The Two Trees
I’d like to stop and take a look at both trees that were planted in the Garden of Eden, and what each represents to us today. This same author wrote a book titled “The Two Trees Within” and went into a deeper depth of their meanings, but for right now I’d like to just touch on this subject.
God, after planting the garden, and placing man, whom He had formed, into it, was showing us, and every generation, that to live in triumph or defeat was a choice, at least at the beginning; so let’s look at Genesis two and see what was said, and remember this was all taking place after the seventh day that God rested.
Verse 7: And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathe into his nostrils the breath of Life; and man became a living being, (some translations say soul). The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put man whom He had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree to grow that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food. The tree of Life was also planted in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil… Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, of every tree of the garden you may eat freely; but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die. And the Lord God said, it is not good that man should be alone, I will make him a helper comparable to him… She shall be called woman… And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
This scripture was not just preserved and given to us as a history of what took place in the beginning of time, but what is actually taking place inside of every man today. The Bible is written with far more significance and value than the literal meaning that lies on the surface; it is about us. It is the passage and evolution of every man that either walks with God, or tries to walk without Him, and is covered in this story of the garden; it’s not only our history, but our present day journey of each that live today.
It was told to us that Adam walked with God, and their fellowship and relationship was as one with each other, and since we know that God is spirit, we can therefore derive that Adam also represents the spirit of man, the part that belongs to God, is God, and will never be taken from us, nor can it be taken. It’s what makes every man in the similitude of God, and in His image, and all are in the similitude of God; none is left out, for we all are derived from this one man; Adam, which literally means man-kind.
Even though Adam was formed from the dust of the ground, which means carnal, God breathe into his being, life, which can be none other than eternal life; making him in the similitude of God, which is very much, like God. Now when I say like God, I don’t mean equal to Him, but we were given parts of everything God possesses, for we were reminded in Romans eight that we are joint heirs with Christ. Adam, he was the personification of Christ, and referred to in scripture as the first Christ, but failed. Having been given by God all the elements of Himself, Adam was able to walk with God with complete union, even their thoughts and actions were united into one. The only restraint given to Adam (man-kind) was to not eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, for in the day that he would eat, he shall surely die; all else he was free to partake in.
Adam, the spirit of man, was placed into the garden, and the fellowship that God and Adam had, could not be divided, they lived in perfect union with absolutely no barriers between them. But in time, how much time nobody knows, maybe years, maybe millenniums, God saw the man was lonely, and made him a helper, a woman that was compatible with him, his wife Eve.
Now if Adam is represented as our spirit, then Eve, his wife, is represented as the soul of man, and at the beginning they both walked in union with each other as one flesh, and together they both walked with God. There was no controversy or division between them; the soul followed the spirit, and our spirit was in harmony with the soul, they were truly one being walking with God in a land, the garden that was meticulously engineered by God, for both to dwell in; the Garden of Eden.
This series of scriptures were not given to us as just a history of what went on in the beginning, but what is also going on with each individual walking today. God designed our spirit and soul to walk together in agreement with each other, with no barriers amid the two; they were to truly be one, at least in the beginning, and also today. It was not two people that were walking on earth that were merely working together, but one flesh in complete harmony with one-another, and with God. This was the perfect set-up for man and God, and for-ever how long it lasted, it wasn’t mentioned, but, then again, it could have been for millenniums, but we all know the end results. The union and oneness of their relationship, Adam and his wife, was fused tightly together as one, and also one with God; and there was no shame.
When scripture mentions that they were both naked, it wasn’t to draw a picture of a scene in the garden, but to show us that there were no vices; and they were, and we still are, completely exposed without shame to the Father of creation. Being naked, in the symbolic way, is always a good position to accept, and without our nakedness, intimate relationships cannot exist, for the truth exposing us and is what keeps the openness, one with the other; being naked represents this.
Now let us continue in Genesis and see what else happened, chapter three. Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, ‘has God indeed said: you shall not eat of every tree in the garden?’ And the woman said to the serpent, we may eat the fruit of every tree in the garden, but the fruit which is in the tree in the midst of the garden, God has said, you shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die. Then the serpent said to the woman, you will not surely die, for God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were naked, and sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.
