Christ is the mystery no 208
Review no 31
Twins No 6 Seed Life
Brian Kocourek
To
begin our study on Seed, and the difference between the two
seeds, which make up the two natures of the Twins, we
have already examined the source of these two seeds, or the nature of the life
that dwells within these two seeds. In this study we will begin by examining
what Jesus is speaking of concerning the sowing of good seed and the sowing of
bad seed in the same field, in a parable He tells in Matthew.
Let's
examine this parable concerning the Two-Vines or two-seeds as we read from Matthew 13:24 ¶ Another parable put he forth unto them,
saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in
his field: 25 But while men slept, his enemy came
and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. 26 But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit,
then appeared the tares also. 27 So the servants of the householder came and
said unto him, Sir,
didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? From whence then, hath it tares?
28 He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto
him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? 29 But
he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with
them. 30 Let both grow
together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the
reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn
them: but gather
the wheat into my barn.
Notice
Jesus points out the fact that two very different types of life (seed) will be planted alongside of
each other in the same field. The field represents the world, and the
sowing is done first by the owner of the field, and then his enemy comes into
his field and imitates his sowing, but with a different life (seed).
The
facts of this parable are as follows:
1) There is one field that
the seed is placed; ie, a woman,
we are husbandry,
2) There
are two sowers, or two sources of seed
the owner of the field, and his enemy.
3) There
are two seeds sown,
identifying two different life forms and natures. Wheat and tares.
4) The tare seed is an intrusion
but is allowed to grow up alongside of the wheat until the harvest, for the
sake of the wheat, until the wheat is mature enough to withstand a separation.
5) Separation
warfare always
6) There is
to be a binding
and a bundling
of these tares.
7) The tares are destined for burning.
8) The Wheat is to be gathered
but not bundled and is to be placed in the storehouse of the owner.
Notice
the two seeds are allowed to grow up side by side until the time of the harvest. Then a separation
is to take place. First
there will be a gathering together of the seed, which the enemy sowed. The
Tares will begin to gather together first.
Jesus uses the word "deo" in describing this binding
process. The word actually means to bind by placing under obligation. Now, this binding is needed in order to
control the assembly of tares. And by
placing the people under obligations, which take them away from a focus
on the Word, we can see how organization binds the people to itself, keeping
them from searching further for more light upon the Word than what is allowed
by their church. One way this is done is through programs… All you have to do
is to look at every big church and you will see that the people are not content
to come and just hear the minister teach them from the Word, no, that is not
the case in any large church. What you find rather is a multiplicity of programs in those
churches. The larger the congregation, the more programs there are to keep the
people content such as Sunday School programs,
Music programs, youth retreats, women's
groups, and date night, a
whole host of others, including church Super Bowl
parties.
All in the name of Worship? But what did God's Prophet have to say about all
those programs?
Greater than Solomon is here 61-0412 P:2 I remember one time when I was a young minister. There was
another minister friend of mine, his sister; I taken her home after church one
night, and we were going up the road. And she was kind of a formal Christian,
as nominal, as I would say. And I believed that she believed in Christ, and
so forth, but she hadn't went as deep as what I think a Christian should
go to profess Christianity. And she said, "How about tomorrow night,
going to the show?" I said, "I don't go to shows." And she said,
"Well," said, "they got a skating rink down here, how about go
skating?" I said, "I don't go skating." She asked me three to
four different places, and I said, "I don't do that." She said,
"Well, as a young man here about twenty-two years old, where do you get
any pleasure?" I said, "In the house of the Lord." I
said that.
Church order COD 63-1226 P:47 This
is not an arena; this is a house of God. This is not a place to play, and
skate, and write notes, and laugh, and cut up; this is the house of God, and is
to be carried out godly. You come here to worship, not even to visit.
