|
Home
Issue 2
The Two Trees
Most adults have read about or at least heard of the Garden of Eden.
Most school children can tell you about Adam and Eve. However, most
adults still have a hard time grasping the tremendous significance
of the two symbolic trees that stood in the Garden of Eden. Adam had
to choose between the government of Satan with its self-centered way
of life, and the government of God with its God-centered way of
life. Adam chose the forbidden tree; his choice brought about the
foundation of the world, as we know it, which has led mankind to the
type of knowledge that leads to suffering and death. Godly knowledge
would have led Adam to eternal life, instead of the temporary
existence we now know.
We should realize that Adam was incomplete when God created him. He
was created to need another Spirit, the Spirit of God. This was
freely offered to Adam through the Tree of Life. The Holy Spirit
from God would have given man contact with God, and would have
opened his mind to the comprehension of spiritual, as well as
physical knowledge. Without the Spirit of God added to his human
spirit, man was limited to materialistic knowledge; his mind was
incomplete!
What would have happened to Adam and his descendants had he taken of
the Tree of Life? The Bible tells us how Adam rebelled and took of
the forbidden fruit. He rejected the Tree of Life, and chose to take
to himself the knowledge of good and evil. He relied on himself
instead of God for understanding and knowledge. In essence, Adam
decided to choose for himself what was sin. He abandoned God’s law,
which defines right and wrong.
Consider how different things would be if Adam had taken of the Tree
of Life. There would be one government today. There would be no
violence or wars. There would be no sickness, therefore, we would
not need doctors, nurses and hospitals. All people would know
happiness; there would be no unhappy or frustrated lives. There
would be peace everywhere between all nations, groups, families and
individuals. But Adam sinned! He disobeyed the explicit command of
his Maker!
We should understand that Adam rejected God’s government! So what
did God do? “And the Lord God said ... and now, lest he put forth
his hand, and take also of the Tree of Life, and eat, and live for
ever: therefore the Lord God ... drove out the man; and he placed at
the east of the garden of Eden Cherubim’s, and a flaming sword which
turned every way, to keep the way of the Tree of Life” (Genesis
3:22-24). God shut up the Tree of Life! He barred access to His Holy
Spirit for 6000 years to all mankind, except for those expressly
drawn from this world for a special purpose. In the early
Scriptures, we can see God using only a small number of individuals,
the prophets, who wrote the first books of the Bible.
This was the case until the coming of the second Adam, Jesus Christ!
“And so it is written, the first man Adam was made a living soul;
the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.” (1Cor 15:45) Jesus was
the second Adam. Why should he be called the second Adam? The first
Adam had the opportunity of taking of the Tree of Life, obeying God,
and thereby, replacing Satan on the throne of the earth. But Adam
rejected his opportunity, therefore, making it necessary for Jesus,
as a human, to reject the “forbidden tree” and accept the Tree of
Life. Jesus came to do just that - to qualify to replace Satan on
that throne, and to start the government of God on the earth through
those called out from Satan’s world.
Jesus called disciples out of this world to be taught to teach
others; later, the Church was also called to be trained to become
rulers and teachers in the coming millennium of the restored kingdom
of God. They will rule and teach under the King of kings, Jesus,
when the tree of life will be opened to all flesh. Meanwhile, the
Holy Spirit has been closed to all but the prophets and the
called-out-ones of the true Church. The prophet Joel foretold what
is to come after 6,000 years of Satan’s rule. He shows us what God
has in store for all mankind, “And it shall come to pass afterward,
that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh;” (Joe 2:28).
Later in Revelation, we see that it was revealed to John that the
tree of life shall be accessible for all nations of the Kingdom of
God. “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.” (Rev 22:1-2)
Adam failed to follow God. He rejected the government of God and the
laws of God. By rejecting God’s way he lost his right to the Tree of
Life. We must ask ourselves, “Do I follow God’s way, keep His
commandments and worship Him in truth, or do I follow Satan’s way,
and worship according to the traditions of men?” Reading further in
Revelation, we can see that it is the right of those who keep God’s
commandments to take of the Tree of Life. “Blessed are they that do
His commandments that they may have right to the Tree of Life, and
may enter in through the gates into the city.” (Rev 22:14)
Home |