TWO TREES AND TWO SPIRITS

 

Hello Doves!!

The following is a study that I did for a book I was writing a few months ago. After reading the wonderful post by Denis Hart (Denis Hart (2 March 2012)
"Genesis of the Word-Faith Movement") I thought this would be an interesting addition to what he was bringing to light.

First and foremost, it is my firm contention that there are only two Spirits that operate in this world, and they are polar opposites.  There is the Holy Spirit, of the Lord and of His son, Jesus Christ; the Spirit of Truth and Life eternal, and there is the spirit of anti-Christ, of Satan; the spirit of religion and death.  We will clearly see the roots of these two spirits, as we investigate two very special, trees within the Garden of Eden.

TWO TREES

(Two Spirits)

Genesis 2:9

“And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.”

Genesis 2:15

And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.”

Genesis 2:17                                                                “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou

mayest freely eat; But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”

 

From these three verses we learn that there are two very special trees, amidst the other trees, in the Garden of Eden.  When Adam was put into the Garden, the Lord told him that every tree of the garden was available for him to freely eat of, with only one exception, the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  This meant that the tree of life was also available to eat the fruit thereof.  “Every tree of the garden” would surely include the tree of life, as it was not forbidden; only the tree of knowledge of good and evil was forbidden.

Before the Fall, Adam and Eve could have chosen to eat of the Tree of Life, but instead chose the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil.  There was a choice; there was free will at the very creation of man and woman.  The first man and the first woman chose to eat of what was forbidden instead of what was freely given.  And, it was not until after the Fall, that God protected the Tree of Life, by placing an angel, with a flaming sword, around it.

The Tree of Life is the tree of eternal life, and once “sin” entered the Garden, the sinners were not allowed to eat of it, because then, “sin” would become eternal.  If Eve and Adam would have chosen to eat of the fruit of the Tree of Life, instead, they would have become eternal in their innocence, and continue to live in timelessness.  But because they ate of the forbidden tree, they fell into the realm of time, and, in time, they shall surely die.  God is always true to His word. 

The Tree of Life

The Tree of Life is mentioned, specifically, only six times in the Bible.  Interestingly enough, three of these verses are found in Genesis, and three are found in the Book of Revelation, the two books of the Bible that I am writing about.  The Book of Genesis reveals the beginnings of the end, and the Book of Revelation reveals the end of the beginnings.  Fascinating to me, so far!!  At this point, we have already looked into two of the verses from Genesis, so we will begin with the last mention of the Tree of Life.

 

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.”

 

This last mention of the Tree of Life, in Genesis, takes place after the Fall.  God is now protecting it from sinful man.  The next three verses are found in the last book of the Bible, and it is the book that reveals all that is concealed within the rest of God’s Holy Word.  Let’s look at these informative verses.  The first one is addressed to the Church at Ephesus, the first of the seven churches that Jesus is speaking to.

Revelation 2:7

“He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.”

 

Here we see that the Tree of Life is still in the Garden (Paradise) of God.  The tree represents the “spirit” of eternal life, still being offered, to man, through Christ.  This is before the Tribulation begins and the battle between two spirits is waged.  We are still being “freely” offered the choice of eternal life, over the choice of sin and death. 

The next two verses take place after Jesus returns, and they are part of the description of the New Jerusalem; the New Paradise of God, within the New Heaven and New Earth.  We who have chosen Christ, and are born-again from above, will partake of the fruit of this tree, and have eternal life with our Creator.  Just as God intended it to be in the Garden of Eden.

Revelation 22:14

“In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.”

Revelation 22:14

“Blessed are they that do his commandments that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates of the city.”

 

Quite obviously, this Tree of Life is a major component in the plan of God. Because man missed the mark by eating of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and sinned, the only way to eat of the Tree of Life is to die and be born-again, from above, in Spirit and in Truth.  Christ is the only way to the Tree of Life, and the Holy Spirit, his gift to us, is only available when we die to ourselves.  The spirit of the anti-Christ, the forbidden tree, is the only other choice of “spirit” that man has.  The whole of mankind, beginning with Adam and Eve, have the choice between these two spirits.  And that choice will make all the difference.

 

The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil

Let’s now look at the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil.  The first thing we notice here is that this tree is never mentioned again after Genesis 2:17. This is very interesting, as it seems this “spirit” goes underground, and is hidden from view.  Religion is like that, ritual and dogma carried out in the dark; mysteries and hidden truths are the foundation stones of most religious activities.

Enlightenment entails finding the “forbidden” Truth, the truth that God doesn’t want you to know, so that you can become like gods, no longer needing God.  Just like the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden.  The spirit of Satan is hidden and conveyed by being concealed, in the darkness of mystery; and one must use his body to find this hidden “spirit”.  The Truth of God is forthright and is conveyed by revelation; being revealed as opposed to being concealed.  That being said, we are going to use the way of truth and revelation to find the answers we are seeking, here.

First we are going to take a look at some of the most important words in this phrase, and see what specific meaning, if any, that the Lord intended.  The meaning of the word “tree” is the same throughout the Bible, both in the Old and New Testament.  I am not going into that here, because the meaning is the same as our understanding of a tree.  But remember, trees have roots, and the roots of these two trees are grounded in the same soil, but are of two different “spirits”.

Knowledge

Knowledge is a key word, so we will find out the definition of that word first. 

Strong’s Concordance: page 1488, H-1847 states:

Da’at:  from H-3045; knowledge: -- cunning, ignorantly, know, knowledge, unawares, wittingly.

H-3045: is the universal meaning of the word knowledge, meaning “to know”.

