507- THE TREE OF LIFE AND THE TREE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL
September 26, 1979
Genesis 2: 7 - 9 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Genesis 3: 22, 23 And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
Last week we saw when God placed Adam in a garden, He planted trees and two of them are mentioned by name, The Tree of the Knowledge of God and Evil, and The Tree of Life, and we saw two very important facts as we studied these two trees. First of all, Adam was placed in a garden, GARDEN HERE MEANS LUXURY. So he was placed in the very lap of luxury. He had every need, every want supplied by God, and we saw that he couldn’t appreciate God Himself or the gifts of God because we learn by contrasts.
1/ APATHY MEANS LACK OF PASSION, OR EMOTION, OR EXCITEMENT, OR LACK OF FEELING, AND WE COULD SAY HE WAS PHLEGMATIC, NOT EASILY MOVED OR MOTIVATED.
He was really neutral, he would be indifferent to the things of God, but when he did partake of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he was able to appreciate God and the things that God gave to him in the past and also in the present, and in the future.
2/ Then the second thing we saw was that Adam was not created to immortality. This has to do with the physical body. He was created in a body that could die. First of all, immortality means that which cannot die, even though he had partaken of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. If his body had been immortal, he wouldn’t have died, because immortality means you can’t die. He had a mortal body. Secondly, why did God put the tree of life in the garden? Adam was to stay alive by eating of the tree of life, and he was barred from eating of it after he sinned.
3/ Also we can learn ourselves by the means of contrasts. And by comparisons, Let me show you what I mean.
Acts 5: 30 The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree.
Here we are told the God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye, Israel, slew and hanged on a tree.
I Peter 2: 24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
Galatians 3: 13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:
4/ Any thoughtful student will naturally enquire, why should the cross of our blessed Lord be spoken of as a tree? Certainly there is some deeper meaning than that which appears on the surface. Was it not intended by the Holy Spirit that we should refer back to Genesis.
Genesis 2: 9 And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
And compare and contrast these two trees? I believe so.
First of all.
a/ The first tree was planted by God. Genesis 2: 9 And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
So this tree was not planted by Adam, but by Adam’s maker, God.
The second tree – the tree to which our Lord was nailed was planted by man.
Matthew 27: 35 And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots.
In this brief but terrible record, it was human hands that devised, provided and erected that cruel tree on the hill of Calvary. So it was the hands of the creature, not the creator who planted the second tree.
b/ The first tree was pleasant to the eye. Genesis 3: 6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
We find this tree was an object of beauty and delight, but what a contrast from the second tree. Here everything was hideous and horrible to the eyes. We have the suffering Saviour, the vulgar crowd, the taunting priests, the two thieves, the flowing blood, the three hours of darkness.
Psalms 22: 6 - 13 But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people. All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him. But thou art he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's breasts. I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother's belly. Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help. Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round. They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion.
Isaiah 52: 14 As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men:
Isaiah 53: 1, 2 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
There was no beauty in Him that they should desire Him.
c/ God commanded that they should not eat of the tree. But how startling by contrast, there is no restriction here. In this case, man is freely invited to eat of this tree.
Psalms 34: 8 O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.
We read, Taste and see the Lord is good.
d/ Because God said man could not eat of the first tree, Satan used every argument to get man to eat of it. But on the other hand, God now invites man to eat of the second tree, and Satan uses all his powers to prevent men from eating of it.
II Corinthians 4: 3, 4 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
Genesis 2: 17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
The eating of the first tree brought sin and death, it was through the eating of the fruit of the tree that the curse descended upon our race with all of its miseries, but by eating of the second tree comes life and salvation.
John 6: 53, 54 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.
Of course, eating here is the fact of believing, or trusting or having faith, and notice it is eternal life. This is a beautiful contrast. Oh, how we gain through the second tree.
e/ Adam, I guess you realize, was a thief. He did partake of that which he was told not to eat of, and so he was turned out of Paradise. Do you realize that the second tree bears a repentant thief, one who trusted in Jesus Christ, and his eating of the second tree enabled him to enter into Paradise.
Luke 23: 42, 43 And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.
6/ Let us consider some points of resemblance.
a/ Both trees were planted in a garden. The first in the garden of Eden, the second in a garden which is unnamed.
