Choose the right Tree

I’m not sure if you’ve noticed this or not, but the gospel of John is a re-write of the book of Genesis. The first three words of the gospel are a clue- “In the beginning….” We start with Sovereign God intervening in the world that He has made. The result of that intervention is a Man, a man that has never sinned. Just like Adam before the Fall. This man, Jesus, is also tempted but He does not fall.This new man, the second Adam, then went on to undo the results of the first Adam’s failure, in every area.

He reversed the effects of death, sickness, physical and spiritual blindness and lack. He brought light where there was darkness, joy where there was despair, hope where there was no hope and life where death had been the miserable end of all things.

At the beginning of the book of Genesis, after man sinned, there was a sacrifice made by God to cover their sin, and as a by product clothes (made from the skin of the sacrificed animal) were given to cover their shame. But as we know, this was never a permanent solution.

In the Gospel of John, the man who never fell into sin became the sacrifice Himself, once for all time as it says in Hebrews. This sacrifice was not a temporary fix but a final permanent solution.

In Genesis there were two trees, the Tree of Life and the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The tree of Life carried Gods life, (well what other kind of life would it carry?) Adam and Eve were free to eat from this tree and share in the Life of God. Interestingly they never ate from it. Satan successfully tempted them to eat from the forbidden tree though, and the rest is history – and a miserable history it turned out to be. The two trees offered a choice of two different ways of living. One was to sustain ourselves with the Life of God. The other was to attempt to sustain ourselves with knowledge, knowledge without Gods Life and power.

In John’s gospel Jesus, the new Adam, chose to live by the Tree of Life. Both Trees we’re available.The Pharisees and the Teachers of the Law ate from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. They knew what was right and what was wrong, but they didn’t know God. They were independent of Him. Jesus fed from the Tree of Life. He chose the other way. He knew God. Read the account of the woman caught in adultery (but not the man!!!) to see the stark difference. Living from the Tree of Life, living connected directly to God and drawing life and direction from Him, brings mercy, restoration and life. The other way brings condemnation, judgement and death. Because He was directly connected to the very Life of God, was able to say “I only do what I see the Father doing”, rather than ‘I only do what the list tells me I can do’.

Now, we who are believers are united to Jesus. That describes our relationship. Permanently united to Jesus. Yes, that means you! His Father is our Father. He is our brother permanently. His life is our life. We are joined to the Tree of Life. It’s in us. It’s our source. It’s the place we’re meant to live from and draw from.

• Jesus said “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live. (Be filled with the divine life of God).
• He said “I came that they ( that’s you and me) might have (divine) life.
• Paul says that the same divine life that raised Jesus from the dead lives in us and gives us life. (Romans 8 and Ephesians 1)
• Peter tells us that we now share in the divine nature (2 Peter 1)

At the moment we believed the gospel and started following Jesus, the result was exactly as if we had eaten directly from the Tree of Life in that garden. At that very first bite, that “Yes Jesus”moment, the life of God, the highest form,of life in all of creation, flowed into you and me.

Where in the world did the Church so often get the idea that from then on it was all about being part a nice Christian community, becoming nicer people and helping others. (Hmm. The World is probably where we got that idea!).

The truth is that we are united to Jesus and the Life of God fills us and is meant to flow through us. Because we are united to Jesus (it’s not just a casual connection or an arrangement – it’s union) we are on the same mission. We are going in the same direction, on the same path – or we ought to be. And that means that we carry on where He left off when He went back to Father. Our ancestry does not come from Adam. Our ancestry comes from Jesus. Like Him, we are to undo the results of Adams failure. Because we are united to Jesus, we simply carry on His ministry. And that includes the command in Matthew 10 v 8 …..

“Proclaim this message; the kingdom of heaven has come near. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons”

There’s a world of difference between living by the Tree of knowledge of good and evil, where we simply know about Jesus, and living from the Tree of Life where we know Jesus – and there the adventure begins.