OVERVIEW OF THE WHOLE BIBLE
(FROM GENESIS TO REVELATION)
Message Six
Tree of Life
I. In Genesis God’s placing man in front of the tree of life indicates that God wanted man to receive Him by eating Him.
Gen. 2:8-9 And Jehovah God planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there He put the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground Jehovah God caused to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, as well as the tree of life in the middle of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Gen. 2:16-17 And Jehovah God commanded the man, saying, of every tree of the garden you may eat freely, But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, of it you shall not eat; for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.
Gen. 3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make oneself wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband with her, and he ate.
II. In Genesis 3 the tree of life was closed to man because of his fall.
Gen. 3:23-24 Therefore Jehovah God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to work the ground from which he was taken. So He drove the man out, and at the east of the garden of Eden He placed the cherubim and a flaming sword which turned in every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.
III. In Deuteronomy God wants us to choose life.
Deut. 30:19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today: I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse; therefore choose life that you and your seed may live.
Deut. 30:20a In loving Jehovah your God by listening to His voice and holding fast to Him; for He is your life and the length of your days.
IV. In Psalms God Himself is the source of life.
Psa. 36:9 For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light.
V. In John the enjoyment of Christ as the tree of life is the believers’ common portion.
John 6:35 Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me shall by no means hunger, and he who believes into Me shall by no means ever thirst.
John 6:57 As the living Father has sent Me and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me.
VI. John also reveals that since Christ is a vine tree and is also life, He is the tree of life.
John 15:1 I am the true vine, and My Father is the husbandman.
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, I am the way and the reality and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.
VII. Hebrews reveals that the way of tree of life was opened to the believers through the redemption of Christ.
Heb. 10:19-20 Having therefore, brothers, boldness for entering the Holy of Holies in the blood of Jesus, Which entrance He initiated for us as a new and living way through the veil, that is, His flesh.
VIII. Revelation shows us that in the millennial kingdom the enjoyment of Christ as the tree of life will be a dispensational reward to the overcoming believers.
Rev. 2:7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, to him I will give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God.
IX. In Revelation 21 through 22 the tree of life consummates in the New Jerusalem; eventually, the enjoyment of Christ as the tree of life will be the eternal portion of all God’s redeemed.
Rev. 21:2 And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
Rev. 22:14 Blessed are those who wash their robes that they may have right to the tree of life and may enter by the gates into the city.