This is not a picnic ground; this is not a visitation place; this
is the visitation place of the Holy Spirit, listen to what He has to say,
not to one another. We don't come here to fellowship with one another; we come
here to fellowship with Christ. This is the house of worship. And children must
be disciplined, and if they are of their parents. Let it be known, that if
these deacons... If these parents of the children will not listen to what these
deacons said, then this parent should be corrected themselves.
So we
see the main reason for the Church is not programs, but to come and worship and
search the scriptures to draw closer to Christ.
But its evident by searching the internet that most large
churches today, have replaced the study of Scripture with a multiplicity of
programs all of which have nothing to do with salvation, but altogether are used
to bind the people to a system, Church, Creed or Program.
Now,
back to the parable, we see that after the tares are
bound, Jesus tells us they are then
placed into bundles. Now in using the word bundle, Jesus is telling
us that there is a certain characteristic concerning the binding process.
Notice Jesus uses two different words in describing the binding and bundling process
which is to take place.
He says
the reapers will bind them into bundles. He never said into
one bundle, singular, but into bundles, plural.
Thus we see the word "bundles"
further defines the
process that these tares must go through, before they are ready for the
burning. They are bound first and then bundled.
The use of the plural tells us that there will be many different ways to bundle
the tares, just as we see there are many different denominations.
Notice that have to be gathered first. This gathering could suggest a very loose coming
together, like a Billy Graham crusade where people from all walks of life and different
denominations come together, but by adding the word bundle
to further define the binding process, Jesus shows us "form
and symmetry" and "purpose" behind the
bundling. The scripture tells us the bundling is for the purpose of how they
will be presented for the burning.
A bundle is not
just a rag-tag collection of sticks thrown together in any old direction. That would be a pile, and in order to have a pile
for burning each individual stick would have to be thrown haphazardly onto a
pile. A pile and a bundle are two different things. But a bundle suggests
to us that all the tares in each bundle will be lined up together, all going in the same direction.
Their
Now, in looking at the difference between a pile and a
bundle, which would be easier to throw onto the fire more quickly? A bundle of ten or one stick at a
time?
Therefore
we can see by these pictures how organization, is the means by which the tares
are gathered and assembled together. The church is bound first by a false
word, and then bundled by it's creed or programs, and by
organizing around that false word, and then using it's creed or
programs to hold the people, they have bundled the people into
a more efficient, and profitable means by which the whole group can be
readied for the burning.
Thus we
should see clearly that the False-Vine is the organized church.
For organization is what binds them together. Then, if this is so, one of
the main attributes of the False Vine will be its ability to organize
in numbers and thus utilize efficiencies to preach their false Gospel.
Now a bundle
does not represent a loose knit organization, but one, which has structure and
symmetry. Every stick is heading in the same
direction, and they are there for the same purpose, and
they must conform to some standard in order to fit within the
bundle.
Now,
let's see if this is not exactly the picture Jesus Himself speaks of concerning
the two seeds. Notice that you can not
bind big large fat logs with thin long sticks. all the
sticks will be generally the same length and the same diameter. And notice that
in order to bundle them they must all be facing the same direction.
Matthew 13:36, Then
Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came
unto him, saying, declare
unto us the parable of the tares of the field. 37 He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man;
Jesus
is called by the title Son of Man 84 times, which is more than any other title
used of Him in the scripture. This title, Son of Man, signifies a prophet.
Therefore we see that a Prophet will come forth, sowing seed.
38 The field is the world; the good seed are the children of
the kingdom; but the
tares are the children of the wicked one; 39 The enemy that sowed
them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers
are the angels (messengers). 40 As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the
fire (by messengers to the tares); so shall it be in the end of this world. 41 The Son of man
shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all
things that offend... That's those
who would stumble others...
"and them which do iniquity;" Those who know to do right and will not do it.
42 And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be
wailing and gnashing of teeth. (This
is tribulation period)
43 Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of
their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
Now, in
the Epistles of Paul, we are told of two types of children. Obedient children and children of disobedience.
