Trees of Eden - Trees - Genesis 2, Revelation 22

0:00Life hands us hurt we never asked for, leaving us anxious and secure and stuck. But what if your healing is not only possible, but could actually bring healing to those around you? In her new book, Collide, Willow Weston invites you to start bravely stepping into the places you've avoided because Jesus meets us in our mess. If your past is still haunting your present, if being in self-protective mode is hurting you more than protecting you, if you're longing for wholeness, discover healing with Collide, available now at Amazon.com. Purposely Your life, God's purpose. Listen at Purposely.com Hey, this is Jen. You're listening to the Bible for busy people. And my husband and I have a long-running joke about the difference between the movies we saw growing up. It was a very wide range. I grew up in a household that was pretty conservative in terms of the entertainment that we were allowed to see. And there was a lot that we weren't allowed to see. Although I did sneakily convince my babysitters to let me watch Power Rangers, so you know I was a rebel.

1:05My husband had a very different experience. He watched movies that were entertaining then, but now when he revisits them, he's kind of shocked by the content. Come to think of it, there are some movies that I can look back on now and think, oh, there was definitely more there than I thought there was. Thankfully, some things seemed to miss us when we were young, but some knowledge wasn't meant for us too soon. God is generous in giving us wisdom, but we don't need all that knowledge all at once. This week, we are talking about trees on the podcast. And today we're starting back at the beginning. We're starting with Creation and the Garden of Eden. We're reading first in Genesis 1 verse 11, which says, then God said, Let the land produce vegetation, seed bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it according to their various kinds. And it was so. The land produced vegetation, plants bearing seed according to their trees, and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good, and there was evening and there was morning the third day. Now skipping ahead to Genesis 2, in verse 8 it says,

2:08Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden, and there he put the man he had formed. The Lord God had made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground, trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food, in the middle of the garden where the tree of life, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Skipping down to verse 15, it says, And the Lord God commanded the man, You are free to eat from any tree in the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. For when you eat from it, you will certainly die. I think if you read the Bible a number of times, you probably know the story that's coming, but I want to focus a minute on this. God provides for the people through the trees. They are fed and nourished through no work of their own, by the way. It's all fruit all the time. All they have to do is reach out. This is really symbolic of how God provides for us spiritually, providing what we need and leaving it open for us to receive the fruit of the spirit. Love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness,

3:12and self-control. It's not our work that produces this fruit. I'm thinking of Acts 17 verse 27, which says God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. This is God's foresight and care for us. He's not just leaving us to figure it out. I love that God is the one to do the work to produce these things. What we do is we make ourselves available. We show up. We do what God puts on our hearts to do and God produces incredible fruit in our lives. Also, just kind of on a fun, wondering note, I wonder what kinds of different trees were in that garden. What they looked like, what kind of fruit they produced. I bet there were so many different kinds of fruits. So many that you could never just get sick of a single fruit. There was a creative array. I'm sure something to meet every craving. And then in the middle, there were also two trees that were set apart, the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. From what I understand in the scriptures,

4:13the only tree that they could not eat from was from the tree of knowledge. So the tree of life was fair game. You know the story or you can go back and read it in Genesis chapter three. But the snake used a few lies that nudged Eve toward eating the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the forbidden tree. She ate and then she passed them on to Adam and he ate. The eyes of both were open. They realized they were naked and they hid from God. Consequences came from this, including having to work to take care of themselves and for issues of power systems and control between men and women. The problem here was one of trust. They listened to God and they didn't go for the fruit in the tree until the snake made Eve question God's goodness. What if he was holding out on them? What if they could have all the information for themselves? What if they were like God in power? Then there's that other wondering question of why was the tree even there? And that's a whole theological debate in itself. From my own understanding, I think it was to give people the full opportunity for free will.

5:15It was a choice not only to obey but to trust God and even though they disobeyed God continued to watch out for them and provide for them. They were, however, banished from the garden which meant that they could no longer partake in the fruit from the tree of life either. I've heard it explained that the tree of knowledge of good and evil led to knowledge God wanted to provide in the right timing. God wasn't being stingy. It makes sense that there were things that weren't for us to know and the grand scheme of things. I think about that with the movies that we watched growing up like I shared earlier. I think about it with my own kids. How we're pretty restrictive about what we allowed them to watch. Especially movies that have adult themes because they're just not ready to know everything yet. We discuss issues at an age-appropriate level and I also talked to my husband about it recently how the access to knowing nearly anything at the tap of a finger maybe with your phone doesn't necessarily lead to goodness for us. Now again like we mentioned Adam and Eve had to leave the garden of Eden. Chapter three in Genesis explains kind of what happens. It says in verse 21,

6:15the Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. God's still provided for them even after all of that. 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. So the Lord God banished them from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. Here's something amazing. This tree of life comes back in Revelation 22. It says, 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 down the middle of the great street of the city. There you get imagery of all three of the Trinity. God, the divine parent, the Lamb who is Jesus and the water of life living water at the Holy Spirit. It says on each side of the river stood the tree of life bearing 12 crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse, the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city

7:18and his servants will serve him. The tree comes back as a symbol of eternal life indicating that there will be life and healing for all of us in those days. God has our best in mind and wants to provide what we need to be well. Do we trust Him? And do we continue to try to pull from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil today? I'll leave you with that question and let's talk again tomorrow. If you're listening to this podcast, I'm gonna assume two things about you. First of all, that you're a busy person and second that you are in need of a restful break. Canon Beach Conference Center is the place for a beautiful coastal retreat. Whether it's one of their enriching conferences or your own church or ministry event, you can find out more at 800-745-1546 or visit cbcc.net. Thank you to Canon Beach Conference Center for sponsoring the Bible for Busy People. Thank you for listening to The Bible for Busy People. If you need prayer or wanna go deeper near faith,

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