DAY 171
Read Revelation 22

In the beginning, according to the book of Genesis, there was a beautiful place, where, among all the varieties of vegetation, there were two trees. One was the tree of life, whose fruit, when consumed, would confer eternal life. The other was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Contrary to the assumption of many casual readers, it was not the tree of life whose fruit Adam and Eve ate, but rather the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And for that disobedience, the first human pair was expelled from the garden. Thus begins the story of the human race. It begins with rebellion, with a wrong choice, and with the far-reaching consequences of that disobedience.

Why didn't Adam and Eve eat of the tree of life? Apparently there was no injunction put upon them to keep them from enjoying the fruit of that tree. And what a delight they would have experienced in eating that fruit, for it was the food of eternal life.

When Adam and Eve were expelled, God stationed a cherubim with a flaming sword to guard the tree of life. In all the ensuing centuries, the people of God longed to be given the right to eat of that tree, and thereby claim immortality. Perhaps it was to answer this longing that Peter said of Jesus, "His own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness" (1 Peter 2:24, KJV). Could that be the "tree of life"?

Except for a symbolic reference in the book of Ezekiel (Ezekiel 47:12) we do not hear again about the tree of life until the book of Revelation, in which the Spirit of Christ says to the congregation at Ephesus, "To everyone who conquers, I will give permission to eat from the tree of life that is in the paradise of God" (Revelation 2:7). Then, finally, in the last chapter of Revelation the tree is shown as fully accessible. It has different fruits every month, and its leaves are for the healing of the nations. That tree yields whatever "fruit" is needed to meet any need bountifully, and all people, of every nation, may find healing in it.

So the whole story of the Bible, indeed the entire saga of human life, is really the account of a tree being lost, then found again. And in the restoration of that tree to the center of the lives of God's children, there is depicted the second chance the Creator gives the human family.

It is also the story of two trees, one that represents disobedience to God and that yields sorrow, and the other tree, which represents compliance with the holy will and which yields joy. Which do you choose?