I Peter
Ephesians 2:1 ¶ And you hath he quickened, who were dead in
trespasses and sins; 2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to
the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the
spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
Notice
Peter is speaking of disobedient Children,
but the Apostle Paul is speaking of the children
of disobedience. Notice Paul did not say disobedient children,
but he calls them children of disobedience. In other words these are children who were brought into
this world through a disobedient act. Thus they were the product
of disobedience. And if the product of disobedience, they then are the seed of
disobedience.
Ephesians 5:6 Let
no man deceive you with vain words: for because of
these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.
Colossians 3:6 For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh
on the children of
disobedience:
We now
know that the seed-life pictured here in this parable speaks of real people, the children of God
and the children of the wicked one, sown by the devil. These are serpent seed
as John tells us in I
John
Now, if
Cain were the son of Adam then John could never have spoken such harsh and
critical words against him, because Adam was the Son of God. But we know that
Cain was conceived by the disobedient will of Eve with the Serpent.
Dr.
George Ricker Berry in his Interlinear Hebrew-English Old Testament (Genesis-Exodus) shows the literal linear
translation of the Hebrew word "Nasha" is translated
as the English word "seduce".
Other translations quote Eve as saying, "the
serpent beguiled me and I did eat."
Now,
whether we choose to use the word beguile or seduce
they both have the same meaning. Strong's concordance, defines this Hebrew word as a primitive root to lead
astray, to mentally delude or "morally to
seduce". Webster's tells us the
word seduce, means
"to persuade in unlawful sexual
intercourse especially for the 1st time".
You can
never come to a full and clear understanding of predestination and election
until you see both sides of the picture. Paul makes this clear for us in the
Book of Romans chapter 9. Here he speaks of Jacob and Esau
both born of the same parents, and yet one was a vessel of honor ordained to be
so, and the other a vessel of dishonor also ordained to be that way. Paul let's
us know that "even before the children were
born, that the purpose of election might stand, God said, "Jacob have I loved
and Esau have I hated.""
Romans 9:11 For the children being not yet born, neither
having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election
might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth; 12
It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. 13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau
have I hated. 14 ¶ What shall we say
then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. 15 For
he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have
compassion on whom I will have compassion. 16 So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth,
but of God that sheweth mercy. 17 For the
scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up,
that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name
might be declared throughout all the earth. 18 Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and
whom he will he hardeneth. 19 Thou wilt
say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who
hath resisted his will? 20 Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him
that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? 21 Hath
not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto
honour, and another unto dishonor? 22 What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with
much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: 23 And what if he
did that in order that he might make known the riches of his glory on the
vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,
Scofield,
noted in his reference on the serpent "The serpent, in
his Edenic form, is not to be thought of as a
writhing reptile. That is the effect of the curse Gen
3:14. The creature which lent itself to Satan may well have been the
most beautiful as was the most "subtle" of creatures less than man.
Traces of that beauty remain despite the curse. Every movement of a serpent is
graceful, and many species are beautifully colored. In the serpent, Satan first
appeared as "an angel of light" 2Cor
Genesis 3:14 ¶ And the LORD God said unto the serpent,
Because thou hast done this, thou [art] cursed above all cattle, and above
every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, (Off go
the legs) and dust shalt thou eat all the days of
thy life: 15 And I will put enmity between thee and the
woman, and between thy seed and her seed; (Now, this tells us the
serpent had a seed) it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt
bruise his heel. 16 ¶ Unto
the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in
sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire [shall be] to thy
husband, and he shall rule over thee.
Now,
why would God curse the woman in child bearing, if she ate an apple? What do
apples have to do with this curse in conception. Another thing we might consider in
understanding this doctrine of the serpent seed, is
that there were two trees in the garden.
From
paragraph 17 of Brother Branham's sermon
Preparation where he said, In the garden of Eden
there were two trees: one was Life, one was knowledge. Man left the Tree of
Life to eat off the tree of knowledge.
