Greetings!
“He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for
our justification” (Romans 4:25).
Jesus dealt with not only sins, but also with the inner unrighteousness that produces sin. We are being saved every moment by his life. His life flowing through our spirit veins is flushing out flesh. Forgiveness of sins has been accomplished once for all at the cross. Purification from unrighteousness is an ongoing process — a process that is being accomplished by the Lord Himself. His life running through our spirit veins carries away the flesh-toxins that poison us and produce symptoms in our lives: sinful behaviors. His life in us is uprooting the root that grows the fruit.
Jesus has reversed the actions of the first Adam completely. He has
won what Adam lost. He has restored what Adam forfeited. He endured
and triumphed in the testing the first Adam failed. He did everything
necessary to provide His victory in us.
For the first Adam, the Tree of Life became a “tree of death” to him.
Remember that there were two trees in the midst of the garden, one
forbidden (Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil), one not forbidden
(Tree of Life).
“Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. And the Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground — trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Genesis 2:8–9).
“And the Lord God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat
from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you
will surely die’” (Genesis 2:16–17).
The Tree of Life was there for them to eat from, and evidence indicates that they did partake of the Tree of Life. Sin was introduced when Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden tree. Sin brings death; sin and death are two sides of one coin. The moment sin entered the experience of mankind, death accompanied it. At the instant Adam and Eve bit into the fruit from the forbidden tree, death entered their spirits. “Not life” began to flow through their spirit veins. Their physical bodies, designed to be containers of life, became containers of death. Their problem was not simply the absence of life, but the presence of death.
The death that had entered them would be manifested in their life
experience. God described for them the curse that sin death had brought into their lives in Genesis 3:14–19. He described how death would be lived out.
After He had fully pronounced the curse and punishment, Elohim (the
Three-One; Father, Son, and Spirit) said, “The man (both male and female) has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever” (Genesis 3:22, parentheses added).
Look carefully. This is separate from the punishment phase. God is
saying that mankind might still live forever, even though death had now
entered their experience. He is saying that Adam and Eve must not be
allowed to eat from the Tree of Life or else they will live forever. They were already dead, yet they might live forever. Clearly, the fruit of the Tree of Life maintained the physical body and prolonged physical life. Since mankind’s body had now become a container of death, if his body lasted forever, he would be doomed to live forever in a state of death. In order to protect Adam and Eve and all of their descendants from living forever in a state of death, Elohim set a guard to keep them from prolonging their living death, or their “hell on earth.”
The dilemma was this: Though he were dead (spiritually), yet shall he
live (physically). “And the Lord God said, ‘The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach
out his had and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.’ So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life” (Genesis 3:22–24).
Do you see? The Tree of Life had become a “tree of death” to Adam and he was protected from it. The first Adam was driven from the Garden of Eden and barred from the Tree of Life as protection, not punishment. For the last Adam, the “tree of death” — the Cross — became the Tree of Life for mankind. “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed” (1 Peter 2:24). A tree is recognized by its fruit (Genesis 1:12; Luke 6:44). What is the fruit that hung on the tree of death, the cross? The life!
The cross became the Tree of Life.
Jesus poured out His blood so that we might die to sin — be eternally
declared separated from our sins. Then, when “this body of sin has been
done away with,” we can live for righteousness. By His wounds, we are made whole. We now partake of His life (2 Peter 1:4) — eat from the Tree of Life.
His “tree of death” became our Tree of Life. Now He reverses the dilemma that the first Adam brought. Jesus says, “Though he were dead [physically], yet shall he live [spiritually]” (John 11:25 KJV, brackets mine).
While the first Adam tasted sin and brought death, the last Adam tasted
death and brought life. While the first Adam was protected from the Tree of Life, the last Adam was led to the “tree of death.” While the first Adam was kept from the Tree of Life, the last Adam was handed over by God (Acts 2:23) to “taste death for everyone” (Hebrews 2:9) by hanging on the tree.
Author Feedback:
Click Here
(Include the name of the article)
Jennifer Kennedy Dean 2019
© | Legacy Writings
