The Meaning of the Tree of Life

"And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." (Genesis 2:9).

I have experienced God's miracles and I have no doubt that the story related in the book of Genesis literally happened. There really was an Adam and an Eve, a Tree of Life in the garden, and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. But this is not the point. What we need to do is get to the signification of those trees, and understand what they represent for us today.

God told Adam not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, with the words, "For on the day that you eat of it, you will surely die". But there was no such prohibition concerning the Tree of Life. If Adam had eaten from that tree, he would have lived forever and never died. Instead he and his wife ended up eating from the forbidden tree, because they listened to a voice which tempted them to doubt the goodness of God. This is Satan's tactic today with us. We neglect the LIFE God gives and end up trying to attain it by going on a path forbidden by God.

How good it would have been had Adam instead chosen to eat from the Tree of Life! God had said, "Of every tree in the garden you may freely eat..." Adam could have eaten from the Tree of Life! In doing so, he would have known God in an even greater way, and would never have died in any way! If he had eaten of the Tree of Life, he would never have been interested in the forbidden tree. But having NEGLECTED the tree of life, it was really only a matter of time before he would fall to the temptation of eating the forbidden fruit.

A lot of times we get into trouble because we focus on the forbidden thing. We fight with temptation, and lose, because we focus on the temptation. God wants us to get our eyes off the temptation, and even off the moral rules of what would be right and wrong, so we can get our eyes onto what He is wanting us to focus on. We inevitably move towards our most dominant thought.

What does the Tree of Life represent?  I believe in represents Jesus, the source of Life! Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth and the LIFE, no one comes to the Father but by Me!" (John 14:6). The gift of Jesus that is available to us represents far more than the forgiveness of sins. It represents the very life of God by which we can truly live abundantly! The whole secret then, is to focus on Jesus and not to be distracted by lesser concerns, even the concern of "is this good or is this evil?". If we learn to focus on Jesus, we will tap into the unlimited source of life, power, joy and strength that we need to be "more than conquerors" in this life.

When we truly "eat" enough of that tree, of Jesus, we will live forever. Sin in some form will always look attractive to us unless we get a new focus. I find Jesus is amazingly wonderful. He is looking for our worship, our fellowship, our attention. Along with the Father, He is the center of attention in heaven. In heaven there is nothing better than to be wrapped up in Jesus! The angels worship Him day and night, and stand in continual amazement. The only reason we don't feel like that here sometimes is because of our spiritual blindness. But however blind we may be, if in our hearts we begin to turn to the Lord, something will happen, and we will begin to change. We will come to know Him if we seek Him with all our heart.

Good change doesn't happen when we focus on ourselves. This might be a surprise to some readers. But it is true. Satan loves to get us to look to ourselves. A sure mark of a satanic religion is one that tells you to look inside yourself for the answer. There are many variations on this theme. One is the eastern meditation type thi

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