The Tree of Life.
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. (Revelation 2:7)
The tree of life is still "in the midst of the paradise of God." Eating the tree of life brings immortality to the physical body. No person is given access to the tree of life, the tree of immortality, until he through Christ has conquered the enemies of God that have come against him.
Let us think for a moment about the beginning of the world.
The Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. Later Eve was formed from a part of Adam that was removed from him.
God, the original Gardener, planted a garden toward the east in the country of Eden and placed Adam there.
God brought forth from the ground all kinds of trees—trees pleasing to look at and that bore fruit good for food. The tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil were located in the middle of the garden and were pleasing to the eye and good for food.
The tree of life (Christ), the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (the eternal moral law of God), and the commandment not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (the issue of sin against God)—these three were given to Adam and Eve in addition to the actual organic trees that were good for human consumption.
The law of God, life, sin, and death—these are the major topics of the Scriptures. These are the major considerations of life on the earth. It was so in the beginning. It is true now. It shall continue to be true throughout the countless ages of eternity.
And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 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. (Genesis 2:16,17)
Obviously this is an allegory. Trees of life and trees of the knowledge of good and evil do not grow from the ground—at least not in our day.
The question is, what would be the result of eating of the tree of life, and what would be the result of eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?
The result of eating of the tree of life is bodily immortality.
And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever: (Genesis 3:22)
Whoever eats of the tree of life will live forever. The Lord Jesus Christ came from Heaven to give us eternal life, that is, to give us the opportunity to eat of the tree of life. Our tradition teaches that the Lord came to bring us to Heaven. This is not true. The Lord came to restore what was lost in the garden. The spiritual natures of Adam and Eve are in Heaven—at least we hope they are! But being in Heaven does not give a person eternal life.
It is our point of view that it is our Lord Jesus who is the Tree of Life, and that if we allow Him to transform us we too will become trees of life. We think that Adam and Eve had some kind of opportunity to partake of the Logos, the eternal Life of God, before they disobeyed God. The Logos has been with God from the beginning.
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (I John 1:1)
This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. (John 6:50)
We do not believe that there is any source of eternal life other than the Lord Jesus. If Adam and Eve had partaken of Christ they would still be alive in the flesh. They would not have perished but would have had eternal life.
But what about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
First of all, the tree itself was not wickedness. To eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is to be like God Himself.
. . . Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: . . . (Genesis 3:22) Growth in Christ brings us to the knowledge of good and evil.
But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. (Hebrews 5:14)
It may be true that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is the eternal moral law of God—the law that was revealed in limited form in the Law of Moses.
When the law of God comes to us, sin comes to life and we die—just as God stated would happen.
For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. (Romans 7:9)
Adam and Eve were naked and were not ashamed of this fact.
And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. (Genesis 2:25)
But it is a shame to be naked!
And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. (Genesis 9:22)
And when Moses saw that the people were naked; (for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies:) (Exodus 32:25)
For the Lord brought Judah low because of Ahaz king of Israel; for he made Judah naked, and transgressed sore against the Lord. (II Chronicles 28:19)
Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man. (Isaiah 47:3)
. . . that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; . . . (Revelation 3:18)
The tree of the knowledge of good and evil did not cause Adam and Eve to be in a shameful condition. They already were in a shameful state but they did not realize it. The moment Adam and Eve began to see as God sees they realized they were naked. They were ashamed and hid themselves from the Presence of God.
And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. (Genesis 3:7)
The sin of Adam and Eve was not that they were naked. The sin of Adam and Eve was that they disobeyed God.
For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. (Romans 5:19)
Did God intend that they one day would eat of the knowledge of good and evil? Certainly! God would not put a tree in the garden that man was not supposed to eat? What sense does this make? The knowledge of good and evil is part of the image of God and we are called to be in that image.
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise,... (Genesis 3:6)
The knowledge of good and evil is for the purpose of bringing us into eternal life. But being exposed to the commandment too soon brings death to us because it makes us conscious of our sin and we are not able to maintain our fellowship with God. It is our fellowship with God that is eternal life. Before we become aware of our sinful nature we have a clear conscience before God, just as Adam and Eve had a clear conscience before they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil!
And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. (Romans 7:10)
What was the problem? The problem was that Adam and Eve became conscious of their shameful condition before God but no provision had been made for restored fellowship with God.
The moment we sin today we can come boldly to the throne of grace, receive forgiveness and cleansing, and continue on our way in fellowship with God. But Adam and Eve had no such cleansing fountain to wash in. Instead they attempted to clothe themselves with fig leaves, a type of the dead works of religious man.
Let us think for a moment about eating of the tree of life.
To eat of the tree of life is to live forever in bodily immortality.
For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming. (I Corinthians 15:22,23)
Obviously Paul is speaking here of being made alive in the body because we already are alive spiritually. We shall not be made alive spiritually, but bodily, at the coming of Christ.
