July 22, 2024
The Tree
By Michael Youssef, Ph.D.
Why did God plant the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden? Why was that tree planted in that perfect place, where Satan might use it as an object of temptation?
The tree was there to remind Adam and Eve that they were not their own. It was there to remind them that they were God’s own possession. The tree was there to remind them that they were accountable to God and that they could not escape judgment for the moral choices they made.
The tree was not placed there by accident. God deliberately placed that tree in the Garden of Eden. And there in that garden, the first man, Adam, met temptation—and he was defeated by sin.
But thousands of years later, there was another garden—the Garden of Gethsemane. In the Garden of Eden, Adam fell, and we all fell with him. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus was victorious, and all who belong to Him are victorious as well. In the Garden of Eden, the disobedience of one man caused sin to infect all of humanity. But in the Garden of Gethsemane, the obedience of the Son of Man produced the antidote for sin.
In the Garden of Eden, Adam experienced death as a consequence of his rebellion. But in the Garden of Gethsemane, we all experience life—eternal life—by grace through faith. One tree in Eden defeated Adam, and another tree, the cross of Christ, defeated sin and Satan. One tree brought the knowledge of evil, but the other tree gave us power over evil, power over temptation, power over death, the power of salvation.
So the question is Which tree do you look to? The tree by which humanity was tempted and fell or the tree by which God gave us eternal life?
Prayer: Lord, thank You for Your incredible love for us. Thank You that You have made a way for us, though fallen, to be with You forever through the cross of Christ. May I always look to the precious gift of eternal life through Jesus so that I can live my life in submission to You with thanksgiving. I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.
“For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!” (Romans 5:17).
Learn more in Dr. Michael Youssef’s sermon The Garden vs. the City, Part 5: LISTEN NOW
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