A tale of two trees

I heard a talk recently by a friend, about the use of trees as symbols in the Bible. One of his main points was that God’s Bible starts off with two trees and ends with one. One tree represents life but the other represents death. Both of these trees were in the Garden of Eden.

The first tree was called the ‘tree of life’, the second the ‘tree of the knowledge of good and evil’. ‘Life’ is clear enough but why do I describe the tree of the knowledge of good and evil as representing ‘death’? Because that was the result of eating the fruit of it for the first two humans. They were told by God not to. But they did. And the result was indeed death, not an immediate death but the mortal condition. That’s the one that we all die of. Everyone since, and including, Adam and Eve.

But the Bible finishes with only one tree. There’s no tree of death because there is no death. God has provided a way out of the consequences of that inherited mortal condition. For everyone. It’s not particularly complicated. It doesn’t cost any money. And it’s described very comprehensively in God’s Bible.

You can find  what happened in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3 and it’s worth reading the whole chapter. And in the last chapter of the Bible we have this reference to the tree of life:  “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city.” (Revelation 22:14, NIV)

Worth investigating?  What do you have to lose? And there’s so very much to gain!