John 19: 41 Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid.
Are we not told this for a very important reason, in order that we should connect the two trees? Is it not striking that the first Adam and the second Adam died in a garden?
b/ Both are trees of the knowledge of good and evil. Where in all the world, or all the Scriptures, for that matter do we learn the knowledge of good and evil as we do on the second tree, the cross? Here we see Goodness incarnate, here we behold the holiness of God displayed as nowhere else. Here we see the love of God being manifested, but then when we look at the tree, we also see sin and evil. Sin is the most hideous form, the hatred of man for God, and all that God stands for. Yes, the cross is also the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
c/ The second tree is a tree of life. I Corinthians 1: 18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.
Here the preaching of the cross is to those who are saved the power of God.
I Corinthians 1: 23, 24 But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.
Christ crucified is the power of God and the wisdom of God. It makes one wise unto salvation.
d/ Galatians 3: 13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:
What does that mean?
Deuteronomy 21: 18—23 If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them: Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place; And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard. And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear. And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree: His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is accursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.
Under the law, anyone who was hanged on a tree was accursed of God, no chance of salvation. Life is lost and the soul is lost.
Joshua 8: 29 And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree until eventide: and as soon as the sun was down, Joshua commanded that they should take his carcase down from the tree, and cast it at the entering of the gate of the city, and raise thereon a great heap of stones, that remaineth unto this day.
Here we are told, the king of Ai hanged on a tree until eventide, and as soon as the sun went down, Joshua commanded that they should take his carcass down from the tree.
e/ Esther 2: 23 And when inquisition was made of the matter, it was found out; therefore they were both hanged on a tree: and it was written in the book of the chronicles before the king.
So you see, anyone who hangs on a tree is accursed of God.
d/ Genesis 18: 1 - 4 And the Lord appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground, And said, My Lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant: Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree:
How suggestive is this passage? Why should we be told that Abraham invited his three visitors to rest under the tree? Unless there is some meaning to his words, and the tree? As we have seen speaks of the cross of Christ, and it is there that the rest is found.
Genesis 18: 8 And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat.
Here is an additional point. And he took butter and milk and the calf he had dressed and set it before them, and he stood by them under the tree and they did eat. Eating here is a picture of COMMUNION. It was under the tree these three men ate, so it is the cross of Christ which is the basis of the ground for our fellowship with God. So first we are to rest under the tree, then we are to eat or have fellowship under the tree. How wonderful it is to meet people who are saved and believe in the cross of Jesus Christ. When you meet someone by accident, seemingly by accident, what sweet fellowship we have.
7/ Exodus 15: 23 - 25 And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah. And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? And he cried unto the Lord; and the Lord shewed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet: there he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them,
Here we have a beautiful Scripture about the tree. When Israel at the beginning of their wilderness journey, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter, and Moses cried unto the Lord and the Lord showed him a tree, which he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet. Comment is almost needless, I am sure, the picture is so apparent, so beautiful. Here again the tree pictures the cross of Jesus Christ. It was our Lord Jesus Christ who by going down into the place of death, sweetened the bitter waters for us. And this also speaks of our daily life, for Paul tells us we are to have the fellowship of His sufferings, we are to be made conformable to His death.
Philippians 3: 10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
8/ There is another point. We can see that it is very important as we study the trees. God demanded, commanded that Adam was not to partake of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. When Adam partook of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he rejected God’s authority. He becomes a rebel. I think we all have to admit that the Creator, God, possesses the right to issue commands and demands of His creatures. He demands obedience, and this is right, and in the Garden of Eden, God exercised His prerogative and said, Adam do not eat of this tree, but Adam disobeyed and did as he saw fit. Is this not a picture of our day? Rebellion against God? God has no right to tell me this, or tell me that. I will do that which I think is best. Adam thought he knew better than God.
9/ You look at Jesus Christ and you see the opposite. When you compare the first Adam and the second Adam, you see the first Adam in rebellion, but you see the second Adam who did not have to be in subjection to God the Father, being put in subjection. How often He cried out, Not my will, but thine be done.
John 4: 34 Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.
John 6: 38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
