Why the Tree of Life?

Now, when I crossed the border, I mentioned at one of the Kingdom of God seminars, when I crossed the border from Brazil into Guyana on the way back, I got a little taxi to go to Latham. It's not very far away. It was like five minutes' drive, if that, and he took a shortcut through, I don't know. But the taxi driver, as I got into the car and as I was putting on the seatbelt, the very first thing he asked me is, Christ is powerful. Christ is everything. He is the Creator, He is powerful. Why does Jesus Christ need the tree of life? And I felt just like that. I mean, they are walking into, or sitting into a taxi, the very first question they asked me, instead of saying, good morning, how are you, where'd you come from, whatever, you know. And it kind of hit me. And I said to him, you know, Jesus Christ does not need the tree of life. And indeed, He does not. And he was amazed with that answer, because I think that's all He needed. And I guess that's what God inspired me to say to him. Because then we talked a little bit about, but, oh, I understand, I can see that you're religious and whatever. And he says, yes, I'm a Seventh-day Adventist. And then I asked him, have you read books of so-and-so? And he said, no, but I've read so-and-so. And then I said, and who you are? And I said, I'm an pastor, elder from United Church of God. Oh! And then he pulls up and he says, yeah, I read your magazine. He has a good news. So he had one right there. So, amazing how God brings people, and who knows what's next. But again, on the other side, you don't want to kind of pump somebody with all lot of things when they didn't ask. Because as we got to the hotel, which is just across, you know, across a bridge from this, it's like about 200 yards, which I walked across in the morning to go to the airport with my case, etc., there. So, as I got to the hotel, and you know, I was paying him, and he just said, so Christ does not need the Tree of Life. He was just repeating those words at least five or six times. I mean, it wasn't him as if, wow! But, as I thought about it, and that's what inspired today's sermon, is why the Tree of Life? Because maybe that should be the question, why the Tree of Life?

And his question was based on Revelation 22. So, turn with me, please, to Revelation 22, chapter right at the end. Revelation 22. We're going to start reading from verse 1.

It says, and he showed me a pure rip of water of life, clearest crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. Now, it's interesting because it's the throne of God and of the Lamb. So, we clearly know that the setting young is, as you can see by reading from chapter 21, the setting is in the new heaven and the new earth. Because God is, God's throne, not just the Lamb's throne, but God's throne is on earth.

And there's a river of water, so that's very significant, which we'll touch a little bit about it towards the end as well, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of each street and on either side of the river was the Tree of Life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. That is a fascinating statement. When we read about it and we consider the time setting, it really is a fascinating statement. And clearly, we don't understand everything. And I am not going to speculate that. We don't know anything about anything that we don't know, because God has not told us. And it's not my role to do that. But my purpose today is to talk a little bit about something that God did for us right at the beginning in the Garden of Eden. Because let's go back to the beginning. And that is in Genesis 2. Genesis chapter 2. And starting in verse 8.

It reads, And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, what we call paradise at that time, and there he put the man whom he has formed.

And out of the garden of 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 there were two key trees here. So when we talk about the tree of life, we really need to be talking about both trees here, because there is an important lesson here. And now a river went out of Eden. Again, there's a river. So let's leave the point about the river for the time being. But let's focus about this point about the tree, because go down to verse 16. I'll write it 15. Start reading from verse 15 through 17. Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man saying, Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat. Of every tree 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 shall eat of it you shall surely die.

So here we are talking about a tree.

In fact, two trees. One is a tree of life, which basically means the outcome of the fruit of that tree is life. And then we have another tree of which the outcome of the fruit of that tree is death.

So we actually could call it two trees, a tree of life and a tree of death.

Now let's continue the story a little bit further in chapter 3, verse 1. Now, the serpent was more cunning, was more subtle, was very clever, in other words, was so intelligent. He had, or it had, or whatever you want to call it, a very high IQ, very intelligent. Then any beast of the field which the Lord God had made, and the serpent said to the woman, and as we know, as we read elsewhere, basically, was Satan, has God indeed said, you shall not eat of every tree of the garden.

Can you see how subtle he is already? Did you pick it up? Because that's not what God said.

Go back to verse 16 of the previous chapter. God said, of every tree of the garden you may eat, freely eat. That's what God said. God did not say, you shall not eat of every tree of the garden.

