"The Tree of Life"

Had Adam and Eve partaken of the tree of life (literally, the tree of eternal life - Genesis 3:22) in the Garden of Eden, they would have forever lived knowing in all things God the Father and God the Son, as revealed by God the Holy Spirit.

"This is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent" (John 17:3).

Our original forefathers instead ate of the forbidden tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 3:6). Their existence became something less than life as the sad result, and their consciousness was necessarily fixed on categorizing and coping with the realities of good and evil rather than worshipping the Father and the Son. Adam and Eve's progeny were delivered to an existence wherein spiritual, mental and physical energy must be devoted to determining and promoting that which is good and beneficial, and suppressing that which is evil and detrimental. It is a futile pursuit in both personal and universal terms, and apart from Divine intervention, the human race would ultimately destroy itself (Matthew 24:22).

The born again Christian spiritually partakes of the tree of eternal life in the new birth by believing in the Lord Jesus. "We know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know Him that is true, and we are in Him that is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life" (I John 5:20). Life then becomes the opportunity to know in all things and at all times the Father and the Son, as revealed by the Holy Spirit. Of course, we are not yet perfected, nor is the world in which we live. Accordingly, we must still confront the issues of good and evil that continually approach us. We enjoy and benefit from the pleasantness of the good, and deal with the problems and challenges presented by the evil. However, in all things, the tree of life offers to us the possibility of a greater reality, and the sustenance for which our hearts were made. "O taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man that trusteth in Him" (Psalm 34:8). By faith we partake of God by recognizing and affirming that the great Truth of every experience is His living presence both with and within us. "In Him we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28).

"Father, You are the heart and sustenance of this and of every moment. I see You through a glass darkly in the best of times, and how often I miss seeing You at all! But still You are, and still You offer the living knowledge of Yourself and Your Son by the illumination of the Holy Spirit in all things, and at all times. Open my eyes that I may more clearly see and more often partake of the Life of my life. Thank You for such a gift, the gift of Yourself and of Your dear Son. In His name I pray. Amen."

"He is thy life... to live is Christ."
(Deuteronomy 30:20; Philippians 1:21)

"I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it."
(Psalm 81:10)