The Tree of Life as God's Life

"And out of the ground Jehovah God caused to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, as well as the tree of life in the middle of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil" (Genesis 1:9 RcV - Recovery Version The Holy Bible Recovery Version) In the Garden in Genesis there were two significant trees - the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life.Some people say that the tree of life simply represented human immortality. This, I submit, is superficial. Adam had no reason to die other than for the cause of eating of the tree of the knowledgeof good and evil. He was created with an immortal life. If so then what could the tree of life signify?The tree of life signified the life of God. And to eat of the tree of life was for God to dispense His own uncreated divine life into man to produce a man who was united and mingled with God.Jesus Christ in the New Testament is the genuine man who is at once the human life and the divine life united, blended, mingled, and incorporated together. Therefore Christ really represents what God intended by human being.Adam never partook of this tree of life but was excluded from doing so.This is a theological rather than a scientific study. (Though I have been persuaded of the historical authenticity of the account).Can anyone see how the tree of life represents God imparting Himself into man's life to produce a union of God and man?Discussion anyone?

Genesis one and two should not be taken as an exhaustive scientific study on how God created everything. If that was the case then perhaps the whole Bible would be needed to explain the simpliest thing.The brief account shows that God created life consciousness in ever higher and higher degrees. The plant life shows a low level of life consciousness in Gen.1:11. The grass and trees are selected to portray a low level of consciousness. Even with the plant life Genesis uses three levels to show the path upward to higher consciousness. The plant life, the herbs which yield seeds, and the trees which bear fruit portray life ascending to a higher level.In Genesis 1:29-30 we see God gave the grass for the cattle to eat. But God gave the herbs and the fruit bearing trees for man to eat. This too portrays an ascension in the process of God's creation of life.Then there is the gradual development of the face. The grass and trees have no face. The fish and sea creatures begin to have a face but with no neck. It is a rather elementary face. The flying creatures display more of a face. The cattle and beasts of the field display a more developed facial expression. The face is now more distinctily developed on a long neck.Finally man is created with the most developed face. And it is said that in the creation of this creature God held a special conference. In all of the other created lives God just said "Let there be...". But when it comes to man God holds a special conference with Himself among the Trinity:Man with the most developed face for the highest life consciousness is preceeded with these words:And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of heaven and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.

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And God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. (Gen. 1:26,27)With all of the other lives it says that God created them after their own kind. When it comes to man he is created not after his own kind but after God's kind.We should think of man being created in the image and likeness of God like the relationship between a glove and a human hand. The glove is made in the image of a hand for the purpose that a hand can comfortably fit within it. When the hand slips into the glove the glove becomes the vessel and the hand becomes the content in the vessel. The two, the hand in the glove move and act together in one expression.Man was created as a living vessel to be filled with God. Man, as the highest level of consciousness among the created lives, was created to contain the uncreated life of God.Here is where the tree of life comes in. In the center of the garden was the tree of life. The tree of life which was "good for food" signifies not the created life but that life which in eternal, divine, and uncreated.The created life of man was designed by God to be a vessel to take into himself the uncreated and divine Person as God. This was the meaning of the tree of life. God created man in His image to dispense Himself into man. This is like the glove created in the image of the hand for the purpose that the hand may fit comfortably into the glove.The tree of life represented the Divine Person of the Triune God Himself. And His desire was to impart Himself into man that man and God would be "organically" united and blended together for man's enjoyment and for God's expression and administration.