The first thing we notice is that the meaning used in the phrase, “tree of knowledge” is different than its general meaning.  As I looked at all the times that the word is used in the Bible, this meaning (H-1847) is used when describing man’s limited knowledge of things; ignorant and unaware.  This would seem to represent man’s limited knowledge (ignorant and unaware) as opposed to God’s knowledge which is true, real, and eternal.

It also seems to point to the idea of that this kind of knowledge is contrived, and a form of the illusion of “knowing” as opposed to the truth of knowing.  This knowing is “wittingly”; using wit, mind; and “cunning”, the willful use of deception.  Wow!  Look how much is conveyed here by the use of one word!  Just by a word that the Lord used, through Moses, to write this, helps us to understand its special meaning in this instance.

Good

This word is used thousands of time throughout the Bible, and the meaning we find in the verse we are looking at, is the general meaning of the word. Still, there are some interesting aspects to be considered in its definition.

Strong’s Concordance, page 1504, H-2896 states:

tob : from H-2895; good (as an adjective) in the widest sense; used likewise as a noun; (good thing, good man); and also as an adverb; (well) – i.e. best, fine, glad, goodness, kindness, merry, pleasant, pleasing, pleasure, sweet.

H-2895 states:  tob; a primitive root; to be (transitive; do or make) good in the widest sense:--be, better, seem good, please, be well, do well.

This definition seems to cover all aspects of goodness and being good.  What I found interesting is how much it has to do with physical feelings and bodily pleasure.  Words such as: glad, merry, pleasant, pleasing, pleasure, and sweet.  Also the idea that there is something to do or make, such as do good and make good, in order to “be good”.  Could the Lord be pointing out that the tree of Knowledge of good and evil is the tree of knowing pleasure and pain?  Let’s look into the definition of “evil”, before we draw any conclusions.

Evil

The very first time the word “evil” is used in the Bible is in the verse we are studying.  After that, it is used thousands of times throughout the Bible.  The definition we will be looking at is the most general one, used in Scripture.

Strong’s Concordance, page 1575, H-7451 states:

ra;   bad, or (as a noun) evil (natural or moral):-- affliction, calamity, displease, displeasure, distress, grief, hurtful, ill, misery, sore, sorrow, trouble, wretchedness, wrong.

 

Okay, we can plainly see that “evil” truly is the opposite of “good”.  Where good represents pleasure, we clearly see that evil represents pain; physical and moral pain, which includes: illness, misery, grief, sorrow, and trouble.  The thing about pleasure and pain, in the physical sense, is that it must be directly experienced.  Therefore, this tree of the knowledge (direct physical experience) of good (physical pleasure) and evil (physical pain) has to do with the body and mind.  As a consequence, you cannot have one without the other.  You cannot have physical and mental pleasure without experiencing physical and mental pain.  This knowledge is surely from BELOW and the only “spirit” one can commune with, upon eating of the fruit of this tree, is the “spirit” of Satan.

When we look at the concepts of new age “enlightenment”, we see that much revolves around the idea of direct experience, especially sexual experience.  In yoga, and many Eastern religions, sexual energy is the main pathway to enlightenment.  They teach that the “serpent” of this energy is coiled at the base of one’s spine, (in their sexual organs) and as one becomes enlightened this energy moves up the chakras, from the sexual organs to the brain.  One can only reach God, by this use of body and mind, which involves a great deal of time and strenuous work, on the part of the initiate.  They are told that only through the direct experience of pleasure and pain can they become whole.

Put simply, the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil is all about man finding his own way to God, and becoming a “god”, using the tools of the body (sexual energy) and the tools of the mind, which in this case represents “illusion”, because our minds are in time; an illusion in the face of eternity.

 

Satan is the only “spirit being” around at the time of creation that had this direct experience of both good and evil.  He was God’s most glorious creation, the most beautiful and powerful of all the angels.  He is also referred to as Lucifer, an angel of light, even in his fallen state.  He was the angel with the most light, and referred to as the Morning Star.  The name “Lucifer” is used only once in the entire Bible, where the Lord is telling us just how far Satan fell when he disobeyed; just how far he fell when he sinned.  Let’s look at that before we go any farther:

(Please note the phrase “which did weaken the nations” and how it is contrary to “heal the nations”, in regards to the tree of life.)

 

Isaiah 14:12-15

“How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!  How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!  For thou has said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.   Yet, thou shalt be brought down to hell, the sides of the pit.”

 

Conclusion

It seems best to conclude our study on these two trees by presenting a list of what each tree represents.  

 

Tree of Life                    Tree of Knowledge

Spirit of God (Christ)        Spirit of the anti-Christ (Satan)

Eternity                            Time

Truth                                Religion

Grace (freely given)          Works (must be earned)

Spiritual energy                 Sexual energy

Life                                   Death

Free man                          Slave

Born-again                        Enlightenment

Wholeness                        Division

Light                                 Darkness

Wisdom                            Knowledge (carnal)

Righteousness                   Sin

Healing                             Destructive

REALITY                          ILLUSION

 

Ultimately these two trees represent two choices; to eat of the TRUTH of the tree of life, and live in REALITY and have a personal relationship with GOD; or to eat of the fruit of the tree of KNOWLEDGE of good and evil and live an ILLUSION, wherein the only relationship is one with Satan.

Since we know that the Tree of Life was available to Adam and Eve, they made the choice to disobey the Lord, just like Satan did, and the result was disastrous to the whole of mankind.  We can see that these two trees represent Truth and religion and the difference thereof.  The “religion” of the anti-Christ began at the very beginning of the creation of man, and will be the religion that separates man from God, for all time.

 

We born again Christians have all eaten of the Tree of Life, and we will return to Garden of Eden and live forever with our Glorious Lord and Savior.

Keep eating the good stuff!!!

See you all, very soon!!

Patti C.