{"id":10674,"date":"2025-02-24T09:41:35","date_gmt":"2025-02-24T15:41:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ccic-iowa.org\/?p=10674"},"modified":"2025-07-26T10:43:49","modified_gmt":"2025-07-26T15:43:49","slug":"%e7%94%9f%e5%91%bd%e6%a0%91","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ccic-iowa.org\/en\/bible-faith\/devotional-notes\/2025\/02\/%e7%94%9f%e5%91%bd%e6%a0%91\/","title":{"rendered":"The Tree of Life"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The Tree of Life is a tree recorded in the Bible, mentioned in several places. In the first book of the Bible, Genesis, it is recorded: The cunning ancient serpent (that is, the devil, the ancient dragon) deceived the ignorant Eve into eating the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, telling her that she would become like God, knowing good and evil, and &#8220;would not surely die.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">&nbsp;After eating the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, Adam and Eve were driven out of the Garden of Eden by God. Cherubim were then stationed to guard the entrance of the Garden of Eden and block the path to the Tree of Life, whose fruit could grant immortal life, preventing humanity from eating its fruit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Because of sin, Adam and Eve lost the intimate relationship they once had with God. Their desire to eat the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil resulted in irreparable loss. Not only did they have to bear the consequences of sin, but their descendants also lost the way back to the Tree of Life. Humans had no ability or means to approach God and restore that intimate relationship with Him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">This situation was not reversed until the Lord Jesus appeared on earth. Although Jesus was a person and not literally a tree, he is the only begotten Son of God, and life is in him\u2014so he is the Tree of Life once again manifested among mankind. The Lord not only told people that he is life and that he has eternal life, but also told people to \u201ceat him\u201d and \u201cdrink him.\u201d In John chapter 6, Jesus said: \u201cWhoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life&#8230; For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.\u201d God once again gave people the opportunity to choose life. Sadly, few at the time chose him to gain life; most people thought eating the Lord\u2019s flesh and drinking his blood was too unbelievable, and they turned away from him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">This opportunity still remains today; the door to life has not closed yet. Whoever receives Christ, believing in him from the heart, is as if eating the fruit of the Tree of Life and gaining eternal life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">&nbsp;The Bible\u2019s last book, Revelation, also mentions the Tree of Life. In Revelation 22:1\u20132, it says: \u201cThen the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the Tree of Life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Genesis and Revelation were written by two different authors\u2014Moses and the Apostle John\u2014about fifteen hundred years apart. Genesis speaks of curse and death, while Revelation speaks of healing and life. At the end of Revelation, Christ\u2019s redemptive work is complete, and God\u2019s purpose is fulfilled: all Christians\u2014whose names are in the Book of Life\u2014are transformed by the Spirit. This is the grand result of the work of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The Bible begins with humanity losing access to the Tree of Life and ends with humanity regaining it, revealing God\u2019s profound mystery and plan of salvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>*The memory of the &#8220;Tree of Life&#8221; exists in many ancient civilizations, appearing in different forms in the texts and relics of the ancient Sumerians, Egyptians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Chinese, Indians, and the people of Urartu. This indirectly supports the idea that humanity\u2019s ancestors all came from Eden.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"624\" height=\"563\" src=\"https:\/\/ccic-iowa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/\u751f\u547d\u68111.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-10677\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ccic-iowa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/\u751f\u547d\u68111.jpg 624w, https:\/\/ccic-iowa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/\u751f\u547d\u68111-300x271.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ccic-iowa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/\u751f\u547d\u68111-13x12.jpg 13w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 624px) 100vw, 624px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Above: The Tree of Life from the Urartian civilization, depicted on a fragment of a bronze helmet from the time of Argishti I (ruled 786\u2013764 BC), unearthed near Teishebaini, close to today\u2019s capital of Armenia.<br><br><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"624\" height=\"346\" src=\"https:\/\/ccic-iowa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/\u751f\u547d\u6811.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-10678\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ccic-iowa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/\u751f\u547d\u6811.jpg 624w, https:\/\/ccic-iowa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/\u751f\u547d\u6811-300x166.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ccic-iowa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/\u751f\u547d\u6811-18x10.jpg 18w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 624px) 100vw, 624px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Above: A Tree of Life relief from the Neo-Assyrian period. Excavated at Nimrud (ancient Kalhu) in northern Iraq, from the palace of Ashurnasirpal II (ruled 883\u2013859 BC).<br><br><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"176\" height=\"286\" src=\"https:\/\/ccic-iowa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/\u751f\u547d\u68112.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-10681\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ccic-iowa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/\u751f\u547d\u68112.jpg 176w, https:\/\/ccic-iowa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/\u751f\u547d\u68112-7x12.jpg 7w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 176px) 100vw, 176px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><br>Above: The Tree of Life in the <em><strong>Shan Hai Jing<\/strong> <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Tree of Life is a tree recorded in the Bible, mentioned in several places. In the first book of the Bible, Genesis, it is recorded: The cunning ancient serpent (that is, the devil, the ancient dragon) deceived the ignorant Eve into eating the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10679,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-devotional-notes"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ccic-iowa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ccic-iowa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ccic-iowa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ccic-iowa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ccic-iowa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10674"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/ccic-iowa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10674\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10957,"href":"https:\/\/ccic-iowa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10674\/revisions\/10957"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ccic-iowa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ccic-iowa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ccic-iowa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ccic-iowa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}