Tree of Life
Scripture gives us lots to play with, to contemplate, and to therefore teach us, but let us explore and have some fun with this one, let us therefore jump right on in, boots and all. Genesis 3:3 “But of the fruit of the tree which [is] in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.” This is the tree of “Death unto Death.” Genesis 3:22 “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:” Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden, we understand from that one, that as long as you regularly feast upon its fruit and leaves, your health and vitality remains at full strength, for when we have no ‘Tree of Life,’ as you have somehow been separated from God, the only source of true and full life, separation is deemed as sin, and that leads to starvation and death. Separation is another word or concept for ‘Sin,’ Ezekiel 18:4 “Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.” Death pursues, overtakes, hunts down and destroys each and everyone who is outside of God, estranged from God, separated from God, with access to the ‘Tree of Life’ barred, denied, cut off from, guarded against, any and all access, so death stalks us all, hunts us down, thus separation kills, for we are separated from the ‘Tree of Life,’ thus we just wither away and perish, Luke 12:28 “If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, and tomorrow is cast into the oven; how much more [will he clothe] you, O ye of little faith?”
But it does not forever stay that way, there is a sure promise from God, that access is assured, freely given back, offered to all those who overcome, all who enter and live in Eternity, to all those who reside in the ‘New Jerusalem,’ the ‘Tree of Life’ is once more restored to mankind, to eat from and to prosper and to really live, Revelation 22:2 “In the midst of the street of it, and on either side 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.” Mark 16:15-16 “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.” God’s promises are sure and true, you can bank on them, but then there is still so much more to this statement.
Proverbs 11:30 “The fruit of the righteous [is] a tree of life; and he that winneth souls [is] wise.” Proverbs 15:4 “A wholesome tongue [is] a tree of life: but perverseness therein [is] a breach in the spirit.” God’s kids are in essence a walking, talking, living, vibrant, active and current, “Tree of Life,” a source of and a supply of ‘Eternal Life’ to all who avail themselves thereof, a true believer, a true Christian is a ‘Tree of Life’ but how often do you find an alleged ‘christian’ who is in essence all fig leaves and pretentious, or worse, in essence a tree of sickness, death, disharmony and destruction, toxic, poisonous, as their fruit is stomach turning and deathly, there is definitely no life here. Now in Hebrew, we get this concept of, ‘Marah,’ Exodus 15:23 “And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they [were] bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah.” Now when the people drank of this seemingly wonderful, cool and health-giving, thirst-quenching water, it came out of mouths faster than it ever went in, it is marah, that which violently turns your stomach, you grip your middle in excruciating pain and discomfort, and it is so ghastly, each breath could actually be your last, marah, stomach turning, deathly, the very opposite to a ‘Tree of Life.’ Isaiah 66:22-23 “For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, [that] from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD.” This verse confirms that in Heaven there is the ‘Weekly 7th day Sabbath,’ but then it goes on and presents us with the concept of a ‘Monthly Celebration’ as well. Revelation 22:1-2 “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. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side 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.” Now Heaven has ‘Twelve Months’ and ‘Twelve Tribes’ and each and every ‘New Moon,’ or ‘New Month,’ the “Tree of Life” produces a new crop of life sustaining, life-giving fruit, and only those who are there for the ‘New Moon’ celebration get to feast upon the new variety, and then to live healthfully, well that is until the next month, failing to turn up and to feast could well be disastrous. How so deceptively easy it is to transition from being life unto life, into becoming death unto death, to become the waters of Marah, worse than a mirage, that which promises much, but delivers nasty and unto death, so are you a tree of life unto life or could you be marah waters of death unto death? Why not choose right now to be a fruitful and bountiful, “Tree of Life?” Let us ever be ‘Life unto Life,’ that grows and develops into eating from that Heavenly ‘Tree of Life,’ and to there experience real and abounding life that blossoms on for a very long time, eternally long.