Now if the woman represents the soul of man, and I believe it does, we can tell by the aforementioned verses that the soul is subject to the cunning practices of the world, in which the serpent is governor of, or at the least, the worldly wisdom of which it falsely believes and then embraces. The knowledge of good and evil is, therefore, not to belong to God and His Ways, but has been separated, and has to stand on its own. For the so-called truth that the serpent is trying to incorporate would not have to be sold through the devices of being cunning, for the wares that it sells has to be promoted and embellished before they can be believed; but for a fact, they were believed, and still are. The serpent is, allegorically, is the carnal mind of man, his thoughts and his reasoning.
I know that we have been taught differently, but the soul of man is our personality, character, demeanor, and temperament; it is what makes us a living soul. For an example, if we want a soul- mate; aren’t we wanting someone that meshes with the way our emotions have been set up? If a person is soulish, aren’t we seeing them as selfish, or one that wants what feels good? Jesus didn’t say that he commended His soul to the Father, on the cross, but He commended His Spirit. Our soul is what has been developed on this earth, and it is meant to be one with the spirit, but when acting in separation from the spirit, is where the trouble begins; which is exactly what happened with Eve in the garden, and us today.
Now the woman, without the understanding of good and evil, tries to have a conversation with the serpent, (the wisdom of good and evil), and is doomed at this point with the entity of vast knowledge. When asked a question, she responses. In fact, she said that they shall not eat of the tree of good and evil, which was spoken to her by God, but also said that they should not even look upon it, which God never said to them. I don’t really know, but it sounds like she was trying to usurp a bit of intelligence, or maybe, wanting to be legalistic about the command from God, anyway, the last part of her answer wasn’t given to her by the Lord. When the Lord was giving them all this freedom, and this one rule, He was speaking to them in a spiritual sense, in the Spirit, but Eve, being the soul, and probably not having the same relationship with God as Adam did, heard it in the flesh. So the serpent speaks back to her in the flesh, without lying, and appealing to her carnal mind, and says that you shall not surely die, which I guess in the flesh, makes some- sort of sense. And the serpent continues and says, still speaking to the flesh, that God doesn’t want this to happen because it will open up your eyes, and you’ll become then equal to him. But the emotions of mankind, being what they are, were tempted beyond their capabilities, and since the fruit looked so good, and she wanted to be wise; she ate of it, and gave also to her husband.
Even today we put great stock on the technology, education, and cunningness of man, to scratch out a living, and to show ourselves approved among our peers. The Apostle Paul told us to rightly divide the Word of Truth, and what was done then, and what we’re doing today, which is the same thing, is not separating the flesh from the spirit, and that oil and water cannot mix; but we continue, unsuccessfully, to mix the two together.
Did they both surely die? Yes. They lost their relationship with the Creator, and struck out in their own independence, and now had to find their own way through life; so they sewed together fig leaves to hide their nakedness, and hid in the woods; of which neither worked; they were ashamed. For the spirit within them didn’t die, but was then, by their choice, separated to some degree, but their flesh had now become mortal; which is far less devastating than losing their intimate relationship with God; which truly spells death; but in all practicality, when the soul was separated from the spirit of man, and also separated from the intimate relationship with God, they had surely died.
Verse nine in chapter three: And they heard the sound of the Lord walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, where are you? So he said; I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked: so I hid myself. And God said; who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree which I commanded that you should not eat. Then the man said; the woman, whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate. And the Lord God said to the woman, what is this that you have done? The woman said, the serpent deceived me, and I ate…Then to Adam He said, because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree which I have commanded you, saying, you shall not eat of it. Cursed is the ground for your sake, in toil you shall eat of it…
Even though Adam and his wife ate of the forbidden fruit, God did not leave, nor forsake them; but with their new found knowledge, and the shame that came upon them, they hid themselves among the trees, and the knowledge of the ‘good’ that they had now acquired, forced them to sew fig leaves together in hopes of hiding the shame of their nakedness; literally, they ran from the Lord God. I’m sure that God knew all along what had been happening, and in asking Adam questions, and wanting answers, it was not for His sake, but Adams’. The man in answering began again to use his new-found reasoning and knowledge to make excuses for what had happened. The woman that you have given to me, she gave to me…Blaming it on her. And the woman also, blamed it on the serpent. And this knowledge of good and evil was the consequences of trading-off their relationship, their very intimate relationship, with the Lord God; this was the beginning of the high price that was paid to be emancipated, but they did have their independence, but look at the cost.