Welcome purpledawn, The only warning concerning what would cause death to Adam was the eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.It does not say in Genesis 2:16,17 that neglect or failure to eat of the tree of life would be the cause of death to Adam.I assume that the man there was no other cause for him to die. I think that God would have maintained Adam to live on.But God's purpose is not simply that man would live everlastingly. It is that he would be indwelt and mingled with God to be a God-man like the Lord Jesus Christ.To accomplish this, Adam had to take his everlasting human vessel to take into him the fruit of the tree of life which represented the uncreated and divine life of God. Not until they moved from thier neutral position between the two sources by way of making a decision. They could not have both sources.The death tree would unite them to Satan. The tree of life would unite them to God. Once they chose one, the way to the other was closed off to them.So after eating of the tree which brings death, the way to the tree of life was forbidden to Adam (Gen.3:22-24).Ehpesians 4:18 says that the unbelievers are "alienated from the life of God". This alienation from the life of God began after God placed a guard to the tree of life and expelled man from the garden of Eden. But the warning does not say that if Adam neglected, failed to, or stopped eating of the tree of life then he would die. This was not the warning.I think if what you say is true then that should have been the warning.God did not say that there were two causes of death - eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil AND not eating of the tree of life. Only eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil was said to be the cause of death. I believe that it is certain that he did not. He was neutral between Satan as a source of life (who really brings death) and God as a source of life.Genesis 3:22-24 indicates that God would not have man mixed with both the Satanic element and the divine life element at the same time.My belief is that if Adam had taken of the tree of life then in the same manner as Genesis 3:22-24 the way to the tree of knowledge of good and evil would have been barred. The prohibition would have been similiar except that there would have been no need to expel Adam from the garden. Why? That would only be the case if Adam had not died. Why did he die? He died because he ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.And he does not live forever in a polluted state because of Genesis 3:22-24. Once death set in God would not have the divine life come into him also and preserve him to live forever.More important then dying man became Satanified. Man was joined in a host to parasite relationship with Satan.In this state God drove him away from the tree of life. Man was alienated from the life of God (Eph. 4:18).The story of the rest of the Bible is God's plan of salvation to bring man back to the divine life of God. This He does through the marvelous redemption of Christ. And this He does by causing Christ the Son of God to be life to man.Christ Himself is the tree of life to us today. That withstanding of temptation comes POST Christ shedding His blood for us and we partaking of Him as the life of God.But in Genesis Adam never at any time ate of the tree of life.I am convinced that when he moved from his neutral position inbetween the two sources, he could not partake of the other. He was given the choice to take in one or the other. He made the wrong choice.Today, the choice is before us only because of Christ's redemption. We have the choice to take in the life of God which is now embodied in the Savior Jesus Christ.The barrier keeping man "alienated from the life of God" is removed in the redemption of Jesus Christ upon the cross.And since this Jesus became the life giving Spirit, in resurrection Christ as the life giving Spirit can impart into us the uncreated divine Person represented in the tree of life."The last Adam became a life giving Spirit" (1 Cor. 15:45) From the time I first believed in Jesus as my Lord, I held a similar opinion. Eventually, I come to realize that the whole Bible seems to either stand together or fall together.So, the flow of history in Genesis, argues for the fact that this was history and not total allegory. Latter in the Bible God did use physical things to carry strong theological significance. The ark of the covenant is one striking example.If God intervened in Israel's affairs based on their interaction with his ark I can see Him doing so in the creation of man with two trees.So, I regard Genesis as history albiet with profound significance assigned by God to some actions of the first couple.This message has been edited by jaywill, 12-09-2005 01:46 PMThis message has been edited by jaywill, 12-09-2005 01:47 PMThis message has been edited by jaywill, 12-09-2005 01:48 PMThis message has been edited by jaywill, 12-09-2005 02:03 PM

At this point I would like to draw a distinction between two phrases.I admit that I might not be able to linguistically justify the distinction. But theologically I think it is helpful to understand what I am saying.There is Everlasting Life and there is Eternal Life.Adam was created with an everlasting life. But the tree of life represented the uncreated Person of the Triune God Himself. He is the eternal life.God had many angels who already were going to live forever. So for man simply to live forever was short of God's eternal purpose.By imparting eternal life into man God Himself enters into man to produce a God-man.God did not want a good man. God wanted a God - man. To be a good man who lives everlastingly was nice and even might meet man's need. But God had a need to be mingled with man to produce sons who share the life and nature of God. For this the good everlastingly living Adam was placed before the tree of life. That is that he may not only live forever but live united, mingled, interwoven, and in mutual incorporation with God.God desired sons as Jesus Christ is the God-Man union of Divinity and Humanity.

