Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life. GENESIS 3:22-23
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever. REVELATION 22:1-5
I’ve made reference to “The Fall” a few times during Man Week. For those who may not know, The Fall is when Adam and Eve chose to ignore God and obey Satan by eating the forbidden fruit (Genesis 3). We fell from God’s grace when we chose to disobey Him and serve idols (Satan, secret knowledge, our own selfish desires, etc.). No longer were we born as God’s children. Now we are born sinners. We are born guilty. Our human nature is corrupt and we are born natural enemies of God, inclined to disobey Him. We lost eternal life in His presence as our default position. We lost God as our Father. Now we must become members of God’s family by choice and through adoption via faith in Christ Jesus (See: Compelling Truth).
God set the cherubim (the most powerful of His warrior angels) to guard the way to the Tree of Life, so man cannot gain eternal life by our own effort. We can’t just walk up and take a bite because the path is guarded by the cherubim and their flaming swords. I believe Satan is the chief of those cherubim (Ezekiel 28:12-17) and guards the way to life with vicious tenacity. He hates more than anything the thought of people being reconciled to God and escaping hell, so he won’t let us anywhere near that tree.
But God’s kingdom has the tree of life at its center. The River of Life flows from Christ’s throne and waters the tree, which brings healing (through faith in Christ and His amazing sacrifice) to the nations (Revelation 22:1-5 above). Life is available to every person of every nation…all we have to do is entrust our lives to Christ and follow Him. Satan’s entire purpose is to keep us from seeing Christ for who He is and to keep us from placing our faith in Him for forgiveness and eternal life.
Men…our entire purpose is to fight through Satan’s lies, darkness, and deceit to lead others to Christ, starting with our families! We all work, we all play, we all study, we go to school, we love, we marry, we raise kids, we socialize, we LIVE. But why? What is it all for? For what purpose are YOU living? If your answer is anything but, “To bring glory to God, to beat back the darkness, to spread the light and truth of God’s redemptive love, and to lead others to Him,” then you have bought Satan’s bill of goods and are missing your divine purpose!
Men, our first step is to come to saving faith in Christ ourselves. Then it is all about kicking Satan’s tail and fighting past that flaming sword for our wives, our kids, and the people we know. We must make it to that tree and WE WILL if we trust in Christ’s power and let Him fight through us! Life is our destiny if we’ll only embrace it by embracing Christ!
Don’t wait another second! Put on God’s armor, pick up that sword, and start fighting as a member of God’s kingdom. Our victory is assured! This post concludes Man Week. Now…Let’s do it.
Compelling Word 