In the account of Creation recorded in Genesis, mysteries are concealed in typologies that reveal the work of God from the beginning to the end, as spoken by the Lord through the prophet Isaiah, “Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done.”

The Lord formed Adam out of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; man became a living soul. And eastward in Eden, the Lord planted a garden where He placed Adam with his wife to tend and dress the garden.

In the garden, the Lord placed every tree that was pleasant to behold and good for food. And in the midst of the garden, two trees were placed: the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.

The Lord delights greatly in gardens; it is His will that the things He plants will produce good fruits abundantly, but none more than the garden He made for Himself when He created male and female and told them to be fruitful and multiply that He might have children by them. The Lord is still waiting for all the precious fruit of the earth until the harvest is ripe.

The Garden of Eden is a typology of God’s plan for humanity. Adam was fashioned from the same earth as the garden of Eden and for the same purpose: to bring forth fruit for the Lord that is pleasing to his eyes, delightful to his taste, and rejoicing to his heart.

As there were trees of every sort in the garden, similarly, humanity is full of diversity. The Lord desired that all trees would bring forth good fruit; however, it was not to be. Therefore, the judgment: “Every tree that brings not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire.”

As a test of love, in the midst of all the trees in the garden were two trees placed, one good and one evil, one that was life-giving and the other life-taking, bearing the fruit of death. Likewise, in the heart of man, there are two trees that fruit can be chosen from; the Lord granted mankind the freedom to choose. However, God made it clear to Adam and Eve that they were not to eat the fruit from one tree. As it is written:

“And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, 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.”

When Adam was placed in the garden, the Lord said explicitly, “Of all the trees you may freely eat the fruit of, except for one, the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil”; that was the only tree forbidden, not the Tree of Life. It is assumed that Adam and Eve never ate from the Tree of Life; they would have lived forever if they had. However, they were already living forever. Nowhere in the Bible does it say the Tree of Life was forbidden to them. Only after their transgression, when they were driven from the garden, was the denial of access made clear.  

In the Revelation of John it is written, “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the Tree of Life and may enter in through the gates into the city” (Revelation 22:14). In their innocence, Adam and Eve had the right to eat from the Tree of Life until they broke the one commandment given them to keep.

Their innocence was lost after partaking of the fruit of sin; Adam and Eve were then driven from the garden and deprived of the Tree of Life, the source of regeneration that perpetuated life.

When the Word of God is in the midst of the garden of our heart, it is a tree of life that perpetuates our eternal soul—”She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her.” (Proverbs 3:18). Until the Word of God is received, the death inherited from Adam through our transgressions reigns over us.

If we receive life through the redemption of the Word, to continue in it, we must do his commandments and continue eating the fruit from the tree of life to be renewed daily; the Lord prayed, “Give us this day our daily bread.”

Jesus said, “As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth me, even he, shall live by me.” Jesus is the Tree of Life and the Bread of Life. We must seek to fill ourselves with his word every day while ceasing to partake in the fruit of sin.