Bequests From Adam and Eve, Our “Uncommon Ancestors"
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. Genesis 3:22-23
There were two remarkable trees in the Garden of Eden: the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and the Tree of Life. After Adam and Eve ate from the first tree, God was not willing to have them live forever in their sinful state, so He barred them from the Garden of Eden by placing an angel with a flaming sword at its gate. They then had to live out their days while enduring the troubles and sorrows of this life. However, by the promise of God’s grace, they looked forward to the day when they could finally partake of the Tree of Life in heaven.
The same certain hope of life forever in glory has been passed on to us, from believing generation to believing generation, through the power of the sure Word of God. Yes, we also are inheritors of the curse; we too struggle with the effects of sin in our lives each day. But because the Lord Jesus gave His life on the tree of the cross for us, we will rise to eternal life just as Jesus did. We will then partake freely of the Tree of Life in the paradise that Christ has prepared for His believers: “In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.” (Revelation 22:2)
Praise God the Lord, ye sons of men,
Before His highest throne;
Today He opens heaven again
And gives us His own Son.
He opens us again the door
Of Paradise today;
The angel guards the gate no more,
To God our thanks we pay.
The Lutheran Hymnal 105:1,5