Life: Beautiful, Satisfying, and Free for the Taking

“The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. … And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.’” -Genesis 2:9b & 16-17

We all know what happened.

The temptation came.

The fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was eaten.

The consequences fell, and the man and the woman were removed from the garden so that their hand would not stretch out and eat of the tree of life in their fallen state and therefore live eternally fallen.

But did you catch the thing that happened before? Before the temptation? Before taking of the forbidden tree?

The tree of life was freely available!
ONLY ONE TREE was prohibited.

Somehow, mentally, I have always just lumped the two trees in the middle of the garden together. Because the tree of life was off-limits after the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was experienced, I have always just unthinkingly considered that it was off-limits the whole time.

But that’s not the truth.

Part of the experience of living in the perfection of the garden, walking in the cool of the day with our Creator, was also free access to the fruit of the tree of life.

Y’all.

They knew what life full and abundant tasted like. They knew its flavor. Its texture. They knew its scent and its color. They knew what it was to reach out, pluck it from the tree, and partake. Life: abundant, free, and there for the ready consumption of those for whom it was created.

What great loss when they were cut off from it. Can you imagine? The horror of experiencing aging, sickness, and withering of the bodies no longer sustained by that life-giving tree? They did surely die. Spiritually when cut off from their Creator and physically when cut off from that tree.

What great joy, then, when Jesus presents Himself as the Way, the Truth, and the Life. In every way possible, what was lost in Genesis 3 is found in Him. Access to the Creator, restored relationship, life in all of its abundance, beauty, color, and flavor.

The beauty of the restoration that Jesus brings never ceases to take my breath away. Praise our loving Creator who not only protected us from condemning ourselves to endless life in a fallen state, but who also made a way for us to be forgiven, restored, and made fit once more for access to life abundant, free, and satisfying through Jesus!