The Covenant of Peace

The Two Trees

(Before starting this study, it would help to first go through each of the tabs in order at the top of the page as we will be building on these principles.)

In the garden of Eden, there were many trees, but two were specifically named.  One was the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and one was called the Tree of Life.  It is interesting to note, however, that these two trees were located in the exact same place in the garden.  Genesis 2:9 Out of the ground the LORD God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  We can see by this Scripture that the Tree of Life is in the “midst” or middle of the garden.  The Hebrew word for “midst” or “middle” is tavek.  YHVH told Adam in Genesis 2:16-17 …“From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”  They were not permitted to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  Where was this tree positioned?  Chava (Eve) tells us where it was located in Genesis 3:2-3 The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’”  The Hebrew word for “middle” here is also tavek.  These two trees were located in the exact same place – in the middle of the garden.

Many people teach that one of these trees was planted by YHVH, but the other was planted by the enemy.  Possibly, but we are going to look at another explanation.  What if these aren’t really two separate trees, what if, instead, it is just one tree?  Or it is really two trees, but they share the same trunk?  Either way, they are joined.  Let’s look at an example.  When we studied the two covenants, we saw that they were both placed in the same man, Yeshua, when He came in the flesh.  One covenant was placed in His blood and the other was placed in His flesh in the form of water.  Two covenants, but yet, they were both placed in one man.  Is it possible that these were not two separate trees, but were, instead just one tree?

When YHVH gives us instructions on eating the fruit of trees, He tells us in Leviticus 19:23 ‘When you enter the land and plant all kinds of trees for food, then you shall count their fruit as forbidden. Three years it shall be forbidden to you; it shall not be eaten.”  These fruit trees may be eaten later, but in the first three years, we are not to eat of them.  The word that was translated as “forbidden” is not a word we would normally associate with trees.  The Hebrew word used here is orlah and it literally means “foreskin”.  Fruit trees are considered “uncircumcised” until the fourth year and even then, we are not to eat of the fruit until the fifth year.  What an odd way to phrase this.  YHVH is associating a tree with something on a man.  Is it possible that this is why YHVH told Adam and Chava not to eat of the tree in the center of the garden?  It was not “circumcised” yet. 

It could be that it wasn’t that the enemy had planted this tree, but it was not time to eat of it.  The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, in itself, was not a bad tree.  We are certain that it provided shade for man and beast and branches for birds to sit.  We also know that it provided fruit, but the very first commandment given unto man was to not eat of its fruit.  The tree, just standing there, was not a bad tree.  It was the fact that man violated the commandment that made it bad.  Before a commandment is given, there is no such thing as sin.  Romans 5:13b…sin is not imputed when there is no law.   Remember, sin is the transgression of the law (Torah) 1John 3:4.  Sin would not be in existence until there was a law to transgress.  In the first covenant, we receive the knowledge of what is good – YHVH’s instructions on how to be holy just as He is holy, His feast days and His promises.  However, it also tells us what is evil – sin.  Without Torah, we would not know what sin is.  Paul says in Romans 7:7… I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, "YOU SHALL NOT COVET."  He also goes to great lengths to assure us that it’s not the Torah that is sin and therefore bad, but it is sin, working in our flesh that is bad and produced death in us because the wages of sin is death.  Romans 7:9-12 I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died; and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved  to result in death for me; for sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.”  In the very next verse, he says, in Romans 7:12 So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

Again, maybe it wasn’t the tree that was evil.  It was only gaining the intimate “knowledge” of sin that was evil.  As soon as Adam and Chava ate of the tree, they now had an intimacy with sin because they literally took it into their bodies.  Now, they are under a curse.  This is why, Yeshua, the second Adam, redeemed us from the curse of the Law.  He did not redeem us from the Law, but the curse of the Law, which is death.  Permanent death.  The interesting part is that Yeshua became a curse for us, not through sin, like we did to become a curse, but because of one tiny Scripture in the Torah in Deuteronomy 21:23 that says, everyone who hangs on a tree is cursed.  Galations 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, "CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE"—  This one very small verse allowed a perfect man, without sin, to become a curse.  The curse was placed in His flesh to be crucified, so that there would be an end to the curse upon us.   Again, we will not see the end of the curse upon us until the current earth passes away and our flesh is gone because YHVH condemned sin in the flesh.

The author of Hebrews tells us in Hebrews 8:6-8 But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, by as much as He is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second. For finding fault with them, He says, "BEHOLD, DAYS ARE COMING, SAYS THE LORD, WHEN I WILL EFFECT A NEW COVENANT WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AND WITH THE HOUSE OF JUDAH”  Notice it is not the first covenant that He finds fault with – it is the people – “them”.  Also, if you look up this Scripture in Greek, the word “covenant” is not even there when it says “For if that first “covenant” had been faultless.  It was the people that failed – not YHVH’s Word or His covenant.

In the New Jerusalem, we do not see the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil ever again nor do we see the curse that is written in the Torah or the first covenant.  We only see the Tree of Life, which is the New Covenant.  Revelation 22:1-3 Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him; they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads.