Subtle. And the woman said to the serpent, now the woman said, reading in verse 2, she knew what God had said, and she said, no, no, no, no, no. God said, we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden. She knew at first, at the beginning, she was not deceived. Initially, she was not deceived. She said, no, no, God said, we may eat of the fruit of the tree of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree, which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, thou shalt not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die. Interesting. God actually said also, don't touch it. That reminds me of little children, you know. You have something in the house and she says, don't touch it. And you know the little hand.

And when you turn your face, go, hide and touch it. They're just guessing, you know. It's interesting. But anyway, back to the matter at hand. So, verse 4, then the serpent said to the woman, so there is now, this is where the dissection begins. There was some sort of a discussion and throughout that discussion, and this is very summarized. It just says, you will not surely die. That is kind of the outcome of that discussion. And it says, you're not going to die. So, what he's saying here? God is lying to you. God's lying. God's a liar. Or in other words, don't believe God. Don't trust God. Don't have faith in God.

Verse 5, for God knows that in the day that you eat of it, your eyes will be open, and you'll be like God, knowing good and evil. And so now, he's implying a motive to God. An ulterior motive, saying, well, you know, God is actually, does not really want the best for you, but you know, God knows it. And if you really eat first, then you'll be like God. We're implying that the whole meaning that what we know, that we are children of God, and we're going to be hairs of God, as we heard in the sermon, acting one of the scriptures that was read, that we to be hairs of God, that's not so. Because we're only going to believe if we have of this tree of knowledge of good and evil, because then we'll know good and evil.

And, and interesting enough, look in verse 13. After she had taken it, because now she had been deceived, she had been led astray, her mind had been put it in other words corrupted, changed from the right way to a wrong way through deception.

In verse 13 says, when God speaks to me, it says, God said to the woman, why is this that you've done? And the woman said, the serpent deceived me. The woman knew she had been deceived.

She knew she had been deceived.

I mean, Paul says the same thing. Turn with me, please, to 1 Timothy chapter 2 verse 14. 1 Timothy chapter 2 verse 14. 1 Timothy chapter 2 verse 14. Well, it looks like I got the wrong scripture. I'm so sorry.

But it is a scripture that says that I don't know why I got the wrong scripture. I apologize. I usually don't know. Well, I'm looking at it, verse chapter 3. Sorry, I'm reading under chapter 3. That's my fault. 1 Timothy chapter 2 verse 14. That's correct. Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and fell into transcription. So I did have the right scripture. Sorry, I was just... My eyes have fallen onto it and they shut my apologies. I'm a human being. That's okay.

Anyway, you see, the woman was deceived, but Adam was not. Now, does that make Adam better?

If Adam was not deceived, then why did he do it? I think it's actually even worse.

Because he knew better and he did it. He did not take accountability for what he knew. He disobeyed, outrightly. He knew he had disobeyed because he was not deceived.

And then, as you know, as you read the story, he played the blame game. Oh, it wasn't me. It was that woman that you gave me. You know? Ah, you, God, you gave me that woman.

So the man is not any better off. So let it not be that the woman is worse. Now, we all have our problems, but the point that he's saying, yeah, is the woman was deceived. But the point is, you and I, we all can be deceived sooner or later. We all can be deceived because he is so clever, is so subtle, that he can deceive everybody. He would have deceived Adam had he just gone beyond, but he didn't have to do that, you know? Adam already sinned, so that was enough. He had done his, accomplished his task for the day, you know? So that was enough. But turn with me to 2 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians 11, 2 Corinthians 11, verse 3. But I feel, lesser now, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, by his cleverness, by his subtleness. He was so subtle, he deceived Eve. So your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. The minds may be corrupted. You know, there was deception, as I mentioned earlier on, when we are deceived, our minds are corrupted. You know, it was, instead of being clear, thinking straight, the minds are now twisted through the deception, the minds have become corrupted, and our thinking is not 100% straight. And so he's saying, be careful that your minds be not corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. Always amazes me, always amazes me, that quite often when people leave the church, they get caught up with really complicated things. They get caught up with either numbers or dates or calculations which are so complicated. And I look here, he says, I fear lest your minds become corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. And I think it's a thing for us to remember. When we see, when we get too technical, be careful, because maybe we're just getting caught up into things that we should not be getting caught up in. So that's a sad point there. But the point that I wanted to say is, be careful that we not be deceived. Yes, Adam was not deceived yet, but Satan ultimately deceives the whole world. You can make an note, Revelation 12, verse 9 says, Satan deceives the whole world. So ultimately, giving enough time, he has the capability because he's so intelligent, he's so clever, he's capable to deceive everybody. So that's why we have to be careful. Like it says, he upholds to the Corinthians, he says, be careful lest Satan corrupt your minds from the simplicity that is in Christ. And indeed, brethren, if we just look at the example of the two trees, I mean, what Satan did there, deceiving Adam and Eve, deceiving Eve, should I say, and encouraging, guiding Adam to sin, put it that way, which technically may be correct. But through that deception and sin, he was basically laying out the key doctrines of false religion that we have today. You think about it, that's a whole new subject that I would like to talk to you about at the time, but it is, is laying out the key doctrines of false religion as we have today in modern Christianity. But back to the tree of knowledge of good and evil and to the tree of life. What was the result of eating or touching the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? Death. Death. And yes, Adam and Eve and so, as every person that has lived after Adam and Eve has died or will die sooner or later. We all will die. That is the result of that act, not just that act, but what you and I do, which is symbolized by that act. So, the question is, is God against knowledge of good and evil?

