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.”