How Did We Get In This Mess In Our Lives – Part 2
GENESIS 2 – THE TWO TREES – THE TWO CHOICES FOR MANKIND
GENESIS 2:8 – “And the Lord planted A GARDEN eastward in Eden; and there he put the man (Adam) whom He had formed”.
GENESIS 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”.
ADAM (AND EVE) IN “THE GARDEN OF EDEN”
“The Lord planted a garden eastward in Eden” – “Eden” was a garden specifically planted by God; it was a place God made to be a perfect habitation for Adam and, later, Eve.
THE TWO TREES IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN: (THE FIRST TREE) “THE TREE OF LIFE” AND (THE SECOND TREE) “THE TREE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL”. THESE TWO TREES WERE AMONG ALL OF THE OTHER TREES THAT GOD CREATED AND PUT IN “THE GARDEN OF EDEN”.
“THE TREE OF LIFE” – THE PROMISE OF ETERNAL LIFE
“THE TREE OF LIFE” – God planted “The Tree of Life” in “The Garden (Paradise) of Eden”, for the sole purpose “TO GRANT OR SUSTAIN ETERNAL LIFE”. God still has a “Tree of Life”, available to His people today:
REVELATION 2:7 – “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the (Holy) Spirit saith unto the CHURCHES; TO HIM THAT OVERCOMETH WILL I GIVE TO EAT (FROM) THE TREE OF LIFE, which is in the MIDST of the PARADISE OF GOD”.
“THE PARADISE OF GOD” – Expresses the blessedness of Heaven. Possibly, the Church of Ephesus, had tried to make her “Paradise”, here on earth and so allowed her love for God, to grow “Cold” (COLOSSIANS 3: 1. 2).
REVELATION 22:1 – “And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb”.
REVELATION 22:2 – “In the MIDST of the street of it, and on EITHER SIDE (TWO TREES) 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”.
“THE TREE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL” – THE WARNING OF THE POWER OF SIN – “THE TREE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL” – WAS THE “TESTING TREE”.
GENESIS 2:15 – “And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it”.
GENESIS 2:16 – “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, of every tree in the garden thou mayest freely eat”.
GENESIS 2:17 – “But of THE TREE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL, THOU SHALL NOT EAT OF IT: FOR IN THE DAY THAT THOU EATEST THEREOF THOU SHALL SURELY DIE”.
* ADAM (AND EVE) WERE GIVEN THE CHOICE TO EAT FROM “THE TREE OF LIFE” – AND LIVE ETERNALLY OR TO EAT FROM “THE TREE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL” AND “DIE”.
“The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil” – “YOU SHALL NOT EAT”. Eating the food of this “Tree”, after it had been specifically forbidden by God, would indeed give man a very real knowledge of “EVIL”. After all, “EVIL” can simply be defined as “THE REJECTION OF GOD’S WORD (WILL). Disobedience to His WORD (WILL) is therefore participation in the experimental knowledge of – “EVIL”.
Adam already had the knowledge of “GOOD”. All that Adam had seen and experienced from God was “GOOD”. Rejection of “God’s Word” would convey knowledge of “EVIL” to him. Partaking of the “Forbidden Fruit”, therefore, would surely give Adam “The Knowledge of Good and Evil”, as well as the difference between them, and in the most intensely real way.
* Adam should have obeyed God merely as an expression of his love. But God, in His “Grace”, provides Adam with still a further incentive by giving Adam a clear warning of the necessary consequences of disobedience. Rejecting God’s love would necessarily raise a “BARRIER” between man and God, and would break the “Sweet Fellowship” for which man was created. Since God was the source of “Life” itself, “Real Life” is found only in “Communion and Connection with the Divine Life of God”. The essence of “Death” is the opposite of “Life”, and is therefore, that “Separation from God” is the opposite of “Fellowship with God”. “IN THE DAY THAT THOU EATEST THEREOF, THOU SHALT SURELY DIE”.
*GOD MADE US AND GAVE US A CHOICE – “EAT” FROM “THE TREE OF LIFE” OR TO “EAT” FROM “THE TREE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL” – WE ARE ALL CREATED AS “ FREE MORAL AGENTS” – WE ARE ALL FREE, TO TO MAKE THE MORAL AND ETERNAL CHOICE, OF “ETERNAL LIFE” OR “ETERNAL DEATH”.
JAMES 1:13 – “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God; for God cannot be tempted with EVIL (SIN), NEITHER TEMPTETH HE ANY MAN (WITH EVIL – SIN)”:
JAMES 1:14 – “But every man is TEMPTED, when he is DRAWN AWAY of his own LUST, it bringeth forth SIN and SIN, WHEN IT IS FINISHED, bringeth forth DEATH”.
JAMES 1:16 – “Do not err, my BELOVED BRETHREN”.
Do not be deceived by supposing that God is the author of sin or that He impels any man to commit sin. God offers “The Tree of Life” instead!
THE PATH OF “TEMPTATION TO DEATH”
(1). TEMPTED – “BEGUILED” BY SATAN OR HIS AGENTS TO SIN (NOT A SIN)
(2). DRAW AWAY – YOU DEVELOP A STRONG IMAGINATION OF SIN (SIN)
(3). LUST – YOU DELIGHT IN VIEWING SIN
(4). ENTICED – THE WEAKENING OF THE WILL TO SIN
(5). LUST CONCEIVED – YIELDING TO THE THOUGHT OF SIN
(6). SIN – SINFUL ACT COMMITTED
(7). DEATH – THE RESULT OF ACTUAL SIN
“OF THE TREE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL YOU SHALL NOT EAT” – The presence of this “Tree” is the presence of a “Choice” for Adam – was “Good” because for Adam to be a creature of “Free will”, there had to be a “Choice”, some opportunity to rebel against God. If there is never a command or never something forbidden, then there can never be “Choice”. God wants our love and obedience to Him to be the love and obedience of “choice”.