Is God against the knowledge of good and evil?

Turn with me to 2nd Peter, 2nd Peter, chapter 3. Right at the end, Mr. Grady touched that point as well in the sermon, which I thank you, which has showed that we have to grow, as he mentioned. But in verse 17 to 18, 2nd Peter, chapter 3, you therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, be way lest you fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked. So, we have to know what is right and wrong, what is good and evil, because he's saying don't fall from your steadfastness and get dragged down by those influences, those negative influences, negative forces, negative forces of human nature and of Satan to drag you down to wickedness. So, we have to know what is evil, so that we avoid it, so that we are aware of it. But look in verse 18, let grow, let grow. So, we have to grow, that means increase, get more of, grace and knowledge. Interesting grace is first, so it's not just knowledge, it's the way we apply, how kind we are to people, how we come across to people. Yes, that's very important, but also knowledge. We need to grow in knowledge. So, God is not against knowledge of good and evil.

But let's continue, Jesus. Knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It's the knowledge that comes from Jesus the Christ. He's the Word, He's the Spokesman. You know what comes from God through the Spokesman, the Word. It's the knowledge of God.

So, we need to be able to discern, distinguish, separate good and evil. That's what verse 17 and 18 is saying. We need to be able to distinguish the clean and unclean, in other words, the good and evil, the right and the wrong.

We need to distinguish what's correct and what's incorrect.

But it needs to be based in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

He is the one that tells us what is good and what is evil. It's God that defines to us what is good and what is evil.

So, what was wrong with the three of the knowledge of good and evil? Turn with me to Proverbs chapter 3.

Proverbs chapter 3.

Start reading from verse 5 to verse 8. Proverbs 3. Proverbs 3.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart. There was belief. Have faith. Trust what God says. That's exactly what Satan told Eve not to do. He says, don't believe God. God is lying to you. But what he says, yeah, is trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not upon your understanding. So, it's actually there is God's understanding and your own understanding. There's God's knowledge and your own knowledge. Lean on God's knowledge, as we read in Peter. Grow in the knowledge of Jesus Christ.

But don't lean upon your own understanding.

The tree of knowledge of good and evil. Your own understanding.

In all your ways, verse 6, acknowledging and you'll direct your paths. Do not be wise on your own eyes. Don't think you know it all. Don't think you know what's right and wrong. Don't be wise in your own eyes. Don't be the smart cat that knows all the answers.

Fear the Lord and depart from evil. For it will be health to your flesh and strength to your bones. It will be life. Life. So, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, what was wrong with it, is that it was mankind or human beings deciding what is right and wrong, apart from what God told them was right and wrong. And that is the way of death.

The way of life, the tree of life, is allowing the knowledge of Jesus Christ teaches what is right and wrong through God's principles, God's commandments, the teachings of Christ and the ones of the apostles, through, let's call it a Torah, and the enhanced Torah, all that which is Christ's teachings.

That is what's right and wrong, not what I decided. And believe in that and trust in that.

And if we do that and we apply that, it'll be flesh to our bones and health to us. It'll heal our bodies, spiritually speaking, of course. We're talking about spiritually intent here, and therefore the end result is life.

So, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is the tree of us deciding what is right and wrong, with our corrupted, deceived minds under the inspiration of Satan, and applying that knowledge of right and wrong that we've decided ourselves what it is, and bearing that fruit of suffering and ultimate death.

