Examining the scriptures closely, nowhere is it to be found that Adam and Eve were prohibited from partaking of the tree of life. Out of all the trees in the garden, there was only one tree mentioned that was prohibited before they ate its fruit.

Only after eating the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil were they forcibly stopped from eating from the tree of life, lest the perpetuation of their lives in a sinful state continue.

When Adam and Eve were created, there was no expiration date on their lives; they were created without the guilt of sin and blessed with life. However, the life granted them was conditioned on their obeying one commandment.

They could relinquish that perpetuation of life at any time by choosing to disobey the commandment given to them, which, indeed, they did by willful disobedience—“For until the law, sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.” They broke the one and only law given to them, and then their eyes were opened to sin; thus, henceforth, they knew the guilt of sin and were ashamed.

Adam and Eve were the last of God’s creations whom He made in his own likeness and image. Having prepared all other things before, and for them, He gave Adam dominion over the world and made Eve his helpmate.

Created on the sixth day before the Sabbath began, Adam and his wife entered directly into rest on the seventh day without laboring the other six days beforehand to do so. They were not in bondage to an innate sinful nature and thus were at rest with the Lord—“There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.” (Hebrews 4:9) — Adam and Eve were created in peace, at rest with God. On the other hand, we are to labor to enter into that perfect state of rest (Hebrews 4:11).

The beginning and the end of the days of creation, one through six, are designated evening and morning. The seventh day lacks the same designation, and its duration remains unspecified. Unlike the other days, which have a specified time frame, the length of the first Sabbath is ambiguous in the scriptures, although we know God rested because He completed His work.

“The works were finished from the foundation of the world. For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works.” (Hebrews 4:3-4)

God has rested; we, on the other hand, must now labor to enter rest with God. He spoke of the Seventh Day in the context of Israel’s plight in the wilderness, which was to be rewarded with rest at the end.

When the law was given post-sin, it was commanded, “Six days shalt thou labor, and rest on the seventh.” It is also written in Hebrews that he who has entered into his rest has ceased from his works—the works we are to cease from are our sinful actions. And we are offered a way to cease from our own sinful works. Jesus says:

“Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

The Sabbath—on the seventh day in which Adam and Eve abode after their creation—is a figure of resting in Christ, free of sin, when we cease from our works. Dwelling in Christ and having him dwell in us is the true Sabbath—it is leaving the wilderness of temptation and crossing Jordan into the land of promise. The fullness of Christ is the Sabbath—a rest we seek to perfect in us by driving out all other inhabitants (sinful natures) of the land. “For the kingdom of God is within you.” Perfection in Christ is the land of promise and rest from all enemies.

The spiritual journey of mankind from Adam being the son of God—as recorded in Luke’s genealogy of Jesus—to being separated from God and then restored again as his children begins in the garden with the two trees in its midst and ends in the land of promise being restored as Sons and Daughters of the Most High.