The Tree of Life Restored in Christ
THE first human pair were driven out of paradise, lest, as sinners, they should put forth their hands to the tree of life, which was in the garden, and eat and live forever. But it was not God's purpose to shut the human family away from life. Man was created to live forever, and after the fall in Eden it was still the purpose that man should enjoy unending life; but life must be forever divorced from sin. Hence another tree of life was provided, of which mankind might partake, and that was Jesus Christ. Jesus said: “I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. . . . He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. . . . I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. . . . Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life.” John 6: 35-54. The sinner may freely partake of this tree of life, for he must partake of it by faith, and sin and faith cannot exist together. By the very act of coming to Jesus Christ the sinner turns from his sins, and by partaking of the flesh and blood of Christ, the life of righteousness is maintained within him. There is still a paradise, a spiritual garden of Eden, no less real than that which Adam lost, wherein those who will may live in touch with the heaven that awaits the child of God.