- Live Forever
Genesis 3:22 And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever.
The most glorious promise of the Gospel is that we have eternal life. The promise begins in the beginning. The Word does not state explicitly that Adam (and all people) was created to live forever, but we can firmly make this inference. Before Adam disobeyed, the Lord’s only command was that he could not eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. However, he could eat of the Tree of Life, and when he did he would live forever. Human life was created to go on and on without end, with the body constantly renewing itself to stay perpetually young and energetic. In a sin-cursed world that is hard to imagine, but it is still true.
God warned, “In the day you eat of it, dying you will die (you will surely die).” There was no such thing as death before the Fall into Sin. Everything God created was good, and on the sixth day creation was finished and everything was declared to be “very good.” There was no death, for that would not be a very good thing. Separation from God, from life, from the soul, and from loved ones can never be a good thing.
Sin causes loss, loss of everything: loss of God, of life, of love, of joy and peace, of fulfilling relationships, and of good. The promise of the Seed crushing the devil and all Evil restores everything that was lost, including life forever. Access to the Tree of Life has been opened to us by the death of the Son of God and Son of Man on the tree of the cross. Because of Christ now we may eat and live forever. God, in love, forbids humans to eat of the Tree of Life and life forever under the curse of sin and death. Life on a sin-cursed earth is no way to want to live forever. There must be something better, and there is. This is the promise.
Through faith in Christ we are permitted to take of the tree of life and God promises we shall live forever. Thankfully, we will not live forever in the present condition of life under Sin, Death and Evil. This is not life. It is not full, rich, abundant, or eternal. We are constantly losing pieces of life as earthly life goes on weakening, decaying and dying. But Jesus is the Tree of Life. Take of Him.