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The fruit that should never have been eaten

by Jack Vorster  
1/01/2017 / Christian Living


The amazing thing about the two trees in the middle of the Garden of Eden is that it appears that God never told Adam about the Tree of Life – only about the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and that the latter was forbidden fruit.

There was absolutely nothing significant about the composition of the fruit of these two trees. The eating thereof would not have altered the longevity aspect of the physical lives of Adam and Eve. It had to do with following the instructions given them by God. The actual eating of the fruit of either of these trees represented the contact point divinely decreed by God to be an act of choosing between obedience to their Creator or defiance of the instruction given them.

Adam and Eve knew that they could eat the fruit of all the trees except the fruit of that one tree. Sooner or later, they would have eaten the fruit of the Tree of Life, but Satan never gave them a chance to get near it. He led them directly to the forbidden tree. He also did not know about the Tree of Life or else he would have taken them directly there after they had eaten of the forbidden tree in order for them to live forever in an irredeemable state.

Adam and Eve were totally innocent – so innocent that they weren’t conscious of the fact they were naked. For them, it was nothing to be ashamed of. They did not even know about right or wrong and that there was a difference between the two. Their lives revolved around a beautiful relationship with a Superior Being in a pristine, germ-free environment.

They also had no knowledge of such things as dying and death, punishment and judgement, suffering and hardship or anything that could cause mental anguish. They were pure, perfect human specimens made in the image of God, untouched by psychological corruption or any form of physical disease.

As strange as this may sound, even although they were creatures of love, they did not even know what love was. Rather, they possessed the righteousness of God Himself.

And then it happened. When they started chewing that fruit they actually pulled the plug and drained the relationship they had with their Creator, thereby forfeiting the only thing they knew – goodness. They now knew the difference between what they had and the opposite thereof. In effect, they were born again. They were new creatures with a different father, namely, Satan. And from that moment onwards they would bear the trademark of this depraved, fallen angel.

They had traded the image of God for the image of Satan. And every human being born into this world now carries that identity. “Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation,” (Romans 5:18–19).

We all know what happened next. The ground became cursed. They lost their free and open relationship with God. Their lives were shortened. Sickness and disease entered the equation and the worshipping of man-made gods became the order of the day as the population increased.

Today, man’s behaviour leans heavily towards the evil side of the knowledge of good and evil - all because of losing that relationship with God. People are even ashamed to talk about the things of God. Even Christians find it difficult not to fall into the trap of wicked behavioural patterns as displayed by the lost world.

So the big question is; what is the one big problem that should be overcome in order for us to be restored to a position where a perfect relationship with God is once again in place with all the blessings that go with it?

Adam and Eve possessed the attributes of God – being made in His image and after His likeness, but they were subject to God. Their lives were an extension of the life of God. And they were created for fellowship with God. All of the above applies to us, but our fallen nature (because of Adam and Eve) has alienated us from the One whose breathe of life sustains us.

Bear in mind that man faces a death sentence, which means spending eternity in hell – a place from which there is no return. In simple terms, this means dying on earth and continuing life in a very undesirable place, to put it mildly.

What if it were possible to die on earth and continuing life right here on earth? It is absolutely possible, but someone else has to do it for us – as if that person were us. Now let’s look at just such a scenario.

Who was Jesus Christ? In the book of John and throughout the Bible it is made clear that Jesus was – and still is – the Word of God. He existed with God the Father from everlasting to everlasting. As such he had no beginning and has no end. He is equal with God as the second member of the Godhead – the Holy Spirit being the third. It was Jesus, the Word of God, who created the universe and everything in it. So how did Jesus become a mere man?

Did you know that the embryo in the womb of a woman does not receive blood from the mother, but produces its own blood as a result of the introduction of the male sperm? The male element adds life to the egg and is necessary for the blood to develop. The virgin Mary had sperm implanted that came directly from God – therefore from Jesus. This means that the blood in the body of Jesus was pure, untainted blood from the Godhead. This made Jesus both the incarnated, biological Son of God and the Son of Man, for he came out of man. Another very important point to realise is that Jesus - the spirit of God’s own Word - was in the sperm that impregnated Mary.

