Tree of life

Read Genesis 3:22-24

As Adam and Eve are cast out of the garden we learn of another tree, this tree of life, which God restrains them from reaching lest they eat of it and live forever in their now sinful state.

They may have eaten from the tree before the fall; did they need to keep eating from that tree to live eternally? We do not know.  But there is one thing we can be sure of we have been barred from accessing that tree since the fall, and there was no way for anyone to reach it again.

Is this it, are we forever doomed to eternal death and decay? Will there never be any way in which we may regain access to the tree of life? It appears to disappear from scripture, only to reappear right the end in the New Jerusalem in Revelation 22.

In Genesis 3 we are barred from accessing the tree of life, in the last chapter of the Bible we now have access to it again and are able to eat its fruit freely. What has happened in the middle? What changed?

In the middle of history, at its climax stands another tree.  “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.”  (1 Peter 2:24)

Jesus was crucified upon a tree, not a tree of life but a tree of death. A tree from which we receive healing, a tree from which receive life. Jesus said himself, “Truly, truly, I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a seed. But if it dies, it bears much fruit.”

The tree of death became to us a tree of life. It was not a tree covered in golden leaves and beautiful fruit, but an unsightly tree covered in blood that purchased eternal life for us and redeemed us from slavery to sin.

Never forget what was required in order for us to receive life, to be healed. A tree upon which the prince of glory died.

Prayer

Father, we have done nothing but that which is deserving of wrath all our lives. Death was our destiny yet in your unending compassion, you purchased our salvation, we now have access to eternal life because Jesus, your son suffered upon that tree of death that we might be healed, and brought back to you. All praise be to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.