The Tree Of Life🍃

(Revelation 2:7) The promise of a reward.

To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.”

We read this and think about overcoming sin. 

Jesus is speaking of overcoming their coldness of heart and lack of love marked by leaving their first love.

(Revelation 2:4) Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.

(Overcoming coming back to Jesus)

“I will give to eat from the Tree of Life”

The promise for these overcomers was a return to Eden, a restoration, and eternal life.

It is also meant in the sense of seeing the effects of the curse destroyed in our own lives as we live in Jesus’ redeeming atonement love.

Two Trees in the Garden

Gen 2:8 – And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed.

Gen 2:9 – 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.

Two Trees 

The Tree of Life🌳

The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil🌳

Are we tempted to question God’s judgment? Why place ( that tree ) in the garden in full view for them to see? Why allow even the possibility of disobedience right from the start?

The two trees

In Genesis 2, right after the creation of Adam, it says in verse 9 that God planted a garden with many fruit-bearing trees, but two particular trees: ‘In the middle of the garden was the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.’ It goes on to say in verses 16–17, ‘And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it, you will certainly die.”’

The previous verse contains the first use in the Bible of the Hebrew root word for “command:”     

H6680 tsavah,ṣāvâ. That command to man began with a statement of permission “You are free to eat”. The man could eat freely from any tree in the garden. God had graciously provided all of that for him, a boundary line was drawn here “But you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil for when you eat from it you will certainly die”

God is not placing man inside a tiny fence of rules; He’s locking evil inside a small box. 

God is allowing man complete freedom in this new environment…with one exception.

God provides a boundary for the man’s freedom.

One fact that people often ignore is that the Creator made both of the trees. God was not setting Adam and Eve up for failure. He gave them a free choice because He created them in His image, His likeness, just as we are. 

When our desires cross into the wrong territory, we are not to trespass without permission or the legal right to “we will face the consequences”.

Given near-complete freedom and one single restriction, humanity will still choose to sin and fall. (Thank God for sending Jesus) John 3

The two trees stood side by side; both bore fruit—one of the knowledge of good and evil, the other eternal life. 

The Tree of the Knowledge of Good (טוֹב tov, Strong’s lexicon h2896

and Evil, destructive, calamity. Rah (רַע ra, h7451 also had edible fruit. It looked like it could nourish and give life, but within was the seed of death. The devil knows this.

Its fruit leads to “in dying you will die.” The fruit of the Tree of Knowledge wasn’t a poison that killed one instantly. The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil could also be accessed, but God warned against eating from it because once one harvests from it and eats of it, the path to the Tree of Life is blocked.

God did not forbid Adam from eating the fruit of the tree of life, only the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The command was given to Adam before Eve’s creation but passed on to Eve. I often wonder what would have happened if, when Eve offered the fruit to Adam, he had rejected it and gone to God and asked for help … this may be, in part, why Jesus is called the second Adam.

The snake who tempted Eve lied at every turn. He questioned God’s intentions toward humankind and asked, ‘Did God really say..’ It’s the same lie each person of faith needs to confront and answer for themselves. The snake also said in Genesis 3:4–5, ‘“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil”’.

When Satan told Eve that she would not die, this was a trick because what Satan didn’t tell Eve was that if she ate from the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil, she would be cut off from the Tree of Life, and therefore, she would not live forever and be like God.

One thing you always have to recognize when the devil is offering you “secret” information is, “Why are you giving me this information when God the Father of truth never lies”.

From the beginning, God wanted a relationship based on His provision, our trust, and demonstrating that trust through obedience. God’s statutes to the first man is fundamentally identical to what He will say to Moses many years later: Obey, and I will give life and blessing. Disobey, and you will lose both Deuteronomy 30

Romans 3:20 says: ‘…through the law, we become conscious of our sin’; God did not want Adam to be conscious or gain knowledge of sin. The very act of eating from the tree was a sin because God told him not to. Adam and Eve chose sin and death by disobeying the one law given to them. They could have freely eaten from the other tree offered to them, the tree of life, and gained eternal life by grace—but they didn’t.

God then had to separate them from the garden to stop them from eating from the Tree of Life. He expels them, and a cherub is assigned a flaming sword to keep them from returning to Eden because if they had eaten, they would have been immortal in their sin, always subject to it and living eternally in sin. The Tree of Life is the antidote to the problem of sin, but first, things must be set right.

The Lord instructed us to judge men by their fruit. And the fruit was involved in the fall.

Satan often comes as “an angel of light” (see 2 Corinthians 11:14), quoting Scripture just as he did in his temptation of Christ Jesus. His work will often impressively conform to the letter, but only Jesus can bring forth the fruit of LIFE. “The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” (2 Corinthians 3:6). The serpent is still speaking from the midst of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil, compelling us to eat its fruit. We must learn to recognize and reject this voice, regardless of how good the fruit on the tree looks.

The devil tries to turn the Bible into the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil for us instead of the Tree of Life. He seeks to make it law to us rather than a revelation of Jesus Christ, in whom alone life is found. If we read the Scriptures by the Holy Spirit, then we will testify of Jesus and come to life. 

At the end of this blog read; Jesus explains it all.  Vs 25 of John 5 “It’s urgent that you get this right: The time has arrived—I mean right now!

The Spirit was sent to lead us to Him in the Scriptures and all aspects of our lives. Reading the Scriptures without the Spirit brings only the knowledge of good and evil or a form of legalism, which brings death through self-righteousness.

Jesus crucified on a tree gives life and keeps us on the path of life because it was His sacrifice, not ours; that is our justification. However, the devil will also try to get us to stumble in our devotion to the Lord Jesus by having us base our righteousness on how we have taken up our crosses rather than on the atonement of the Son of God.