Why did the blood of Jesus have to be pure? Now here’s the mystery. Jesus had to die physically because it was the physical body of man (starting with Adam) that ate the forbidden fruit. The spirit (life) of man disobeyed and the fleshly element of man became corrupted with the eating of the fruit. It was man’s flesh that housed God’s breath of life and it was man’s flesh that became corrupted and cursed. Therefore, spiritual disobedience followed by physical corruption alienated man from God.

Now note this. The Bible tells us that “the life of the flesh is in the blood:” (Lev. 17:11). Therefore, the life of corrupted flesh, the blood, is tainted also. And this is why Jesus had to have pure, untainted blood running through his physical body.

This should make it absolutely clear what Jesus meant when He said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.” (John 6:53)

So it is clear that we need to exchange our corrupted flesh and tainted blood for the flesh and blood of Jesus in order to, once again, have life. What are the ramifications of doing this? Well, for starters, with flesh and blood like that of Jesus we should instantly be healed of any sickness or disease and we should have never-ending life. We died in Adam and lost our life and health, but we are made alive in Christ and gain new life and health. “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22).

But how on earth do we eat His flesh and drink His blood?

I mentioned earlier that, having been made in the image and likeness of God, we possess the attributes of God. God is a God of faith, which makes us possessors of faith also. Everything that exists came about as a result of the faith of God. “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” (Heb 11:3)

How do we bring that dormant faith to the fore? We do it by listening, that is, by hearing what God has to say about the matter. By reading this article you are actually in the process of hearing. “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Rom 10:17)

We have more than enough faith to believe, to trust that what God says He will do He will indeed do. And that makes it easy to eat the flesh and drink the blood of Jesus. Adam never ate of that Tree of Life, but now we can. Jesus is that Tree of Life.

But precisely how is it made possible?

I already pointed out that Jesus, as the Word of God, created everything – including us. Therefore, we came out of His spoken Word which remains His Word and we exist within that Word. We, therefore, exist within Him. “For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.” (Acts 17:28)

There you have it. We exist within Him and we are also by Him.

Now when Jesus was lifted up on the Cross we were right there in Him. Get it? That’s why Jesus said, “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.” (John 12:32)

But – and this is a big ‘but’ – we have to believe. We have to use our faith and appropriate the truth of what happened on the Cross. “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” (Heb 11:6)

This is the moment of truth. This is the moment where we take possession of God’s gift of grace. This is where our faith puts us on that Cross and we eat the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ and become one with Him. To repeat what I said earlier - what if it were possible to die on earth and continuing life right here on earth? It is absolutely possible, but someone else has to do it for us – as if that person were us. Well, this is that someone else – the Son of God, the Son of Man, Jesus Christ.  “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:” (Eph 2:8)

Our true faith, deep down in our heart, is what justifies us before God. “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:” (Rom 5:1)

What is more, we become born again, ripped away from Satan and translated back into God’s Kingdom. This is a reality. There is nothing more real than this. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” (2Cor 5:17)

Do we have to say anything in order to make this a reality? Yes, we do. We have to say something like this: “Dear Father God in Heaven.  I believe! I believe that Jesus took my sins upon Him and died in my place so that I may live. Dear Lord Jesus. Come into my heart and make me brand new.”

You have just heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16”

If Hilary Clinton or Donald Trump or Jacob Zuma would take note of all the above and act upon it, then they would certainly be in a position to make their nations great – not great ‘again’ as they declare it, but great for the first time.

Now retired, Jack Vorster has a background in marketing in the field of newspaper advertising. As a result of a life-changing experience he turned his attention to the study of the human make-up and the realities connected to human behaviour based on the Word of God.

Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com-CHRISTIAN WRITERS

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