them from accessing this life-giving tree (Gen. 3:22–24). Revelation 22 presents a very different situation, for the leaves of the “tree of life” are freely available for the healing of the nations (v. 2). This life-changing tree is mentioned nowhere else in Scripture, strongly suggesting that the two locations are closely linked. Second, only in the biblical accounts concerning the garden of Eden and New Jerusalem do God and humans communicate directly with each other, face-to-face. Throughout the