“all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water … also went down to hell with it …”
(Ezek. 31: 16-17, NKJV)
Like Man and Woman, there are various other examples of people that Scripture suggests may have fallen from the garden of Eden, or then, before time, another reality. At times they are explicitly metaphorised as trees. In the previous teaching we pointed out two examples, that of the king of Tyre, and the king of Babel. In this teaching we will conclude this discussion with a few of the many others of whom this is said.
- 1:4 – “Though you ascend as high as the eagle, and though you set your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down,” says the Lord.”
- There was a time when “the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy” (Job 38:7), including a being named Satan (Job 1:6). Later we find Jesus saying, in Luke 10:18: “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.”
- In Ezek. 31:3-18 we find the story of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. [According to the IVP Bible Background Commentary the Pharaoh who is spoken of here is one named Apries (Hophra), who reigned between 589-570 BC.]. We will quote a lengthy section from this chapter, as it provides an excellent description of how man and tree are metaphorised, and in addition the fall from before time/another reality is presented in quite illustrated terms. In order to understand the different strands in relief to one another, certain sub-themes are highlighted in different colours: “Indeed Assyria was a cedar in Lebanon, with fine branches that shaded the forest, and of high stature; and its top was among the thick boughs. The waters made it grow; underground waters gave it height, with their rivers running around the place where it was planted, and sent out rivulets to all the trees of the field. Therefore its height was exalted above all the trees of the field; its boughs were multiplied, and its branches became long because of the abundance of water, as it sent them out. All the birds of the heavens made their nests in its boughs; under its branches all the beasts of the field brought forth their young;
And in its shadow all great nations made their home. Thus it was beautiful in greatness and in the length of its branches, because its roots reached to abundant waters. The cedars in the garden of God could not hide it; the fir trees were not like its boughs, and the chestnut trees were not like its branches; no tree in the garden of God was like it in beauty. I made it beautiful with a multitude of branches, so that all the trees of Eden envied it, that were in the garden of God. Therefore thus says the Lord God: ‘Because you have increased in height, and it set its top among the thick boughs, and its heart was lifted up in its height, therefore I will deliver it into the hand of the mighty one of the nations, and he shall surely deal with it; I have driven it out for its wickedness. And aliens, the most terrible of the nations, have cut it down and left it; its branches have fallen on the mountains and in all the valleys; its boughs lie broken by all the rivers of the land; and all the peoples of the earth have gone from under its shadow and left it. On its ruin will remain all the birds of the heavens, and all the beasts of the field will come to its branches— So that no trees by the waters may ever again exalt themselves for their height, nor set their tops among the thick boughs, that no tree which drinks water may ever be high enough to reach up to them. For they have all been delivered to death, to the depths of the earth, among the children of men who go down to the Pit.’ Thus says the Lord God: ‘In the day when it went down to hell, I caused mourning. I covered the deep because of it. I restrained its rivers, and the great waters were held back. I caused Lebanon to mourn for it, and all the trees of the field wilted because of it. I made the nations shake at the sound of its fall, when I cast it down to hell together with those who descend into the Pit; and all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, were comforted in the depths of the earth. They also went down to hell with it, with those slain by the sword; and those who were its strong arm dwelt in its shadows among the nations. To which of the trees in Eden will you then be likened in glory and greatness? Yet you shall be brought down with the trees of Eden to the depths of the earth; you shall lie in the midst of the uncircumcised, with those slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his multitude,’ says the Lord God.” (Ezek. 31:3-18).
This colour analysis makes it possible for us to read the text with greater clarity, and to realise its wider implications. Clearly people are metaphorised as trees, and this becomes an extensive Homeric metaphor where we find mention of trees, leaves, roots, shadows and more (the subparts also carry individual symbolic meanings). The trees are originally placed in paradise, the garden of Eden, where they live through the Living Water of the Spirit and the primordial waters of the Bride. The garden of Eden, here also presented as Lebanon (which means: whiteness), we by now know can also be equated to the cloud of witnesses, or the spiritual realm, or another reality/time before time. It is from this position in Christ – from which everything has been created (Heb. 11:3; 2 Pet. 3:5), that the elect fell to the realm of the dead.
