Pentecost and the Tree of Life

Thank you very much, kids. You did a wonderful job. I noticed there are some buttons out here. Parents are just so proud, the buttons popped right off. Cottie says, I can't wait for little Gabriel to be able to do something like this. We've got another one on the way, so you sort of look forward to that. They really put you in a good mood to see the way kids are so unpretentious. That's one of the things Christ said that we all need to be more of. Talking about childhood, I spent eight years in Key Biscayne, Florida. That island was named by Ponce de Leon, who discovered Florida. And it's in Biscayne Bay. Then four years later, I lived in Murphy, North Carolina, for that time. In both places, I noticed there were these historic monuments to the Spanish conquistadors that went through Florida. They went all the way up to North Carolina. And one of the famous discoverers was Ponce de Leon. He helped conquer the island of Puerto Rico and became its first governor. He heard from the Indians that there was this faraway land called Bimini, where they had a fountain of youth. It restored a person's health, brought back youthful vigor. And so, not only for gold and fame, but to try to find that fountain of youth, Juan Ponce de Leon went westward, where he found the island, or the peninsula, rather, of Florida. He called it Florida because of the greenery. In Spanish, Florida means something full of greenery, but also because he landed there on the day of Easter. And in Spanish, it's called Pascoa Florida. That's where Florida comes from, Easter Sunday. But it was a vain quest. He never did find that fountain of youth. There have been many quests for great discoveries. As I've mentioned before, there is now a quest for Noah's Ark. And it seems to be more confirmed all the time. But there is even a greater quest, and all of us are on it, whether we know it or not. It is the quest for the Tree of Life. Not just a fountain of youth, but something much better, eternal life. And this sermon sets the background for the message tomorrow about Pentecost. You see, God in his wisdom, placed in his Word many ways or angles to understand the different aspects of what the Feast of Pentecost is all about. We're going to see the background of the Feast of Pentecost through one prism, the Tree of Life. It symbolizes the access to God's Holy Spirit and ultimately immortality. The history of man can be summed up in the following terms. The quest for the Tree of Life, the initial access to the Tree of Life, then due to sin, the loss of the Tree of Life, then Jesus Christ opening up the access to the Tree of Life, and finally receiving, through the Tree of Life, eternal life. This account is summed up in the Apostle Paul's account in Romans 5 verses 12 through 21. Because here's a summary of what I just have said about the seeking after the Tree of Life, of losing the access by mankind and then the opening up through Jesus Christ's sacrifice of that Tree of Life again. Notice in Romans chapter 5 verse 12, and I'm going to read it from the contemporary English version, it says, Adam sinned and that sin brought death into the world. The Tree of Life was shut off from mankind. Now everyone has sinned and so everyone must die. Sin was in the world before the law came, before being given at Mount Sinai, of course. There's still the breaking of God's law, although people didn't have a complete understanding of it. But through their conscience, they knew they were doing wrong when they murdered or lied or stole. And so it says here, sin was in the world before the law came, but no record of sin was kept because there was no law. In other words, people broke the law. They deserved death, but there wasn't a complete understanding of what they had done.

Yet death still had power over all who lived from the time of Adam to the time of Moses. So although the law was given at the time of Moses, still death reigned over mankind because people broke those laws of God, whether they were aware of it or not. Even if I would never have come to the understanding of the truth, I still would have known I'm a sinner. You go to Africa, in the deepest recesses of Africa, you ask somebody, are you a sinner? And he says, yes, yes, I know I'm not perfect, and the rules of my tribe, I still lie, I still have done wrong things. So there is this awareness of breaking the perfect way of life.

So it says, this happened, though not everyone disobeyed a direct command from God as Adam did. In some ways, Adam is like Christ who came later because of the significance of what he did. But the gift that God was kind enough to give was very different from Adam's sin. That one sin brought death to many others. So Adam was sort of the prototype. When you are going to design an airplane, you have to, first of all, test it in a wind tunnel to see how well the attitude of the plane flies in the wind tunnel. And you can basically realize that whether it is worthy of flying or not. Well, the same way God placed Adam and Eve and tested under these circumstances what mankind would do. And he knew they were aware of sin, of the temptation that they would eventually weaken and sin. And so that is why it says here that one sin brought death to many others. Yet, in an even greater way, Jesus Christ alone brought God's gift of kindness to many people. There is a lot of difference between Adam's sin and God's gift. Now, what is more important? What is greater? So he says that one sin led to the punishment. But God's gift made it possible for us to be acceptable to Him, even though we have sinned many times. So, yes, Adam's actions brought about a very serious consequence upon mankind. But Jesus Christ's actions were even greater. They served past in importance what Adam did. This is what is being explained here.