Brennakimi, The New Testaments says that we are dead even while our soul and our body are living. That is why to receive Jesus as the Lord causes one to be "born again" in the deepest part of her being.Something in man became deadened and comatose from the time Adam was joined to God's enemy. Death started to work in Adam. And it took about 900 years for it to kill off the first man who was created "very good."It could be that the day in which Adam would surely die included the insetting of the process of death in the very kernel of his being.Believing that God lied is attributing wickedness to God which I rule out. The devil in the serpent already slanderously accused God of lying (Gen.3:4,5) -"And the serpent said to the woman, You will not surely die!" . I don't need on this side of that deception to continue to believe Satan's accusation.The mercy of God however, is quite evident. Adam and Eve having become concious of their state ran off and hid from God. Of course God knew where they were. But God called out to the man "Where are you?" (Gen 3:9). It seems God, who previously enjoyed pleasant fellowship with the couple now asked them so that they would consider the state from which they were now fallen.The mercy of God is also seen in that instead of the man and his wife being killed instantly, God slew cattle to cloth them with the skins of the cattle. Perhaps when Adam saw the terrible death of that beast he realized that that should have been him and his wife. The clear type of Christ's redemptive death to come, and God's clothing man in Christ as his justification before God, was put forth in the typology. The eating of the vegetation suggests that their "dying" was a part of the maintenance of the other lives.The multiplication of the animals does give rise to questions for which I have no answers.But I have considered all of those things. The universe is a large place. And perfect human self control, incalculable wisdom, and fathomless mangerial skill might have rendered "dominion over" the creatures which is hard for us in our fallen state to comprehend. Man was created in such a way that he is one among the creatures yet he is at the pinnacle of the pyramid of created lives. This is portrayed in Genesis. And Christ taught that we were of more value than many sparrows. So humanity is among the other lives but also of greater value to God than the other lives."Therefore do not fear; you are of more value than many sparrows" (Matt. 10:31; compare Matt. 6:26-30)Man alone was created in the image of God in order to contain God within and express His glory.Man was created according to Christ. Both Second Corinthians 4:4 and Colossians 1:15 say that the image of God is Christ.Man is unique of all lives on the earth. He should not be arrogant. But he should be realistic. Once the climax is reached of the creation of humanity in God's image there is nowhere left to go. That is except angel life and the life of God Himself. And these two lives are represented by the two named trees.The tree of the knowledge of good and evil stood for the angelic life gone bad and in total rebellion against the Creator. For Satan was the anointed cherub who sought to usurp God's throne. This tree of knowledge of good and evil was a tree of death. Independence from God can only lead to death. And we are told that the Devil has the authority or the might of death (Hebrews 2:14).The tree of life represented the absolute highest life of all. The uncreated life of God which has no beginning and no end.I would like to say that everlasting life has a beginning and continues everlastingly. Eternal life has no beginning in addition to being everlasting. It is also a life without limitation. The Trinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as the Three-one God Who said "Let us make man in Our image ..." reveals the uncreated and unlimited Divine Person. This Person through the tree of life presented Himself to man as something for man to take into himself as food.In the New Testament God again presents Himself as food symbolically saying in Christ - "As the living Father sent Me and I live because of the Father, even so he who eats Me shall also live because of Me" (John 6:57)Man must take the Son of God internally into his innermost spirit to be born again of God and to grow to live in union with God for the fulfillment of God's eternal purpose. The Bible shows man at the pinnacle of creation. Even nature shows man at the pinnacle of all other lives on the earth.We are absolutely one of a kind on this planet. And as far as we know we are one of a kind in the universe. We long to find someone higher. If not God many long that beings from other worlds might teach us a thing or two. The dolphin is smart. The chimp is clever. The ants are organized. And many marvelous creatures are in nature. But humanity is one of a kind.Even evolutionary theorists have to admit that nothing else can compete with human beings in consciousness. The Bible says the Divine Us made man in His own image. He made man according to Christ who is the image of the invisible God (Col. 1:15; 2 Cor. 4:4).This message has been edited by jaywill, 12-09-2005 03:55 PMThis message has been edited by jaywill, 12-09-2005 03:58 PMThis message has been edited by jaywill, 12-09-2005 04:04 PM

