The Tree of Life
Our lesson today is about the Tree of Life. The Tree of Life was first mentioned in the Bible in Genesis 2:9. It was the source of life, of eternal life. (Genesis 3:22, 24)
The Bible is the unfolding story through time and events developing God’s plan of recovery from the disobedience of Adam and from the power of sin by the obedience to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Through obedience to the Gospel, access to the Tree of Life can be restored. The Bible begins with paradise and ends with paradise restored when the Lord Jesus returned in the year AD 70. (Revelation 22:2, 14, 17)
Jesus said in Matthew 11:29, “Take my yoke upon you and learn of me.” To learn means to get an understanding about God, His will, and His purpose for you in His Kingdom. It is the truth that we seek to know and to understand. What the Lord reveals to us holds us accountable. (Luke 12:47)
Learning involves searching, seeking, opening the door of your heart, and having a willingness to change as you grow. (Jeremiah 29:13, Matthew 6:33, 7:7, Revelation 3:20, 2 Peter 3:18)
When you start looking, that’s when you start finding. The more you look; the more you find. (Luke 10:23-24, 24:45) God will reveal knowledge unto those who seek to know His will. (Daniel 2:22, 1 Corinthians 2:10) The deeper you dig into the Word of God, the greater the treasure you will find. If you hunger, you will be filled. (Colossians 2:3, Romans 9:23, 11:33, Ephesians 3:16, Matthew 5:6)
A closer look tells us that all the books of the Bible deal directly or figuratively with the end of the world (age) which was present when Peter wrote his second epistle.
The Apostles and the Prophets were not speaking about the end of our physical planet. (2 Peter 3:1-7, 12-13) The end of all things in the story of redemption is what was going to happen. It was the end of the Gentile world, the end of the Jewish world, and the end of the “temporary” world of the Christians.
It was the beginning of an age that NEVER ends. Of His Kingdom there shall be no end. The Apostle Peter connects those days with the last day and the coming of the Lord Jesus. (2 Peter 3:3 Isaiah 9:6 Luke 1:33)
When we think of the world, we think of a heaven and earth. In 2 Peter 3:6, we read about heaven and earth (world) that then was overflowed with water and perished. Obviously, the word “world” was not referring to the physical planet because the physical planet remained. The whole “world” or physical planet was not destroyed by the flood in Noah’s day.
The word “world” or this heaven and earth that existed in Noah’s day refers to the people. Those people in Noah’s day all perished because of their unrighteousness.
In 2 Peter 3:7, Peter speaks of the world or “the heaven and earth which are now”, or that existed in his own day. This tells us that Peter was not referring to the world that existed in his past nor is he speaking of a world that would exist in his future.
It was the world “now” in which Peter was living. This world or heaven and earth was going to be destroyed by “fire”. Malachi 4:1 speaks of a day that is coming (the last day) that shall burn as an oven. (Malachi 4:1,3)
This is the fire and the “day” that John the Baptist had in mind when he said, “And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore, every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire.” (Matthew 3:10)
When Peter wrote his second epistle, the then present heaven and earth was about to be destroyed by “fire”. Of this Jewish world, its elements and works would be burned up, melted, and dissolved.
However, there is another world after the world of the Jews; it is called the New Heavens and New Earth. Although there are only 4 times that the actual expression “New Heavens and New Earth” is used in the entire Bible, there are several scriptures that describe this BIG change that was coming using other descriptive words. (2 Peter 3:2-7, Micah 4:1, Acts 2:14-20, Hebrews 1:1-2)
The world then that consisted of Noah’s world, Noah’s “heaven and earth”, Noah’s society and government was destroyed by water.
The physical planet, the physical substance of heaven and earth were not destroyed, but only the wicked people and their society. The literal visible fabric of heaven and earth were the same after the flood as they were before the flood.
The word “world” used in 2 Peter 3:6 means “the orderly arrangement of society”. It wasn’t the dirt; it wasn’t the destruction of the entire physical universe. This exact same context was used by Peter again in 2 Peter 3:7 when he spoke of the heavens and earth that existed “now” was preserved unto fire.
Again, Peter was not referring to the physical creation, but it was the ungodly nation of Israel that was to be destroyed. Nowhere in the Scriptures does the Bible ever teach that the natural creation will be destroyed.
The day of the Lord is the time of judgment on Israel. It is the end of the Old Covenant age, the end of the Old Covenant world. It is not the “end of time’ but the “time of the end”, the end of the Old Testament.
The first mention of the New Haven and New Earth is in Isaiah 65:17- 19. This is the New Jerusalem. (Hebrews 12:22-23) This is the prophecy of the coming of the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, the heavenly Jerusalem. God was to create this New Eternal Heaven and Earth. This was to be the third Heaven and Earth of 2 Peter 3.
The second mention of New Heavens and New Earth is in Isaiah 66:22. If a thing remains, it is eternal. Obviously, this is the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. (Revelation 21:1-2) This relationship in the New Jerusalem in the New Heaven and New Earth is the marriage relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. This is referring to the eternal heaven and earth, the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The only other time “New Heaven and New Earth are mentioned is in 2 Peter. 3:11-13. Peter is clearly looking for the last day and the end of all things. (1 Peter 4:7) He is looking for the arrival of the eternal age, the eternal heaven and earth, the eternal wife of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Bride was making herself ready these 40 years, AD 30 – AD 70. The time of the wedding was at hand. These were the things of the immediate future in the days of the Apostles.
THESE WERE THE LAST DAYS!
The New Heaven and the New Earth were the new eternal world without end. At times, the Holy Spirit allowed some to look into the future, into that New Jerusalem, into the New World, into the New Heaven and New Earth. (John 8:56, Revelation 1:10, 1 Corinthians 12:1-4) This third heaven is called Paradise. Paradise is where the Tree of Life is located. (Revelation 2:7, 1 John 5:11)
If a person is in Jesus, he has eternal life which is in paradise. We eat of that Tree of Life today in the eternal Kingdom of God, in that Eternal Day, the Lord’s Day.
The Tree of Life which was lost to Adam and Eve has been regained in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is that New Heaven and New Earth in its eternal glory and splendor that excels any physical glory or physical heaven and earth. It is the Kingdom of God in its eternal state, totally spiritual in nature.
Our gaining the Tree of Life, eternal life in Jesus is what the Bible is all about. Spiritual death is swallowed up in victory. (1 Corinthians 15:54- 57) We have eternal life NOW! (1 John 5:13) If we are in Christ, we have eternal life in Jesus. We are in the third heaven which is the New Heaven and New Earth NOW! The Tree of Life is accessible to us right NOW, TODAY!
