Tree of life

What is the significance of this verse?

Genesis 3:22 "And the Lord God said, "Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil, and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever. Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life."

My question is why they were driven out so as not to partake of the tree of life which, according to the scriptures, would cause them to live forever in their present state?

Originally posted by whodey
What is the significance of this verse?

Genesis 3:22 "And the Lord God said, "Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil, and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever. Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he d ...[text shortened]... which, according to the scriptures, would cause them to live forever in their present state?

It would have been like a bunch of "Frankensteins" living forever....and they could not then be redeemed. Satan would have won, and also lived forever.

Originally posted by whodey
What is the significance of this verse?

Genesis 3:22 "And the Lord God said, "Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil, and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever. Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he d which, according to the scriptures, would cause them to live forever in their present state?

Just yesterday I was discussing this specific verse with some one from Jahova witnesses. He told me that he believe that Adam was created to live for ever. And I gave hims this verse as a prove that his idea is not correct. And of course he gave another explaination for it which I didn't understand.

For me, this verse implies that Adam was not created to live forever. He was not immortal. And the tree of life was the way for him to be immortal. But because he didn't eat from it, he is not immortal, and he dies like every other creature.

Also this implies the eating from the other tree (the tree of knowledge of good and evil) has nothing to do with Adam's immortality.


The other point, is why GOD prevented them from eating from the tree, you have to answer this:

As the scripture say , GOD was afraid that if Adam ate from the tree of life that he would be imortal and became like GOD which GOD refused to happen. If this is true then the question is: Does GOD fear anything? Is there anything could surprise GOD?(Because it appears to me that GOD was surprised with what adam did? Does GOD need to "Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way" to keep the way of the tree of life from one of his creatures?


Regards

Originally posted by ahosyney
For me, this verse implies that Adam was not created to live forever. He was not immortal. And the tree of life was the way for him to be immortal. But because he didn't eat from it, he is not immortal, and he dies like every other creature.

Also this implies the eating from the other tree (the tree of knowledge of good and evil) has nothing to do with Ada d every way" to keep the way of the tree of life from one of his creatures?[/b]


Regards[/b]

But who said that Adam did not partake of the tree before the fall? In fact, God told him that EVERY tree in the garden was OK to eat EXCEPT the fruit of the tree of good and evil not the tree of life. It seems to me the urgency was to get him out of the garden after he had fallen now that the tree of life was now off limits.

I don't think you can say that God fears anything. However, he knows enough to prevent his entire creation from completly destroying themselves.

Originally posted by checkbaiter
It would have been like a bunch of "Frankensteins" living forever....and they could not then be redeemed. Satan would have won, and also lived forever.

This is my view as well.

Originally posted by whodey
What is the significance of this verse?

Genesis 3:22 "And the Lord God said, "Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil, and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever. Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he d ...[text shortened]... which, according to the scriptures, would cause them to live forever in their present state?

This is an allegorical tale about everyone's story.

Originally posted by kirksey957
This is an allegorical tale about everyone's story.

Sometimes I feel like it's an allegory of dating and marriage.

You spend time with the lady, both of you on your best behavior, swimming in the goodness that each of you demonstrates toward the other, and then you decide to get married.

You bite the apple, and tie the knot.

Suddenly, you realized that the being you considered your perfect mate is in fact a real person with real issues, real shame, and really bad breath in the morning.

Instead of having the relationship coast along on the easy tide of romance and infatuation, you have to make it work now, and that by the sweat of your brow. There's no going back to the blissful ignorance of your dating days. The effort and pain of a solidly working marriage relationship is greatly multiplied from that of a dating relationship.

The work does pay off, though. 😵

Originally posted by blakbuzzrd
Sometimes I feel like it's an allegory of dating and marriage.

You spend time with the lady, both of you on your best behavior, swimming in the goodness that each of you demonstrates toward the other, and then you decide to get married.

You bite the apple, and tie the knot.

Suddenly, you realized that the being you considered your perfect mate ...[text shortened]... is greatly multiplied from that of a dating relationship.

The work does pay off, though. 😵

See we can argue all day about a literal Adam and Eve, but you demonstrated very eloquently that we are all in that story.

Originally posted by kirksey957
This is an allegorical tale about everyone's story.

Why must this be so?

Originally posted by whodey
What is the significance of this verse?

Genesis 3:22 "And the Lord God said, "Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil, and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever. Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he d which, according to the scriptures, would cause them to live forever in their present state?

The tree of life represents more that simply an everlasting life. It representing taking in God Himself as the divine life. That is taking the uncreated and divine Person into the created person. That is taking God Himself as life into our human created life.

Man had no reason to die other than eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. At least we are not told that God warned him that his failure to eat of the tree of life would result in his death.

By consideration of the whole rest of Scripture, especially the New Testament, it should be clear that God made man to be a vessel that God Himself might live in. The tree of life represented this plan of God to mingle Himself into man's created life. Of course that does also mean an eternal life.

