Genesis 2:9 tells us that God planted a Garden in Eden and in that Garden he planted every tree that was pleasant to the eye and good for food. In this passage God tells us that the tree of life was there and also the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God mentions the tree of life first then the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Then in Genesis 2:16-17 God tells the man that he may eat from every tree in the garden. The tree of life is not excluded at this point but only the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.The tree of life was there available to man from the beginning. If the tree of the knowledge of good and evil gave man the knowledge of good and evil than the tree of life would have given man life. Man was already made alive when God breathed into him the breath of life but what man would have received from the tree of life would have been life that he had not yet received. Man was made a living being in Genesis 2:7 when God breathed into him the breath of life. His physical life on earth in the image and likeness of God started when God breathed his spirit in him. As long as he was led by this spirit within him he lived his physical life on earth in the image of God. The spirit that was in him led his body through his soul so that his physical life on earth was in order with God. After the fall the spirit of God in man no longer was in control of his fallen flesh. His flesh with its nature attached to the physical sensual world was in charge of man so death reined in his mortal body. We have discussed this in previous lessons so let’s move on. The most important point is that the life man received from God’s breath gave him physical life to live in the image of God in the world. The tree of life that God made available for man from the beginning would have given man a life of a different order.
We know from Genesis 3:22 that this life that the tree of life would have given man was of a higher order because it would have let man live forever even in his fallen state. In Revelation 22:14 we are told that in the New Jerusalem the tree of life is there also, just like in Eden and that believers that enter the city have the right to it. The life in the New Jerusalem is of a different order than man has ever had before. Even Adam could not have dreamed of such an existence. The breath of life gave man the ability to live as a physical being in the image and likeness of God. The tree of life gives man the ability to live as a spiritual being with God.
It is this life that Jesus speaks of when he says, “…I come that they might have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” When we are born again we are made alive so that we may live on this earth with our flesh being subdued by the spirit of God through our spirits. We are made alive to live for God in this earth by the spirit of God reviving our spirits. What lies ahead for us is that life at the resurrection when we again have access to the tree of life. We then will be like Jesus living the abundant life of a higher spiritual order. 1 Corinthians 15:35-58 tells us what this will be like.
Right now we all have the same choice as Adam. We can eat from our own knowledge of good and evil or we can partake of the tree of life through the word of God. Through the word of God we access the right to eat from the tree of life and live forever as a spiritual being with God. The word of God connects us to this abundant life and makes war on and conquers our knowledge of good and evil. Through the victory of the word of God we reject our own knowledge and philosophy and live according to God's word and gain the right again to partake of the tree of life.
Next week: The Word in Action
Poet Ntwadumela's Voice
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