Responsibility and Life

 •  6 min. read  •  grade level: 10
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In the Garden of Eden were planted two trees — “the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil” (Gen. 2:99And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. (Genesis 2:9)). Looked at separately, they bring before us those two of whom we read in 1 Corinthians 15:4747The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. (1 Corinthians 15:47): “The first man [Adam] is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.”
The Center
From the position in Paradise of the tree of life (for it distinctly states that it grew “in the midst of the garden”) we learn that Christ has always been God’s center. But along with the tree of life (and also in the midst of the garden) is found the “tree of knowledge of good and evil” (Gen. 3:33But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. (Genesis 3:3)). As to the “tree of life,” it is clear that it could refer only to Christ (Rev. 2:77He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. (Revelation 2:7)), and in the fact that both are “in the midst of the garden” we see that both are united in Him. Our responsibility, as of Adam, has been taken up, and met in Him and by Him. He is thus God’s center, and life is His by acquired right. The creation in Genesis is God’s picture, in type, of the purpose of His heart concerning Christ ― a purpose hidden in the past ages, but existing there from all eternity, long before the foundation of the world, and now made known to faith (Eph. 1:9-10; 3:9-119Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: 10That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: (Ephesians 1:9‑10)
9And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: 10To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, 11According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord: (Ephesians 3:9‑11)). God will presently act in power to bring out into full display His own original thought, since all is based, not on the first man, but on the second.
It does not appear that the “tree of life “was forbidden to man before he fell. He was set up in Paradise in life, and with this word: “Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Gen. 2:16-1716And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. (Genesis 2:16‑17)). It was innocence, for he was not to know anything in addition to that life in which he stood with God. But this was responsibility, and on this ground all was lost. Sin entered; the law proved it and only showed how complete the ruin was. Death was upon all.
The Fallen Race
It appears, then, that after man sinned, for the first time the “tree of life” was forbidden to him— a most gracious provision on the part of God. Man had acquired the knowledge of good (and God was its source), without power to act upon it or to please Him. He had also acquired the knowledge of evil, and along with that a nature always prone to follow it. Now God says, “The man is become as one of Us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever” (Gen. 3:2222And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: (Genesis 3:22)). To eat, and to live forever in that state of innocence in which God had first created him, would have been right and simple obedience, but to eat, and live forever in the Garden, with the knowledge of good and evil (good to which he could never attain and evil to which he was always prone), in misery therefore, God could not have. “So He drove out the man; and He placed at the east of the Garden of Eden cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life” (Gen. 3:2424So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life. (Genesis 3:24)). Life, then, is distinctly refused to a responsible but a fallen race in that condition.
The Second Man
But Jesus, standing in perfect grace in the place of the responsible man at the cross, glorifies God. Tried and tested in every way all through His life, which ended at the cross, all that man should have been for God, He was. It is true that all was over for the first man, but now, with the first man ended in God’s sight, He only — the second Man — now stands before God. He who in Himself has met all the claims of justice for the responsible man and who has also as man perfectly met the heart of God has it as His right to take of the “tree of life” in the midst of the Garden. At the solemn moment of yielding up His life on earth, in Psalm 16, He thus speaks: “Thou wilt show Me the path of life,” and again, “I lay down My life that I might take it again” (John 10:1717Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. (John 10:17)). Thus we see in this God’s one central thought — to establish everything in heaven and earth upon Christ. God will have Him as the center of all His ways of grace to man throughout eternity. All therein is for His enjoyment, and He in perfect grace hands these things to us, associating us with Himself, for Eve was co-sharer with Adam in it all.
Eternal Life
Moreover, the duration of the life is, in Christianity, first unfolded as “eternal” (Titus 1:22In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began; (Titus 1:2)), for it is the life of Christ Himself as the risen One out of death. Life, if it could have been continuously sustained in Eden by their eating of every tree in the Garden (save the one forbidden), would have been endless, and therefore “eternal” in that sense. But it would have depended on man’s continuous obedience; it would have been a dependent life. Now we have Christ’s perfect obedience and life as the result.
The Paradise of God
It is a relief to the heart to expand, and thus to turn away from itself, and to see God working for the glory of His beloved Son, to whom we are necessary, as a part of that glory into which God will bring Him (Eph. 3:2121Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. (Ephesians 3:21)). To see everything thus established on an immutable basis, the first man no longer before God, but the second, and to know that, through grace, we are eternally united to Him, gives great peace to the soul. To look back along the dim vista of the ages and to see this His purpose shining brightly in the Garden of Eden, which sin spoiled, and to look forward to what it will yet be, when all shall be in divine order around Him, causes us to break out into praise to the One who is, to all eternity, to be the center in the midst of the “Paradise of God” (Rev. 2:77He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. (Revelation 2:7)).
H. C. Anstey (adapted)