But Adam was created neutral and with an everlasting life. He was warned that eating of the tree of the knowlege of good and evil would result in his dying,

He was not told that failing to take in the tree of life would result in his dying.

Man was created good and everlasting, but NEUTRAL. He was put in a NEUTRAL position between two sources of existence.

1.) He could unite himself with a creature who had made himself independent from God.

2.) He could unite himself with God Himself to be his indwelling divine life.

Adam could not have both. The two choices were mutually exclusuve. And taking one would cut him off from the other.

It is only the salvation of Christ developed further along in the Bible that could bring Adam's race BACK to the tree of life. It is totally clear to me that today that tree of life is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

Jesus Christ today is the reality of the tree of life.

Originally posted by checkbaiter
It would have been like a bunch of "Frankensteins" living forever....and they could not then be redeemed. Satan would have won, and also lived forever.

Exactly. The Satanified man would have also continued forever.

God is in Christ for us to choose to live in Him, through Him, and unto Him. That is to receive Him into our life to be united with Him so intimately.

The other choice (on this side of Eden) is that we continue to live by something of which we are extremly proud - the knowledge of good and evil

One tree - the tree of life is a path of dependence on the uncreated Life of God.

The other tree the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is a path of Satan to be independent from God.

The tree of life is God's way. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil is the OTHER way. That is really all one has to realize. There is God's way and there is the other way.

We should take God's way, period.

The other way may look good. It may seem to useful to make one wise. But it is the way of rebellion and independence from God.


Don't grumble or be upset. Every form of life is DEPENDENT. Every life is dependent. Only God Himself is eternally self existing and ever existing. All other created lives are dependent. God is the uncreated life.


Today, the tree of life is Jesus Christ. You must realize this. Today the tree of life is Jesus Christ:


"I am the way the truth and THE LIFE ..."

"I am the resurrection and THE LIFE ..."

"In Him was LIFE and the LIFE was the light of men"

"I am the bread of LIFE"

"I have come that they might have LIFE ..."

Today. Right now at this very moment ... the TREE OF LIFE is Jesus Christ.

the point is that it is the tree of knowledge. Adam was alive with god and god is not the god of the dead but life!! With the knowledge came death satans war with god was to temp by deception what god created. That is why you cannot lie in the second life only bear faulse witness.

Originally posted by whodey
Why must this be so?

To say it is a "myth" or an "allegorical tale" in no way diminishes its value. Myths are universal in nature and the story has more meaning and power if I find myself in it.

Originally posted by stoker
the point is that it is the tree of knowledge. Adam was alive with god and god is not the god of the dead but life!! With the knowledge came death satans war with god was to temp by deception what god created. That is why you cannot lie in the second life only bear faulse witness.

I read a couple times your post and am still thinking about it. I am not sure I get what you mean totally.


Behind the creation of the universe there is an Life. This Life is also behind the creation of all life. Life was derived from life.

All created life had its origin in an uncreated Life that always was and always will be. The uncreated life is the Triune God - the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit. That is not only an uncreated life which had no beginning and has no end. That is also a divine life which is without limitation.

This uncreated life is the source of all created life. The Triune God is the Uncreated and Divine Eternal Life - an uncreated and eternal Person. His life is without limit and impossible for us to fully comprehend.

Though we cannot fully comprehend the unlimited and uncreated life of God we as human beings were created to receive this divine Person into our own beings. God made man in His own image in order to come into man - the Uncreated Life to mingle and unite with the created life.

This mingling and this union looks like Someone in human history. It looks like the God-man Jesus Christ. In Jesus Christ the finite man and the infinite God co-mingle as one. Christ is the created life united and blended with the Uncreated Divine Life which is the eternal life.

What then was the significance of the tree of life? The tree of life represented God to man as food. Food is taken into one's insides. One eats food and assimilates food into oneself.

This tree of life was a symbolic tree which if Adam would partke of it he would take God into himself. God would fulfill His plan then to dispense His uncreated life into the created life.

But what happened?

Instead of man becomming "divinized" man took of the opposing force. Man took in the forbidden tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And as a result man became Satanified. Man became organically united to Satan.

Adam's taking of the wrong tree did not just make him a transgressor. It made him polluted with a foriegn element. Man's being became polluted with the Satanic element.

This is like a child whom his parent warns not to drink of a certain bottle of poison. If the child disobeys he has two problems. First the child has transgressed the command of his parent. That needs forgiveness. But secondly the child has received poison into his system. This requires that the poison that has internally entered into the child needs to be extracted.

Simply put. Man was created neutral between Satan and God. He was to choose God. He chose Satan and was Satanified instead of Godified.

We know what the Satanifed man looks like. The Godified man looks like the Savior and Lord Jesus Christ.

In other words Jesus Christ is what God intended by the creation of man. He is normal. Christ is the Lord and Savior. But Christ also represents normality.

God intends to fill His creation with the mass producing of His Son Christ in the form of many sons of God - Godified men and women. That is deified humanity to bring man back to the tree of life.

These words are trustworty.