"16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may FREELY EAT;17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
Way back in that garden long ago there were countless numbers of wonderful trees, all of them pleasant to the eye and good for food. But the Holy Spirit specifically singled out these two: The tree of the knowledge of good and evil and The Tree of Life. Notice it doesn't say, "The tree of good and evil" but the tree if the "KNOWLEDGE" of good and evil.
Every one of you, no doubt, has heard the story of our first parents eating "the apple" (well, it was probably a fig; a story for another time) and of the infamous fall. We can also can understand why God wouldn't want us to know all about evil but why would the knowledge of good be so bad? What are these trees? What do they represent? I'm glad you asked.
The Bible is, first and foremost, all about One Person: Our Lord Jesus Christ. His finished work, His story, His glory and His beauty are reiterated over and over and over throughout the entire Bible in stories, in types, names of people, places and things, even numbers, hidden in the text by the Holy Spirit. Secondly, there is a running undercurrent that the Holy Spirit repeats again and again as well. It is this: GRACE TRUMPS LAW.
(For the Law was given by Moses; but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. )
These two trees depict LAW and GRACE, grace being the Person of our Lord Jesus.
Back in the garden, there was no such thing as the Ten Commandments because, of course, the law wouldn't show up for a couple thousand years. There was only one law: "Don't eat from the tree: The Tree of the KNOWLEDGE of good and evil." But what did they do? They ate from that tree.
Why God does not want us to have the "KNOWLEDGE" of good and evil? Wouldn't it be good for us to know the difference? Wouldn't we be better off knowing? Then we choose good and shun evil, right?
Well, apparently not. That is why He told them NOT to eat of that tree. The sad fact of the matter is that when man gets the "knowledge" of good and evil, more often than not, he chooses evil, hence the verse that says, "The strength of sin is the law," (1 Corinthians 15:56.)
All you need to to do to be FOREVER condemned to hell is to have one wrong THOUGHT and you're toast! Who can go through his or her entire life and be perfect? NOBODY!!! One fearful thought, one little hint of worry, one deceitful or lustful thought and it's over. You see, in God's economy, the thought is the deed. NO WONDER HE WANTED TO REPLACE THIS COVENANT!!! {See Hebrews 8}
God does not want us to have the "KNOWLEDGE" of good and evil and look to ourselves to know what is right or wrong. He wants us to depend on Jesus in every situation and ask for the "DISCERNMENT" of good and evil, which comes from Him. He wants our focus on Him, not on us and our "knowing" and our doing.
You hear a lot today about what's right and what's wrong from many different voices both inside and outside the church: "This is wrong behavior (or thinking) or "that is wrong behavior (or thinking.)" "You should do "this," or "you shouldn't do that....." or the ever popular condemnatory remark/observation that "this (or that) is the acceptable standard that you have (or have not) lived up to."
Folks who say these things are actually godly, well-meaning people: Pastors, theologians and teachers. They trying to produce holiness and holy living in their people by imparting to them the knowledge of good and evil. But that is not what God wants them to do. They are, in effect, telling their people to eat of the wrong tree, sabotaging their own people and their own purpose, unwittingly of course.
God told Adam and Eve not to eat from "that tree." So why are we trying to tell our people to eat from "that tree?" We still get the same WRONG results. All throughout the scriptures, God is continually pointing us to the other tree, THE TREE OF LIFE: JESUS.
Trees in the Bible are a typology of the cross. For example:
1) The burning bush before which Moses was told to remove his shoes.
This "tree," or burning bush, is a picture of the the menorah of Moses' tabernacle. The menorah is a typology of the Church, meaning those have been redeemed by the cross! That's how we know his burning bush was an almond tree-->It's a picture of the Church on fire for Jesus!
2) At the bitter waters of Mara, what was Moses told to do? The Lord showed him a TREE. When he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet," in Exodus 15:25. The bitterness was taken away. The cross of Christ takes away our bitterness and turns it into sweetness. He turns our sorrow into joy!
3) The bronze serpent on a wooden pole.
Over and over in the Bible, the Holy Spirit is pointing, pointing, pointing. He wants us to keep our eyes on the cross of Christ. Of ourselves, we can do nothing; but we can do all things "THROUGH CHRIST." Look to Jesus to be healed!
In 1 Corinthians, Paul talks about the GIFT of "DISCERNING of spirits." In Philippians 1, Paul says, "And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge {of Jesus} and all DISCERNMENT."
"DISCERNMENT" of good and evil is not the same as the "KNOWLEDGE" of good and evil." They are 180° opposite of one another. One comes out of dependence on God; the other our of on self: "SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS."
It's plain to see that only Jesus can fully know good and evil and ALWAYS choose good. He is the only One Who can handle the law. You and I cannot, yet we still to this day don't know that we can't! We are still trying to look to our performance, not for salvation necessarily; but we are looking AT US instead of TO HIM.
There is only one way to become conformed to His image:
WE ARE TRANSFORMED BY BEHOLDING JESUS.....PERIOD!
I don't see any mention of "US" in there. Do you? NO.
By the law is the knowledge of sin, and the strength of sin is THE LAW. Grace--JESUS--is the only ANTIDOTE for sin.
So you see, it is quite possible to eat from the wrong tree, though the first garden was ages ago. We still face the same choice that Adam and Eve faced except that today, when we choose the wrong one, if you are saved, Jesus has already paid your debt because of THE TREE. You'll at least end up in heaven!
Thank God we no longer have to suffer eternal consequences.....HALLELUJAH!.....though we can find ourselves under the curses in Deuteronomy 28 because we are trying to work the law which causes us to fall from grace. (See Galatians 5:4)
Surprising but true: We can still have the choice of eating from one of Two Trees.
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