From The Desk of
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Bishop Randy Barnett
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THE TWO TREES
The story of the Garden of
Eden has many fascinating studies to it and much to learn there. One of the
studies has to do with the two prominent trees God speaks of in chapters 2 and
3. Let’s look at these trees and learn:
Genesis 2:16-17 And the Lord God commanded the man,
saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you
eat of it you shall surely die.”
Genesis 3:22 Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man
has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his
hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever” –
The first
tree – the tree of the knowledge of good and evil – is something God never
intended for man to eat from. The consequences of doing so were so horrific
that death was the result. In Satan’s temptation of Eve he states that “…your eyes will be opened…” (3:4) and as
we read further in the chapter that is exactly what happened – “…then the eyes of both of them were opened…”
(3:7) It was obviously never in the plan of God for man to possess knowledge of
evil. Adam and Eve had known only good and had bountifully existed in it within
the confines of the Garden, literally living in utopia and enjoying the
presence and fellowship of Almighty God.
The other tree – the tree of life – was
given to them to eat from even from the beginning. How do we know this? We know
this because in 2:16 God gives to them permission to eat from any tree: “…of every tree of the garden you may freely
eat…” of which the tree of life was assuredly included. But as we see in
3:22 apparently they had not yet eaten of this tree. Because of their sin of
unbelief leading to blatant disobedience to God this wonderful tree was kept
from them. In the absence of the life-giving flow from the tree of life, death
would be inevitable. It was. They died.
Consider from these few passages two of
the primary truths God established for His most important creation: 1) Man
would not know evil, and 2) Man would live forever. God created mankind in His
image and after His likeness (1:26-27) and He certainly knows no evil; also, He
is an eternal being that is eternally existent. His creation was made to be
just like Him.
The good news is that the story does not
end with God driving mankind out of the Garden into eternal despair and death.
The sin of Adam and Eve did not take God by surprise, for Isaiah 46:10 tells us
that God knows the end from the beginning. Even before this sin God had made a
way for man to be redeemed from this eternal death into which he had sank.
Redemption came in the form of Jesus Christ the Son of God about 4000 years
later. God literally bought back fallen man with the precious blood of Jesus
whom He sacrificed on the cross in man’s place. (I Peter 1:17-19) In this
glorious redemption, anyone who accepts Jesus as the Son of God and receives
His offer of salvation is restored to man’s original place of prominence on the
earth (Ephesians 2) and enjoys full covenantal fellowship with God. Evil is
removed from this born again man by means of the powerful, cleansing grace of
God; this grace is a gift to him. (Ephesians 2:8) Furthermore, man is once
again given access to the tree of life! (John 5:24 and Revelation 24:14)
Oh how marvelous is the love of God!
Randy Barnett Ministries website: www.rbmin.org
