A few days ago, I got a Facebook message from a sister in Christ asking me a theological question. This is what she wrote:
“I saw an article that stated: Adam would ‘live forever,’ even in his fallen condition, if he had eaten the tree of life after his sin. God placed a sword-wielding cherub at the entrance to the garden specifically ‘to guard the way to the tree of life’ (Genesis 3:24). It seems access to the tree of life would have prolonged Adam’s physical life indefinitely, dooming him to an eternity in a cursed world. Do you agree that is why the tree was protected and what do we have to support that assumption?”
My quick response is yes, Adam would have been stuck like that, but she wanted back up for my answer. Realizing this could take some time, I asked if I could write this blog post as my reply. She agreed, so here it is!
References to the tree of life show up in the beginning, middle, and end of the Bible. It’s mentioned in Genesis, Proverbs, and Revelation.
In this post, we’ll cover the verses in Genesis.
“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.” – Genesis 2:9
God wasn’t trying to hide the tree of life. He planted it, along with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, in the middle of the garden. These trees were central to God’s plans for the first humans.
God gave the man He created free rein over the foods in the garden with one exception.
“And the LORD God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.’” – Genesis 2:16-17
It looks like God’s plan involved a test of obedience. And as you know, things didn’t turn out well. Tempted by the serpent, Eve, and then Adam, ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They blew it!
“To Adam he said, ‘Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, “You must not eat from it,” ‘Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life.’” – Genesis 3:17
One of the consequences Adam suffered was hard labor. No longer would he enjoy the abundance of Eden. From this point on, he’d have to sweat to reap a harvest.
That’s tough, but it’s not the only repercussion.
“And the LORD God said, ‘The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.’ 23So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.” – Genesis 3:22-24
The fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil worked. God announced that humanity now knew good and evil. If the fruit from that tree was effective, we would expect the tree of life to have comparable power. If the first tree gave Adam and Eve moral knowledge, the second tree would fix them in their new state of being.
To make sure they couldn’t sneak a bite, the Lord escorted the distraught couple out of the Garden. He even stationed cherubim and a fiery sword to block the way to the tree. No way to get near it!
God recognized that eating from the tree of life would confirm Adam and Eve in their sinful and mortal condition. They’d have no hope of a different future. God wanted to deliver Adam, Eve, and their succeeding generations from sin and death. Ruled by both, people can’t free themselves. The Lord didn’t want this degraded condition to be permanent, so He prevented access to the tree of life.
And so began God’s plan of working in the world to raise up the people of Israel, to whom He taught His laws and His ways. He promised them salvation which Paul describes this way:
“The gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures 3regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, 4and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.” – Romans 1:2-4
Through the cross and the resurrection, Jesus freed us from our bondage to sin and death.
“Death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come. 15But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!” – Romans 5:14-15
God’s good pleasure was for Adam to obey Him and enjoy all the blessings of Eden. When he lost them, he was in danger of being forever separated from God, and this the Lord would not tolerate. In the garden, He blocked the way to eternal life for Adam’s sake. But in the gospel, God provides free access to everlasting life for ours.
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” – Romans 6:23
We have two more blocks of Scriptures about the tree of life to consider. We’ll delve into part two next week.
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