Considering all that, look at Adams’ advantages. He only had one way he could “Sin,” and we have countless ways. There are many “Trees of Temptation” in life, but Adam only had one. God made this commandment, originally to Adam, not to Eve; God had not yet brought woman out of man.
* “FOR IN THE DAY THAT THOU EATEST THEREOF THOU SHALL SURELY DIE” – God not only made His commandment clear to Adam, but He also clearly explained the consequences for “Disobedience”.
The primary warning is undoubtedly that of “Spiritual Death”, or separation from God. But this also entails physical death, since God is the source of “Physical Life”, as well as “Spiritual Life”. Literally, the warning could be read: “In dying, thou shall die”!
The moment Adam disobeyed God, the principle of decay and death would begin to operate in his body. Finally, this would overcome the built-in metabolic process, and he would go back to the dust from which his body was formed. Even though he continued functioning biologically for over 900 years, he died both spiritually and in principle, physically, the very day he rejected and disobeyed the word of God, and the same type of act is a basis and root of all sin, from that day to this.
TODAY, WE ARE ALL GIVEN THE CHOICE, TO “EAT” FROM “THE TREE” (THE CROSS) – THAT CHRIST JESUS WAS CRUCIFIED ON AND LIVE, OR TO “EAT” FROM “THE TREE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL” AND DIE!
JOHN 6:47 – “Verily, Verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life”.
JOHN 6:48 – “I am that bread of life”.
JOHN 6:49 – “Your Fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are DEAD”.
JOHN 6:50 – “This is the BREAD which cometh down from Heaven, that a man MAY EAT THEREOF, AND NOT DIE”.
JOHN 6:51 – “I am the LIVING BREAD which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world”.
JOHN 6:66 – “From that time MANY of his disciples went back, and WALKED NO MORE WITH HIM”.
WHY SHOULD THE “CROSS OF OUR BLESSED LORD” BE SPOKEN OF AS A “TREE”?
ACTS 5:29 – “Then Peter and the other Apostles answered and said, WE OUGHT TO OBEY GOD RATHER THAN MEN”.
ACTS 5:30 – “THE GOD OF OUR FATHERS RAISED UP JESUS, whom ye slew and HANGED ON A TREE”.
1 PETER 2:21 – “For even hereunto were we called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that we should follow His steps”:
1 PETER 2:22 – “Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth”:
1 PETER 2:23 – “Who, when He was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed Himself to Him that judges righteously”:
1 PETER 2:24 – “Who His own self bear our sins IN HIS OWN BODY ON THE TREE, that we, BEING DEAD TO SINS, should LIVE UNTO RIGHTEOUSNESS: by whose STRIPS YE WERE HEALED”.
1 PETER 2:25 – “For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned under the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls”.
THE “TREE” (CROSS OF CHRIST JESUS), WAS IN “THE MIDST”, OF THE TWO CHOICES IN LIFE – FROM “EATING” (HAVING COMMUNION WITH) “THE TREE OF LIFE” (AND HAVING ETERNAL LIFE) AND FROM “EATING” (HAVING COMMUNION WITH) “THE TREE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL” (AND HAVING ETERNAL DEATH,
JOHN 19:17 – “And He (Christ Jesus) bearing His cross when fourth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha”:
JOHN 19:18 – “Where they crucified Him, and TWO OTHER with Him, on either side one, and Jesus in the MIDST”.
LUKE 23:39 – “And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, IF THOU BE THE CHRIST, SAVE THYSELF AND US”.
LUKE 23:40 – “But the other answering rebuked him, saying, DOES NOT THOU FEAR GOD, seeing THOU ART IN THE SAME CONDEMNATION”?
LUKE 23:41 – “And we indeed justly; for we received the DUE REWARD FOR OUR DEEDS; but this man had done NOTHING AMISS”.
LUKE 23:42 – “And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom”.
LUKE 23:43 – “And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in PARADISE”.
CHRIST JESUS WAS “HUNG ON A TREE” (THE TREE OF LIFE) – IN THE “MIDST” OF “TWO MALEFACTORS (THIEVES)” – ONE CHOSE “ETERNAL LIFE” AND THE OTHER CHOSE “ETERNAL DEATH”.
DEUTERONOMY 21:22 – “And if any man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou HANG HIM ON A TREE”;
* FOR US TODAY, “THE TREE (CROSS) OF JESUS WAS “ACCURSED” TO JESUS – SO THAT TO US IT IS – “THE TREE OF (ETERNAL) LIFE!
DEUTERONOMY 21:23 – “His body shall not remain all night upon the TREE, but Thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (FOR HE THAT IS HANGED IS ACCURSED OF GOD); that the land be not defiled, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance”.
GALATIANS 3:13 – “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, CURSED IS EVERY ONE THAT HANGETH ON A TREE”:
GALATIANS 3:14 – “That the BLESSINGS OF ABRAHAM might come on the GENTILES through Jesus Christ; THAT WE MIGHT RECEIVE THE PROMISE OF THE (HOLY) SPIRIT THROUGH FAITH”.
*CHRIST JESUS, AS A PROPHETIC RESULT OF HIM HANGING ON THE “TREE OF LIFE” – SAYS: “SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES; FOR IN THEM YE THINK YE HAVE ETERNAL LIFE: AND THEY ARE THEY WHICH TESTIFY OF ME” (JOHN 5:39).
