So I decided, about a week ago, to read through the bible front to back. I’m only on Genesis 6 so don’t start praising me for anything. I’ve tried reading through the whole bible before but I always get so bored at Leviticus that I give up… I might end up grazing through it this time too, but I think God will have grace on me. Anyways, as I was reading through Genesis 3 last week something so cool caught my attention and I haven’t been able to get it out of my head (thus why I’m writing this.) As you know the story goes that God told Adam "From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die."
However, Eve was curious and satan was crafty and you know the story…she ate the apple and she gave it to her husband who was right there with her… and then everything went down the tubes. But, as God drives them out of the garden He says something to the Son and Holy Spirit that I never caught before...
“Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”— therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life." Genesis 3:22-24
According to this verse- if Adam had just taken from the Tree of Life in the first place, the Tree he was free to eat from, He would have lived forever. However, Adam and Eve desired to know good and evil instead of trust the Lord and live forever with Him. I can’t help but see the tree of the knowledge of good and evil as a foreshadow of the Law and the Tree of Life as a foreshadow of Jesus. God was always offering Adam to eat from the tree of Life and have relationship with the Father and let the Father provide for Him and love Him and walk with Him in the garden. However, Adam and Eve chose to know good and bad, they desired to know right and wrong, do good and not bad so they could be like God. God always just wanted them to trust Him and eat from the right Tree.
Just as He desires for my heart everyday. He says “Gwen are you going to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and try to do right and wrong to please Me or have a good standard of yourself? Or are you going to eat from the Tree of Life that I freely offer you in Jesus, are you going to trust that I don’t want anything from you but to be with Me, that I'll never harm you or leave you? Are you going to trust Me when I offer Jesus as your substitution and that none of your works will ever satisfy Me?”
So today my heart responds with a joyful yes, I’ll eat from the Tree of Life, The Living Bread, I’ll eat from Jesus who freely offers me new life and a sweet sweet relationship with Him. I hope you eat from this Tree too.