What about spiritual life and bodily life?
Death is separation. We die physically when our spirit leaves our body. The body without the spirit is dead.
What happens to the body? The body returns to the ground and decomposes into the dust from which it was created.
Dust we are and to the dust we shall return.
But how do we die spiritually? Physical death is the separation of the body from the spirit. Spiritual death is the separation of our spiritual nature from the Presence of Christ.
What happens to our spiritual nature when we die physically? If we have served God like the Apostle Paul, then we are assured that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.
Where the nominal Christian and the unsaved person will go when they die we cannot say with certainty. The Scripture speaks of several waiting areas in the spirit realm.
And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: . . . (Revelation 20:13)
We have stated previously that those believers who are living by the Life of Christ, who press through to victory in the Lord, will be given back their bodies when the Lord appears. We believe also that those bodies will be gloriously clothed with the house that has been fashioned in Heaven as the saints have sought the power of Christ’s resurrection and have shared His sufferings, having been conformed to His death on the cross.
All other people who have lived on the earth will be raised in the general resurrection that comes after the thousand-year Kingdom Age.
And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. (Revelation 20:12)
Where does eating of the tree of life fit into the picture of the first and second resurrections from the dead?
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. (Revelation 2:7)
The tree of life is still in the midst of the paradise of God, the garden of God, but it appears that the garden, which once had been in the country of Eden, has been withdrawn into the spirit realm.
After meditating on the preceding concepts we have concluded that eating of the tree of life (which is to partake of the Lord Jesus) is different from and yet related to the resurrection of our body from the grave.
To eat of the tree of life is to receive the eternal, incorruptible life of the Lord Jesus into our inner personality in preparation for its extension into our mortal body. To be resurrected is for our body to come forth from the grave at the voice of the Lord Jesus.
Then there is the house from Heaven that is being fashioned from the death and resurrection to which we are subjected each day of our discipleship.
These facts are of supreme importance to the saints. We need to understand to what extent we are going to be clothed, in the day of resurrection, with our behaviour in the present world—a clothing that may identify us for eternity!
And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. (Daniel 12:2)
Would you want to be raised to "everlasting contempt" in the sight of those around you in the world to come? The Apostle Paul was a victorious saint. Through Christ, Paul was overcoming each force that came against him as he pressed toward the out-resurrection from among the dead. Can we say that the Lord Jesus was giving Paul to eat of the tree of life, of the very Life of Christ, and that one day Paul’s entire personality—spirit, soul, and body—will be revealed in splendour because of the superlative degree to which he possesses Christ?
What about the lukewarm believer who is not pressing toward the out-resurrection but whose teachers have led him to believe that no matter how he behaves himself there is no need for concern? He will be brought to a mansion by grace, so why seek the Lord diligently? He is not living a victorious life and therefore is not eligible to partake of the tree of life. Will his experience of bodily glorification in the day of resurrection be identical to that of the Apostle Paul?
It is interesting to note that the last object mentioned as Adam and Eve departed from the garden of Eden, the tree of life, is the first object mentioned in the rewards to the overcomer.
Is the flaming sword of Divine judgment still guarding the way of the tree of life? Will Adam and Eve be given access to the tree on the basis of forgiveness, or on the basis of both forgiveness and a totally transformed personality—a personality indwelt by Christ thus guaranteeing that there will be no more disobedience to God? Is it a fact that Adam and Eve will not be permitted to eat of the tree of bodily immortality until they have learned how to resist the voice of Satan? Is God forming in His saints an eternal wall against sin?
What is your opinion? Is it enough that we receive forgiveness at the hands of the Lord Jesus or are we required to press into Him each day until we no longer are living but Christ is living in us?
Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. (John 6:54-57)
Study the above passage. Note the relationship between eating the flesh of Christ and drinking His blood, and being raised at the last day. This is not the general resurrection of the dead in which all who have died are called forth from the grave in order to stand before God and be judged. Rather, this is a special resurrection in which the Lord Jesus personally summons His beloved saint and brother and changes him into His own image.
The promise is not to him who merely has made a profession of salvation but to him or her who is living by the Life of Christ as Christ lives by the Life of the Father.
Our hope is that we shall be clothed with bodily immortality when the seventh trumpet sounds. Will incorruptible life clothe an adamic nature that has not pressed forward from glory to glory until it has been changed into the image of the Lord?
In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on in corruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. (I Corinthians 15:52,53)
The trumpet must be sounded today. The Christian churches are in deception. The goal of the Divine redemption is not residence in a mansion in Heaven, the goal is to be clothed with the Glory of Christ after our body has been summoned from the grave.
The standard of today’s Christianity is woefully below the Bible standard. If we would have a glorious resurrection we must begin to live as have the saints of all time.
Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions. Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: (Hebrews 11:33-35) May God grant that each of us obtains a "better resurrection."