12 Reaching the Tree of Life

After viewing the betrayal of Jesus Christ and thus being reminded of the day that she too betrayed God by following the advice of the serpent to eat the forbidden fruit, Eve was overwhelmed with grief. She hadn’t felt so estranged in many moons. She wouldn’t even talk to me, but I stayed close anyway.

Remembering the event of her expulsion from Eden mysteriously harbored her return.

“It looks so different to me now.” Eve said slowly and quietly as if to herself.

“What did you say? Eve, are we there; are we really in Eden?” Nothing appeared different to me. Why did I expect a bright azure blue sky sunny day? Today the sky was lavender gray and it was quiet. Even the chipmunks were hiding in the holes they burrowed into the earth.

“My friend,” said Eve pensively. “Did you notice that when He was tempted in Gethsemane, when He could have run away or in the trial when He could have defended himself, did you see that Jesus Christ was refusing to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? Did you see that when I ate from it I was thinking only of myself and how I could benefit, but when Christ was confronted with a much greater temptation to edify himself, He rejected the opportunity in order to obey God who sent Him to the tree of life. He undid me.”

“Eve, do you mean to tell me that we have been in Eden since Wednesday?”

“Yes, but it is not simply being in Eden that we wanted. We must reach the tree of life, and Jesus will take us there today.”

“Then the Lord God said,’ See, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”−

And at the East of the garden of Eden God placed the cherubim, and a sword flaming and turning to guard the way to the tree of life.”

Because of those cherubic guards and the flaming swords it has been impossible to reach the tree of life all of this time. But now watch Jesus Christ command the angels to move so He can pass through the flaming swords to reach the tree for us.

“Oh Eve! This is amazing.” I exclaimed.

“Yes amazing grace is what it is, my friend. Look! Here He comes.”

Here we were standing in Eden and on Golgotha at the same time, just as Christ was. The slashes on His skin must have been made by the turning swords as He passed through them. Eve and I watched the Cross being lifted.

Eve whispered in my ear, “Look at Him up there, naked and unashamed just as we were in Eden. Now I understand why the tree of life was being guarded all this time. Only Jesus Christ was worthy to distribute it to the people through their baptism.

Saint Paul said it best when he wrote, “Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death.” The whole big timeless and immortal body of believers together is hanging on that tree of death which is also the tree of life. Eve is there and so am I and so are you.

 God planted this tree in the middle of the garden during the creation of the world to give life abundant and eternal to His children who, like Eve, were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

“Eve,” I said breaking the silence “I think I understand now. You and I and all of these people with us are with God as you were with God in the Garden of Eden. Death has been destroyed on this day, and we are free to commune with God just as in Eden as long as we do not eat of the knowledge of good and evil again.”

“Yes,” she replied ”but you are more blessed then I ever was, because if or when you cave to the temptation to put yourself first or in any way to drift from God’s commands then you need only return to the tree in communion with Jesus and your life will be instantly restored.

Shhh today this looks like the tree of death. Let us bow our heads and pray for patience.

What an awesome awful day this is.”

Happy 1st Birthday Lilly Juliana.