Gtcotr/ws120920
People
don’t naturally like to be told what to do. And they like it even less when
they feel like they are being made to do something they did not choose.
It’s not just human nature, it seems to be the nature of all life. We even see it in the animal kingdom. Perhaps we all like to have a say, choose for ourselves, and make our own decisions. Animals, humans, and even angels have been given the right of choice. Everyone has a choice.
Deuteronomy 30:19 “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live.”
God created us with the power to choose and He also encourages us to choose life.
I suppose we would not like it very much if God made us get saved … and if God did save us by force or took away our power of choice, we would most likely resent it and further harden our hearts towards Him. It is a good thing for a parent to teach and instruct and correct and encourage, but there comes a time when we should become responsible for our own decisions and also responsible to deal with the consequences of those decisions. God, and every parent, just hopes and prays we make the right decision.
Nowhere in the Bible confirms this truth more than we see in the account of the original sin in the Garden of Eden. For just a moment, let’s take the serpent completely out of the picture and put the focus on the people who were ultimately responsible for their own decisions.
Genesis 2
8 ¶ The LORD God planted a
garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed.
9 And out of the ground the LORD God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
15 Then the LORD God took the
man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.
16 ¶ And the LORD God
commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat;
17 “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.”
We can clearly establish man in the Garden of Eden instructed to freely eat of every tree in the Garden except one. The two trees mentioned, the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, were both in the garden. Only one produced the forbidden fruit.
It seems when God created both angels and men, He gave to them at least one of His own qualities … the right to choose. We learn from the scriptures that one third of the angels chose to join the angel Lucifer in his rebellion against God perhaps feeling as if God’s ways were too restrictive. It seems like the fallen angels whom we recognize in the scriptures as evil demons and the rulers of the darkness of this world, enjoy lying and deceiving and causing fear and chaos, delivering pain and disease, bringing out the worst in the carnal nature of man, championing evil and depravity, separating families, persecuting the innocent and making sport of every good and decent human.
The Bible teaches there is no redemption for the devil and his angels. However, there is redemption offered by God to man. In the Garden of Eden there were two trees mentioned by name. Two choices in the Garden of Eden … the same two choices each person has faced ever since.
What I don’t understand is “Why would anyone not want to eat of the Tree of Life and live forever?” Let’s continue with the account in the Garden after Adam and Eve made their decisions to sin. Remember:
Sin Separates
1. Man from Man
a. Before sin Adam and Eve were naked and
unashamed
b. After sin Adam and Eve made aprons and hid
themselves from one another.
c. Sin destroyed the intimacy God intended
between man and man
2. Man from God
a. Adam and Eve hid from God in the Garden of
Eden
b. Adam even blamed God … “the woman ‘You’ gave
me!”
Sin separates … man from man; man from God; and number 3:
Genesis 3
22 ¶ Then the LORD God said,
“Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now,
lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live
forever” —
23 therefore the LORD God
sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken.
24 So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.
3. Man from the Blessings of God in
this Life and the Next
a. God put man out of the Garden of Eden
b. Man was separated from eternity and
c. Man was separated from the blessings of God in this life
I don’t know how long Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden before they chose to disobey God, nor do I know how long they remained in the Garden after they sinned. Long enough evidently to make aprons and hide from God plus whatever time there was between God speaking with them and then speaking with His heavenly council. What I do know is that the Tree of Life was right there in the garden with them both before and after they sinned. Why didn’t they choose to partake of the Tree of Life?
I don’t know that any more than I know why people today walk around in their sin and separation from one another, from God, and from the blessings God wants for them in this life and in the life to come and never reach out to Jesus who is right there beside them every step of the way.
Partaking of the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden was a physical natural act. Partaking of the Tree of Life today is a spiritual supernatural act which produces the very same results. Jesus is our Tree of Life!
When Jesus gave His life on the Cross of Calvary, was buried in the Garden Tomb, and rose again on the 3rd day victorious over sin, death, hell, and the grave, God restored man’s access to the Tree of Life … It’s Jesus!
Jesus said if anyone would come to Him, He would accept them, forgive them, and give them eternal life. Every person has access to the Tree of Life today. All who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
The Tree of Life is not only with us to give us eternal life, but Jesus also wants to save us from the hell of this life. If you have been born-again and have received eternal life through Christ, you have continual access to the Tree of Life for every situation you face. The devil is still in the earth, and his demons are doing their very best to destroy every good and decent person. They like to make sport of you and Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil in your life. You can call on the name of Jesus today!
There are still two choices in this life just like there were in the Garden of Eden. If you think Adam and Eve were stupid … what do you think about yourself? Which tree do you run to and which fruit to you choose?
Don’t allow that lying sneaky serpent to separate you from others, from the joy of fellowshipping with God, or from the blessings God intends you to enjoy in this life … call on Jesus for help and choose to simply obey His Word. Don’t allow yourselves to be deceived into believing that disobeying God’s Word is ok … it is not!
God
knows you don’t like to be told what to do so He has given you a choice! Choose
life!