Ringo316, Thanks. The footnotes and study notes are tremendous. Its the best I have ever seen from the standpoint of the big overall picture of God's eternal purpose.But I have and read many different translations of the Bible.

Ringo, Assumption?? - "People who read study notes and footnotes do not draw their own conclusions"Yet you essentially include your study notes here in these discussions for others to use as aids in forming a conclusion.Study notes do note hinder me from prayerful study and research.Since we run out of space on these discussions, maybe we could save space for the topic. Shoot, about the Tree of Life as God's Life. "eternal purpose" - Ephesians 3:11; 1:9

Then point out exactly where God warns Adam that there is another matter which will cause him to die.If you cannot, then you also are assuming things.quote:
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It is that he would be indwelt and mingled with God to be a God-man like the Lord Jesus Christ.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Genesis does not stand alone. It is the "genesis" and germination of spiritual truths developed further in the other books of the Bible. In the context of the whole Bible it is so.What other life was it that would enter into man upon eating the tree of life?The eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil (by way of contrast) caused man to be infested with the Satanic spirit. In chapter 4 God, attempting to restrain Cain's murderous envy of his brother, says:"Why are you angry, and why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and his desire is for you, but you must rule over him." (Gen. 4:7)God speaks here of sin as an evil living life form wickedly crouching as an animal of prey. Cain has entered into an intimate relationship with sin which is crouching at the door of his heart. God tells him that he must master it. This amounts to him mastering his self control over his furious jealousy.With the help of Romans chapter 7 we see that sin is a personified person seeking opportunity to kill, to capture, to cause us to do what we would not want to do. And it is an indwelling parasitic power in man's fallen body."Wretched man that I am. Who will deliver me from the body of this death? (Rom. 7:24)Speaking of the Satanic spirit Paul writes:"And you, though dead in your offenses and sins, in which you once walked according to the age of this world, according to the ruler of the authority of the air, of the spirit which is now operating in the sons of disobedience ..." (Eph 2:1,2)The Satanic ruler of the air is the evil spirit operating in man constituting sinners sons of disobedience.By contrast, the tree of life would have meant the imparting of the divine life of God into man's being.Satan is working from the outer part of man seeking to corrupt him to the core. God's salvation is to dispense Himself into the innermost part of man and work His way out to the circumference.The contrast is between man being polluted with sin and death or man being dispensed into by God's divine life.quote:
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The tree of life would unite them to God. Once they chose one, the way to the other was closed off to them.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- You haven't shown where my logic about Genesis 3:22-24 should not indicate that God would not have man mixed with two elements - the Satanic and the Divine.If you have nothing more than glib one liners I won't waste my time talking to you.I find others more thoughtful posts more worthwhile. For one who isn't allowed to assume you just made a big one. I believe that if it is one rendition it is the one which God wants me to take as His word. So if you're not interested in the lesson then you can find more profitable discussion elsewhere.But I do not except it as fiction on your say so.I think I'll ignore your additional comments and use my time to dialogue with some others with more interest in the study.This message has been edited by jaywill, 12-09-2005 06:56 PM

