The Tree of Life

George brought a message Sunday about the Tree of Life.

Main Point: The Tree of Life is an object lesson (Biblical type) to point us to Jesus Christ who is the source of all life.

Tree of Life mentioned 10x in the Bible:
Genesis 2:9, 3:22-24
Proverbs 3:18, 11:30, 13:12, 15:4
Revelation 2:7, 22:1-2, 22:14

The tree of life is a real physical tree that provides tangible healing benefits to the natural body. If you could eat from it, you would never grow old and you would live forever. It did not require Adam's obedience or faith to be effective. It was a "super-fruit" that God provided for Adam's benefit.

Adam's body was the same as ours is today. He was not created with an eternal body that could not grow old or die. He needed air to breathe, food and water to live. However, God walked with him and protected him from any dangers. No such protection is mentioned in the Bible for the animal or plant life. The tree of life was the physical provision for Adam's eternal bodily existence.

See I Corinthians 15:39-58 for a description of Adam's physical body. He had a natural body. Just as we now bear the image of Adam's original body, we shall bear the image of the resurrected Jesus' body (I Cor. 15:46-48). Jesus is sometimes called the "second Adam." These verses refer to Jesus Christ as the "template" for our resurrected state. The resurrected Jesus had a spiritual body, not a natural body. Note his miracles of appearing/disappearing bodily that he did not do before his resurrection. Jesus is the first fruits from the dead (I Cor. 15:20-23).

God will provide for our eternal existence after the resurrection. Revelations describes the tree of life in heaven. Why would it be there? Is it necessary? The tree of life serves as a type to point us to Jesus Christ, who is the source of all life (John 10:9-10, Colossians 1:16-19).

Proverbs uses the tree of life in the symbolic sense to represent a source of life. The contrast is life vs. death, such as in Prov. 15:4.

May God be praised for His provision for us in the past, present, and future.