ONE OF THOSE THINGS PART 2

TWO TREES ALL OVER AGAIN

                “For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life and few are those who find it. Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles are they?  Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but the rotten tree bears bad fruit. Mt. 7:14-17.

                I feel that my work these days falls into two categories.

1.       To inform and to warn us concerning Bible prophecy and how quickly these prophecies are coming upon us.

2.       To give practical advice on how to prepare spiritually for these times.

                In light of recently growing tensions between U.S. and North Korea, I feel that the lights could go out on us at any time. NK has a satellite that passes over us daily that is capable of shutting down our electrical grid and we have no defense against it. So what we do we must do quickly.

                In trying to give us some perspective on the last days, as I was studying and praying this morning, it occurred to me that we are entering into a repeat of the Garden of Eden. How did two trees appear in the Garden? God put them there. It was a loyalty test. Would this newly created creature, eat from the Tree of Life or would he choose the Tree of Knowledge of God and Evil?

                The trees represented two concepts. Man was created to function with God on board and as such he could freely partake of the tree of life. However, mankind was also free to choose to live by his intellect mind of the flesh apart from God. IF he chose this second route however, he would lose access to the tree of life. You can’t have it both ways.

                The law then was given in answer to Adam’s choice. Because of his choice he was now a man of flesh and so God would have to deal with man with man on the basis of a law on stone. The temptation would always be to try and please God in the flesh by keeping the law on stone and the law is righteous and good, but it could not deal with man’s fundamental problem. He was no longer connected to God and therefore no matter how hard he tried to be good, his works could never reconnect him to God and the tree of life. He was trying to please God with the tree of Knowledge of good and evil. But this can never restore to him eth glory of God.

                Remember, it is not only that we commit sin… rather it is that we fall short of the glory of God and there isn’t anything we can do about that. So the law is necessary as its function is to remind us that we are disconnected and then to condemn our fleshly acts, both bad and good to death, so that Jesus can reconnect us to the Tree of Life, thus living His own life in us and through us. We see the promise of this New Covenant in Jeremiah 31:30-34

                Likewise Jesus told the disciples that the Holy Spirit was WITH them but would soon be IN them after Jesus was glorified and sent down His Holy Spirit. Jn. 14:17, Jn. 20:21, 22, Lk. 24:49, Acts 1:4-8.

                There is so much that could be said about the difference between the Old and New Testaments. The Holy Spirit was with them in the Old Testament and in some cases such as with prophets and kings; the Holy Spirit came upon them as an anointing. But in New Testament times, the Holy Spirit is now IN us. The separation is removed in Christ and as we see from His crucifixion, that veil of separation was torn from top to bottom thus giving us access to the Tree of life once again. And because Jesus had fulfilled the Law demanding our death by dying for us. BUT NOW THAT WE ARE RECONNECTED TO THE TREE OF LIFE, JESUS CAN LIVE HIS OWN LIFE IN AND THROUGH US ONCE AGAIN.

                Okay then… That being said, what we see in the book of Revelation is the same two trees being offered to us again. We can either live by Christ or antichrist. WE can either choose Babylon or Jerusalem. We can live by the Spirit and gain life, or we can live by our own intellectual prowess and from the flesh reap death. The great conflict between these two choices here at the end of time can be nothing less than catastrophic. Two kingdoms are colliding momentarily and mankind is given a choice as to which one He will take up his abode.

                There will be a war between factions. Those who choose antichrist will want to persecute and destroy all who have chosen Yeshua, just as they have through all of time. And this is why Jesus, in connection with our opening text, later on in Mt. 7:24, 25, says: “Therefore ever one who hears these words of Mine and acts upon them may be compared to a wise man, who built his house upon the rock. And the rain descended and the floods came and the winds blew and burst against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded upon the rock.”

                That Rock is Jesus Christ, our living Tree of Life. If we are living by the power of His life, we will overcome even as He overcame. It’s not us… it’s Him.

                So God offers us the antichrist system and ultimately, it will be seen which tree we are eating from because it will be revealed by our fruit. There is only good fruit or bad fruit… good trees and bad trees. If we follow the antichrist system with its manmade security and compromise, we will bear the fruit of that tree, but if we choose Jesus, the Tree of Life, then we will bear the fruit of that tree.

                Truth is truth whether we are at peace or at war. Truth never changes. So if we want to live forever with Yeshua, then we must choose to eat from the Tree of Life and to produce the fruit of righteousness.

                At its very core then, the book of Revelation represents our choice between the Tree of Life and the Tree of knowledge of Good and Evil. Where will we find our foundation? Where will we find our security and safety? On which foundation will we stand?

                The book of Revelation then is a revelation of Jesus against a backdrop of darkness and evil as Satan tries to overthrow His kingdom. Don’t make it too complicated. We are being given a choice between two trees. We are given a choice between bachelor number one, or bachelor number two. Who will we choose to marry? Which Tree will become our life source? Upon which foundation will we stand? Which one offers us the secret place of the Most High?

                Like I said in my last article; “God has given us Bible prophecy, not so that we would become afraid, but so that we would become fearless.” Our foundations will not fail… not even in the storm, because we have built upon the Rock.