THE FRUIT RETURNED TO THE TREE:

THE FRUIT RETURNED TO THE TREE: When Adam sinned, mankind was driven from Eden and cut off from the tree of life. “And he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword… to keep the way of the tree of life.” -Genesis 3:24 KJV Humanity had chosen death. The ground was cursed, access to life was guarded, and every person born afterward came into a world already dying. Thousands of years later, Jesus Christ was nailed to another tree. “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree.” -Acts 5:30 KJV The first tree stood in a garden filled with life. The second stood outside Jerusalem at a place of execution. One revealed what mankind had lost. The other became the place where Christ paid to restore it. Scripture says anyone hanging upon a tree was under a curse. Jesus willingly took that curse upon Himself. “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.” -Galatians 3:13 KJV The sinless Son of God was fastened to dead wood, carrying the sin, shame and judgment of Adam’s fallen race. His blood soaked the ground that had been cursed because of man. Then came the resurrection. Jesus walked out of the tomb as “the firstfruits of them that slept” (1 Corinthians 15:20). Life had appeared again after hanging upon the tree. The grave couldn’t hold Him, death couldn’t consume Him, and the curse couldn’t remain upon the One who had completely satisfied the judgment of God. In that sense, the resurrection placed fruit back upon the wooden tree. Not ordinary fruit, but the firstfruits of a restored creation. Christ rose as the beginning of the harvest, and everyone joined to Him will follow. “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” -1 Corinthians 15:22 KJV Adam reached for a tree and brought death into the world. Jesus stretched His hands across a tree and opened the way back to life. Genesis begins with humanity barred from the tree of life. Revelation ends with the redeemed standing before it again. “In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life…” -Revelation 22:2 KJV “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life.” -Revelation 22:14 KJV The Bible’s story doesn’t end with the flaming sword. It ends with the curse removed, death defeated and the tree of life accessible again. The cross looked like a dead tree. Then Jesus Christ rose from the dead, and life began growing from it. #MoreJoyMinistries