The question then remains – if the Bride fell from before time/another reality, to earth, which in Scripture is presented as the realm of the dead, how do you arise from this realm? In Matt. 16:18 Jesus says to Peter: “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” From 1 Cor. 10:4 we know that Christ is the Rock, thus when you arise in the Christ, the so-called first resurrection, you arise from the realm of the dead! This concept was explained in the teaching of Day 749-751 at the hand of Rev. 20:6: “Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.” The second death is the spiritual death of all who did not arise in Christ, in their purpose and calling.
The well-known Scripture of 1 Pet. 2:9 further refers to this aspect of kings and priests as “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light …”
The Bride is called from the “darkness” of the realm of the dead, where even Lebanon (whiteness), according to Ezek. 31:15 is in mourning (thus, in connotative terms, dressed in black), and they are called to his wondrous light, “in Him was life, and the life was the light of men” (John 1:4). The Bride is called to another space WITHIN HIM, a space of light – indeed: “That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.” (John 1:9).
In Phil. 3:10 we find Paul’s desire to “know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death”, and then he makes this amazing remark in verse 11: “if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead”. If there is one person who would most definitely be resurrected from the dead, it would be Paul, that is if we understand this issue as it has been commonly understood over the years, namely that your physical body will probably be resurrected with the second coming of Christ. But this is not what Paul is referring to – the Living Bible translates it as: “the resurrection whilst I’m in the body”! This is the only interpretation that makes verse 12 a possibility: “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.” In verse 14 he provides a semantic equivalent of the “resurrection from the dead”, namely “the upward call of God in Christ Jesus”! Selah.
Take note – Scripture speaks of a first death and a second death, but only of a first resurrection! There is no second resurrection. The only resurrection is whilst you are still in your physical body!
It is then important to consider what the second death entails. Rev. 20:14 makes it clear: “Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.”
Briers Uys’ extensive teaching about the thousand year reign of peace is important in this regard, even though we have not formally discussed it in the teachings as of yet. Rev. 20:14 is presented from the context of the so-called thousand year reign of peace, which we are beginning to understand is NOT necessarily a concrete period of peace once Jesus has returned to earth. This section in Revelation should not necessarily be understood as a trajectory in which the 1000 years of peace first takes place, followed by the judgment. You are either within God’s sabbath rest, or you are outside it! This corresponds with the conclusion reached at the end of the teaching of Day 1166-1168 – our traditional distinction between life and death/the realm of the dead is wrong. The distinction should rather be between another reality/before time/bosom of Abraham/paradise/third dimension/cloud of witnesses, which stands AGAINST the earth/the realm of the dead/hell/reality. In the former there is only LIFE, even if those who are part of it may already have physically died. In the latter there is only DEATH, even if some of them are still physically alive. In the former you are thus in the rest of God, in the latter you are not. If you are in the outer darkness, part of the dead and the realm of the dead, you are judged by the Bride as lake of fire whilst you are still living!
Listen to how Jesus explains this in Luke 20:34-38: “Jesus answered and said to them, ‘The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage. But those who are counted worthy to attain that age, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; nor can they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. But even Moses showed in the burning bush passage that the dead are raised, when he called the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ For He is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to Him.”
Don’t overlook this – even though Abraham, Isaac and Jacob may have physically died, they experienced the first resurrection whilst they were still living (as is the case with all the heroes of faith named in Heb. 11). They live IN GOD, in paradise, before time/ in another reality, or whatever term we want to use. In this light the problematic text of earlier, from 1 Pet. 4:6, suddenly becomes absolutely clear: “For this reason the gospel was preached also to those who are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.”
What a beautiful distinction is drawn here – on the one hand – man, in the flesh, in the realm of the dead, and on the other, man, in the spirit, in the spiritual realm/paradise/third dimension.
- Selah: Explain this last paragraph to someone.
- Read: 19-24; Ps. 11 & 127; Matt. 3-5.
- Memorise: 127.
