Date: Thursday, 26th August, 2021
Ministering: Pastor Emeka Egwuchukwu
The focal point of Eden according to the book of Genesis was the Tree of Life that was in the midst of it. Every other thing in Eden served the Tree of Life. The trees in the garden of Eden were lights and that was why God commanded Adam and Eve to eat of them (Gen. 2:16). The trees were custodians of knowledge. There are no trees like those in Eden on earth right now. The trees we see today are trees that have lost their essence due to the fall. The leaves and fruits of the trees in Eden had something to contribute to Adam’s existence.
Eden is not an ordinary place in the spirit. A man who has not come into everlasting life cannot be found in Eden. Eden is a clean place; this is why man had to be sent out of there immediately he sinned. God wants to heal us so that we can return to Eden. A man who still carries diseases in his soul cannot be granted access into Eden. So, we gradually return to Eden as we are healed of all our soul diseases. There is a state of heart needed to live and abide in Eden. We have to return to Eden to eat of the fruit of the Tree of Life (Rev. 2:7). The more a man is healed, the closer he gets to the Tree of Life.
Our bodies are healed during ministrations of the word of righteousness. However, such healing is not the main course of a believer. The goal of every believer should be to partake of the Tree of Life. We should not be among the set of people looking for things of this present world. Rather, we are looking for things of the world to come. This means we must have a different attitude; we should be postured as sojourners on earth just like Abraham was. Abraham looked for a city with foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Therefore, he sojourned in the land of promise, dwelling in tents and tabernacles (Heb. 11:9-10). We should not be troubled or pressured with the acquisition of earthly things.
There are many things that draw our attention away from the Tree of Life, just like the eyes of Adam and Eve were drawn away when they saw the hope of another life (Gen. 3:6). The healing that God is bringing to us will affect our minds and hearts. By the reason of this healing, we would be concluding matters differently and our approach to life will change. A man who is being healed will begin to see things differently from how most men see or perceive things; he won’t be perturbed the way men are.
“For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.” (Mal. 4:1). The proud here are trees, they are men who have gained stature via their fellowship with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The provision of the Tree of Life is to give us a stature in the spirit. The Tree of Life is not something we can only partake of when we die; it is meant to be eaten while we are on earth. We should not postpone it. It is our religious mind that makes us postpone the time of the eating of the Tree of Life.
Paul had a mindset of attaining the resurrection of the dead, which also refers to the partaking of things promised in the book of Revelation (Philipp. 3:11). We also need to begin to think in the same way. All the rewards outlined in the book of Revelation can be given to a man while he is on earth. A man can receive the white stone, rod of iron etc while he is on earth. Our mindset and heart disposition must be changed, so that we can have this expectation. And this will only happen as we are being healed.
The day that Malachi prophesied about is currently upon us on earth. Things are already happening on the earth that are causing men to tremble. There is always a demonstration in the natural when things are happening in the spirit. For example, when there are incessant fire disasters in some nations, it tells us that some trees are being burnt in the spirit.
“And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.” (Isa. 2:2). Nations will flow into the mountains of the Lord when healing is taking place. We would eat the leaves and the fruits through teachings (Isa. 2:3-4). As a man hears the hidden things of the Tree of Life, he is being initiated and he is partaking of the Tree. A man cannot be said to be blessed when he has not partaken of the words of the Tree of Life (Matt. 13:16-17).
“The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.” (Isa. 2:11). The evil imaginations of the heart of men on earth right now know no bounds just like in Genesis 6:5. Some men are already planning to leave this planet. However, the effect of the leaves and fruit of the Tree of Life will also be seen in the thought pattern of men who would partake of them. The evil tree directed the thought pattern of men away from God.
A soul that wants to be independent or that does not want to submit to God is a lofty or haughty soul. Such souls are what Prophet Isaiah described as the cedars of Lebanon - oaks of Bashan that the Lord will bring low (Isa. 2:12-13). Life is but a mere existence when God is not in it. The reason why man is on earth is to find God. The day when the Lord alone shall be exalted is upon us.
The Sun of Righteousness will arise to heal us; and while He is doing that, He would be dealing with nations and with men who have become trees as a result of their transaction with the evil tree (Mal. 4:2). Men have been deceived to think that they can manage this earth on their own. When certain things happen on earth, the interpretation that some men have for those things show that they cannot even discern things accurately. This is because men have become ash in their thoughts. When a man transacts with the evil tree, he will part ways with things that are truly valuable in the sight of God and his reward will be ash.