Whilst the tree of life could be called, it's the tree of God deciding what is right and wrong, and of us applying what God tells us what is right and wrong, and us bearing the fruit of happiness and joy and of well-being, because we're living according to God's principles, according to the teachings of Christ, and the ultimate end result is life. So, God sets the standard. You see, when it's our way, the tree of death, it's the way of get, for me, myself, get. When it's God's way, it's the way of get, and concern for others, and well-being for others. And you see, if believed Satan, in other words, that you and I should decide what's right and wrong, and not believe in what God is telling us what is right and wrong. And the point is, once you take that root, everything appears so right.

You can reason around everything. You can see that you in Proverbs just turn to Proverbs 14, verse 12. Proverbs 14, verse 12.

There is a way that seems right to a man.

Yes, the tree of knowledge of good and evil. It just seems so right, because you can reason around it, and it appears so right with your own, your own deductions and conclusions of what you should or should not do in very circumstances, with your own ethical standards that you and mankind creates. And it seems so right, but the end is the way of get. If you shall eat of it, or touch it, you shall die.

Therefore, brethren, you and I need to discern. We really need to discern. As in the letter, the epistle of Peter said, beware, and Paul as well said, beware that you don't get confused and deceived with correct mind.

So, the tree of life is that we believe in God's definition of knowledge of right and wrong. We apply it, and as we eat and touch it, and we bear the fruit which heals all suffering in all relationships.

Now, obviously, Jesus Christ is the way. He is the life.

And therefore, Christ does not need the tree of life. He is the way. He is life.

But He is given as a tree of life because we are physical, and we need a physical lesson to learn from it. And, just like we have to be careful what we eat and diets, etc., it will physically be, as it says, for healing of the nations.

So, why did God create the tree of life? Why? Christ does not need it. We need it. We need it. You and I need it.

Now, turn with me to Revelation 2, verse 7.

Revelation 2, verse 7. This is one of the scriptures to one of the church-earers. And then, right at the end, Christ is saying of this church area, the first church area, the area of the church of the Ephesians, He said, to hear what he becomes, I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

Now, do you know that mankind had never eaten of the physically speaking tree of life? Not even Adam or Eve, though.

At the Eden, Eden, as we are often referred to it, was a paradise. So, that was a paradise.

Now, it's talking about the paradise of God.

More about that later. But the point is, spiritually speaking, you and I must now be touching and eating of that fruit of the tree of life.

In other words, you and I need to be living that way, God's way. God's way of give through Christ that lives in us through the power of His Spirit.

And so, the really important question now is, what are we doing about it? Because the technicalities of how the tree of life will be or not be in the paradise of God and how God will do that. That's interesting and we can all debate and speculate. But I think the important point is understanding that it really is a case of us making a choice and of us making a deliberate choice and following a specific way of life. And it produces a certain fruit and a certain outcome, like the fruit of God's only Spirit, and it's very scalatristics. So, it really is a fruit. The question is, are we, quote-unquote, taking some spiritual bites onto that tree of life now and making some progress that we are in the right way? So, I want to give you a couple of points about that to make sure that we are indeed working in the right things. So, the first thing that where Satan deceived Eve was saying, ah, sure you will not die. In other words, he was saying, don't believe God. God is a liar. So, the very first thing we need is we need to believe that God knows best. He tells us what's right and wrong and we need to have faith and absolute trust in Him what is right and wrong. Turn with me for Jeremiah 7 verse 21. Jeremiah 7 verse 21. I'm going to read from 21 to 23. And Yah is God speaking to the Israelite people and saying, you know, guys, you can take your offerings and throw them away. I'm not interested. I'm not interested in your sacrifices. I'm not interested in your offerings. You can throw them away. Let's read it as it says. Add your offerings to your sacrifices and eat meat. In other words, keep your offerings. I'm not interested in them. For I will not speak to your fathers or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt concerned by offerings or sacrifices. My relative importance was God was interested in the land. Something else. That's really what he's saying. The sacrifice was kind of, yeah, it's a points to other things, as we know, points to the sacrifice of Christ. And therefore, it was a teaching lesson. But the important thing, this is what God wanted them to do. Verse 23, Obey my voice and I'll be your God. And you shall be my people and walk in all the ways that I've commanded you that he may be well with you. You and I have to believe God, that God's laws, that God's principles, that God's commandments are for our own good. It's the tree of life. Life for good, for health, for healing. It's for our own good. So, the first step, or the first, like, spiritual bite into this fruit of this tree of life, in analogy that I'm giving you as things that we can do, is first, add absolute faith and trust that what God gives us in the Bible is sound, is for our own good, and therefore have no doubt about it. It will work out for good, even though sometimes it may not look. It's for our own good.

