THE TREE OF LIFE

Marcella Ward    November 16, 2022

GENESIS 2:8-9

⁸ Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. ⁹ 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.  NIV

GENESIS 1:12

¹² The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.  NIV

 PSALM 1:3

That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers. NIV

PROVERBS 11:30

The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and the one who is wise saves lives.  NIV

MATTHEW 7:17-19

¹⁷ Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸ A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. ¹⁹ Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.  NIV

ACTS 5:30

³⁰ The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree.  ESV

1 PETER 2:24

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.  ESV

Trees give off oxygen as a process of photosynthesis.  Some benefits we receive from trees are---clean the air, retain water, help prevent soil erosion, provide food, heal, provide shade, etc.  Trees truly give life. 

God planted a Garden and in the garden He planted many trees.  One of the trees He planted was “The Tree of Life.”  What did the Tree of Life represent? 

“The tree of life, first referenced in the book of Genesis, is a life-giving tree created to support the physical and spiritual life of mankind. The tree was established by God in the Garden of Eden: "And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." (Genesis 2:9). 

“After the fall of mankind through Adam and Eve, God sent them out of the Garden of Eve to exclude them from the tree of life there. This was to protect Adam and Eve and their offspring from the immortality given by the tree of life, which in their fallen state would've had eternally condemned them to suffer and separation from God. In God's mercy and love for mankind, after the fall He enabled us to die that we may be lifted up through His Son and rejoined with Him in heaven.”  (“What is the Tree of Life Bible Meaning and Importance” October 21, 2021)

REVELATION 22:1-3

Eden Restored

22 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb ² down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. ³ No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him.  NIV

From the Garden of Eden, where God placed The Tree of Life; from the time of Noah, where he built the Ark out of gopher wood; from the tree that Jesus was crucified on, the tree has been the symbol of life. 

It has always been God’s plan to return to the Garden where there is eternal life, as exemplified by the Tree of Life.  Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life.  He took upon Himself all of our sins on the cross, on that tree, which symbolizes a full circle of the Tree of Life Who is Jesus Christ, our Savior and our King!  Yes the Tree of Life is life-giving!

Marcella Ward   November 16, 2022    Author of “Stolen Identity: Plan of the Evil One”