The Tree of Life
and
The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil
By Bob Cope
You know, it is amazing what you can learn, about the Word of Elohim, once you get away from the three-ring circus act of religion, let a few years go by to purge your mind of the reckless traditional teaching rubber-stamped upon it by the church system, study diligently, and allow the Spirit of God to use the Word of Elohim to enlighten you.
Traditional teaching takes so many simple concepts, warps and twists them and makes them appear to be so complicated that it seems to require a theologian to understand them. But the truth is, the theologian only appears to understand; he knows nothing as he ought.
Jeff Priddy, in an article he recently wrote titled, The Necessity of Sin Chapter Six, stated: "As for me, I have decided that "theologian" is a secret name for "unbeliever."
I couldn't agree with him more. So let's leave the theologians to their moldy old traditional destruction, I mean, instruction, and take a fresh approach to yet another Scriptural subject that has been variously and wrongly taught.
The Tree of Life
This tree was very different from the other trees in the garden of Eden because, while it was a real tree, with natural edible leaves and natural edible fruit; the Tree of Life was mainly a symbolic tree. Here is where truth utterly demolishes tradition. Please pay close attention now as we explain Who the Tree of Life was symbolic of, and who the tree of the knowledge of good and evil represents.
The eating of The Tree of Life, according to Scripture, imparted only eonian life.
Ge 3:22 And Elohim said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:"
The word translated "for ever" is the Hebrew word "olam" It has to do with, and is limited to what we call time. Immortality infinitely excels time.
It could not make one immortal; and, as one brother put it; "it merely prolongs life until the consummation."
Anyone who knows their Bible, ought to know that there is only One who can impart immortality, and that One is Yahuweh. Know this: He resurrected His Son Yahushua. A dead body cannot resurrect itself. And He later made Yahushua immortal after his ascent to His Father. Immortality is is of course a far higher plane of life than that of mortality, and that understanding needs to be retained because it will enable you to understand that one who has life at the mortal level as Yahushua did, cannot raise itself one iota toward being immortal. That operation has to be performed by someone in possession of the power to do that. Yahushuah certainly had the power to raise the dead while a mortal, but he could not and never did give anyone immortality, including himself. His Father Yahuweh did that, and as the next verse proves, Yahushua is the sole person having immortality at the present time.
1Ti 6:16 Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.
So you see, no tree, no matter how special, can impart immortality by eating of it. That is the sole ability of Yahuweh, and none other. So the Tree of Life is just a symbol of the life giving power of Yahushua, but that power is not as high as the power to give immortality. That power belongs to the Father alone.
Yahushua the Anointed is the one Whom the Tree of Life symbolizes; just see the following:
Zec 3:8 ¶ Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou, and thy fellows that sit before thee: for they are men wondered at: for, behold, I will bring forth my servant the BRANCH.
Zec 6:12 And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the Elohim of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of Elohim:A branch is part of, and one with a tree.
Here's another thought: The Tree of Life probably was not a physically attractive tree; and there is no mention of its appearance—that it might have been pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired, that description belonged to the other tree; so, if it were rather plain—as I strongly suspect it was; well, that would certainly be in keeping with the natural physical appearance of Yahushua of Nazareth.
"For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him." (Isa 53:2)
So the Tree of Life also probably looked rather plain, and therefore was not particularly attractive to be eaten of, which probably was the reason that Adam nor Eve would not likely have eaten of it unless their lives were in danger of being lost. This tree then was a kind of medicinal tree that absolutely cured one in danger of dying.
It is clear from Scripture, that only after they had eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, were they forbidden from eating of the Tree of Life. This was so that there would not be deathless humans living from the time of their creation throughout all the eons, and growing worse every moment. Sin would still take its toll on them as it does on us. Can you imagine for example someone with an incurable, worsening, spreading, bodily disfiguring disease living with that for thousands and thousands of years? What a horrible thing to imagine!
Now, the nature of many of the medicinal plants that Elohim created is that these also function as food. So before they had sinned, the Tree of Life was unrestricted food for Adam and Eve. But one they never got around to eating. After they sinned, it could have been used as the stave off for the process of dying they just acquired; however, its appearance may still have not been very desirable to them.
Ordinarily, medicine that is perceived to be unpleasant is naturally resisted until one becomes so ill that enduring the unpleasantness of the medicine becomes more acceptable to the sufferer than the pain of the ailment.
In other words, as we implied earlier, the Tree of Life may not have been attractive at all for Adam and Eve to eat of, but they would have eaten of it after they acquired the disease which is now common to all mortals―the process of dying and eventual death. This is why Elohim had to deny them access to the Tree of Life―they had eaten of the forbidden tree.
As a brother pointed out, the Tree of Life shall again be accessible in the future, as food and medicine―for the healing of the nations.
Re 22:2 In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil
This particular tree, symbolizes worldly man. It's fruit, regardless of whatever named kind, quality, and beauty, [but perhaps the pomegranate] is symbolic of the finest works that man can render. The mightiest efforts of man, despite all of his acquired knowledge of good or evil shall always end in death.
So, right there in the garden, were the two greatest symbols of all time!
One symbolized Yahushua, while the other, worldly man.
Following the one is the way of life; while following the other ends only in death.
I strongly suspect that the Tree of Life in the Garden was a very unique Olive tree. Olive trees are rather plain looking and their fruit rather plain tasting. The olive branch with its leaves is a well known symbol of peace, and peace is what shall heal the nations.
Olive leaves are medicinal in the ordinary sense as well:
"The leaves are astringent and antiseptic. Internally, a decoction of 2 handfuls boiled in a quart of water until reduced to half a pint has been used in the Levant (that is, the countries bordering on the eastern Mediterranean Sea from Turkey to Egypt.) in obstinate fevers. Both leaves and bark have valuable febrifugal [febrifrugal adj; mitigating or removing a fever] qualities."
(Source: http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/o/olive-06.html )