Okay, let's move on to the second bite, because it was a tree of knowledge, right? So, turn with me to 2 Timothy 2, verse 15.

2 Timothy 2, verse 15.

That's a very well-known scripture.

That is basically saying.

Continue, starting in verse 14, continue the things that you've learned, knowing what you've learned, and that your childhood, you have known the holy scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration, profitable for doctor, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, suddenly equipped for every good word. In other words, you and I need to have God's knowledge. And God's knowledge comes from God's Word. God's Word is Christ's Word. He's the Word. He's the one that spoke. It's God's Word. It's the Bible. And therefore, we need to grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And how do we do that? Through Bible study. We really need to get more Bible study. We really need to have the correct knowledge. Not our knowledge. Now, obviously, it does not mean we don't study and go to university and things like that. I don't mean that. God's knowledge is the knowledge of how to live, and principles of living does it from the Bible. Now, there are a lot of other scientific things that we all should study and go and learn. But what I'm talking about is God's truth is based in the Bible. And that's what we've got to have the foundation. The foundation of all knowledge is God's Word. And we've got to be studied to learn more of the Tree of Life, which is the tree of God's knowledge of good and evil.

So, we need to study more about that. Okay. Now, once we study it, we need to understand its implications. It's not just knowledge, but we need to understand it. We need to grasp it. The light needs to come on and say, ha-ha! That's what it means. You need to have that, ha! I see it! I see it! You know, eureka moment, you know? I see it. You need to have that understanding. And that is the, let's call it the third bite. We need to understand, and therefore, we need to ask God for understanding. But turn with me to Proverbs 4.

Verse 1 and 2. Yea, my children, the instruction of the Father, and give attention to no understanding. Here, the instruction, you know, was get the, we get the knowledge, but pay particular attention to get understanding, to understand, to grasp it, to see the implications. Pay attention to that. For I give you good doctrine, good teaching. The Torah, the teachings of Christ are good for us. Do not forsake my Lord, my teachings, my presence.

So, we need to trust God that His knowledge is correct. No doubts. Go for it all the way. Study so you know what it is. And then ask God for understanding. But in addition to that, you know, there are situations sometimes when you just cannot initially see what is wrong with what certain people say, but you sometimes just have that gut feel, this is not right. I don't know if you've heard people speak sometimes, and you say, what do you say? He's basically right, but there's something wrong there, and I don't quite get to it to be able to separate the bone from the marrow, but there's something there that just doesn't gel. Now, that is what are called discernment. We need that additional discernment. It's not just understanding, but we need discernment. Look how Solomon asked for that in 1 Kings 3.

1 Kings 3. 1 Kings 3. 3 Kings 3. 3 Kings 3. Verse 7-9. 1 Kings 3. Verse 7-9. Now, Lord, my God, you've made your servant king instead of my father David. But I am a little child, and I do not know how to go after to come in. I just don't have all day. I'm not experienced. I don't have it all. I need help. And therefore, and your servant is in the midst of your people, whom you've chosen, a great people, too numerous to be number of counted. Therefore, give your servant an understanding heart to judge your people that I may discern between good and evil.

For who is able to judge this great people's office?

God, please help me to discern. Even in the church, sometimes we get situations where we say, I'm confused. I don't understand that. I don't see it. And then we have to go to God and say, God, help me to discern, because we need that extra light to just be able to distinguish the clean from the unclean, the holy from the hanali, from right from wrong, the good from evil. And so we need to ask God for that.

Now, look at what it will be done in the world tomorrow. This is an amazing Scripture, Ezekiel chapter 44. Ezekiel chapter 44.

Now, this section of Ezekiel starting from chapter 40 onwards, it's clearly showing the construction of the new temple in the world tomorrow, during the thousand-year period, and how the temple will be made. And then you can see in the dimensions of the temple and all that.

