 21:4

Paul similarly says:

"The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." 1 Corinthians 15:26

Death is ultimately abolished as an enemy. This is central to the hope of resurrection.

Then, in the description of the New Jerusalem:

"And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations." Revelation 22:1-2

There is:

• A "river of water of life."
• "The tree of life" (evidently a class of trees, on both sides of the river).
• Leaves "for the healing of the nations."

Possible understandings of "healing"

The word translated "healing" can mean:

• Physical healing from sickness.
• Restoration or maintenance of well-being.
• Political or relational healing of nations.

Given that Revelation 21:4 affirms "no more death" (and, in context, no more sorrow or pain), many interpreters hesitate to see Revelation 22:2 as implying continuing bodily illness in the eternal state.

There are three broad options:

1. Symbolic or memorial function

On this view, the tree and its leaves do not heal active disease; rather, they stand as perpetual witnesses to God’s saving and sustaining grace. They memorialize what God has done:

• The tree of life recalls Eden and humanity’s loss of access through sin.
• Its presence in the New Jerusalem shows full restoration and permanent access.
• The "healing of the nations" would then speak of a perfected wholeness and harmony, not ongoing sickness.

Your suggestion that they may serve "as a witness" fits this line of thought well. The imagery would then be theological and commemorative rather than functional in treating illness.

2. Instrumental means of death’s defeat

Another possibility is that God abolishes death not simply by decree, but by providing an unfailing means of life and health. On this reading:

• Death is destroyed because humanity now has unbroken access to the tree and river of life.
• The "healing" is real, but it functions to maintain perfect health, not to correct chronic lapses of it.
• The tree and river are the means God uses so that there is, as a result, "no more death."

This parallels Eden. In Genesis, the problem after the fall is not that the tree of life disappears, but that humanity is barred from it. In the new creation, access is restored permanently. One can say: the provision for healing and life is always present; as a result, death does not occur.

3. Political or relational "healing of the nations"

Some argue that "healing of the nations" points primarily to the resolution of historical animosities and divisions. On this view:

• "Nations" are collectivities whose hostility and brokenness are healed.
• The leaves symbolize the full reconciliation under Christ’s reign.

While this has some plausibility, the context of Edenic imagery, "tree of life" and "water of life," makes it difficult to exclude bodily and existential life from the picture.

What about glorified bodies and other bodies?

Your specific question: "Will there still be those who do not have a glorified body?"

Several considerations:

• Resurrection texts (1 Corinthians 15:42-54, Philippians 3:20-21) present the saints’ resurrection bodies as imperishable, incorruptible, and conformed to Christ’s glorious body.
• The great white throne judgment in Revelation 20:11-15 appears to bring final separation between the redeemed and the lost before the vision of the new heaven and new earth in Revelation 21--22.

On that broad framework, most interpreters conclude that the inhabitants of the new earth in the eternal state are in glorified, imperishable bodies. The text does not explicitly introduce a second class of unglorified, mortal inhabitants at that point.

However, the presence of ongoing fruit and leaves for "healing" raises questions about:

• Whether glorified bodies could, in any sense, be "maintained" by these provisions.
• Whether there could be procreation and new human persons in the eternal state who would then partake of the tree of life.

Scripture does not clearly answer these questions, and going beyond what is written would be speculative. There is no explicit statement that glorified bodies can die or become sick; the emphasis falls on incorruption and immortality.

Given that emphasis, a cautious conclusion would be:

• The inhabitants of the new heavens and new earth are in glorified, incorruptible bodies.
• The tree of life and the river of life function either as (a) the divinely appointed means by which that incorruptible life is expressed and enjoyed or (b) a perpetual sign and memorial of God’s life-giving work, or some combination of both.
• The text does not clearly teach an ongoing class of unglorified, vulnerable bodies within the eternal state, nor does it fully rule out all speculative scenarios about procreation and extension of human life.

Why not treat the tree only as a symbol?

You asked whether the tree and leaves might be "only there as a witness." One reason some hesitate to say "only" is that Revelation's visions often join symbol and reality:

• The Lamb is a symbol, yet Christ truly bears the role the symbol communicates.
• The city is "as a bride," yet there will indeed be a real dwelling of God with humanity.

In the same way, the tree of life and its leaves may both signify God’s healing and participate as instruments in the life of the new creation. Scripture does not state they are "merely symbolic," so it is prudent to allow both dimensions.

A tentative answer

Within those bounds, a careful answer to your question would be:

• The text does not clearly present a class of inhabitants in the eternal state who lack glorified bodies.
• The statements about the abolition of death and the nature of resurrection bodies point toward universal glorification among the redeemed in that final scene.
• The presence of the tree of life and leaves for "healing of the nations" likely indicates an everlasting provision and testimony of life and wholeness, not a perpetual cycle of sickness and cure.
• Whether that "healing" is purely memorial, or also the ongoing means by which God sustains glorified life, is not definitively explained and should be held with interpretive humility rather than dogmatic certainty.

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