The Tree of Life

Of the new hymns written in recent years, one of my favorites is “The Tree of Life.” I like the melody; even more, I like what it says. This hymn shows how the entire Bible is united as one message from God. It references Genesis, the Gospels and Revelation, tying together the first book of the Bible, the heart and center of Scripture, and the concluding book of promise. So I’d like to take you through this hymn, and help you understand what it teaches about sin and salvation.

Verse one takes us back to the time when our world was perfect and at peace. God planted a garden in the land of Eden; Genesis chapter two describes it this way: God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground--trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. But among all the trees of this orchard, two were unique and deserve special mention: In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

The tree of life. According to Genesis chapter three, eating from it gave eternal life. When God created Adam and Eve, it was His intention that they live forever. But they had to eat from the tree of life. Only the fruit of this special tree could guarantee that death would never come, and God invited Adam and Eve to make use of it—you are free to eat from any tree in the garden.

But there was another special tree in the orchard—one that was very dangerous. God warned, you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die. At this point, Adam and Eve understood goodness—goodness is loving God and embracing His priorities without hesitation. But they didn’t understand evilness—selfish desires and rebellion against God’s authority. This second tree was a moral test; it allowed Adam and Eve to prove their devotion to God by honoring His command.

Verse two of the hymn introduces Satan. The devil hates God because he wanted to rule in heaven and was cast out for his rebellion. Unable to win a direct confrontation with the Almighty, Satan decides to strike at God indirectly by corrupting God’s beloved humans. He sets out to beguile the woman; to beguile someone is to enchant them with an attractive falsehood. Speaking through a serpent, the devil contradicts what God had said. You will not surely die…For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. Sadly, the lie has its intended effect—When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

The fruit of that forbidden tree poisoned humanity’s relationship with God. Before eating, Adam and Eve loved being with their Lord. But after they rebelled against His authority, things were much different: Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD. Gone was their love and trust; now they were afraid of God.

The Lord would not allow the young couple to hide. Calling them out into the open, He demanded an explanation for their actions. But rather than take responsibility for what they did and beg for mercy, the two of them offered excuses instead: The man said, "The woman you put here with me--she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it"…The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate." In their rush to avoid punishment, both Adam and Eve tried to blame someone else for their failures. This proves just how far they had fallen—it never even crossed their minds that God might forgive them if they appealed to His loving mercy.

In response to all this, God pronounced a curse—you [will] return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return. The result of rebellion was death—not just death for the first couple, but death for all their descendants as well. In Romans chapter five Paul writes, sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned. God enforced this death sentence by denying access to the tree of life; God banished him from the Garden of Eden…After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life. Without access to the tree of life, all have been doomed to eventually die.

Adam and Eve were wrong—wrong to disobey God, wrong to have no faith in His love. But as verse three says, God still loved humanity in spite of sin. When speaking to Satan, God pronounced a curse on him that also showed His love for us: I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel. Eventually, the Gospels would make clear what God meant with these words. A child descended from Eve would crush the power of the devil, although not before Satan caused him great injury. That descendant was Jesus, child of Mary and Son of God.

Jesus came to address our greatest need. Sin is a part of our makeup, and it complete alters our understanding of reality. At the beginning of time, Adam and Eve knew how God thought; that ability was lost when they exchanged love of God for fear of God. Now, because of sin, we think of God as an enemy, if we think of Him at all. Paul writes, the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so (Romans 8:7). And the result? You were dead in your transgressions and sins (Ephesians 2:1). Being alienated from God results in death. Our greatest need, then, is to be freed from sin.

God is just; when the law is broken, punishment must follow. Sometimes the Bible describes God’s punishment in terms of drinking bitter wine from a cup. This is the image used in Psalm 75: In the hand of the LORD is a cup full of foaming wine mixed with spices; he pours it out, and all the wicked of the earth drink it down to its very dregs. In Revelation chapter 14, listen to the curse pronounced on those who follow Satan: If anyone worships the beast…he, too, will drink of the wine of God's fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath.

Jesus came to spare us from this bitter cup. He came to drink the cup of suffering in our place. The cup of God’s wrath is a terrible, awful thing. Our sins had filled that cup with so much suffering that even the Son of God hesitated to drink it. Remember what happened in the Garden of Gethsemane? He…knelt down and prayed, "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done." An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground (Luke 22:42-44).

When He suffered for our sins, Jesus accepted God’s curse in our place. Galatians chapter three says, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree." This is in reference to a law God gave back in Deuteronomy chapter 21: If a man guilty of a capital offense is put to death and his body is hung on a tree, you must not leave his body on the tree overnight. Be sure to bury him that same day, because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God's curse.

The Son of God was holy and sinless, yet He was hung on a tree to die, cursed by God for our sins. The apostles often referred to the cross as a tree of execution. In acts chapter five Peter told the Jews, The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead--whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel. Years later Peter wrote, He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.

As odd as it sounds, Jesus considered this tree a place of hope and triumph. On one occasion He said, Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die (John 12:31-33). Another time He had this to say: the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life (John 3:14-15). All this was predicted in the Old Testament, when God the Father spoke these words through Isaiah (chapter 52): my servant will act wisely; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. Because He was raised on the cross, God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow (Philippians 2:9-10).

Because of Jesus’ suffering and death, He has provided a new tree of life to replace the one lost to us by sin. The new tree of life is the cross on which He died. This is the theme of verse four. Because Jesus endured the punishment for our sins, He has the right to forgive everyone who comes to Him begging for mercy. Jesus reconciles us to God, and as a result eternal life is available to us once more. Our Lord promised, he who believes has everlasting life (John 6:47). Even though we still die, that death is only a temporary matter; Paul writes Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive (1 Corinthians 15:20-22).

The tree of life also figures in Revelation’s picture of heaven. In chapter 22 John writes, 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…On each side of the river stood the tree of life…yielding its fruit every month. In paradise eternal life will be freely available, just as God always intended. But only certain people will have access: Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life. Eternal life in paradise is only for those who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb (Revelation 7:14). That washing happens when we tell Jesus that we are miserable sinners and trust in His loving mercy. The new tree of life, the cross, was stained with Jesus’ blood, but it is by that blood that we are purified and receive the gift of life that will never end.