Access to the Tree of Life
Revelation 2:7 – The one who has an ear had better hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers, I will permit him to eat from the tree of life that is in the paradise of God.
The people of the church in Ephesus were given the message: You have departed from your first love! – Revelation 2:4. They were admonished to remember the height from which they fell and repent.
I couldn’t help but return to the story in the Bible where our first human parents fell. Adam and Eve had departed from their first love for God in choosing to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Genesis 3:6 says – When the woman saw that the tree produced fruit that was good for food, was attractive to the eye, and was desirable for making one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate it. She also gave some of it to her husband who was with her, and he ate it.
How often have we departed from loving God by chosing things that were considered good, attractive to the eye, and desirable to make one wise – only to discover when our eyes were opened, that things were not as we expected them to be and the way back barred by feelings of condemnation and fear? For Adam and Eve, the way back to the tree of life was obstructed by an angel with a flaming sword – Genesis 3:24 says – When he drove the man out, he placed on the eastern side of the orchard in Eden angelic sentries who used the flame of a whirling sword to guard the way to the tree of life.
In this first letter to the people of the church in Ephesus, Jesus wrote of the way back to the tree of life – past the angels and past the flaming sword. Jesus said: listen to what the Spirit has to say. Conquer the temptation to remain as you are and remember the high state God created you to be when He created you in His image – and repent. Do what you did when you were first in love with God and the way to the tree of life in the paradise of God will open before you.
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life – water as clear as crystal – pouring out from the throne of God and of the Lamb, flowing down the middle of the city’s main street. On each side of the river is the tree of life producing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month of the year. Its leaves are for the healing of the nations. – Revelation 22:1, 2.
I’m looking forward to that day when we gain access to the tree of life. Let’s listen to what the Holy Spirit has to say and conquer this day in the name of Jesus Christ!
Where two are gathered 