“deceived in believing a lie about yourselves” (2 Kor. 11:3, TMB)
Examined closely, the lie told about the immortal soul was the first and biggest lie that was sold to man by the snake, at the beginning.
God was very pertinent in Gen. 2:17: “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”. How this statement is subtly used to deceive, is so clearly spelled out in the impactful little drama in paradise that influenced all people of all periods of time, and that “deceives the whole world” (Rev. 12:9): “Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, ‘Has God indeed said, “You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?”’ And the woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, “You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.”’ Then the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die (= you have an immortal soul). For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’” (Gen. 3:1-5).
Although it was indeed true that people’s eyes were opened (Gen. 3:22 – “Then the Lord God said, ‘Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil.’”), THIS was not the deception – the deception was that man has an immortal soul! This brought about that the entire humanity’s mind has been “corrupted”, declares 2 Cor. 11:3 (KJV). This is an immensely important key – for as man thinks, so he is (Prov. 23:7)! The Mirror Bible translates it as “deceived in believing a lie about yourselves”! Since then humanity has believed that they have immortal soul, and that they, by either doing “good or evil” deeds will be rewarded with an eternal life in heaven, or doomed to eternal hellfire. Please recognise the far-reaching implications of this original lie.
While we are discussing the first, original sin of humanity, it is important to again look at exactly what happened in the garden of Eden, with the fall, and to really come to understanding of what the symbolic importance of, for instance, the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is, and how this is the root of the problem. We however want to link these elements with the concepts of soul and spirit, as this will illuminate our discussion.
Before we get to this, let us have a cursory look at what has been said about these two mythical trees in previous teachings. This should also be an illustration for the reader of the unfolding nature of spiritual revelation, in other words how “insight increases” (Prov. 1:5), how the teaching increases (Prov. 16:23), and especially how “grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord” (2 Pet. 1:2).
In the teaching of Day 4 we made it clear: Religion feeds the tree of the knowledge of good and evil – in religion there are beautiful things that taste good – the good part – but just like the fruits of evil – they also bring forth death (Gen. 2:17). It has the fragrance of mortality. Religion requires consistent self-enhancement.
As early as Day 6 & 7 the crux of the belief around this tree was foregrounded: Man consists of three parts – you are a spirit; you have a soul, and you reside in a body. There is often some confusion about the distinction between soul and spirit. Your spirit is your ability to communicate with God, and to function in the spiritual realm. Your soul is who you are: your Will, your Intellect, and your Emotion (1 Thess. 5:23). The soul facilitates between the body and the spirit. When God warned Adam to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden of Eden (Gen. 2:16-17), He also warned him that if he should do this, he would die. After Adam and Eve ate of the tree, they did not physically die, although they were physically rendered mortal. Adam still lived long after this (Gen. 5:1-2). What did this warning thus mean? It means that their spirits died, literally became dormant, which is to say that their ability to hear the voice of God largely fell away.
In the teaching of Day 41 & 42 the matter of the two trees is addressed for the first time extensively. It is clear that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is symbolic, and not a literal tree. Rich Joyner’s book There were two trees in the garden, which presents this tree as a model of the law, is refuted. Rev. 2:7 is presented as an important key: “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.” The cherubs who were appointed to guard over the garden of Eden, and thus prevent that man in his fallen state eats of the tree of life, is pointed out. This separation between man and God that takes place continues throughout the entire Old Testament dispensation. It is clearly seen in the way that God presents the construction of the tabernacle to Moses. This assignment included that a veil is made for the tabernacle in which the cherubs are represented (Ex. 26:31).
These cherubs were there to constantly remind man of the fact that He has been separated from God, and no longer has access to the tree of life. Only the high priest could, once a year, enter the Holy of Holies to bring reconciliation between God and the covenant people. Except for this the people were as it were cut off from a relationship with God. To restore this relationship, Jesus had to give his life. It cost the blood of the Son of God to remove the cherubs. When the body of Jesus was rent apart on the cross, the veil (which is, according to Heb. 10:20, his flesh!) was torn apart from top to bottom (Matt. 27:51) and thus the cherubs were removed! Through this He opened a new, living way to the Holy of Holies, making access to paradise possible again!
The conclusion is that the tree of life is thus ipso facto clearly a pointer to Jesus, but my understanding then was that it rather pointed to the new dispensation that Jesus brought into being, similar to the dispensation that was in paradise before the fall. Throughout Scripture trees are used as symbols of kingdoms or governments (see for instance Dan. 4; Ezek. 31:3; Judg. 9). And with this information it then becomes very clear: in paradise the tree of life was the prototypical “seed example” of the kingdom of God, while the kingdom of darkness was represented by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
In the garden of Eden there were not only two trees; Gen. 2:9 notes that there were other trees of which one could also eat – one could refer to these as Jesus and his “oaks of righteousness” (Isa. 61:3, KJV). In the symbolic thousand year reign of peace the tree of knowledge of good and evil must fall (Isa. 14:8-9), the tree of life will stand on either side of the stream that flows from the throne (Rev. 22:1-2) and there will again be “all kinds of trees used for food; their leaves will not wither, and their fruit will not fail. They will bear fruit every month, because their water flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for medicine.” (Ezek. 47:13).
In the next edition we continue with this discussion of the two trees and how we’ve understood them in these teachings thus far.
- Selah: Try to think about whether we have perhaps made a reasoning error along the way.
- Read: 79-84.
- Memorise: 84:7.
