THE TREE OF LIFE
God created man from the earth, and breathed into him the breath of life. (Genesis 2 :7) Although created in God’s image, (Genesis 1:27) having mind and spirit, mankind is a biological being. The human body, like yours and mine, has a chemistry that is created from the elements and properties of earth. These properties were present in the Garden of Eden from which man was created. We know, of course, that fruits and vegetables trees, vines and all that grows out of the soil contain the nutrients and elements that make us healthy and strong, together with rest, sleep, exercise and healthy living. But there is something missing in the best diet and the best life style, fresh air, exercise and happiness. There is something missing in the earth that has been searched for for thousands of years: the cure for disease and death. Over that span of time we have learned how to treat many diseases with herbs that God has provided in the soil. The Chinese herbal doctors have an immense store of knowledge to treat and cure many diseases by herbs alone.
As recorded in Genesis, God gave Adam and Eve a very extensive diet of trees, plants, herbs and elements to keep their bodies healthy and strong. And these are still available to prolong life but not to extend it by many years beyond three score years and ten. (psalm 90:10) None of these natural provisions are dangerous to health or life for Adam and Eve were immortal human beings. They had no death in their bodies for the food they ate was life giving and life sustaining. There was one tree in the middle of the garden which preserved their bodies from death. It was called the Tree of Life.
THE ELIXIR OF LIFE
For thousands of years the elixir of life has been sought to restore immortality to human beings. Men have always thought that death is reversible if the right properties of nature can be found to prevent it from occurring. Chinese emperors sent deputation's of alchemists to the far east to discover the elixir of life or immortality. The quest for eternal youth has always been a dream of mankind. A Chinese book on alchemy, the Tan Yao Chei, the most famous of its kind, contains great secrets of Alchemy on how to cure diseases and death itself by taking certain elixirs of mercury, arsenic, salts and derivatives of precious stones. The Hindu scriptures contain details of a substance called Amrita, one tiny drop of which restores eternal life but it was created on the ocean and only the gods were able to drink it. (Wikapaedia) Alchemists all over the world have at some time dreamed of finding the element or elements necessary to eternal life. The enigma of life has always been its interruption by death. In the hope that one day a cure for death will be found some people arrange for their bodies to be frozen and stored in chambers of ice to be thawed when a cure is available.
THE REAL CAUSE OF DEATH
The bible deals with the real cause of death. (Genesis 3:3) For whilst it is true that nature once held properties that could maintain life indefinitely God has removed them from being known or accessed. (Genesis 3:24) Adam and Eve lost their right to live in Paradise by their infidelity and their unwillingness to believe in God; their desire, in fact, to be wise in their own eyes. According to the bible record God cast them out of the Garden of Eden where the tree of eternal life was planted, the fruit of which healed and restored their bodies to continuous and immortal life. They had the choice of eating from the tree of good and evil or the tree of life. Eve chose the tree of good and evil so that she might be wise. The TLB translation calls the tree of good and evil conscience, for upon eating of this fruit they knew they were naked; they knew they were exposed to sin. (Genesis 2:9) Conscience is a deeply felt sense of what is right and wrong, holy and sinful. Sin is sometimes so grievous that we try to cover or cleanse the sin away by any means, doing good, repentance, or even frequently washing our bodies, or covering our bodies but it cannot be removed, for an unclean thing cannot makes itself clean. This was the predicament of Adam and Eve, the predicament passed on to their offspring, for once begun sin assumes many forms and deceits that cloud and alter our health and happiness.
THE TREE OF LIFE
The tree of life was planted and grew in Paradise. That must not be forgotten. It did not grow in a fallen world, the world Adam and Even were cast into by their sin. The Garden of Eden was just one part of a good and perfect world created by God in Paradise. What remains of Paradise is a shadow of what it must have been like to live without sin, disease and death. There is a divide between Paradise and Paradise lost. Paradise lost is the earth that we know and live in for a time before death ends our biological life. The elements and properties of the tree of life are not to be found on earth but in heaven. When God created the earth, the sun, moon and stars, his work was not hindered or altered by sin and death. Earth was a world that belonged to heaven and did not differ from the holy place where God dwells.
Because the Tree of life was known to be the giver of eternal life, although lost to mankind, it has been a symbol of everything wise and holy in the lives of men and women. Solomon said, ‘Wisdom is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her; those who hold her fast are called happy.’ (Proverbs 3:18) He speaks of righteousness as a tree of life: ‘The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that wins souls is wise.’ (Proverbs 11:30)
PARADISE RESTORED
The tree of life did not cease to exist by man’s sin. It remains the same tree of life that Adam and Eve ate from before they fell from grace into disgrace. But that is all history now for God has restored the tree of life to mankind by the life, death and resurrection of his Son, Jesus Christ, who took our blame and our guilt for sin in his own body on the tree of death, the cross. The voice of God’s Son from Paradise announces to the churches who are faithful, ‘Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. To everyone who conquers, I will give permission to eat from the tree of life that is in the paradise of God.’ (Revelation 2:7) Again Jesus says, ‘Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they will have the right to the tree of life and enter the city by the gates.’ (Revelation 22:14) What this means, of course, is happy are those who are cleansed from their sins, who by grace (Ephesians 2:8f) and not by human effort or goodness, enter Paradise.’
God created man from the earth, and breathed into him the breath of life. (Genesis 2 :7) Although created in God’s image, (Genesis 1:27) having mind and spirit, mankind is a biological being. The human body, like yours and mine, has a chemistry that is created from the elements and properties of earth. These properties were present in the Garden of Eden from which man was created. We know, of course, that fruits and vegetables trees, vines and all that grows out of the soil contain the nutrients and elements that make us healthy and strong, together with rest, sleep, exercise and healthy living. But there is something missing in the best diet and the best life style, fresh air, exercise and happiness. There is something missing in the earth that has been searched for for thousands of years: the cure for disease and death. Over that span of time we have learned how to treat many diseases with herbs that God has provided in the soil. The Chinese herbal doctors have an immense store of knowledge to treat and cure many diseases by herbs alone.
As recorded in Genesis, God gave Adam and Eve a very extensive diet of trees, plants, herbs and elements to keep their bodies healthy and strong. And these are still available to prolong life but not to extend it by many years beyond three score years and ten. (psalm 90:10) None of these natural provisions were dangerous to health or life for Adam and Eve were immortal human beings. They had no death in their bodies for the food they ate was life giving and life sustaining. There was one tree in the middle of the garden which preserved their bodies from death. It was called the Tree of Life. There was another tree, as you know, that was called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.