Jesus Christ the Tree of Life

Believers, remember Genesis 3:22- "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 hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”

Notice the words "eat" and "live forever"? Now see what Christ says in John 6:51-58:

"I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world...54 Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day...58...He who eats this bread will live forever.”

Notice the number of times He says "eat" and live forever"? Because He loved us so, God Himself made provision for us to eat of the Tree of Life- Jesus Christ- and live forever (not perish as was our lot under law, but have everlasting life.) and we find this in the most popular verse in the bible- John 3:16-

"For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life."

Believing Jesus- that He has overpaid the price of our past, present and future sins with His single sacrifice for sins that is good for all time (Heb. 10:12;) that we are made godly (righteous) by His obedience (Romans 5:19) and not by our filthy rags fig leaves of law-keeping and good works and that in Him, there is no condemnation (Romans 8:1) and no generational or other curse hanging over our heads (Gal. 3:13) - is to eat from the Tree of Life. To believe in Jesus is to believe Romans 5:9-

"And there is still much more to say of His unfailing love for us! For through the blood of Jesus we have heard the powerful declaration, “You are now righteous in My sight.” And because of the sacrifice of Jesus, you will never experience the wrath of God."

Partaking of His body and His blood (Holy Communion,) while discerning His body, is to eat from the Tree of Life. Jesus Christ is the Tree of Life. Freely partake of Him and eternal life is yours.

Remember the Lord God commanded Adam in Genesis 2:16-17: "16 The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; 17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.” 

The tree of the knowledge of good and evil is a picture of the law that gives knowledge of what is good and what is evil. See Paul's typology of the forbidden fruit as a picture of the law that many are trying to keep in order to be godly (be like God) in Romans 7:8-12 (MSG)-

"The law code started out as an excellent piece of work. What happened, though, was that sin found a way to pervert the command into a temptation, making a piece of “forbidden fruit” out of it. The law code, instead of being used to guide me, was used to seduce me..."

We all now have the same choice as Adam and Eve did: try to be godly (be like God) by human effort at keeping the law which is a picture of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and die (the letter kills) or become godly by faith in Jesus Christ the Tree of Life of whom it is written in Isaiah 53:11-

"After He has suffered, He will see the light of life. And He will be satisfied. My godly servant will make many people godly because of what He will accomplish. He will be punished for their sins."

Like Eve, many churchgoers are still trying to be godly (be like God) by keeping the law that kills, a picture of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This is rejecting Christ and the gift of righteousness/godliness that He died that we might have. The Pharisees did this and no one can stand their pompous, religious, bigoted, accusing attitude. Remember they strove hard to be godly by keeping the law and were quick to drag sinners to God for judgment yet they could not cast the first stone 

Leaders and churchgoers who depend on the law for godliness or "as a guiding principle for living a morally upright life" misrepresent Christ and send out the same pompous, bigoted, accusing, “holier than thou” vibe that the Pharisees did without knowing it. It comes with the territory. This is why many people who are yet to see the Light see Christians as a pompous, bigoted, finger-wagging lot and want nothing to do with us. But Jesus was always at ease with outcasts, the scummy tax collectors and notorious sinners. This group drew near to Him and in Him, we never remain the same. But he called the law-toting Pharisees “white-washed tombs" and “brood of vipers.”

Satan is still seducing people the same way he seduced Eve to believe that she could be godly by human effort. Friend, the result of feeding on the law is the same as it was in the garden of Eden: sin has dominion and death reigns. The law will only expose the nakedness (unrighteousness) of those who try to be godly by doing its works. Today, our Lord God says to you: "Choose life."

Believe Right. Partake of His flesh and His blood and you will live forever. This is God's gift to us. Remember Christ says in John 6 that the one who partakes of Him "has eternal life" and not "will have." Eternal life begins here on earth. Eternal life is a gift. Ask the Lord to open your eyes to His salvation. 

By God's grace, let’s stop feeding on the Law that kills and turn to Grace and Truth that came through Jesus Christ. In Him, we His bride have all we need that pertains to life and godliness: 1 Peter 2:3 tells us of our Bridegroom Jesus Christ:

"By His divine power the Lord has given us everything we need for life and godliness through the knowledge of the One who called us by His own honor and glory.”

Everything we need for life and godliness, we have through the knowledge of Christ, but "... by the law is the knowledge of sin." Romans 3:20. Try to keep the law for whatever reason and sin will have dominion. 

Right believing always produces right living.