Man's initial fall came about with the Devil telling him that God did not say a certain thing.We have the same with us today. The advasary of God planted the thought that God had lied. He also planted the thought that God was holding back something from man's happiness.The Satanic spirit caused the woman to question God's heart and God's word.Satan mixed truth with error. The most powerful lie is the one with a little truth in it. God did say that man's eyes would be opened. Satan said this truthfully. But mixed with it was the lie that Eve would not surely die.This is a lie hidden in something true.Many are deceived by Satan's mixing of truth with falsehood. Many are deceived to accept that God does not love man and have man's purest happiness in mind.Purpledawn says that if God wanted God-men He could have just made them. Perhaps. But He did not choose to do that. He allowed man to make his choice to receive Him or not.He would not force man to receive His divine life. He put man before the tree of life and told him he could take of any tree of the garden except the tree which meant his death.Then He waited to see man choose. The human deciding will is a tremendously powerful thing in the universe. Our destiny lies in the power of our choice. And it gives God great pleasure to know that we CHOSE Him of our own accord.With creation it is true that God just said "Let there be ..." But when it came to fulfilling His desire to unite with man to obtain sons sharing His divine life, He did not simply say "Let there be sons of God ...".He could have but He did not. We may not know why He did not. But He did not. Man was not a robot. He had a choice.And I don't intend to get into the topic of predestination verses free will. Suffice it to say that God did not say "Let there be ..." with everything.He wanted to hear man say "Let there be." He wanted the man to be in harmony with Him out of his choice.

erasedThis message has been edited by jaywill, 12-09-2005 10:37 PMThis message has been edited by jaywill, 12-09-2005 10:38 PM

God made man a vessel to contain God as life, NWR.You debate it with me."But we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us" (2 Cor. 4:7)The Apostle Paul is saying that those saved by Christ are earthen vessels. Within the earthen vessels is the excellency of the power. That is the life of Christ. And Christ is God incarnate.This proves that for God to bring man back to His orignal purpose He dispenses the excellency of the divine treasure into man's earthen vessel."In order that He might make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He had before prepared unto glory" (Romans 9:23)Here again the participants in God's salvation are brought back to be vessels of mercy prepared for the riches of God's glory might be known upon them. God's glory is God expressed. In His salvation the redeemed are recovered to be vessels for the expression of God." If therefore anyone cleanses himself from these, he will be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, useful to the master, prepared unto every good work" (2 Timothy 2:21)Here is another verse showing that those recovered by salvation are vessels of unto honor.Man was created a vessel as a glove is a vessel for a living hand.We were made to be vessels that God may dispense His Holy Spirit into us. That is to dispense His life into us. The Spirit is the Spirit of life. And Christ "The last Adam became a life giving Spirit." (1 Cor. 15:45).In the Old Testament after man had failed to take God into Him he had a empty vacuum in his being. The writer of the book of Ecclesiates says that God put eternity into man's heart. This shows the deep capacity of man."He has made everything beautiful in its own time; also He has put eternity in their heart, yet so that man does not find out what God has done from the beginning to the end" (Ecc. 3:11)Within the fallen people there is such a longing to be filled. Man's knowlege does not fill this void no matter how much he learns. Sense inward filling with anything.That is because men and women were created to be vessels of God. Even if they gained the whole world they would still feel empty. God has put eternity in man's heart. What man longs for is eternal life. What man thirsts for is of an eternal nature because he was created to contain the uncreated Divine Life of God Himself.This message has been edited by jaywill, 12-09-2005 11:04 PMThis message has been edited by jaywill, 12-09-2005 11:05 PM

This is the kind of blindness that one can only feel pity for.You have been hood winked to amputate Genesis from the rest of the books of the Bible as if it had nothing at all to do with the other books.The loss is yours."And the great dragon was cast down, the ancient serpent, he who is called the Devil and Satan, he who deceives the whole inhabited earth; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast down with him." (Rev. 12:9)I know, Ringo may say "That's another topic."The ancient serpent? Which ancient serpent? The one in Genesis chapter three. Oh. He's the Devil and Satan. And he is the one who deceives the whole inhabited earth.Like those poor people who read Genesis and say "There's no mentio of Satan there. Show me that Satan is even in the story."Deceives the whole inhabited earth ...And he is also the accuser. He accused God to Eve. He not only accuses God to Eve with a slanderous lie. He then goes before God and accuses man before God. In Zechariah and in Job he does just that.Now someone will probably chime in with "Oh, that Satan is just the handy attorney helping God, according to the Jews. You know? The friendly neighberhood prosecutor."Once a lie gets circulating it is hard to dispel it.The serpent is identified with Satan Ringo. The skeptical "Divide and Conquer" philosophy seeks to slice and dice the books of the Bible so that they appear to have nothing to do with each other. Then if Genesis stands alone skeptics can say "There is NO mention of the Devil in Genesis. The Devil is not there at all."This is the unbeliever's tactic to divide and slay the life in the word. Cut it up. Segment it up. Separate its parts. Kill the revelation. Divide and kill.I pity such people.This message has been edited by jaywill, 12-09-2005 11:20 PM

