THE TREE OF LIFE
Genesis
2:8) And the Lord God planted a
garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9)And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is
pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of
the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. 16) And the Lord God commanded the man,
saying, “Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17) But of the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof
thou shalt surely die. Romans 6:23) “For
the wages of sin is death” Disobedience towards God is sin, and sin leads to
death. In Genesis 2:7 “And the Lord God
formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath
of life; and man became a living being.”(Living soul or living person) Nowhere
does it say man had a soul, he became a soul, being or person. Genesis 6:3) And the Lord said, “My Spirit
shall not strive with man forever, for he is
indeed flesh ;”( mortal) 1 Timothy 6:15-16) God alone has immortality. 1 Corinthians 15:53-54) and this mortal must put on immortality. (Jesus 2nd
coming) Matthew 16:26) For what profit
is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? (Also Luke
9:25).
In Genesis
2:16) And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden
you may freely eat” The Tree of Life was in the middle of the garden. God created man with the perfect body,
perfect environment, perfect harmony (perfect Laws). All the way up until Adam and Eve ate from
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they ate from the Tree of Life. The
tree of life was like a “battery charger”, it kept them going. In Gen 3:4 this is Satan’s very first lie
about man being immortal and he used a serpent to be his messenger. Then the serpent said to the woman “you will not
surely die”, even today, millions and millions are believing that very first
lie. (That in itself is a whole other study.)
As we look at Adam and Eve, as long as they ate from the Tree of Life
they had everlasting life. In Gen 3:6 we see where Eve ate and then Adam ate of
the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.
God told them that “in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die”
(Gen 2:17) In Gen 3:19 God gives them their sentence, “in the sweat of your
face, you shall eat bread till you return to the ground” Your person being dust
returns to the ground. Man’s life was contingent on that he had to keep
partaking from the Tree of Life. There was miraculous power in the tree. Gen 3:22 (after sin) “and now lest he put out
his hand and take also of the Tree of Life and eat, and live forever.” Gen 3:24 “so he drove out the man; and he
placed cherubim at the east of the Garden of Eden and a flaming sword which
turned every way to guard the way to the Tree of Life.”
Question – if man was already
immortal why would God tell him he couldn’t eat from the tree lest he die? (Of
Knowledge of Evil and Good)
Question – if Adam and Eve was
immortal, why did Jesus have to die to give them what they already possessed?
Now for something interesting: The period from creation to the flood, is
called the Antediluvian Period. (Roughly 1656 years) Antediluvian means very old, old fashion, out
of date, a person who lived before the flood, a very old person. After sin and
before the flood, look at the ages of people in Gen 5; 930, 912, 905, 910, 895,
962, 365, 969 (Methuselah), 777, 950. Why did they live to be so old? Because
they lived in a time when Adam and Eve had their batteries completely charged
(the earth was still relatively pure and free of disease). 8 times in Gen 5 it
says “he died”, 1 time Enoch was translated to be with God without death. Romans 6:23 “the wages of sin is death” these
people lived a long time, then they died. Adam and Eve ate of the Tree of Life
to keep them going. It was a miraculous tree.
One other thing worth noting; from
archeological finds and comparisons, and some scripture it is believed that
Adam and Eve stood as tall as 15 feet. Gen 6:4 “there were giants on the earth
in those days, and afterward when the sons of God (Nephilim) came into the
daughters of men. The sons of God were
the children who were born to Seth, chpt 4 v.26 “the men began to call on the
name of the Lord” their worship was pleasing and acceptable to God. The daughters of men were the children born
of Cain. Cain’s worship was not acceptable to God. Cain’s worship was man’s
worship not God’s worship, that’s where daughters of men come from. In 2
Corinthians 6:14 God tells us “not to be unequally yoked” Also a note about the end time, it is going
to be a matter of true worship or false worship, even as it was on the plain of
Dura in Daniel 3. In Numbers 13:31-33,
the report given to Moses was ” we saw giants (the descendants of Anak came
from the giants) and we were like grasshoppers” In Deuteronomy 3:11, Og king of Bashan,
remained of the remnant of the giants, his bed 9 cubits in length, and 4 cubits
in width, that’s about 14 feet long and 6 feet wide. It never tells us how tall he was, but he
must have been a man of great stature. Goliath was between 9 and 11 feet tall
(1 Samuel 17:4), in 2 Samuel 21 18-22 we are told that Goliath had relatives
who were giants and one in particular had 6 fingers on each hand and 6 toes on
each foot. One last thing to me that
wasn’t very convincing was that how did Adam and Eve get the fruit out of the
trees if they weren’t tall? Something to think about. Anyway scripture does tell us people lived
long lives and tells us there were giants. They were also very intelligent and
had very good memories. All this was because they lived in a period that was
close to the Tree of Life, and they had almost a full charge on their
batteries.
Now the flood in Gen 11 the 10
patriarchs are recorded as 600, 438, 433,464, 239, 239, 230,148, 205, and
Abraham -175 years old. The body now had started to deteriorate much more and
the environment had become much worse. Man at this time in history had no
access to the Tree of Life. Man had also started to violate God’s health laws
by this time. Their batteries were losing power.
In Deuteronomy 34:7 we read where Moses
dies at 120 years old. Life seems to be
getting shorter and diminishing.
Now we come to the time of David, and
in Psalm 90:10 we read where God has now told us “The days of our lives are
seventy years, and if by reason of strength they are eighty years.” Life is getting shorter and this is the last
time God tells us the length of our lives. We are nearing the end and Jesus’
return. The Tree of Life and its
wonderful power is losing all of its charge.
Look around our world today, the environment is wasting away, the Bible
health plan has been put to the way side and when one does follow it, you are
considered weird or strange. People’s lives are deteriorating with diseases,
suicides are at a record pace, pleasures of life have taken the place of a life
fully committed to God, sin has so compromised, that our churches look like the
rest of the pagan world. Is there no hope for life and immortality? Praise be to God and his son Jesus Christ, ”
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever
believes in him shall not perish, but will
have everlasting life.” John 3:16
“Before the foundation of the world,
that we should be Holy and without blame before Him in love” Ephesians
1:4. God has a plan for when our
batteries are real close to the end and running out. 1 John 5:11-12 “and this is the testimony
that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His son. He who has the
son has life: he who does not have the son of God does not have life. Life is found in Jesus, when he comes back in
his 2nd coming. Praise the Lord, he will give us immortality. 1 Corinthians 15:50-54
One more
interesting thing: after the 1000 years in Heaven and the Lake of Fire has
finished it’s work, (Malachi 4:1-3 and 2 Peter 3:10-13), and when sin has been
eliminated, this earth will be made pure again, and the New Jerusalem will come
down out of Heaven and plant itself here on the New Earth. (Revelation
21:1-2) Then God will wipe away our
tears and the memory of lost loved ones.
And sin will be no more!
Revelation 21:4 “no more death, sorrow, crying or pain. For the former things have passed away. “The tabernacle of God is with men and He
will dwell with them and they shall be His people and God Himself will be their
God.” Revelation 21:3
One last
thing: Look at Revelation 22:2. “In the
middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the Tree of Life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The
leaves of the tree were for the
healing of the nations.”
As it was
in the beginning, we will again partake of the Tree of Life.
May God
Bless You as you search the Scriptures.
