[WMSCOG] The Tree of Life and the Passover

Revelation 22:1  Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.

This photo of Disney’s Animal Kingdom is courtesy of TripAdvisor

According to the bible there is a tree which bears twelve crops a year and it produces leaves that heals the nations. What is this tree? How can we eat from the tree? Even from the beginning God already taught us about the tree of life so that we might understand the meaning of the tree.

Genesis 3:22  And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”

According to the bible, the tree of life is a tree which gives the eternal life when we eat from it. Adam and Eve were given the opportunity to eat from the tree and live forever, but they disobeyed the commands of God and ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. They could not eat from the tree of life anymore and they could not have eternal life. Then what is the tree of life we must eat from to live forever? Is there any place with a secret garden with the tree of life planted in the middle? With the help of satellites and all the scientific tools, we now know there is no such place in this world. Then what is the tree of life? If it is meaningless to us, God would not have written this story in the bible. Everything was given to us to teach us about our salvation. Jesus let us know how we should read this book of Genesis.

Matthew 13:34  34 Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable. 35 So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet:
“I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.”

Just as Jesus spoke in parable which contains hidden message in it, the book which speaks about the creation of the world, that is, Genesis also contains hidden messages in it. It means the creation of the world itself is a huge parable. Therefore, the tree of life in the book of Genesis is also a figurative language, not a reality itself. Then how can we find the reality of the tree of life? Who came to teach us the hidden things in the creation of the world? Jesus came to “utter things hidden since the creation of the world.” Therefore, we must take a look at Jesus teaching to find the reality of the tree of life. Then according to Jesus’ teaching what should we eat to live forever?

Jn 6:53   Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.

According to Jesus’ teaching what should we eat to live forever? His flesh and his blood. Then what is the true reality of the tree of life? His flesh and blood. Just as Adam and Eve were forfeited of the tree of life (eternal life) because of their disobedience to the words of God, who said, “You must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of Godd and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die,” we too disobeyed the words of God and the eternal life was taken away from us. However, Christ came and opened the way to the tree of life again so that we can eat and live forever through his flesh and blood.

Mt 26:26  While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.” 27 Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. 28 This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

Through the Passover of the new covenant, our sins can be forgiven and we can receive eternal life back again. Just as we sinned and death came to all men (Rom 5:12) because of our disobedience to the words of God, we can receive eternal life and salvation by obeying the words of God in the Passover.

Even though the truth of Passover, the true reality of the tree of life was taken away from us, but to fulfill the prophecy Christ Ahnsahnghong appeared for the second time to give salvation to those who are waiting for him and restored the Passover for our salvation. And in the Church of God, we keep the Passover out of obedience to the words of God. Do you also want to eat from the tree of life?

Related Topics:

 

[WMSCOG] The Tree Of Life And Ten Commandments