Jesus is our redemption.

Romans 3

23 [For; Because] Everyone has sinned and ·fallen short [or is not worthy] of God’s ·glorious standard [or glorious presence; glory], 24 and all need to be ·made right with God [justified; declared righteous] as a free gift by his grace, ·by being set free from sin [through the redemption that is] ·through [or in] Jesus Christ.

Satan can counterfeit form, but he can never counterfeit the Spirit, the fruit of Jesus, the Tree of Life!

Only the Holy Spirit can change a man’s heart. 

Through our repentance.

Therefore, the Lord looks upon the hearts of men, and in them, He is looking for the heart of His Son. The Lord is not just trying to get us to do certain things and not do others; He is trying to conform us to the image of His Son, Jesus.

“For there is no good tree which produces bad fruit; nor, on the other hand, a bad tree which produces good fruit. For each tree is known by its own fruit” (Luke 6:43-44)

  Rev 22:2

 The tree of life. 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.

Some people wonder if we will eat in heaven. The best answer is that we can eat but will not have to. In His resurrection body, Jesus enjoyed food (Luke 24:41-43, John 21:12-14). Angels ate with Abraham (Genesis 18:6-8). The great heavenly reunion between Jesus and His people is described as a marriage supper (Revelation 19:9). Even though man fell by what he ate, God will still allow us to eat in heaven.

Jesus looked forward to a future celebration of the Passover in heaven, which He has not yet celebrated with His people. 

  (Matthew 26:26-29) He is waiting for all His people to be gathered to Him, and then there will be a great supper — the marriage supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:9). This is the fulfillment in My Father’s kingdom that Jesus longed for.

Leaf, Leaves 🍃

In Hebrew, leaf and leaves definitions are incredibly fascinating to me

1. Leaf of a tree. The righteous are often compared to green leaves. ( Jeremiah 17:8 ) The ungodly, on the other hand, are “as an oak whose leaf fadeth.” ( Isaiah 1:30 ) 
2. Leaves of doors. The Hebrew word, which occurs very many times in the Bible, and which in ( 1 Kings 6:32 ) (margin) and 1Kin 6:34 is translated “leaves” in the Authorized Version, signifies beams, ribs, sides, etc. 
3. Leaves of a book or roll occur in this sense only in ( Jeremiah 36:23 ) The Hebrew word (literally doors ) would perhaps be more correctly translated pages.

Jesus explains it all.

Vs 25 of John 5 “It’s urgent that you get this right: The time has arrived—I mean right now!

John 5: 20-23 the Message Bible

“But you haven’t seen the half of it yet, for in the same way that the Father raises the dead and creates life, so does the Son. The Son gives life to anyone he chooses. Neither he nor the Father shuts anyone out. The Father handed all authority to judge over to the Son so that the Son will be honored equally with the Father. Anyone who dishonors the Son, dishonors the Father, for it was the Father’s decision to put the Son in the place of honor.

24 “It’s urgent that you listen carefully to this: Anyone here who believes what I am saying right now and aligns himself with the Father, who has in fact put me in charge, has at this very moment the real, lasting life and is no longer condemned to be an outsider. This person has taken a giant step from the world of the dead to the world of the living.

✔️25-27 “It’s urgent that you get this right: The time has arrived—I mean right now!—when dead men and women will hear the voice of the Son of God and, hearing, will come alive. Just as the Father has life in himself, he has conferred on the Son life in himself. And he has given him the authority, simply because he is the Son of Man, to decide and carry out matters of Judgment.

28-29 “Don’t act so surprised at all this. The time is coming when everyone dead and buried will hear his voice. Those who have lived the right way will walk out into a resurrection Life; those who have lived the wrong way, into a resurrection Judgment.

30-33 “I can’t do a solitary thing on my own: I listen, then I decide. You can trust my decision because I’m not out to get my own way but only to carry out orders. If I were simply speaking on my own account, it would be an empty, self-serving witness. But an independent witness confirms me, the most reliable Witness of all. Furthermore, you all saw and heard John, and he gave expert and reliable testimony about me, didn’t he?

34-38 “But my purpose is not to get your vote, and not to appeal to mere human testimony. I’m speaking to you this way so that you will be saved. John was a torch, blazing and bright, and you were glad enough to dance for an hour or so in his bright light. But the witness that really confirms me far exceeds John’s witness. It’s the work the Father gave me to complete. These very tasks, as I go about completing them, confirm that the Father, in fact, sent me. The Father who sent me, confirmed me. And you missed it. You never heard his voice, you never saw his appearance. There is nothing left in your memory of his Message because you do not take his Messenger seriously.

* * *

39-40 “You have your heads in your Bibles constantly because you think you’ll find eternal life there. But you miss the forest for the trees. These Scriptures are all about me! And here I am, standing right before you, and you aren’t willing to receive from me the life you say you want.

41-44 “I’m not interested in crowd approval. And do you know why? Because I know you and your crowds. I know that love, especially God’s love, is not on your working agenda. I came with the authority of my Father, and you either dismiss me or avoid me. If another came, acting self-important, you would welcome him with open arms. How do you expect to get anywhere with God when you spend all your time jockeying for position with each other, ranking your rivals and ignoring God?

45-47 “But don’t think I’m going to accuse you before my Father. Moses, in whom you put so much stock, is your accuser. If you believed, really believed, what Moses said, you would believe me. He wrote of me. If you won’t take seriously what he wrote, how can I expect you to take seriously what I speak?”