Now today, each and every one of us are doing the same thing; we too have been seduced by the same mind of the serpent, clinging to the intelligence of man, and all his many tactics, in an effort to have both worlds; which cannot really happen. We will either love one and hate the other, or else cling to one and despise the other, Our independence is a far-cry and inferiority to what we can have with an unobstructed relationship with the Father. All Adam, or we, have to do is; go back to the Tree of Life, which is also in our garden.
Then God said to the man, because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of good and evil, you will always toil in the flesh, which is represented as the ground. Now remember that the deeper meaning of the wife is the soul of man. Every man has the inner woman within him, and every woman has the inner man within her; the man is the part of us that knows God, and is one with Him, and the woman is the part that knows the thought of the spirit, but not the spirit itself, and embraces the emotions. Now when the two come together, as spoken about in Ephesians chapter five, then the marriage is complete, for they have become one being. Jesus also, when He was being tempted, had to place His soul, the emotional side of Him in order, before he could overcome the seductions of the devil (the mind). I know this is not what we’ve been taught thru the centuries of this man-made spectacle we call religion, for they want us to work for our approval towards God, but when His Word is rightly divided, and we can see with eyes that can see, and then we can understand what we’re doing to ourselves.
Verse twenty one: Also for Adam and his wife, the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them. Then the Lord God said, behold the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the Tree of Life, and eat, and live forever—therefore the Lord God sent him out of the Garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken…
The covering of which was made for Adam and his wife Eve that will truly cover their shame and guilt, had to be by the sacrifice of blood from which the skin came from; blood had to be shed. Their own ideas of what it took to cover their shame couldn’t suffice, for it was made by their hands,
Then the next sentence is a little hard to swallow, but it is from the Word of God. Then God said that the man had become like one of Us, knowing now good and evil. So were our eyes opened? Yes, to an extent, for the Lord God had sheltered us from the adverse effects of knowing what good and evil is, and He knew the magnitude of its’ effects. But God also gave us an alternative to having to live a life without the intimacy of having a relationship with Him; we can put forth our hand and take from the fruit of the Tree of Life, and return, at any time, to the Life from whence we came; being one with the Father, and without need of knowing the knowledge of which this world produces. Adam didn’t partake in the Tree of Life, and neither have we, therefore, even today, we have to till the fleshly carnal mind of man, being at least somewhat separated from that complete oneness of marriage with Him, unless we give up this life for the Life He is now handing to us.
Let us stop once again and ponder. Who created the tree of knowledge? Who placed the serpent into the tree to begin with? Of course we know that God is almighty, which means that all strengths and actions are from Him, therefore the serpent couldn’t just climb into that tree without His might, so it is obvious that God placed the serpent there, in the tree that He’d hoped wouldn’t be considered; but it was, and still is. The tree of knowledge means that we have to work with our hands and mind, and that is exactly what religion does, a very imperfect substitute, or counterfeit, of what God is truly offering to those that have ears to hear. Religion is nothing more than the works of man trying to get back to the place from whence we came, but religion can never work. It is always about performing rituals such as meeting on the same days every week, saying the same prayers on cue, make sure we use the word brother or sister, say a few halleluiahs, sing our songs at the right time, and of course, pay our money (tithes); to get to have all these privileges. This all involves effort on our part, and the Gift of Grace is free, therefore these efforts have to be called idols.
Jesus once asked the question; can a tree produce both good and corrupt fruit? The answer is no. Can we get both sweet water and soured water from the same fountain? So if we look closely at the tree of good and evil, we can see that both, the good fruit and the evil fruit, are the same fruit. The goodness of man has never, and will never, impress God and stir Him to moving upon us; it is only our relationship with Him that He desires, and that comes by Love and faith.
The tree of knowledge of good and evil, is the tree from which we have to work, and can also say that the laws of Moses came about from this same tree, it is all about the works that man does to justify himself. So, is it hard to understand that religions are all about performing, and our intentions, by works, to become ‘good enough’ to deserve Gods’ Grace? Of course it’s not. The tree of knowledge will bind us to those same works, but the Tree of Life will bind us to the cross, where all the works have already been done, leaving only Love and Grace. IT’S FREE, and therefore free from any works.