City Life Starter

Written by Megan Meier

The Word

“And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them. Then the Lord God said, ‘Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—‘ therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.”

Genesis 3:21-24 (ESV)

“And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.”

Mark 15:37-38 (ESV)

Megan’s Musings

Why was God adamant that Adam and Eve never again eat from the Tree of Life? Their banishment was less punishment and more protection. By preventing humans from eating the fruit of the tree of life, God prevented permanent estrangement from Him. 

C.S. Lewis explained it in his prequel to The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. In The Magician’s Nephew, Jadis (later the White Witch), ate an apple from a magic tree, obtained the power and long life she desired, but her evil ways made it an absolutely wretched existence. Aslan explains this to Digory (he would be known as Professor Kirke in the next book), as he was tempted to use a stolen apple to save his dying mother. Aslan tells Digory if he had, his mother would have lived, but would have suffered so immensely both she and her son would have thought it better that she had died in her illness. That would have been Adam and Eve’s fate had they been allowed to stay in the Garden and eat from the Tree of Life, knowing Good and Evil.    

God put not just a cheribum, but a cheribum with a flaming sword. If the situation wasn’t so dire, Adam and Eve must have been awed by the sight. The cheribum restricted eternal communion with God, and it was restored with Jesus (Romans 5:1-2) (Genesis by Andrew E. Steinmann). While dying on the cross, He became the new tree of life. The curtain (about two to three inches thick) in the temple tore in two, signifying all had access to God once more (not just the priest on select days). It began with a tree and it ended with a tree. 

Application

Alexander Pope said, “To err is human, to forgive divine.” We’re human and make mistakes, and through Jesus’ blood, we are forgiven. His sacrifice is not just a “get out of hell free” card, and it’s absolutely not a license to do whatever we want. His sacrifice and resurrection are an invitation to come back into a relationship with Him, the way it was before and how God meant for it to be – eternal communion with God. 

Prayer

Dear Jesus, thank You for restoring eternal communion with You. Thank You that through Your sacrifice, I am forgiven. In Your Name I pray, amen.