Friday, March 25, 2011
Genesis 2:15-17 Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."
EDUCATION TREES
For the most special of His living creations, God planted a garden. He called it Eden. In this garden paradise God placed everything that man would need not only to live, but to fully enjoy living. We are told that Eden contained every tree that was pleasant to look at, and that produced fruit that is good to eat. Jehovah even planted an education tree. There in the middle of Eden was a tree called the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
Some would say that the reason God told man not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was because He never wanted man to know what evil was. That's possible. But, I disagree. I think the name of the tree tells us what it was there for.
Adam and Eve could learn what evil was through the simple command attached to this tree. Eating from it would be evil. It would bring death. Obeying God and not eating from this tree would be good, and their life of intimate communion with God would remain intact. They COULD learn these lessons without ever actually taking from the tree. Without ever experiencing evil for themselves. Sadly, we know what route to knowing evil they took. The human race became a race of condemned sinners because of it.
But on a hill called Calvary, God planted another "education tree." Jesus' cross. While the first tree's abuse lead to death for man, the abuse done on the second tree leads to life for all sinners.
When Jesus suffered extreme physical, mental, emotional and spiritual pain on the cross the debt for Adam and Eve's sins was paid, and for ours also.
Through the first tree, paradise was lost. Through the second, it is restored.