And then it's telling about the laws to the priests and the priesthood. There will be then a temple. They will be offering sacrifices, and people ask why, because sacrifices are a lesson, are a physical lesson to point to Christ. That's what it is. It's a teaching exercise, so they'll be reminded of that. But in Ezekiel 44 verse 23, it says about what they will do.

They says, And they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the hanali, and cause them to discern between the clean and the unclean.

They will help people to discern between the clean and the unclean. That is an important point. To discern, it's that extra understanding to discern, not just knowledge, not just having basic understanding, but it's kind of an empty green of extra understanding to discern right from wrong. Look at Hebrews chapter 5 verse 14. Hebrews chapter 5 verse 14.

Paul talking out to the Hebrews, and he says, But solid food belongs to those who are full age, which I'm sure. Solid food. Real, solid, strong, Christian, living, teachings, knowledge, how to apply, how to live, how to... That's solid food. And there is those who are, those who by reason of use, in other words, because they practice it, because they're exercising it, have their senses exercised, they've been finely tuned, their senses have been finely tuned to discern both good and evil.

That is the solid food of Christianity, that when you've really got, you've got to, you've trust God, you know that what's right and wrong, you're paying attention and understand, but when you get to those situations which is difficult to discern, you, through this, after your senses, exercise. In other words, you have that gut feel that it says, that's not right. You can discern. You have that kind of sixth instinct. That is something very special, and that is solid food, and that only comes through having the senses exercised and being maturity and growing in the knowledge of, in grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ, and that is so important.

So having the senses exercised, it's very key. Now, we've got to be careful. I'm putting extra emphasis on this point, because this is where Satan is so clever. Satan is so clever. He's so clever that the more you know of God's truth, he will try and model not all the other things, but somewhere in the yard, in a way, because he's so clever, he's going to try and model it up for you and for me, because he's so clever. And that's where we need that wisdom to discern one from another.

Now, there's a very big subject here. I just want to briefly touch by going to James chapter 3, verse 13 to 18. James chapter 3, verse 13 to 18.

He says, Who is wise and understanding among you? I mean, that you can really discern. I mean, you really can discern things. Letting show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. What a powerful statement the meekness of wisdom.

You can have a whole sermon or series of sermons on those two words or three words, the meekness of wisdom. The meekness of wisdom. What is meekness? That alone is a whole subject. As I mentioned to you, doing a series about the Beatitudes, one of them is meekness, so that's coming soon. But meekness is quite an important subject. A meekness of wisdom. A good simple meekness. It's more than humble because it's been teachable. It's a humility that is teachable, which is correctable, which is willing to be adapted according to the right way, of course, but of wisdom. It's that of wisdom. And it basically touches what it is, because it says there are basically two types of wisdom.

There's God's wisdom and there's Satan's wisdom. And God's wisdom has meekness of wisdom. Satan's wisdom has no meekness of wisdom in it, because it's proud, it's bitter, it's self-seeking, it's the way of get, and all the other things that it explains in verses 14 through 16. It says, the wisdom of Satan is not meek. In other words, if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against truth. This wisdom does not descend from above, in other words, not God, but it's earthly, sensual, demonic.

It's fake panic, for where envy and self-seeking exist, confusing, and every evil thing are there. And so there is a motive, and therefore that wisdom is applied with the wrong motive. But God's wisdom is in verses 17 and 18, it says, if the wisdom's from above, it's first pure. In other words, first and foremost, it's got the right motive. There's no deception. You're not deceiving anybody, that's it. White is white, bread is bread, and cheese is cheese, and that's it.

It's just as simple as that. That's it, you know, that's it. First pure. But then, besides being without deceiving, it's got all these other characteristics. It produces peace, it's gente, willing to yield, you know, it's got that neatness to it, full of mercy, good fruits, without partiality, and it's not hypocritical.

Now, the fruits of righteousness shown in peace by those, now the fruits of righteousness is shown in peace by those who make peace, and the fruit of that is life, is the tree of life, basically. So, so, yeah, he's talking about two wisdom. But what I'm really saying, and I know I'm deviating a little bit, but I just wanted to say this. Satan is very clever, and you and I need to learn to discern, have our hearts exercised to discern good from evil, clean from unclean, even when it's so subtly dressed by this wisdom, which is demonic, because it will be difficult sometimes to discern.

And you and I need to be very close to God, and to be asking God to discern, because the time comes occasionally to brethren in our lives that we can easily be deceived by Satan, easily, because it's so clever.