Still no decent rebuttal of my analysis of Genesis 4:22-24.Let's look at it again.Once Adam has eaten of the tree which injected death into him he is barred from the tree of life. And why?God does not want the powerful divine life to preserve his polluted and corrupted being forever.Now if it is the case that the tree of life could preserve man to live in the sinful state forever, then it is logical that taking in the tree of life beforehand would have had the same effect.Had Adam previously eaten of the tree of life then taking afterwards the tree of death would have also brought about the mixed state which God forbade.By this I know that before Adam had the tree of the knowledge of good and evil he could not have had the tree of life.I am welcomed to see a problem in this logic from someone.Now I spoke of man being polluted. Well, this pollution is not that evident in Genesis 3:22-24. God only says that "the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil". That doesn't seem that bad. That doesn't seem that serious.But what Adam did not know was that he would have the knowledge ONLY. He would not possess the power to DO the good or the power to ESCAPE the evil.The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was a temptation for man to be independent from God. But this "indpendence" brought him into slavery to God's enemy. He came under the authority of darkness.Fallen man has something of which he is extremely proud. He has the knowledge of good and evil. He does NOT have the power to DO all the good that he knows. And he does not have the power to ESCAPE and RESIST all the evil that he knows.The GOOD that he would do he does not do because something in him compels him to act evilly. And he EVIL that he knows he should NOT do he does. Something as an evil force is working in him. Romans chapter 7 exposes this completely.Man therefore became injected with a foreign element. This was the Satanification of man. A COUNTERFIET with the eternal plan of God to dispense the Divine Life and Person into man's being.This message has been edited by jaywill, 12-09-2005 11:38 PMThis message has been edited by jaywill, 12-09-2005 11:40 PMThis message has been edited by jaywill, 12-09-2005 11:43 PMThis message has been edited by jaywill, 12-09-2005 11:43 PM

What?The link is in the language - "the ancient serpent"What ancient serpent do you think Revelation 12 is refering to?And the vision of Revelation 12 of a Dragon standing before a Woman who is about to bear a manchild.That doesn't remind you of "And I will put enmity between you and the woman. And between your seed and her seed; He will bruise you on the head, But you will bruise him on the heel." (Gen. 3:15)[/b]The vision of Revelation 12 very much corresponds to this prophecy. The ancient serpent (now grown into a huge dragon), stands before the woman with child to devour her child.And the dragon standing before the woman in Revelation 12 is called "The accuser of our brothers". The connection is clear to me.The ancient serpent is the Devil and Satan who deceives the whole inhabited earth. Starting with Adam and Eve his decption filled the whole inhabited earth.But Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.What did the tree of the knowledge of good and evil represent to man? It is the OTHER way. It was the way not ordained by God. God has a way. Satan's way is the other way.The other way, the way not ordained by God is the way that leads to death. It is the way that leads to eternal death.

You don't see the tree of the knowledge of good and evil as a tree of death?In the day that he eats of it what will happen?"... for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die"For you to say that there was no tree of death there in Genesis must mean that what Satan told Eve "you will not surely die" you still believe !!!"What tree of death? I don't see any tree of death."After 6,000 some years, get a clue Ringo.This message has been edited by jaywill, 12-10-2005 12:02 AM