the tree of life

[Jason19]

Hi,
Has anyone ever been as intrigued as me over the "tree of Life"? I find it facinating what Genesis 3 says about it, it does not say much, but what it does say is awesome.
For instance, the tree of life's fruit had some kind of life sustaining substance, that when comsumed, would give you perfect health.
Genesis 3:22
Then the LORD God said, "behold the man has become like one fo us in knowing good and evil, now lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever...Therefore the Lord sent him out of the Garden.

does anyone have any thoughts on this passage?
I think it is a great testimony to how serious sin is, even with a tree that could sustain life after the fall, God sent Adam out of the Garden because the pentalty of sin is death.
I think its also Great mercy of God too, for now since man kind was spiritualy dead and seperated from God, even though by eating of the tree one could physicaly live forever, it would be an empty life without a redeemer who could bridge the gap of sin's seperation from God.
I also think that it is a great comparison to Christ, our life giving tree. For any who partake in Him, will have ever lasting life.
Many other things we can draw from this, so it would be cool to hear from anyone, this is not a familer verse to most, so hopefully you guys got some good insight, look forward to hearing from you all.

 

[mark kennedy]

The 'tree of life' that is mentioned in the first chapter of the Bible is also mentioned in the last one.

[BIBLE]Revelation 22:2[/BIBLE]

Grace and peace,
Mark

 

[keyarch]

Hi,

Has anyone ever been as intrigued as me over the "tree of Life"? I find it facinating what Genesis 3 says about it, it does not say much, but what it does say is awesome.

For instance, the tree of life's fruit had some kind of life sustaining substance, that when comsumed, would give you perfect health.

My thoughts are in how it relates to the question of ‘Death before sin’ and the ‘Curse’. And, is it dealing with the spiritual or physical life?

Did the other tree “knowledge of good and evil” deal with the only the spiritual (since they did not physically die for hundreds of years after) or just mean that they wouldn’t physically live forever if they ate from it?

If we were designed to live forever physically, then what purpose would the tree of life have if not an antidote for eating from the bad tree? Yet it must not be an antidote if once needed it was blocked from our access. So I have to conclude that we weren’t designed to live forever physically unless we ate from the tree of life. So if there hadn’t been the sin, and the world was populated, each one would have to make a pilgrimage to the Garden of Eden to partake of the tree of life at some point in their life to be able to live forever physically.

Personally, I have a hard time imagining that the world would be populated to its fullest and all those people living forever. Something would need to happen to replenish the resources. Also, that many people living without anyone ever eating from the bad tree doesn’t seem to be reality, and so the whole thing with the trees seems to be a setup for failure.

So my conclusion is that we were not designed to physically live forever apart from having to do something external so secure it. Which leads me to believe that the whole creation had a built-in lifespan and hence the need for reproduction. So in other words, I allow the possibility for there to be physical death before the “Curse”. In my view, the “Curse” was directed at specific persons (Satan and the woman) and things (the ground) and not everything in the universe. Therefore, I think that the animal kingdom was designed with defense and attack systems like we see today and that they weren’t some stored genetic features that expressed themselves after the curse or any other such morphology. I further believe that because Scripture doesn’t mention what creatures of the sea were to eat and they also weren’t destroyed by the judgment of the flood, which implies that they would have the same kind of food as they do today. This means that God designed fish to eat other fish etc. and in His view that was perfectly pleasing and the way this earth was intended to work.

Excuse me for the scattered thoughts, but I don’t really have the time to organize them any better right now, but I wanted to respond to your post.

 

[jabechler]

Hi,
Has anyone ever been as intrigued as me over the "tree of Life"? I find it facinating what Genesis 3 says about it, it does not say much, but what it does say is awesome.
For instance, the tree of life's fruit had some kind of life sustaining substance, that when comsumed, would give you perfect health.
Genesis 3:22
Then the LORD God said, "behold the man has become like one fo us in knowing good and evil, now lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever...Therefore the Lord sent him out of the Garden.

does anyone have any thoughts on this passage?
I think it is a great testimony to how serious sin is, even with a tree that could sustain life after the fall, God sent Adam out of the Garden because the pentalty of sin is death.
I think its also Great mercy of God too, for now since man kind was spiritualy dead and seperated from God, even though by eating of the tree one could physicaly live forever, it would be an empty life without a redeemer who could bridge the gap of sin's seperation from God.
I also think that it is a great comparison to Christ, our life giving tree. For any who partake in Him, will have ever lasting life.
Many other things we can draw from this, so it would be cool to hear from anyone, this is not a familer verse to most, so hopefully you guys got some good insight, look forward to hearing from you all.

Great post, I believe this same view. To add to this it would surmise that we were not created with an inate immortality and that since we are not God He must sustain us through other means, such as the tree of life. Hence the gift of God is eternal life to those that believe.

 

[ChetSinger]

Hi,
Has anyone ever been as intrigued as me over the "tree of Life"? I find it facinating what Genesis 3 says about it, it does not say much, but what it does say is awesome.
For instance, the tree of life's fruit had some kind of life sustaining substance, that when comsumed, would give you perfect health.
Genesis 3:22
Then the LORD God said, "behold the man has become like one fo us in knowing good and evil, now lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever...Therefore the Lord sent him out of the Garden.

does anyone have any thoughts on this passage?

I find that a fascinating passage too. It implies to me that if Adam ate from the tree after sinning, he might live forever in a sinful state. And that possibility was so abhorrent to God that he cut off access to it.

I've heard the idea that before the fall, Adam perhaps had a contingent immortality, based on his continued eating from the tree of life. That the tree had rejuvination and repair qualities, and that's why it was there in the first place, so that Adam and Eve could live forever in the garden. In that scenario, the animals weren't originally immortal, since the tree wasn't included in their diet.

After they sinned, they were cut off from the tree. Without it's medicinal properties, they began to age, and eventual death was certain.

It's just an idea I heard, but one that I've begun to consider.