Christ Jesus Our Tree of Life

By Prophet Jacob R. Blandford

In the Holy Bible, The Tree of Life is a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ. By partaking of Christ we receive eternal life (John 1:12; 1 John 5:12). The Tree of Life was in the midst of the garden. And Christ should be in the midst of our hearts. There was also a river that went out four heads: Pison, Gihon, Hiddekel, and Euphrates. Those four river heads are symbolic of the 4 Gospels: Saint Matthew, Saint Mark, Saint Luke, and Saint John. The Old Testament Book of the Proverbs is that great wisdom Book; that wisdom pictures the wisdom of Jesus (see Col. 2:3). And in Proverbs, the “tree of life” (Prov. 3:18, 11:30, 13:12, 15:4) is found exactly FOUR times! One for each Gospel. Just like Christ, the Tree was not accessible after death. You either die “in Christ” or “in your sins” (John 8:21, 24). The Tree of Life also has a first and second coming: because it shows up in Genesis and then again in Revelation (chapters 2 & 22).

The first time the word “sword” appears in the Bible, it is in Gen. 3:24 where the Cherubims are guarding the tree of life, which man could no longer partake of. Adam’s intimate fellowship with God was broken because he chose to sin with his wife, thus the curse was introduced. If Adam had partaken of the tree of life in his sinful condition, he would have lived forever, BUT IN A SINFUL CONDITION! Therefore God guarded it. Christ can go wherever He wants in the universe. He has that right because he has always enjoyed perfect fellowship with the Father. So he came into our sinful world. He could have gone back without us and continued to enjoy the praise and fellowship with holy angels forever and ever. But he wanted to bring us back to the Father. However, there was a problem: if he brought us back there would be sin on him and us, and the Cherubims’ sword would slay us all. But Christ loved us so much he chose to do it anyway. He chose to be our substitute and atonement. That’s why the last mention of the word “sword” in the Old Testament (Zech. 13:7), is a prophecy about the sword being AGAINST God’s own Shepherd Jesus Christ. That’s why our Lord quoted this Scripture at the Last Supper in Matthew and Mark. (Matt. 26:31; Mark 14:27) In the next chapters of Matthew (ch. 27) and Mark (ch. 15), Christ suffered the sword of Jehovah’s judgment and wrath on the Cross. Not for his own sins (he had none); but for our sins. So Christ could pay our sin debts, and thus clear us to be permitted to pass before the sword of the Cherubims. That’s why Christ is my Saviour. He took my punishment for my sins for me. He was raised from the dead, so I also could be raised to new living, and live with Him in the presence of the Tree of Life; and partake of it forever. In Jesus Christ’s holy name, Amen.

Additional note:

Thank you to Pastor Joseph Prince (New Creation Church, Singapore) and Pastor James L. Melton (Bible Baptist Church, Sharon, Tennessee) for the information I learned on this subject.