It says, death ruled like a king because Adam had sinned. But that cannot compare with what Jesus Christ has done. God has been so kind to us, and He has accepted us because of Jesus. And so we will live and rule like kings. So here's another part of Scripture that says we are going to live and rule like kings. Everyone was going to be punished because Adam sinned. But because of the good thing that Christ has done, God accepts us and gives us the gift of life. Adam disobeyed God and caused many others to be sinners. But Jesus obeyed Him and will make many people acceptable to God. The law came so that the full power of sin could be seen. Yet, where sin was powerful, God's kindness or mercy, we would say, was even more powerful. Sin ruled by means of death, but God's kindness now rules. And God has accepted us because of Jesus Christ our Lord. This means that we will have eternal life. So yes, the tree of life was temporarily shut from mankind. But again, mankind will have access to that tree of life according to the calling that God does. So this is the prism that we can use to read the Scriptures. In Genesis 2, we can read the account because this sets the table for tomorrow for Pentecost. Genesis 2, we read about the tree of life. You remember Mr. Armstrong, the last couple years, he would continually emphasize the two trees because he realized the importance. They symbolize two ways of life, the way of giving or the way of getting. The tree of life is a tree of the love of God living in you. The tree of the science of good and evil is actually Satan and his influences living in a person, influencing what he does. In Genesis 2, verse 8, it says, The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. So here we see what it symbolizes two ways of life. God was not going to force mankind to choose. They would have to choose by themselves after he gave them the instructions. And he allowed Satan to tempt them as well. In verse 16, it says, And the Lord commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat, 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. This is not a very good translation. In Hebrews it means dying. You shall die or begin to die. What it means, though, that on the day that you sin, the dying process begins. You will not have access to eternal life while you are mortal.

Continuing on in chapter 3, verse 1, it says, Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord had made. And he said to the woman, and of course this is Satan using this physical creature to talk through. He can do that. You heard Balaam's ass was used by an angel to talk. Well, Satan could do the same thing. 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. So here are two different philosophies going on. You notice how Satan used God's instructions, but put it in a negative light. He didn't say, Oh, you have access to all these trees. You can eat everything you want here. You can do everything except touch or eat of one fruit. And what does Satan say? He focuses on the forbidden fruit. See, oh, so God, he's not very much in freedom, right? He's violating your rights. So he made him focus on the forbidden tree. That's the way he acts.

Then the serpent said to the woman, You will not surely die. That's the first lie in the Bible. That's why Christ said he was a liar from the beginning. Certainly he lied to his angels before that. But as far as the historical account with human beings, this is the first lie. For God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be open and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. So guess what? When you make that choice, you get to choose how you are going to live. You're going to be independent of God. Now you're going to be just as free as God is to make decisions. But of course, he didn't say, under my influence and with very partial information, you're going to make decisions you will later come to regret. But he said, Oh, you're free to decide on your own. Don't you want to be independent? Don't you want to be totally self- independent and self-sustained being? So when the woman saw the tree was good for food, he didn't make it into a rotten tree, a rotten smelly tree. That wouldn't be much of a temptation. Most temptations are not rotten or ugly, are they? There's something tempting. It might be a temptation of money. You look at money, you think, Oh, look what I could do with all that. You don't think that it is something horrible and, Oh, if I had that money, why it's going to poison me? Of course not, because temptation is something that a person desires. And that you're tempted by desire. Continuing on, it says, he saw that it was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, so it had a nice appearance and a tree desirable to make one wise. So he said, Oh, the tree of independence. And as a young teenager, you grow up and you think, Oh, I just can't wait to get under, get out of my parents' influence. I want to be independent. I want to decide on my own. Well, this is sort of a little bit of the spirit. Yes, everybody is going to become independent of their parents, but that does not mean that you separate yourself from their counsel, their guidance, their influence, or else it's going to be a lot worse. People are going to make a lot more mistakes.

