The Tree of Life and the Truth of Eternal Life

According to the teachings of the Bible, the Passover is a very important Feast of God. Jesus came to this Earth to teach us the Passover and God has come in this age as the Spirit and the Bride to teach us the Passover again. We can learn about the Passover through the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil that were in the Garden of Eden.

The Parable of the Tree of Life

Genesis 2:16-17 And the LORD God commanded the man “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.

Genesis 3:1-5 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made.  He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”  The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden but God did say, ‘You must not eat from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”  “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman.  “For God  knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Sin originated in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and death came after sin came to this world. Adam and Eve all existed in reality, nevertheless, Jesus taught us the hidden meaning of this story of the creation of the world recorded in Genesis as a parable.

Matthew 13:34-35 Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable. So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet: “I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.”

Adam and Eve could not stay in the Garden of Eden when they disobeyed God’s commandment.

Isaiah 59:2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.

Through Adam and Eve we can understand that we can be separated from God if we sin by disobeying His commandments. The story of Adam and Eve shows us our spiritual status on this Earth. All men are destined to die because of sin committed before we came down to this Earth,

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

since even a new born child can die before even sinning on this Earth.

Genesis 3:22-23 And the LORD God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.

Because Adam and Eve sinned, God blocked the way to the Tree of life. If God has blocked the Tree of Life, only God can opened the way to the Tree of Life. God must open the way to the Tree of Life since it is the only way for us sinners to go back to Heaven.

God warned Adam and Eve not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and evil because it causes death. Anyone who ate from the Tree of Life could live forever. This is the secret that Jesus taught us through the parable of the Tree of Life.

The Reality of the Tree of Life

John 6:52-57 Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”  Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.  Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.  For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me.

In the Garden of Eden, it was the Tree of Life that could grant eternal life. Jesus taught us the reality of this parable by telling us that it is His flesh and blood that gives us eternal life. Meaning, Jesus is the reality of the Tree of Life. If we drink His blood and eat His flesh, it would be the same as eating the fruit of the Tree of Life.

Matthew 26:17-19 On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover?”  He replied, “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘The Teacher says: My appointed time is near. I am going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house.’” So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and prepared the Passover.

Jesus commanded the disciples to keep the Passover and He Himself also kept it as an example for us.

Matthew 26:26-28 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.”  Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

Jesus said the Passover bread is His flesh and the Passover wine is His blood. Whoever eats the bread and drinks the wine of the Passover are the ones who can be acknowledged by Jesus as the ones who have eaten Jesus’ flesh and blood. By keeping the Passover it is the same as eating from the Tree of Life. Passover however is granted as a covenant with God’s precious blood of sacrifice. Jesus, the Almighty God has opened the way to the Tree of Life. Nevertheless, many people do not know the importance of the Passover because they do not know the meaning of what a covenant is.

The Importance of the Covenant

To help us understand what a covenant is, let’s take the following example. Say that you wanted to purchase groceries so you presented a $50 bill to the cashier.  The cashier would gladly accept it.  However, what if you tried to give a plain piece of letter-sized paper to the cashier?  The cashier would not accept it. Though a letter-sized paper may be larger than a $50 bill, it has no value to purchase since people haven’t promised for it to be valued as a bill. A promise is a covenant. The $50 bill has a special covenant made by people that gives it a promised value.

It is the same with the bread and wine of the Passover. There are many types of bread and wine but they are just regular food. A person simply saying “this bread gives eternal life” does not mean that it really does. It has to have a covenant. Jesus Himself promised for the bread and wine only on the Passover to become the new covenant.

Luke 22:7-9 Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover.”  “Where do you want us to prepare for it?” they asked.

The books of Mathew, Mark, Luke, and John all show the scene of the Passover. We can see many times in the Bible where Jesus told His disciples to prepare the Passover on the appointed time. This means we must keep the Passover according to the appointed promised date and time which Jesus commanded us to keep.

Luke 22:7-15 Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed.  Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover.”… So they prepared the Passover.  When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table.  And he said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.

Luke 22:19-20 And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”  In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.

Jesus said He eagerly desired to keep the Passover with His disciples. If God who came to take away the sins from the world has eagerly desired to keep it, this means it relates with our salvation. By keeping the Passover people can be freed from sin and death.

The Restoration of the Passover

Jesus opened the way to the Tree of Life by commanding to us all to keep the Passover so that we can receive eternal life. Although the members of the Early Church celebrated the Passover, the Roman Emperor Constantine abolished the Passover in 325 AD. Of course, this all happened according to the prophecy of the Bible.

Daniel 7:25 He will speak against the Most High and oppress his saints and try to change the set times and the laws. The saints will be handed over to him for a time, times and half a time.

Since God already knew this would happen, He prophesied to come again to restore the Passover.

Hebrews 9:28 so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

The prophet Isaiah emphasizes how the Passover would be restored in the last days.

Isaiah 25:6-8 On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine — the best of meats and the finest of wines.  On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples the sheet that covers all nations; he will swallow up death forever.  The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth.  The Lord has spoken.

God said He will prepare a banquet of aged wine that destroys death forever. We have confirmed that it is only the wine of the Passover that destroys death forever. The wine is expressed as “aged wine” since Passover has not been kept ever since it has been changed in the Council of Nicaea, for approximately 1,600 years. If someone comes and restores the Passover according to the prophecy, we can be assured He must be God Almighty who must be opening the way to the Tree of Life.

Isaiah 25:9 In that day they will say, “Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us. This is the Lord, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.”

The World Mission Society Church of God is the only church that keeps the Passover. This means Christ Ahnsahnghong who restored the Passover is God who has opened the way to the Tree of Life, has granted us the banquet with aged wine that destroys death forever.