The older book
The Tree
The way back was closed.
To guard the way to the tree of life.
Genesis 2:9 · Genesis 3:1-24 · Deuteronomy 21:22-23 · Galatians 3:13 · 1 Peter 2:24 · Revelation 22:1-5
The scene
God had told Adam not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He did, and everything changed. Sin, shame and death enter the story, and the ground itself is cursed.
Adam and Eve are sent out of Eden. God places cherubim and a flaming sword at the east of the garden:
"To guard the way to the tree of life."Genesis 3:24
The way back is closed.
Deuteronomy has a law about someone put to death and hung on a tree. It says:
"He who is hanged is accursed of God."Deuteronomy 21:23
Paul writes about Jesus:
"Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us."Galatians 3:13
Then he quotes Deuteronomy:
"For it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.'"Galatians 3:13
Peter uses the same tree language:
"He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree."1 Peter 2:24
No verse says the cross reopens the way to the tree of life. But put those passages beside each other.
The Bible begins with humanity falling, the curse coming and the way to the tree of life being closed. Jesus becomes a curse for us on a tree.
At the other end of the Bible, the tree of life appears again. God's people are there, they see his face, and John tells us:
"There will be no curse any more."Revelation 22:3
The point
The tree of life is there again.
Sit with this
The way back is open.