Revelation The Tree of Life

 

 Revelation: Justification by Faith

The Tree of Life

Revelation 2:7
"Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God."

This is the promise given to Ephesus for overcoming. They had their problems. They had lost their first love despite their zeal and sound doctrine, and they were called to repentance. But they are not left without a promise.
These promises are for all churches, not just for one angel or for the preachers but for all churches across all times. Ephesus, and especially its angel, needed this, but if we need it, we can accept it as meant for us.
They would eat from the tree of life in the midst of the paradise of God.
Genesis 2 tells us about this:

Genesis 2:8 "Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed.
9. The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
10. A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters.
11. The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold.
12. (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin and onyx are also there.)
13. The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush.
14. The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Ashur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
15. The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
16. And the Lord God commanded the man, 'You are free to eat from any tree in the garden;
17. but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.'"

The tree of life was there in the beginning, before sin existed, in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve were meant to work and live there when everything was perfect. But with sin, both humanity and the world declined. Sin, evil, destruction, death, and pain were introduced into the world. We can imagine that the fruit of those trees in the Garden of Eden was much healthier and tastier than what we have today, thousands of years later. A river is also described in this garden.
There were many trees with fruit, but specifically mentioned are the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life.
The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was a test for humanity. Satan had fallen, bringing many angels down with him. Now there were two sides, and humanity had to choose loyalty.
This is the great conflict between God and Satan, and humanity had to choose at that tree. Adam, as the head of humanity, chose Satan by eating the fruit, handing over the world to Satan. It was a simple command that might not seem so significant. But it was precisely this small command, easy to disregard, that was the test for humanity.
Adam fell, and humanity fell with him.

Romans 5:12 "Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned..."

The result was death. The tree of life was taken away:

Genesis 3:22 "And the Lord God said, 'The man has now become like one of Us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.'
23. So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken."

God had already experienced sin. He knew it thoroughly and knew the evil in it.
Now humanity had the same knowledge of evil. If they were allowed to live forever, they would live forever in sin and evil. For this reason, they were no longer allowed access to the tree of life. As long as they lived under Satan’s authority and in sin, eternal life was impossible—and even undesirable for humanity.
The only way for humanity to regain access to the tree of life was to be freed from sin. But this seemed impossible.
Satan had free reign. Adam had given the world over to Satan, and humanity was helplessly condemned with Adam.
There was only one way to free them. A second Adam had to come—a sinless human. Since Adam, there had been a chain of humans born in sin. All had sinned, as Romans says. All had fallen. Death had come upon all. And history and the Bible tell us this well enough.
But this chain was broken by Jesus, who was born through the Holy Spirit. He was sinless and did not die for any guilt of His own but for our sins. And He was sufficient to bear this punishment. Now He stands as the second Adam. Through Him, we can now inherit righteousness, grace, and sinlessness instead of guilt, sin, and death.
Jesus lived a perfect life in our place as the second Adam. In this way, humanity is saved from death and the power of sin and can be restored to eat from the tree of life. We remain dependent on God, who causes the fruits of this tree to grow, for our eternal life, but it is restored.
In Paul’s words:

Romans 5:15 "But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!
16. Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification.
17. For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!
18. Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people.
19. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous."

Note: The term "made" here literally means "appointed" or "declared." This refers to the crediting of either guilt or righteousness that comes from one person.