I read the first three chapters of Genesis this morning. Just eighty verses, but wow…so much in them! I wonder how many pages of commentary, blog posts, devotional thoughts, and sermons over the past millennia have mined the treasures in what is less than three pages in my Bible! Innumerable!

Genesis 1-3 tells us who we are, where we came from, and what is wrong with our world. It also reveals the hope, mercy, and grace of a loving and forgiving God. If all the world could (and would) read, understand, and believe the first three chapters of scripture, what a difference it would make!

I want to spotlight just a couple of verses as I ponder what happened when God first created our world, and our first ancestors, Adam and Eve.

Genesis 2:8-9,15-17 – The Lord God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed. Out of the ground the Lord God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. … Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”

Did you catch it?

Adam and Eve had permission to eat from the tree of life from the very beginning. In their perfect state of unity with God—having had the very breath of God breathed into them (Genesis 2:7)—they could have chosen eternal life with God.

In His infinite, sovereign wisdom, God gave Adam and Eve free will. They could choose to obey and live forever in that perfect garden, walking with Him in the cool of the day and enjoying the “utopia of all utopias” created especially for them.

Or, they could act on a desire for more than God. They could believe that God was holding out on them despite all He had given them, and intentionally and willfully take the one thing He had asked them to deny themselves: the knowledge of both good and evil.

When God created us, He made us in His image (Genesis 1:27). I believe He gave Adam and Eve a body, a soul, and a spirit, reflecting His triune nature. As creatures made in the image of God, they were also given a measure of will—the freedom and ability to choose and a mind to think and make decisions. He desired that they remain in perfect union and communion with Him, but not as robots without choice. He desired to create a family that would choose to receive what He wanted them to enjoy by worshipping and obeying the source of life—their Creator.

And so the test came. The evil one appeared as a serpent and deceived Eve, and they both willfully disobeyed God. They sinned, and just as God had promised, on the day they ate of it, they died. Not physically (yet), but I believe that on that day, the God-breathed spirit in them that connected them to their Creator died. They were left to exist only as bodies and souls, which would eventually die.

Genesis 3:22-24 – Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”— therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.

On that fateful, horrible day, all hope of living with God in eternity perished. Adam and Eve had no recourse; there was nothing they could do to reopen the gate to Eden and take the fruit that would grant eternal life. God was merciful, for if they had eaten in their fallen, sinful state, they would have lived forever as fallen human beings with no hope of redemption. They would have been eternally lost souls.

Thankfully, we know the rest of the story that extends beyond Genesis 3, all the way to the end of Scripture in Revelation 22, where we see the Tree of Life again.

Genesis 22:14 – Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city.

How do we wash our robes?

Just as the Tribulation saints wash their robes: “I said to him, ‘My lord, you know.’ And he said to me, ‘These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb’” (Revelation 7:14).

The “seed of the woman” would come, as God promised in Genesis 3:15, to be the perfect sacrificial Lamb of God, to offer His blood for the cleansing of humanity’s robes, and to reopen the door to the Tree of Life.

You know, we face the same choice as Adam and Eve. We can receive eternal life, but it requires obedience and trust in what God says. He has made the way of salvation clear in His Word. He tells us exactly what He requires—repentance of sin and faith in His Son.

What about you?

Are you deceived, like Eve, thinking there is “more” to be had and that God is holding out on you or lying to you? Are you like Adam, knowing the truth but choosing to willfully and intentionally deny His Word and disobey?

Or do you trust that God knows best and believe? The fruit of the tree of life—eternal life—is now available to all, but only through Jesus.

Will you eat of the Tree of Life?

Proverbs 3:1-8, 11-18 – Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your body and refreshment to your bones. … My son, do not reject the discipline of the Lord or loathe His reproof, for whom the Lord loves He reproves, even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights. How blessed is the man who finds wisdom and the man who gains understanding. For her profit is better than the profit of silver and her gain better than fine gold. She is more precious than jewels; and nothing you desire compares with her. Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are pleasant ways and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her, and happy are all who hold her fast.