The Two Trees

As a student of the written Word, I cherish the moments I hear the Living Word in my mind. Recently as I was sharing with a counselee, God illuminated more clearly for me the two trees in the garden of Eden – the tree of life and tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Most of my life I have seen those trees as, well . . . trees! Every detail in the Bible is there for a purpose, even those trees.

When I remind folks there were two trees in the garden of Eden, everyone remembers the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but they forget about the tree of life. Even though those trees were real, they were also symbolic of two distinct systems of “living.”

Before I explain the two systems, let me remind us that God created us as beings who can choose. We usually call it “free will.” When Adam and Eve were first created they made choices every day, but their choices did not lead to life. In other words, their choices did not determine whether they would be fulfilled thereby feeling worthwhile. Because they were full of God’s life, all of their needs were met. Having all their needs met, they felt worthwhile. That means that every choice they made came out of a life that was already fulfilled.

The tree of the knowledge of good and evil is eternal death. When Adam and Eve ate from its fruit (one time), they spiritually died and all of their offspring (all of humanity) died before their offspring had a chance to live. This tree possessed the power to give eternal death!

This tree of death represents a broken system of living. In this broken system choices are made in an attempt to get life, that is, to find fulfillment and satisfaction. Because this system is broken, there are no choices that can be made in the flesh that will lead to life.

The tree of life represented eternal life. According to Genesis 3:22 the tree itself possessed the power to give eternal life. As a system of living, this tree represents living out of an eternal source of life. That is, life is not generated from the creature making choices, but life comes from the eternal source within the creature. Does this sound familiar?

These two systems can be illustrated by two different kinds of restaurants. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil is like going to a sit-down restaurant when you are extremely hungry and your funds are very limited. The waiter comes and gives you a menu. As you study the menu, you look at all the items and their prices and you try to decide what item or items are going to fulfill you and give you satisfaction. There is a lot of weight on your choice. That choice ultimately has to bring you fulfillment. Even after you finally decide and place your order, you sit there and wander if you made the right decision. Oh the futility! This is what happens when we try to gain satisfaction and fulfillment from our choices.

The tree of life can be compared to going to a buffet restaurant when you are not starving, but you just simply want to eat and enjoy food. When you go to a buffet you can eat as much or as little as you want. You can choose anything being served. This analogy even works better if you go to the buffet without any concern for calories! Pretend like there is no such thing as weight gain and heart disease. The point is, you can enjoy your choices simply because you are already fulfilled.

Jesus is eternal life. He did the work of the cross so that He could be an eternal source of life in us. That means we can now make choices because we are alive. Our choices do not give us life, but reflect that we are alive. Out of Christ’s life in us we have the privilege of making choices daily simply because we are free.

"So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” (John 8:36)

Rest

When God created this world, the Bible says He rested on the seventh day. When God rested, it was because He was done; He completed His work, it was finished, 100%! The Bible doesn’t say anything about God continuing to create after that seventh day. At this point you may be thinking, “So!?” The point is, when God does something, He finishes. He completes what He starts.

How many times have you had an ominous feeling that you have forgotten something? And of course, that feeling leads you to wonder if your efforts were good enough. “Did I do my best?” I’ve heard people say, “I feel guilty when I relax!” Why is it we have a problem with completely resting? There always seems to be a soul-deep sense that something is unfinished. This is even true of our spiritual lives. We keep plugging away at our spiritual task, because if we don’t, we won’t measure up to our idea of what a Christian looks like.

Under the old covenant the blood of innocent animals atoned for sin. However, after the sacrifice was made, sin began to accumulate again. Those sacrifices were only good enough in the moment, but they did not last. This must have been frustrating for the Jewish people.  Their efforts were never good enough. 

Since God’s original creation was broken, He planned for a new creation to emerge from the darkness that had covered the world. God sent His only begotten Son into the darkness to do a new work. This work would plant His kingdom in the middle of the darkness – Light invading the darkness! In His work, Jesus accomplished two amazing feats. First, Jesus had to become sin on our behalf so we could become the righteousness of God (2 Cor. 5:21). The power of sin had to be destroyed and the penalty for sin had to be paid. Christ accomplished this task on the cross. Paul says, “…knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin.” (Rom. 6:6-7, NASB) 

Second, Jesus had to impart life to us because we could not gain life on our own. Those under the old covenant could never find life through keeping the law. God designed the old covenant to lead man to frustration with his own works. Man’s works or self-effort was never good enough! Our life is now found in a person, not in a system of works. Paul again says, “Therefore, we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.” (Rom. 6:4, NASB)

Hebrews 4:10 says, “For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His.” (NASB) So what kind of works is the Bible talking about? It is speaking of the works that attempts to make oneself good enough to be accepted. You don’t have to do anything to measure up to God’s standards; Christ did that for you. You and I can now enjoy the very presence of God through Christ. We can truly rest from our works to gain approval. We are now free to enjoy the work God has for us; “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Eph. 2:10, NASB) Rest brothers and sisters! Enjoy your relationship with God as He leads you into His life.

I Am New

“I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness.  Again I will build you and you will be rebuilt, o virgin of Israel!” (Jer. 31:3b-4a, NASB)  At this point in the history of Israel, I would not describe them as “virgin.”  They had prostituted themselves to other gods for a very long time; yet, God’s love declared them so!  Only He has the ability to take someone who is so tarnished, soiled, and stained and make them new.  Not like new, but new! 

In our human relationships someone may sin against us, and we may forgive them, but it seems in the back of our minds there is a constant reminder of that sin.  “If I’m not careful and I let my guard down, they might hurt me again.  I can’t let that happen.”  I’m sure you have possibly thought this before.  This is how we think toward someone who may be “like new.”  It is always a wait and see if they revert back to their old ways.  “New,” however, is unstained, untarnished, and clean; in other words, a virgin.  When God changes us from sinner to saint, He does not clean us up and make us like new, He crucifies the old and replaces it with the new.  We become in all sense of the word, “virgins.” 

As a counselor, I talk to many Christians about their struggles.  There is one thing that is common to every Christian I have ever talked to: regret.  Not one person was proud of their sinful behavior.  If given the chance, every one of them would undo what they had done if they could go back and redo their life.  I get excited when I hear their regret!  I ask them, “did you just hear what you said?”  Of course, they look at me like I’m crazy (as you may be thinking now).  I remind them of who they really are; they are new.  If you are an old sinner, your true desire would be for sin.  People don’t become sinners because they sin, they are born that way.  Sinners sin because they are sinners by nature.  A cow doesn’t become a cow by mooing, it moos because it is a cow!  The good news for the believer is “your true desire is for righteousness!”  That is why this conflict produces so much struggle.  The believer wants to produce righteous behavior, but finds themselves producing unrighteousness at times.

A Christian is a creature with a righteous nature put there by God through Christ.  However, that righteous nature dwells in an “earth suit” that was once the home of a sinner.  That old earth suit has been programmed to “sin,” but through the power of Christ in us, He can overcome the flesh and the law of sin (Gal. 3:20; 5:24; Rom. 8:2).  The enemy tempts believers to look at our sinful behavior and make identity judgments based on what we see, instead of listening to the Holy Spirit in us, Who is constantly reminding us that we are more than our choices.  If we truly believe what God says about us, we will find our behavior reflecting our righteous natures.

What a glorious day to be completely set free from the old, and to be made new.  Do you as a believer understand that is what God has done to you?  Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” (NASB)  If you are a believer, you have been given the gift of life, God’s life.  Get over the feelings that you don’t deserve this great gift, accept it, live in it!  “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly!”  (John 10:10b, NASB)