And so it says that she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. The Bible says that she was deceived by Satan, but Adam knew very well. What he was doing. He allowed himself to say, Well, guess what? I'm going to do this intellectually. He accepted. He says, I want to be independent of God. That's why his was even a bigger responsibility and a much graver mistake than Eve.

Paul talks about that in 1 Timothy. Continuing on, it says, Then the eyes of both of them were open, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed leaves together and made themselves covering. How ridiculous! They were the only two beings on the earth. Why should they feel some shame about their bodies? But all of a sudden, they were starting to give negative influence, and Satan was there. There's this embarrassment and all this shame about the human body, and they covered it up. They felt guilty. Then God comes in the scene and says, They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

Yes, they were guilty. They felt guilt. They didn't want to go before God's presence. Then the Lord called to Adam and said to him, Where are you? So it's sort of humorous here that God is there, and he's going to wait and say, Well, oh, Adam and Eve, what a wonderful thing I'm doing. And he walks around. Where are they? I thought they would hear me and come joyous fully like children to their father. No, they're hiding behind some trees.

Now, parents know what that is like when you see kids hiding or avoiding them. Something wrong has happened. So he said, I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked and hid myself. And he said, Who told you that you were naked? See, somebody had told them, because that's not a teaching of God, that somehow sex is dirty or something you should feel guilty about in the proper context of marriage.

Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat? Then the man said, did he confess? Did he say, I'm sorry? No, he said, the woman who you gave to be with me, she gave me other tree, and I ate. Notice, it's completely throwing the guilt upon the wife.

And you can imagine here, it's sort of humorous, but how human nature is. Sure, Bill Cosby could do a good scene here about, well, God, you gave me this person. Look what this person made me do. I had no idea. I wasn't even, I get a hundred yards close to that tree, but this person, she was a spy. She came, and she forced me to do this. Isn't that very typical? Just human nature. So the Lord God, verse 13, and the Lord God said to the woman, what is this that you have done?

So the woman looks around and says, the serpent deceived me, and I ate. See, it's all His fault. So they're passing the buck. Continuing on here in verse 22, then the Lord God said, Behold, the man has become like one of us. Notice plural. There's more than one person God is talking to, and He's talking about us like beings of equality there.

To know good and evil, and now lest He put out His hand, and take also of the tree of life, that's the key term we're looking at, and eat and live forever. Therefore the Lord God sent him out of the Garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. So he drove out the man, and he placed carobim at the east of the Garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way to guard the way to what?

To the tree of life. Man lost access to the tree of life. It was shut from mankind, and for virtually thousands of years people lived, and they died, and they had no access to the tree of life. Save a few exceptions that God called. Like you have Enoch, you have Noah, you have Abraham, and a few others. But for mankind, they just went along with the society and built their values upon each culture that they lived in, and they all died.

But God had promised there would be a Redeemer. And here in verse 15 it says, and I will put enmity between you and the woman, talking to the serpent, and between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his feet. Talk about Christ. That he will eventually eliminate the influence of Satan, although Satan is going to bruise his heel, because he did cause them to be crucified and to die. But from that time, we see in chapter 4, I'm not going to go into it, but from that time on things go downhill very quickly. You have mankind multiplying. The first child of Adam and Eve, Cain, became a murderer of his brother. So that's not a good reflection. That's part of what it is, eating of the tree of good and evil. You start deciding on things based on your passion, based on a lot of the lower part of human nature. Here, Cain became jealous of Abel. Abel was following God's way of life. He was being blessed, and so Cain was filled with jealousy and envy. Jealousy and envy eventually can lead to murder. It can lead to maybe you don't physically murder a person, but you do so as through your words. You assassinate his character, his reputation. That happens all the time.

