A re-post of one I had posted a few years ago.
Do you see that the words "way" "truth" and "life" are in both verses? No?
Genesis 3:22 Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever--"
3:23 therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken.
3:24 He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.
Really think about what is said there for a few moments. Was this cherubim placed there to keep people out? Is that what this verse says? Does it say "to keep people out and away from the tree of life"?
Now that I've got you thinking a little bit about that verse, look at this one, and compare it with Genesis 3:24
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Here's another hint:
Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
4:13 And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
and:
John 17:17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
(another place you can find "truth" being represented by a sword is in the armor of God in Ephesians chapter 6)
Do you see it yet? The way to life is guarded by a flaming sword which is truth.
The way to the tree of life is guarded by a flaming sword of truth that exposes every part of us to the penetrating gaze of God. Without some way prepared God's gaze would kill us instantly because His eyes would slay us...but we have Jesus blood covering us, healing us with His wounds, just as the Israelites were protected by the blood on their doorposts on that first Passover by the blood from the wounds of the Passover lamb.
Ephesians 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
2:14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility
2:15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace,
2:16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.
2:17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near.
2:18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.
Transgression came by the partaking of the fruit of a tree (of the knowledge of good and evil) and forgiveness and restoration comes by the partaking of another fruit of another tree.
Partake of the cup of His suffering with Him, all who are His will also suffer with His suffering (although I personally think it is not to the same degree that He suffered, I don't think it would be possible for any of us to endure that degree of suffering).
1Peter 4:12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.
4:13 But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.
4:14 If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.
4:15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler.
4:16 Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.
4:17 For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?
4:18 And "If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?"
4:19 Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.
Dear Susan,
ReplyDeleteI believe that the placing of the flaming sword to bar the way to the Tree of Life was not only judgement on Adam and Eve and their descendants, but the fiery sword was also an act of God's mercy. Imagine what the world would have been like if mankind lived forever whilst in their sinful state.
We have a good idea of this during the antediluvian era, when men were allowed to live for more than nine hundred years. The state of wickedness and evil carried on unchecked, until the world became so dangerous, that God had no other choice but to send the Flood and start again, including the need to preserve the Messianic Line from Adam to Jesus Christ through Seth.
Indeed, how would thing be like now, if the likes of Adolf Hitler were to live for ever?
So true Frank, there had to be a limit on who can receive eternal life, how merciful of Him to not bar people completely but to make a way available through the cross of Christ.
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