TREE OF LIFE
After the fall of Adam and Eve, God responded by saying, “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 forever…” God, thus, booted Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden and placed armed angels at the entrance to keep them away from the Tree of Life from which they would gain eternal life (Genesis 3:22-24).
Was this literal or symbolic? You decide. One thing is for sure, no one has gotten back into the Garden of Eden since, and death happens to each of us who are descended from Adam and Eve. That’s how the story begins.
But do you know how the story ends? In Revelation 22, John the Revelator describes what he saw in his vision of heaven: “In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of nations (v. 2).
Here’s another important connector in the Bible: The Tree of Life is in the beginning and reappears in the ending. The Bible is one Book, with several continuing threads or truths flowing and interweaving throughout. And its especially interesting that where God made the redeeming connection with man, was up on a tree: The Old Rugged Cross!
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