Solomon said that the excellence of works produces envy, and it's very common in human beings. So then, we come to Exodus, chapter 20, when the beginning of the tree of life is given somewhat access through God's laws that are now codified. Exodus 20, in God's verse 1, it says, in God spoke all these words, saying, I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourselves a carved image, any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them, nor serve them. So, you are not to have any religious icons in your life, in your house. Now, you can have pictures of people. You can have pictures of beautiful portraits of nature, and all things, but you are not to have a religious image that you use as a relationship with God. You are not to bow down. I know in my house we were filled with little statutes and little portraits, and I had a big crucifix that I had won from my Catholic high school. It was made of silver. I had brought it over from Cuba. I had it hanging in my room. And I remember when God called me at 17, and I read Exodus 20, and I read there where it says, you shall have nothing like this. I picked up that crucifix. I opened the back window of my room, grabbed it, and there was a big forest in the back there, and I threw it as hard as I could. That thing landed in some ivy, never saw it again in my life. Because God's commandments should be more important than our own personal feelings or background. We cannot love what is against God's word. And again, I don't say because it's something important. That's just all of us have had to go through discarding wrong teachings. Verse 7, you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. So I quit using God's name in vain in your vocabulary. Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy. God tells us, don't forget to keep the Sabbath holy. So I started keeping the Sabbath holy. Honor your father and your mother that your days may be long upon the earth. So you learn to respect your parents. So this is the access to the tree of life because it shows us the way to the tree of life. You're supposed to obey God's commandments and show him that you have surrendered to him. You are going to follow his will and not your own will. These are not bad laws. They are wonderful laws based on love toward God and toward your neighbor. Notice in Deuteronomy chapter 4 verse 7.

Deuteronomy chapter 4 verse 7. God is talking here. It says verse 7, For what great nation is there that has God so near to it as the Lord our God is to us, for whatever reason we may call upon him? And what great nation is there that has such statutes and righteous judgments as are in all this law which I set before you this day? There's no nation has similar laws. We can say all virtually of human progress has been through the influence of these laws of God. They helped shape at least Western civilization. We enjoy freedoms that you do not enjoy in areas of Buddhism or Hinduism where they still have a caste system in much of the country where people are discriminated because of what caste they are born in. Now there's been a lot of progress. It's not as bad as it was 50 years ago, but there's still a lot of that. And people just worshiping hundreds of different gods, some like Vishnu and Vista and others that are pretty horrific. Well, the progress that we have obtained, the freedoms, have been because of the respect for these laws, although they have not been applied as they should have been fully. In Deuteronomy 5 verse 29 tells us the problem. Problems were not with God's laws. The problems were with the human nature of the Israelites. It says in chapter 5 verse 29, again God exclaiming here, oh that they had such a heart in them that they would fear me and always keep all my commandments that it might be well with them and with their children forever. God blesses when you obey Him. He will never shortchange you. God will provide physical and spiritual blessings, but there will be trials. There will be testing. If there's something that is the greatest wish, if you had one wish of all that you could ever wish for, at least in my mind I'm convinced it would be to have the character of Jesus Christ. If that could be given, you would live so much better in this life and then in the next life you would be able to live for a thousand years and you're still going to be happy and then a million years and you're still going to be happy. Because if you don't have the spirit and the character of Christ, after a thousand years, you're going to start being miserable because your character is not going to be completely perfect and those flaws are going to appear and in a million years those flaws are going to be huge. So in the long run, that's what the ultimate goal is to have the character of Jesus Christ and the Tree of Life is the only way to get there. Continuing on in 1 Peter chapter 1, this is a summary of the Old Testament in regard to the Tree of Life. 1 Peter chapter 1. It tells us here in verse 12, it says, I want to read this too. It says, The rest did not have access to any of the fruits of God's Spirit. They did not possess God's Holy Spirit and although many people might have been very morally good and done good works, God's Spirit was not in them unless they had been called by God.

So in the context of the Tree of Life, we can understand much better Christ's words in John 6 verses 47 through 65. Now this is a part of the scripture that sometimes puzzles people. It sounds a bit crude, but it isn't because in the context of the access to the Tree of Life, Jesus Christ says, the access to the Tree of Life is through me. You follow me, you believe in me, you obey me, and the Tree of Life is available to you. He said in John chapter 6 verse 47, we read this during the Passover. It says, Most assuredly I say to you, he who believes in me has everlasting life. What he's saying is that I'm going to open the access to the Tree of Life for you. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. Well, if you eat of the Tree of Life, you're not going to die. And he's just saying, this is the way. I am opening up the way and the access to that Tree of Life. And assuredly you will be able to eat of its fruits. It says continually on, I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. Well, he's not talking here about not dying physically, but if you follow God's way of life, if you're converted, if you receive that first deposit of God's Holy Spirit, and you persevere to the end, you will live forever. That is what Christ is saying. Through me, you have access to the Tree of Life. Continuing on, it says, I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever and the bread that I shall give is my flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world. It's only through Christ's sacrifice, accepting Christ's sacrifice, that you can have access to the Tree of Life. There is no other way. The Jews, therefore, quarreled among themselves, saying, how can this man give us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus said to them, most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. It's a total commitment. It's what we do at baptism. We accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and we commit our lives to him.

Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life. And I will raise him up at the last day. So he says, when is this going to happen? It's not going to happen immediately, but the Tree of Life will be available to you. You will have it and you will live forever.

So then it says in verse 60, therefore many of his disciples, when they heard this, said this is a hard saying. It didn't understand it. It was symbolic. He was saying, you have to accept my sacrifice. You have to be willing to commit fully to me. But they didn't stand, wait around to receive the understanding. And when Jesus knew in himself that his disciples complained about this, he said to them, does this offend you? What then if you should see the Son of Man ascended where he was before? So he says, you're going to be offended by this. And what if you see the Son of Man ascending as he did? Disciples there in Acts 1 saw him ascending that way. Are you going to stick around? Are you going to have faith that what I'm saying is true?

It is the Spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The words which I speak to you are Spirit. They are to be understood spiritually. He's talking here about symbolism that would be later revealed as baptism, as a commitment to follow God's way of life. And they are life, but there are some of you who do not believe. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were, who did not believe, and who would betray him. And he said, therefore, I have said to you, no one can come to me unless it has been granted to him by my Father. So in those days there were people that, well, they followed Christ, but they were not fully committed to him. They had not truly committed as we do every Passover. We eat the bread and we drink the wine of that commitment. Every year we have to do that, because if we don't, it's like saying, close the access to the tree of life for me. I don't want that reward in the future. That's why it's such a big commitment that we must never stop doing as long as we can. I know there are people that end up in different parts and maybe some of these care centers, but I'll tell you, I've gone there and we've celebrated the second Passover with them, which is a month later. I mean, there is a way of doing it if a person is fully committed to it or if his faculties, because sometimes you might be converted, but your mind and your brain, finally with Alzheimer's or something, God understands that. He's not... that person is doing what they can, but again, the commitment is as far as your faculties allow you to do it. That's what God looks at the heart.

So right now we have just been given a taste of the tree of life. We have not been able to totally eat of it. Notice in Hebrews chapter 6, Hebrews chapter 6, verse 4, it tells us here about the Christian life. It says, For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, who their minds were open to the truth, and have tasted the heavenly gift. So yes, that's the Holy Spirit. They've been able to taste a portion of it. A person's life after baptism and the laying on of hands. It's not going to happen overnight, but through the weeks and months you're going to realize you have more peace, you have more connection with God, your mind starts being converted more and more, and it's a lifelong process which we can halt, we can reverse, or we can go forward. It's up to us. So it says here that we have tasted the heavenly gift and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come. Yes, we've tasted, we've seen miracles in our lives. We've seen God intervening time and time again. We know this is true, and that we have right now just the main, I would say the appetizer, but we haven't got the whole meal. That's something that's waiting for us in the future. In Hebrew, in Ephesians chapter 1, Ephesians chapter 1, it tells us again what type of Holy Spirit we have received up to now. Ephesians chapter 1 verse 13, it says, in Him, talking about Jesus Christ, you also trusted after you heard the word of truth. The word of truth. That's what caused me to take that crucifix and throw it out the window. It's not halfway. I didn't put it in a little box somewhere where I could still cherish it. You just feel like I cannot compromise with the truth. It's either yes or no. It's either I'm in or I'm out.

And that's what God wants us eventually to have that commitment. The gospel of your salvation, the good news is what it's saying there of your salvation, in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. And it should be here, which is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory. So we just have a portion. The term here guarantee is the first deposit. It's like you pay first deposit in a house. And it's not yours until you pay it off, but you can live in it. You can grow in it. But until the full purchase, you really can't say it is totally yours. It can be repossessed, as you well know. But the thing here is we have tasted a portion of God's Spirit. It's almost like being able to take a bite of that fruit, but it's not having access to the entire tree. We're able to have some of the powers of God's kingdom, but in a minimum way, when that Holy Spirit comes upon us at the resurrection, it's going to be thousands of times more powerful than what we have today. Ours is just a small portion, a small down payment of what is to come. The problem, of course, is that we still have human nature to contend with. Notice 2 Corinthians chapter 4. 2 Corinthians chapter 4.

The Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. That's the tough part. We know what we should do, but we also know there's a commitment. There are impediments. There are obstacles in the way. 2 Corinthians 4 verse 1. It says, Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart. We have received the mercy of God. We know it. We appreciate it. And so we're not going to be discouraged. As other parts of the Bible say, if God is for us, who can be against us? If he's our advocate, who can destroy that relationship? But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the Word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. Commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. Does it sound like I'm distorting Scripture? Or is it something you're saying it has the ring of truth to it? That's something you have to decide. That's where you want to be, or not. Where God's truth is being told, and I'm just a mere instrument. This is just God's Word. And it has to be told without any craftiness or cunning. But even if our Gospel is veiled, some people say, well, it doesn't make sense to me. It's so cloudy or nebulous. Well, it says here, it is veiled to those who are perishing. They have not been called, whose minds the God of this age has blinded who do not believe, lest the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus' sake. So we're not preaching about us being your leaders of salvation. It is Christ the leader of salvation. Who are we? We're bond slaves. The term here, doulas. Somebody that has committed himself to his master after a time of service. Did you say, I want to do this? And remember, they pierced the earlobe, and publicly you became a servant of that person for life. And so we have committed ourselves to be bondservants of Christ for life.

For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed. We are perplexed, but not in despair, persecuted, but not forsaken, struck down, but not destroyed. Always caring about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. Now we're going to suffer persecution. We're going to suffer for following this way of life. But that should just give us more comfort and strength to say, we're not going to be despondent. We're not going to sink to a depression because of who is there. You know, Paul was in prison so many times. He was beaten. But he's saying here, yes, I'm beaten, but that's not going to change my faith. I'm going to be faithful to the end. We have to allow God to use us and not to hinder Him.

We cannot rise above the spiritual level that is in all of us. We can fake it, but sooner or later, our spiritual level will manifest itself through the actions. You cannot rise above the spiritual level that you are in.

And so we have good news at the end of the Bible about the Tree of Life. Notice Revelation chapter 20. Revelation chapter 20 verse 1.

Here we see when those of the first resurrection have access fully to the Tree of Life, eternal life. It says, let's start in verse 4 of Revelation 20. And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the Word of God. So not everybody was beheaded. Some people also had to suffer because of the Word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, the false religions, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. They did not commit to the wrong system. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years, but the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. And this should be in the next verse. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years. Yes, it would have been worth it. All the sacrifices to be there at that first resurrection and have access to the tree of life. Notice in Revelation 22 verse 1, when the New Jerusalem comes down from heaven with God the Father, now the whole family is going to be together. First, we have to be with our elder brother. He's going to train us. He's going to guide us. We're going to be perfected. And when everything is ready, then God the Father comes down. And it says in verse 1, and he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb in the middle of its street and on either side of the river was the tree of life, which bore 12 fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations or for enriching and it's a vivifying effect. And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall serve him. That's the way with the tree of life. They are symbolizing access to God. The Holy Spirit is in every one of these people. Notice in verse 12, to finish, it says, talking about Jesus Christ, and behold, I am coming quickly, and my reward is with me to give to everyone according to his work. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are those who do his commandments. See, there is something. There is a requirement. It's not just about grace. Grace is God's unmerited favor and pardon upon all of us. He extends that mercy, that love that we do not deserve, but we've got our part to do as well through Jesus Christ, giving us strength and through that Holy Spirit that we are celebrating during Pentecost. It says, blessed are those who do his commandments, that they may have the right to what? To the tree of life and may enter through the gates into the city. Yes, first we had access to the tree of life, then it was closed through Jesus Christ. It was open again according to the calling, and here at the end are all the people, all the millions and billions of human beings that are going to be part of that kingdom of God, just as God the Father and Jesus Christ had planned from the beginning. As Mr. Armstrong said many times, brethren, in the final part of the story of the Bible, we win in the end.