Genesis 1:11 And God said, Let
the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, [and] the fruit tree
yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed [is] in itself, upon the earth: and
it was so. 12 And the earth brought forth grass, [and] herb yielding seed after
his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed [was] in itself, after his
kind: and God saw that [it was] good.
In
verse 11 and 12
we see the law of reproduction.
Every seed must bring forth after it's kind. This word
kind spoken of in verse 12 is a Hebrew
word miyn
and is pronounced meen.
The word means specie and refers to nature. "Let every seed bring forth after it's own specie or nature".
Therefore,
God's Law of reproduction speaks totally against hybreeding. For
hybreeding would bring together two different natures and produce a life that's
not natural. Then we can see that
God's Law of reproduction is meant
to be a protective law that preserves the nature of the specie that He placed
in the seed.
Now, up
to this point we also see in these two verses of scripture that God has placed
these seeds upon the earth at this time by His spoken Word. They are not yet
planted in the earth but the scripture plainly says they are upon (up - on) the
earth.
Now, we
know that you can not see Life, you can only see the attributes of life, such
as the color, scent, structure, form, and other attributes such the texture,
growth rate etc.
Therefore
life is a spirit. It is invisible, and can only be seen by it's
many attributes which it displays. When God spoke these words, the seeds that
He placed upon the earth were yet in spirit form. There were
no manifestation of these seeds at this time. But God's Word laid out
the ordained path in which they were to multiply.
"And God said, Let
the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree
yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it
was so. 12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree
yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it
was good."
Now, it
would appear here that the reproduction is already taking place, but it has
not. At least not in the visible sense of the word, for we see later in verse 14-15 that the sun is not even yet created,
and if there is sun light, then no life
can manifest itself upon the earth.
Genesis 1:14 ¶ And God said, Let there be lights in the
firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for
signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: 15 And let them be for lights in the
firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. 16 And God
made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, (that's the sun) and
the lesser light to rule the night: (that's the moon) he
made the stars also. 17And God set them
in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth 18 And to rule over the day and over
the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was
good. 19 And the evening and the morning were
the fourth day.
Further
more, we will also see in Genesis 2:1-2 that these seeds are to be planted
in the earth and when they are planted in the earth, then they will grow up out
of the earth as God's law dictates in verse 12.
Notice
in verse 12 the earth is to bring forth. That means that they would have to come forth
out from the earth, but to this point the seeds are only up and on the earth.
They have yet to be planted. But we see in verse 12
the order in which they are to come forth.
Thus we
see the following:
#1)
In Genesis
#2) These (logos)
seeds are placed upon the earth
#3) They are waiting their planting in order to come
forth into manifestation out from the earth.
In a careful
reading of chapter One, we see all
the animals and all the creatures of the sea being spoken into existence and
last of all man. Genesis
Now, if
we continue reading on to chapter 2
we'll find this is not another account of creation, but a continuation of the
same creation account. In chapter one, we
see only God's spoken Logos going forth, and speaking into existence, spirit
beings. But in chapter 2, we see God
clothing these spirit beings with the dust of the earth.
Genesis 2:1 ¶ Thus the heavens
and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2
And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he
rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 3 And God
blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested
from all his work which God created and made. 4¶ These are the generations
of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the
LORD God made the earth and the heavens,
Notice this word generations is used. It is a Hebrew
word, towldah pronounced to led aw, and means the proceedings, or the account of
or the
results of the creation. 5 And every plant of the field before it was in
the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: (and if it is every plant before it grew,
then it is still in seed form, Word Seed form.) "for the LORD God had
not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the
ground." Not a man to till the ground. See man was
birthed a spirit man but not formed from the dust yet. No physical body
yet.
Now, I
want you to notice then, that we are only given an account of the creation up
to this point, as the Spoken Word life,
(the spirit life) of each seed and
animal. We know this to be true because we are told that this account of the
proceedings is before
it was in the earth. 5 And every plant of the field before it was in the earth,
and every herb of the field before it grew 6 But
there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the
ground. 7 And the LORD God formed man of
the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life;
and man became a living soul. Now, in chapter 1:26-27 we see that God had already created man in
His Own Image.
