Gen 3:22-23 NKJ '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 "-- 23 therefore the
LORD God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he
was taken.'
"Living forever" in the flesh of sin
was not the future that God had designed for them and for those of their
children who were to be counted as righteous through the future work of the Seed
of the woman. There is often discomfort provided through the flesh of sin in
order to bring edification to the spirit oriented life of the believer. But for
eternity, something better will be provided. The mortal will but on immortality
and Death will be swallowed up in Victory - 1Cor 15:54.
So the tree of life was preserved and protected by
the Cherubim in the Garden. After the Flood it was preserved and protected in
the heavens. Its fruit will fully enjoyed by the begotten again of all
dispensations when their fleshly bodies have been replaced with spiritual
bodies. Proverbs and Revelation also speak of trees of life which make
available all possible heavenly blessings to the begotten again while they are
in fleshly bodies. The One who hung from a tree is the fruit that is enjoyed.
He thus became a curse for us. And as the Cross also represents the other tree
in the midst of the Garden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, He also
was made sin for us. He became a curse that we might receive the promised
blessing through faith - Gal 3:13-14. He was made sin that we might become the
righteousness of God in Him. - 2Cor 5:21.
This post was inspired as I was making a
modification to the King James text of James 1:17. I replaced the first occurrence
of "gift" with "giving". This change is based on the Greek
and is also made by Geneva and by Young. I suddenly realized that the
modification is important in conjunction with Genesis 3:22-23 as outlined above.
James 1:17 KJV Every good [giving] and every
perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with
whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
In the light of the tree of life and its fruit of
love, we may understand that our receiving of every good giving, particularly
the giving of every spiritual blessing in heavenly places - Eph 1:3, is made
possible by a perfect gift, the gift of eternal life in Christ - Rom 6.23. But
the good giving of the complete perfect gift is deferred until the mortal has
put on immortality and death is swallowed up in victory - 1Cor 15:54. Then we
will perfectly enjoy the perfect gift Rev 2:7. And we will enjoy Him anew in
the new heavens and the new earth of the new creation throughout eternity - Rev
21:1.
I2C 131227b Gen 3v22to23 Perfect gift deferred /
I2C / 131227 1430 / Gen. 3:22-23 Perfect gift deferred