It's so clever. So we have those two trees, like we have these two wisdoms, and we have to discern. We have to discern. So the fourth bite, as I was explaining to you, is first we've got to believe that God is true indeed. We need to learn more about God's knowledge, but therefore we need to study. We need to pay attention to it. We need to give Jew attention to it. We need to be able to discern, which is the fourth area.

But now, now that you've got all this, what is next? You've got to make the right choice. It's no good to just know all the stuff if you don't apply it. And so in Deuteronomy chapter 30, Deuteronomy chapter 30, again, a well-known scripture, Deuteronomy chapter 30, verse 15, and then 19 through 20, it says, See, I've set before you life and good and death and evil. I've set before you two trees, a tree of life and a tree of death. That's what it is.

I've set before you life and good, death and evil. And then in verse 19, I call heaven and earth as witness today against you, that I've set before your life and death blessing and cursing. Therefore, choose life, that you and your descendants may love. The end result is love, not death. So, the first bite, in a sense, is that we're going to make the right choice. We really have to make the right choice. But you know what? There is a time when you made the right choice and I made the right choice and we kind of failed.

We just don't have that enough character to do the right thing, even when it hurts us. Sometimes we just kind of succumb. And therefore, the sixth bite is we have to have the character, the strength of will, self-control, the character with God's help, with God's Spirit asking God to help, but to do the right thing, to bear the right fruit.

We made the choice, but we have to have the character to do the right, even when it hurts us to do it. Proverbs 11, verse 30.

The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life. And here when souls is wise, the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life. And so if we are producing the right fruit by living according to God's Spirit, asking God for His Spirit, and therefore having the strength and that's called it that applied wisdom of applying it and choosing and having the character and the strength of will to do it, the fruit is life.

The fruit is life. It's the tree of life. That's, those are the bites that we have to be doing. We ought to know, trust God, we got to have the knowledge, study, get attention, be able to discern, we got to choose, and then we're going to have the character to do it. And last but not least, Matthew 24 verse 13. Matthew 24 verse 13.

That he who endures to the end shall be saved. You and I have to persevere doing it right till the day that we have the last breath. We have to persevere to the end.

We have to endure to the end.

Brethren, the tree of life was in Eden.

In the world tomorrow, we will have a tree that has very similar characteristics to the tree of life. Did you know? In the millennium, we will have a tree that will have very similar characteristics to the tree of life. It might be the tree of life. It doesn't say in the Bible that it is a tree of life, but turn with me to Ezekiel 47. Remember, I mentioned Ezekiel 47. It's very interesting. Well, Ezekiel 47, it's talking about the water that comes from the temple. This is during the millennium. This is during the millennium.

The water was flowing from under the right side of the temple, south of the altar, as you can see in verse 1. Then in verse 5, it says, and the water was growing. This water grew. Then in verse 12, Ezekiel 47 says, along the bank of the river. And this is during the millennium.

On this side and that, we'll grow all kinds, and the word kinds is in italics, so it says, we'll grow all trees used for food, and their leaves will not wither, and their fruit will not fail. There will be a fruit every month, because the water flows from the sanctuary.

Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for mitts, for for healing, as it says in the margin. It is possible. It's like the Tree of Life, and we know in the world tomorrow, when there will be restoration of all things, why not restoring off the Tree of Life to us? Physically speaking, maybe mankind, in the millennium, will be able to eat of the Tree of Life, because it's symbolic, symbolic of something a lot greater. First, the water. What is the water symbolized? Remember, the tree is always next to the water, right? And what's the water? It's God's only Spirit. And it's God's only Spirit that we need to have flowing into us, and for us to live and to apply so that we bear fruit of life, the fruit of righteousness. In other words, that we have the right knowledge, that we have the right understanding and discernment, that we choose, that we apply, and we keep doing it and have the character to do it till the end. So indeed, brethren, there's amazing duality in God's purpose to teach us eternal lessons.

The amazing thing is that we start reading in Revelation 22, and that is in the new heaven and new earth.

And there, there is a Tree of Life. You and I read in Revelation 2 as well that it says, overcome, so that you may be able to eat of the Tree of Life in the Paradise of God. The Paradise of God will be the one when God the Father will be on earth. It will be the new heaven and new earth, and there'll be a Tree of Life there. It is amazing. Some of the meanings there. God is not revealed as everything. But the point is, Jesus Christ does not need the Tree of Life. You and I need the Tree of Life.