Now,
notice here that up to this point God had created man in His Image and that He
had created all seed life in the earth. And we know that, "God is a spirit, and
they that Worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and Truth",
because that is what Jesus told us Himself in John
Now, we
see in Genesis
27 So God created man in his own image, in
the image of God created he him;. Then
in chapter 2 we see God cloth man
in dust, giving him manifestation 7 And the LORD God formed man
of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life;
and man became
a living soul
Notice, Man went from being a spirit being to a
living breathing being whose life now manifests itself.
Now, in
getting back to this creation scene, we pick up in chapter
2 and verse 8 ¶ And the LORD God planted a
garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9 And out
of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the
sight, and good for food; Now, let's
stop here just for a moment, and I would
like for you to notice that God is
now planting. The Scripture tells us that God plants, and then out from the ground comes forth every
tree that is good for food and pleasant to the sight.
But if
you carefully notice all the trees that were planted in the ground by God
were good for food or the sight. But let's read on, because we find
that there are two other trees which are found also in this garden but we do
not know how they got there, because these two are not said to be planted. . 9 And out
of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the
sight, and good
for food; the tree of life
also is in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Notice
it does not say God planted these two in the earth. It just says they are also
were found in the midst of the garden. So how did they get there if God did not
plant them? And what are these two trees that are so different from the other
trees that God planted.
Now,
let's skip ahead to verse 15…And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. 16 ¶ And the
LORD God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden thou mayest
freely eat:"
17 "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,
thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest
thereof thou shalt surely die".
18 ¶ And the LORD God said, It is not good that
the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. 19 And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast
of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto
Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living
creature, that was the name thereof. 20
And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air,
and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet
for him.
Now,
remember, in chapter one, everything God spoke forth, all life forms that God
spoke forth actually did come forth in spirit form only. But now, God is
bringing them also into manifestation by clothing them of the dust of
the earth. Therefore, just remember this…The
Spoken Word is the Original
Seed.
Now, we
promised that we would examine where these two other trees came from. As you
have seen in chapter two, God planted every tree in the garden except
two of them. These two trees are different from all other trees, because all
the other trees were planted, but these two trees were not
planted. So, where did these two trees come from, and what were these
two trees?
In
order to be able to distinguish between two of anything, we must have a way to
categorize them. Since the Law of reproduction
says "every seed must bring forth only after
it's own kind," then we have a principle laid down. And
that is, if every seed has a life within it, and every seed can bring forth
only after it's own kind or nature, then we must look at the nature of
these two trees which were not planted and see what their nature tells us about
them.
After
all, in any field of science we designate differences based upon what we can
see. This is called empirical data which is observable data. We can tell the difference between a maple
tree and an oak tree by empirical data. The shape of the leaves, the nature
of the bark, the shape of the tree, etc. This form of science is
called Botany, which is a branch of Biology that deals with
plants, their life, their structures, their growth, their characteristics, and
thus their classifications. Therefore,
if we are to understand the differences between these two trees which were in
the garden but were not planted there, we must begin by examining there
characteristics in order to be able to define their nature.
The
first one we shall examine is this tree of Life. Notice it's
name speaks of life. It is
the Tree of Life.
Now, if we are to find anything out about this Tree we must go to the Source
of Life, which
is God Himself, and He since he is the Word, then if we are to find out about
this Tree of Life, we must go to the
Word of God.
We
already know that God is the Source of all Life. In the beginning God was a
great fountain of Life as we see in Psalms 36:9 "For with thee is the fountain of life:
in thy light shall we see light.'
We also
found that John recognized this attribute of God as well. John 1:1 ¶
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3All things were made
by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was
life; and the life
was the light of men.
