The Two Trees

In this post, I would like to look at the very fundamental issues of the gospel. The gospel really starts back to the very beginning, in the Garden of Eden. In the garden, there were two trees - the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and the tree of life. If we have an understanding of these two trees then we can understand the purpose and principle of the bible. The purpose of the Word is to restore mankind back to God, and the principle is for God to build Himself into us through the revelation of who He is. This happens by the Holy Spirit revealing to us who God is as we study the bible, and by our allowing our nature to be transformed into God’s nature through the infusion of His Holy Spirit into our very being. The bible puts it like this, “and be not conformed to this world: but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Romans 12:2)

Now regarding the two trees:

The tree of life:

Genesis 2:9 “And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”

The tree of life was in the midst of the garden and God did not place a restriction on eating from this tree. This tree was simple – it represents God who is the giver of life and God’s intent was for man to depend on Him for their life supply. He gave us clear examples in the air we breathe, the food we eat, and the water we drink. We will never get so good at breathing, eating or drinking that we can stop doing them, because if we stop we will die.

The tree of the knowledge of good and evil:

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.”

This tree represents a life independent from God, with three things revealed to those who ate from it – knowledge, good and evil. After Adam and Eve made the choice to eat of the fruit of this tree, man’s nature was changed. Before the fall, they were completely dependent on God. After the fall, man became independence-minded. Now it is our nature to be independent, but independence from the Lord results in death. Sin entered the equation, and the bible says, “The result of sin is death (Romans 6:23).”

Sin is simply separation from God, separation from the vine, not living in God. The Bible says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23),” meaning man is not what God intended him to be. He lacks God’s image and character.

Independence separates us from God. No matter what you may think of yourself, outside of Christ you are nothing. Like Jesus said in John 15:4-5 “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”

Everyone desires knowledge; children are on a quest to find out “how come” and “why”. Have you ever heard those words? Man seeks knowledge and the system of the world thinks that knowledge is power. But knowledge outside of God builds man up and destroys him at the same time. Knowledge kills when it is separated from the life of God. It becomes an idol and people’s eyes are turned from worshiping the Creator to the worship of creation. You see, to exalt knowledge is to not give credit where credit is due. God originated and God created all things, He alone deserves to be praised.

In the garden, Adam stood before the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The tree of life was God, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was Satan (Revelation 12:9). In the Garden of Eden there were three; God, man, and Satan. Man was the one who had to make a choice. This decision is now within us. Previously, Satan was on the outside, but now he is inside – in our flesh.

When God said not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, He was saying that if you eat of this tree, you will take in Satan and he will become part of your nature and you will die, and that is exactly what happened.

Ephesians 2:1-3 “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.”

God also was outside, but He can now be in our spirit when we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.

Romans 8:6 “For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.”

Romans 8:16 “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.”

We have a mini garden of Eden within each one of us. The soul represents our self, our flesh represents Satan, and the Spirit of God in our spirit represents God. This thought is developed in Romans 8:6, where the two trees are represented.

We must continually make every effort to renew our mind, “that we may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:2). Renewing our mind is a day by day process of choosing to eat of the tree of life – ingesting God’s word so that we become one with Him.

Jeremiah 15:16 “Your Words were found and I ate them, and your Word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; for I am called by Your name O Lord God of hosts.”

God's Love

Why is God interested in man? It is God who wants to save us; man has never wanted to save himself. Man’s nature is to do what he wants; man is content living for the moment not being bothered with living a life surrendered to what God wants. And as far as I can see, this is the interpretation of sin – living a life separate from God, a self-centered life. This is why the bible says that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, because all of us were born thinking only of ourselves.

But the fact still remains that God loves us.

Man’s sins show man’s need. God’s love shows God’s provision. If there is provision without need, the provision will be wasted.

There are three aspects of the love of God to consider.

1st God is love.
2nd God loves man.
3rd The expression of God’s love is in the death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ.

If God is love, no matter how you “hit” Him—if you reject Him, deny Him, or cast Him aside—He is still love.

Because God is love, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). Unless love is expressed, it is not made complete. Since God loves the world, He must be concerned about man’s need. When God says, “I love you,” His love will step up to bear all our burdens. The situation is this… man has sinned and God has loved. When you put the two things together, the gospel comes into being.

The emphasis of the Bible is on the love of God and the grace of the Lord Jesus. Christ is from the Father (1 Timothy 6:16), and all the fullness of the Father dwells in the Son (Colossians 1:19; 2:9), and is expressed through the Son. Jesus was fully God and fully human. In Him, the human nature was added to the divine nature. These two natures were once separated from each other but now through Christ Jesus they have become one. Because of this, we have been provided the gift of God – the Holy Spirit – actually living in us and through us. The exciting thing is that Jesus was the firstborn in a new generation of God’s children (Colossians 1:15). That’s us!

In the Son we see seven important things.

1) He had God’s divine essence and nature.
2) The divine nature and the human nature were combined.
3) He lived as a human being.
4) He experienced death and passed through death.
5) His resurrection.
6) His ascension.
7) His enthronement

Jesus is our access to God and His life exemplifies the love of God. Through Jesus, the Holy Spirit can guide and direct our lives and give us the peace and correct attitude for every situation. He can give us wisdom in our daily conversation, which brings Jesus glory and honor. He will inspire us to fulfill a higher purpose and He will give us favor at the appropriate time. He will comfort us when we have been broken down, and He can bring healing to our every need.

Let’s look at God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit through an allegory

Electricity: There is the main source at the power plant; in this example this represents the Father. Then the current travels through the wire; this represents Jesus, and finally the electricity reaches its destination to provide the power necessary to, say, illuminate a light; this represents the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit releases the appropriate amount of power as needed when we are open to Him and allow Him to work through us. If I walked up and tried to plug in a lamp at the main source of electricity, both the lamp and I would be fried; I couldn’t handle that much power. We can only handle electricity as it is regulated and released according to what is needed for practical use in our daily living. We can experience God (the main source) through the glorious life that Jesus lived here on earth. He made it possible for us to understand and know God. The Spirit of God that was with Jesus now comes to us through Jesus, and this is how we can have a personal relationship with God today. As Jesus, He was human and we are human, His experience can become our experience and our fellowship with God can be perfect and complete, through Him (2 Timothy 3:17).

Today we can be born again by accepting Jesus into our heart. We can live here on earth as Jesus lived here on earth. Jesus surrendered His life to the Father, and the bible says that He was totally dependent on the Father for everything. Jesus only did what the Father directed Him to do (John 14:10-11). In the same way we must completely surrender our lives to Jesus. We must totally be dependent on Him as our supply, and in so doing we will live a life full of God’s love, favor, and joy. John 15:7 “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.”