Tree of Life

Pastor Jerry Wilhite, author

There are two trees that concern us:

• The tree of life which Christ embodies
• The tree of knowledge of good and evil which signifies death

Satan is the source of death and Christ is the source of life.

Genesis 2

9. And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

What most people do not understand is the tie between Christ and the tree of life and Satan and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

John 1

4. In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

In Him, Jesus was (and is) life, in Him was the Christ (Anointing or Spirit of God) and the tree of life had life in it.

John 15

5. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

If you abide in Him you have life. If you abide in the world you have death.

Genesis 2

15. And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

16. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:

17. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

We know Adam did not die physically so all that leaves is spiritual death. Without the spirit there is only death.

So why would God tolerate Adam’s sinning and all that happened since He could see ahead? Imagine you had four children and the first 3 were disobedient even evil, but the last one was the opposite. The last one makes it worth while to have had to deal with the first 3.

• Adam to the flood - first child
• Flood to Israel - second child
• Israel to Jesus - third child
• Jesus to present - fourth child

All who have lived through the 19^th century do not equal the number of individuals who profess to be of Christ today.

The idea was that God would have let Adam eat of the fruit of the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil when he was finally mature enough.

Example: You have a toddler who is just starting to crawl and maybe walk so you place the matches up high enough to keep them out of his/her reach and let the child that matches are a "no-no". You do not remove the matches from the house because they are useful and the day will eventually come when he/she will be mature enough to handle them.

Adam was created physically mature but mentally he was innocent, pure, and like a child.

Matthew 5

45. That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

Matthew 18

3. And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

4. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

5. And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me.

We are to be as a child, pure and innocent, and in Christ that can be achieved but not until we cast off all that is of this world.

What most do not understand is that we live in altered physical reality and that the real true reality is of the spirit. Anything of reality is permanent and will last. Name one thing of the physical that is permanent . . .

It does not matter what you may have named because if you think about it anything on this earth can be destroyed by man, by a comet hitting it or when the sun dies and goes nova and consumes the earth. Nothing of this so-called reality is forever. The only reality that counts or matters is that of the spirit.

Here are a few points to help you better understand how the world and Satan have made certain words useless or with no meaning and caused doubt.

• Doubt came about by convincing people the spirit and faith ended in the first century church.

Ephesians 2

8. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

• No faith, no salvation, who does that serve? Satan of course and that means anyone teaching faith ended is an agent of Satan not God.

John 4

24. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

• If the spirit ended that means God ended and that again is only taught by agents of Satan not God.

John 14

26. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

• We are to be taught all things by God (spirit) all things, not just those of God, but all things. But what do we usually do? We listen to mankind and then when we have problems we blame God, or say faith does not work. All along it was our fault for listening to mankind over God.

1 John 2

27. But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.

• Christ means anointing and the anointing is the Spirit of God (Luke 4:18).

The Jehovah's Witnesses teach that Jesus did not come in the flesh. Below we read any who do not believe Jesus came in the flesh are of Satan.

1 John 4

1. Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

2. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:

3. And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

The problem is we can not listen to religion, politics, media, and mankind in general or at all. We must listen to and depend on God and God only.

Hebrews 11

1. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

In this so-called reality we live in we are told that if we can not see it, then it must not be real or at least in some way know it is there, but the above verse says the opposite.

Mark 11

22. And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.

23. For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.

24. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.

25. And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.

26. But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.

We are told that to God man's wisdom is foolish. Man’s wisdom says Mark 11:23-24 can not be but God says it can be. We must have faith in God. "Faith" is "believing without doubt". That can not happen if you believe the media, religion, politics, etc. It only happens when you believe God and only God.

• Of course you have to forgive all including yourself.

• Satan also has us believing the word "good" is less than perfect, or excellent or better and best. Actually "good" is the highest we can go, not average as the world wants us to believe.

Mark 10

18. And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.

Above Jesus said no one is good except God. So the words "good" and "God" should be used in the same way - limited and only with highest regard. We should not toss it around like we do, making it mean average or less than it does.

This is the case with so many things and words; Satan has done all he can to keep the truth from us and to place doubt in us.

• Some say that if you are not baptized in water you are not saved. I have heard this one from many Baptists, but that is not what John the Baptist or even Jesus said at all.

Matthew 3

11. I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:

Jesus was baptized in water and when He emerged the Holy Spirit descended upon Him like a dove. Jesus ended John's Baptism and brought the one true baptism, that being of the Spirit. Baptism does not save; Jesus does, but we have to be baptized in the Spirit for that to count. Otherwise it is just words and nothing more. I do teach water baptism is a way to show our faith, but not if it misleads people from the truth.

Acts 1

5. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.

Jesus followed the law; He was baptized in water (search and find out which of the apostles were baptized in water. You will find that not all were, but all were baptized in the Spirit) Jesus brought us grace. He did not end the law or baptism He fulfilled them both, water baptism with baptism of the spirit, and the law with grace.

• I could go on about how many have formed idols and rituals into part of their ideology and are misleading others by the same. Some have made people dependent on them out of fear.

The goal is a relationship with God, one on one, actually hearing Him. Church we attend is where we edify and up lift each other. The one true church is what we are when God reveals to us Who His Son is as the Christ and the true Son of God.

You have to be careful of what you hear and see. This means religion, politics, media, television, etc.

Matthew 23

13. But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.

The above verse deals with the religious leaders of the day back then, but it also deals with them today as well.

1 Corinthians 1

11. For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.

12. Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul (instead of Paul insert the name of the church you attend); and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ.

13. Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?

Matthew 12

25. And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand:

Do not be divided any longer by one with God and be as a child: innocent and pure in spirit.

Here is a short study on the words innocent and pure:

Strong's Ref. # 121

Romanized athoos

Pronounced ath'-o-os

from GSN0001 (as a negative particle) and probably a derivative of GSN5087 (meaning a penalty); not guilty:

KJV--innocent.

Strong's Ref. # 2600

Romanized chinnam

Pronounced khin-nawm'

from HSN2580; gratis, i.e. devoid of cost, reason or advantage:

KJV--without a cause (cost, wages), causeless, to cost nothing, free(-ly), innocent, for nothing (nought, in vain.

Strong's Ref. # 8537

Romanized tom

Pronounced tome

from HSN8552; completeness; figuratively, prosperity; usually (morally) innocence:

KJV--full, integrity, perfect(-ion), simplicity, upright(-ly, -ness), at a venture. See HSN8550.

#Tema'. See HSN8485.

Strong's Ref. # 54

Romanized hagnotes

Pronounced hag-not'-ace

from GSN0053; cleanness (the state), i.e. (figuratively) blamelessness:

KJV--pureness.

Strong's Ref. # 53

Romanized hagnos

Pronounced hag-nos'

from the same as GSN0040; properly, clean, i.e. (figuratively) innocent, modest, perfect:

KJV--chaste, clean, pure.

I Peter 2

2. As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:

2.

|5613| like

|0738| newborn

|1025| babies,

|3588| the

|4152| spiritual

|0097| pure

|1051| milk

|1971| desire,

|3754| that

|1722| by

|0846| it

|0837| you may grow

|1519| for

|4991| salvation,

Strong's Ref. # 97

Romanized adolos

Pronounced ad'-ol-os

from GSN0001 (as a negative particle}; and GSN1388; undeceitful, i.e. (figuratively) unadulterated:

KJV--sincere.

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