ALIVE FOREVER!

1 Corinthians 15:54-55 When the perishable has be CLOTHED WITH THE IMPERISHABLE, and the mortal with the IMMORTALITY, then the saying that was written will come true: “DEATH HAS BEEN SWALLOWED UP IN VICTORY.” “”Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”

Dear friends,

For me….this Easter Weekend has been a teary one. Yes…God HAS LODGED in our house. For the last three days, I have been treading softly knowing that He is listening…eavesdropping into my conversations. My eyes….are wet at ever turn and corner. I can’t help but tell you a bit of what He spoke into my heart this morning.

As I lay in bed…I asked Him this question. ‘God, why didn’t Adam reach out and eat from the TREE OF LIFE when you placed him at the Garden of Eden? You had told him to eat from all the other trees in the Garden except from the TREE OF GOOD AND EVIL. Then why didn’t he reach out to eat from the TREE OF LIFE along with the other trees at his disposal? For a moment, I lingered on…waiting for an answer but none came. So, I got up and went about my business. Then at the breakfast table, as I talked to my husband about some things I’ve been reading in the Internet about the Persecuted Church around the world….the Lord interrupted me…mid-sentence. I began to cry again! Friends, I cried a lot yesterday, and the day before. And so again…I started this morning….with TEARS! But different kind of tears. Something has changed.

God spoke into my heart this words. “THE TREE OF LIFE…was JESUS. THE TREE WHICH ADAM COULD NOT REACH OUT TO EAT FROM WAS JESUS HIMSELF.” Jesus was right there, in the middle of the Garden of Eden all along.The reason why Adam did not reach out to eat from the TREE OF LIFE is because of all the trees in the Garden, it was the MOST UNATTRACTIVE for his physical eye.

God took me back to the Garden of Eden.

Genesis 3:6 When the woman SAW that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

Note what the word says…She SAW...by the help of her physical eyes.

But long before God showed up again in the Garden, Adam and Eve were already different people.
-Their sight, taste and knowledge was now CORRUPTED. The tree of the KNOWLEDGE did not improve them but instead it robbed them of the opportunity to reach out and EAT FROM THE TREE OF LIFE.

You see, God put these words in my heart this morning. People…many people are still reaching out for the tree of KNOWLEDGE. Yes…that tree offers good…but you cannot gain from the good of that tree without being affected by the evil which is wrapped together in the same package.

By here is the deal. When God saw what happened in the Garden, He banished Adam and Eve from it.

Genesis 3:22 And the Lord God said, ‘The man has now become like one of US, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the TREE OF LIFE and eat and LIVE FOR EVER.

Note…The Lord God here represents JESUS. It was Jesus having a conversation with the God the Father. Jesus was the TREE OF LIFE. JESUS IS THE TREE OF LIFE. If Adam would have reach out and eaten from the tree of life in his fallen state...HE WOULD HAVE LIVED FOREVER in his fallen state of sin without possibility of redemption.

But Jesus died, was buried…and TODAY He is RISEN and for all those who reach out for HIM..the TREE OF LIFE will be ALIVE FOREVER!

O death, where is your victory!
O death, where is your sting!