The Lord wants to heal our eyes. Every other infirmity of the soul came as a result of wrong sight. The eye which Jesus described as the light of the body is not the physical eyes but a light that men use to live (Matt. 6:22). Adam and Eve needed sight to partake of the evil tree; and that was why the serpent had to preach to Eve until she saw a promise in the tree.
“And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.” (Gen. 3:6). Eve only saw that the tree was good after the serpent had preached to her. “Seeing” here does not speak of a physical sighting of the fruit of the tree. Rather, it speaks of a wrong enlightenment of her inner eyes. Satan preaches to us by giving us thoughts.
The serpent preached to Eve so much that she began to see pleasant pictures of the tree. Pleasant pictures are pictures or imaginations of a life that is seen through the eyes of the heart (Isaiah 2:16). Such imaginations can make a man disobey God. It can set a man on a course that will make him totally against God. The preaching of the serpent gave Adam and Eve the perception of a kind of life that would be pleasant here on earth. Since the fall, man has been trying to create that pleasant life on earth. This was the same thought that besieged the heart of Cain.
Men’s definition of life was derived from the sight that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil has given. All our civilisations, developments and inventions are products of pleasant pictures of the evil tree. Therefore, a man who is on a journey to the Tree of Life should not be caught in awe of any invention of man on earth. Man can invent all manner of things but has no solution to soul diseases such as anger, bitterness and jealousy.
Adam and Eve needed eyes or sight to partake of the evil tree. And when they did, Satan stole the eye that God gave them. So, a man cannot partake of the Tree of Life if his eyes or sight is not restored. Jesus declared that He has come to offer us recovery of our sight (Luke 4:18). Every other infirmity of the soul is traceable to blindness of the heart (Luke 7:22). When we became blind, we were alienated from the life in God (Eph. 4:18). So, our sight has to be restored.
During the earthly ministry of Jesus, He was physically opening eyes of men; and this typified something He would much more do in the spirit. Blind Bartimaeus had been asking for alms, but when he met Jesus (who was a Tree), he rather asked for the real thing – recovery of his sight (Mark 10:46-52). Blind Bartimaeus understood that his present beggarly state was because he lacked sight, so he asked for the recovery of his sight. May we be that Church that will ask the Lord for the restoration of our sight, instead of asking for earthly things like money. We should desire to see things the way the Lord sees them; we should desire to see the way man ought to see from the beginning. Our problem is primarily the wrong sight that we possessed through the fall.
Adam had accurate judgement and sight concerning earthly things; and this was why there was nothing on earth that was his ambition or goal. He knew that the life God was offering was better than the things that are seen. However, man fell into the pursuit of things that are seen since he lost his sight. Wars within and without are because of this wrong sight (James 4:1). Nations are fighting other nations because of this wrong sight. However, the Lord wants to heal all nations.
We need a particular sight to eat of the Tree of Life, and this sight will only be provided by the leaves of the Tree of Life. No man will eat of the Tree of Life blindly, just like no man will partake of second death blindly. Both trees are for the final sealing of souls; and none of them can be eaten blindly. To eat of the fruit of the Tree of Life is to come into an understanding.
“And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.” (1 John 5:20). It is the Son of God who can minister the understanding or sight needed to partake of the Tree of Life. The fruit of the Tree of Life is Eternal Life or the knowing of the only true God. A man cannot know the only true God except the Son of God comes with an understanding.
There is a way man was meant to be seeing. We cannot imagine what the earth would have looked like if man had not eaten of the fruit of the evil tree. We cannot imagine the life of Eden or the life without the fall because we were born into this present aberration that we have on earth.
“God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us; Selah. That thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations.” (Psalm 67:1-2). The season of eating of the Tree of Life is the season of God and this is why we need His mercy. Jude said, “…looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus unto Eternal Life” (Jude 1:21). It is preaching that will rearrange our minds so that we can be disposed towards looking for the mercy of God unto Eternal Life. We need to understand what is called blessing so we can ask for it. Just like Jesus asked blind Bartimaeus, “What would you have me do to you?” And he replied, “That I may receive my sight” (Mark 10:51).
The greatest blessing in this season is the recovery of our sight. We should pray for it. Immediately the eyes of Eve opened, she gained knowledge. In the same way, we will know the only true God when our eyes are opened. We will not call wrong things as God when our eyes are opened. The phrase “saving health” in Psalm 67:2 speaks of the healing or salvation of the soul.