The Tree of Knowledge, by which men could know both good and evil, and in that way, be like God and
The Tree of Life, by whose fruit man could live forever.
Men would only be allowed to eat from one of them, and God told Adam which He recommended.
Adam and Eve, however, ignored God.
They chose the Tree of Knowledge.
It sounded good, the knowing, but it didn't work out very well.
The problem is this--only in innocence can we live forever with God.
And, once we have known evil, God must cast us out.
And so, He did.
Now, however, that we have taken from the first tree, we still long for the second. We were made, after all, for everlasting communion with God.
But flaming swords block our path, swords that only Jesus Christ, by His triumphal death, could part.
That is the punishment of Eden.
And it is still true.
The wrong knowledge leads me into sin and withholds life.
Do I need to learn, to know?
Yes, but as in so much else, I must be careful of what I learn.
I will have to live with it for the rest of my life.
...but God did say, "You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die."--Genesis 3:3
Good Morning! You know the wonderful truth of this garden rebellion is that God would have allowed them to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, if they had but ate of the Tree of Life first...The tree of knowledge of good and evil is presentative of the Father and the tree of life is representative of the son, we must always to reach the father is to go thru the son....to eat the truth of good and evil w/out first eating of life will only bring to us death....many bypass the Truth of the Son of God, the Tree of Life, and try to reach for the other fruits < exaltation vs humility > no one wants to experience death of their flesh man, so they bypass the tree of life...rejecting the crucified christ and only wanting the resurrected christ....pleasure no pain. I so enjoyed your blog this morning ...keep up the good work....LOVED IT
ReplyDeleteThank you, RA! I never thought about the trees representing the Father and the Son, and never extended that concept into the necessity of having to approach God through Christ. Wonderful! I have long had this picture of me at the pearly gates, crouching behind Jesus because I am not worthy of heaven on my own and having him say to His Father, "She's with me...."
DeleteWhat a wonderful experience that will be when we hear those precious longed for words, "She is with me"....
DeleteI know--it's like getting into the best nightclub behind Brad Pitt, only lots better....
DeleteSeriously, though, someone close to me, my spiritual mother, had that experience on Friday and she's there now, dancing with the King...she did so long for Him. I will miss her, but how can we ever begrudge the ones we love that great day?
This is something I think on often, especially as a mother. I fear often focus on the should note and not enough on life giving words.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing at the hop xo
ReplyDelete