God was
alone in the beginning, and in Him was Life. And as He began to
bring forth this Life, it first went into His Son. So we see, God, the great
Fountain of Life, began to bring forth His great plan to fulfill Himself, and
He began this fulfillment by bringing forth first a Son. We find in John
Now,
one thing that we must not forget, Adam was not forbidden to eat from the Tree
of Life. He was only forbidden to eat from the tree of knowledge. In the Book
of Revelation 2:7 He that hath an ear,
let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To
him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the
midst of the paradise of God.
So we
see that God wanted man to eat from the tree of
Life, but before he could, he had already partook from the
tree of Knowledge, and when he did this, he had to reap the promise,
"The day you eat thereof, that day you shall
surely die."
Genesis
Therefore,
man could have eaten from the tree of Life. But notice what happened after he
had eaten from the forbidden tree of knowledge.
Genesis 3:22-24 ¶
And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and
evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life,
and eat, and live for ever: Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the
garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. 24 So he drove out the man; and he placed
at the east of the
Therefore,
God sent forth a fiery sword in the hands of the Cherubims to keep, protect and
guard the way of the tree of Life. Man could not eat from the Tree of life in
his fallen condition.
Now, so
far we haven't seen too much concerning this Tree
of Life. We know that within it are the essential
characteristics of Life and this Life came from God who is the fountain of
Life. But why is it described as a tree? That is what throws men
off in their search for the truth. God uses types and shadows and men then are
left to themselves to decipher what is not meant for them to know. Remember in Matthew 13 Jesus said "it is given for you to know the mysteries of
the Kingdom, but for those on the outside it is not given for them to know,
therefore, I speak unto you in parables." Therefore we must know what the symbolism
of this Tree represents.
We find our answer in Psalms
1:1 ¶ Blessed is the
man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly,
nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. 2 But his delight is
in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. 3 And he
shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his
fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth
shall prosper.
There
is no doubt that the scripture metaphorically speaks of men as trees. We found this in the first Psalm, where a
righteous man is likened to a tree that is planted by the river
of water, and we find it also in the Book of Jude
where it refers to the natural man.
Jude 1:10 But these speak
evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as
brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves. 11 Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily
after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.
12 These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding
themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds;
trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit,
twice dead, plucked up by the roots;
And we also
see men represented by trees as we see in Mark
But who
then is this Tree of Life? We find
our answer in the Book of Isaiah 53:1 ¶
Who hath believed our report? and to
whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?2 For he shall grow up before him as a
tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor
comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire
him.
Now,
all Bible readers know that this speaks of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so we see
then that He is the tree of Life
that was in the Garden. Then who was
this other tree, the tree of knowledge.
Well, we have already seen in the Book of Jude that those who are called
brute beasts are also called trees.
11 Woe unto them! for
they are trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by
the roots;"
Therefore, if the scripture speaks of men, both the righteous and the
unrighteous, as trees.
Then if they are trees, they would have to be descended from trees, for every
seed must bring forth after it's kind. Now, don't think it strange that men are
likened to trees, after all men are also likened to wheat and tares, and as the
grass of the field. But for this study
we will look only at the metaphorical view as trees, since we are dealing with
these two individuals in the Garden of Eden that were
not planted there.
Now,
Brother Branham taught us that these two trees
were Christ and Satan. From the Church
Age Book, he said, "We start with the
fact that there were TWO trees in the midst of the garden. The
Tree of Life was Jesus. The other tree is definitely Satan because
of what came forth of the fruit of that tree. Now then, we know that both of
those trees had a relationship to man or they would never have been placed
there."
Another
thing we must understand is if one tree was the Tree
of Life, then the other called the
tree of Knowledge was also the
tree of death, "for in the day
you eat thereof, that day you die" is
what God said.
The Pool Of
Faith Once Delivered to the Saints 53-1129A e42
Now, the Tree of Life, I believe, was Jesus Christ. "He that eats My flesh and drinks My Blood has Everlasting Life." He
is the Tree of Life.
Let us pray...