Dr Paul Allen

What do you think happened with the Tree of Life? When does it reappear in the Bible? Many assume that it vanished in the Great Flood. And this conclusion is completely understandable if we read the Holy Scriptures as a collection of stories, as opposed to a single narrative. If, however, we look at the Bible as a single story, we realize that the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil reappear in Scripture—at the end of Revelation, like books. The Book of Life and the books of deeds, both good and evil. Everything changes when we view the Bible as a single story as opposed to many individual stories. God’s plan to restore mankind is both beautiful and austere. And when we realize God’s redemptive plan, we understand our role. We are His servants, empowered with a message of repentance and salvation though the sacrifice of Jesus.

English: Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil עברית: חטא עץ הדעת - ד"ר לידיה קוזניצקי (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) There were two trees standing side by side in the garden of Eden which had a peculiar symbolical or sacramental character. The one was called the Tree of Life , the other the Tree of Knowledge.  The former was the symbol of life, and its fruit was not to be eaten except on the condition of man’s retaining his integrity. Whether the fruit of that tree had inherent virtue to impart life, i.e., to sustain the body of man in its youthful vigour and beauty, or gradually to refine it until it should become like to what the glorified body of Christ now is, or whether the connection between eating its fruit and immortality was simply conventional and sacramental, we cannot determine. It is enough to know that partaking of that tree secured in some way the enjoyment of eternal life .  That this was the fact is plain, not only because man after his transgression was d