“The Lord God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden to work it and watch over it. And the Lord God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree of the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die’ ” (Genesis 2:15–17).
“The tree of the knowledge of good and evil” can be compared and contrasted to another tree, a tree that also stood in a garden (John 19:41), the tree on which our Savior was executed. Evil men murdered Him “by hanging him on a tree”(Acts 5:30). “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24).
1. The first tree was beautiful. Our ancient ancestor saw that “the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom” (Genesis 3:6). By contrast, nobody ever said that a gas chamber was beautiful. An electric chair isn’t pleasant to the eyes. Neither was the cross… the second tree.
2. Eating the fruit of the first tree was forbidden (Genesis 2:17). But the second tree is different. No one is forbidden to come near. Rather, we are invited to “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8).
3. Eating the fruit of the first tree was sinful and brought death. By faith, as mankind eats the fruit of the second tree, the tree on which Jesus bought our pardon, eternal and abundant life is promised.
4. When Adam ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, He was expelled from Paradise (Genesis 3:23-24). Years later, as Jesus hung between two criminals, one of the criminals, by faith, tasted God’s grace, and was welcomed into Paradise (Luke 23:43). By Jesus’ substitutionary sacrifice on Calvary’s tree, we who come to Him like the repentant thief, are welcomed into His loving embrace.
Interestingly, it is the second tree that brings great wisdom and understanding, for by it we are “able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God’s love, and to know Christ’s love that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:18–19).
“… think on these things” (Philippians 4:8, KJV).
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