 We believe that Paul points out the same symbolism using Sarah and Hagar.  Galations 4:22-26 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the bondwoman and one by the free woman. But the son by the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and the son by the free woman through the promise. This is allegorically speaking, for these women are two covenants: one proceeding from Mount Sinai bearing children who are to be slaves; she is Hagar. Now this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free; she is our mother.”  Hagar is a picture of the first covenant (the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil).  As soon as we sin, there is a curse.  While we are in the flesh, we are a picture of the bondwoman.  While we are in flesh, there is sickness and disease and death brought on by sin – the transgression of that first covenant.  We are slaves to sin.  However, we have the promise of the New Covenant in our spirits, which is Sarah, which allows us access to the Tree of Life on the eighth day and the New Jerusalem, which is free from sin because there will be no flesh.  YHVH says in The New Covenant in Jeremiah 31:34b "for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more." Both Ishmael and Isaac were brought forth from the same seed, the seed of Abraham, but only one of these boys was going to be the “seed of promise”.  When YHVH promised Abraham a son, He was not talking about Ishmael.  The promise was about Isaac, which someday, Yeshua would descend from.  Ishmael was created out of the fleshly desire to see a son.

 Paul goes on to say in Galations 4:30 But what does the Scripture say? "CAST OUT THE BONDWOMAN AND HER SON, FOR THE SON OF THE BONDWOMAN SHALL NOT BE AN HEIR WITH THE SON OF THE FREE WOMAN."  Is he saying to cast out YHVH’s laws?  Of course not!  He also says, Romans 3:31 "Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law." The Greek word here for "establish" means to make it stand. We are casting out sin and along with it, the curse dies.  YHVH’s laws are IN the New Covenant.  Jeremiah 31:33 "But this is the covenant which I will make with the House of Israel after those days," declares the LORD, "I will put My law (Torah) within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.  The first covenant, Hagar, was written on stone tablets.  The New Covenant, Sarah, will be written on our hearts.  His laws are forever because they are His instructions, but now, with the help of the Holy Spirit, we are no longer to have a knowledge of evil only a knowledge of good.

 Just as we cannot accept the blood of Yeshua and toss out the flesh, neither can we accept the flesh and toss out His blood.  If we think that by following Torah, or the laws, we can earn a right to the New Covenant aside from faith in Yeshua, we would also be mistaken.  This is exactly what Sarah was thinking when she gave Hagar to Abraham.  They would create their own son, rather than waiting for the promise to be fulfilled.  This is why we must cast out the bondwoman.  We are no longer to be slaves of sin.  We are to be heirs - “sons” of the new kingdom, just as Isaac was to be Abraham’s heir.

Paul’s words are often twisted to say that we are no longer to follow the Law (Torah), or God’s Words.  What we are missing is that he is constantly speaking of the New Covenant.  Peter warns us in 2 Peter 3:13-16 But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.  We must always remember that Paul is speaking of a new heaven and a new earth in which there is a New Covenant and our spirits have already received this covenant since they are seated in the heavenly.  Paul also talks about two "laws", the "law of God" and the "law of sin".  Romans 7:22-23 For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members."  YHVH's laws are not the law of sin. We must be very careful not to distort Paul’s words.  His letters must line up with the rest of Scripture, or again, he would be a false prophet. So, instead, we are to walk according to the Spirit and not fulfill the desires of our flesh, which is sin, waiting until the promise comes to fruition, along with the new heavens and new earth. We cannot eat from the Tree of Life until it is time.

Remember, the first three years, the tree is uncircumcised.  The fourth year, the fruit of the tree is only YHVH’s.  Leviticus 19:24 ‘But in the fourth year all its fruit shall be holy, an offering of praise to the LORD.’  Of course, Yeshua came on the fourth “day” (if a day is as a thousand years) and he was a first fruit.  He was holy and He was an offering of praise.  We are not permitted to consume the fruit of fruit trees until the fifth year.  Leviticus 19:25 ‘In the fifth year you are to eat of its fruit, that its yield may increase for you; I am the LORD your God.  The number five is associated with the Hebrew letter Hey that has a word picture of wind, spirit or promise.  We were given the “promise” of the New Covenant by the Spirit on the fifth day, if a day is as a thousand years and the disciples took this “seed of promise” and began to spread it over the earth.  Its yield has definitely increased and will continue to do so until the tree is completely circumcised, which will probably be on the eighth day, just as man’s flesh is removed.

Jerusalem is also waiting just as we are.  Isaiah 54:1-17 "Shout for joy, O barren one, you who have borne no child; Break forth into joyful shouting and cry aloud, you who have not travailed; For the sons of the desolate one will be more numerous than the sons of the married woman," says the LORD. "Enlarge the place of your tent; Stretch out the curtains of your dwellings, spare not; Lengthen your cords And strengthen your pegs. For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left. And your descendants will possess nations and will resettle the desolate cities. Fear not, for you will not be put to shame; And do not feel humiliated, for you will not be disgraced; But you will forget the shame of your youth, and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more. "For your husband is your Maker, Whose name is the LORD of hosts; And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel, Who is called the God of all the earth. "For the LORD has called you, Like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, Even like a wife of one's youth when she is rejected," Says your God. For a brief moment I forsook you, But with great compassion I will gather you. In an outburst of anger I hid My face from you for a moment, But with everlasting lovingkindness I will have compassion on you," Says the LORD your Redeemer. "For this is like the days of Noah to Me, When I swore that the waters of Noah Would not flood the earth again; So I have sworn that I will not be angry with you nor will I rebuke you. "For the mountains may be removed and the hills may shake, But My lovingkindness will not be removed from you, And My covenant of peace will not be shaken," Says the LORD who has compassion on you. "O afflicted one, storm-tossed, and not comforted, Behold, I will set your stones in antimony, And your foundations I will lay in sapphires. "Moreover, I will make your battlements of rubies, And your gates of crystal, And your entire wall of precious stones. "All your sons will be taught of the LORD; And the well-being of your sons will be great. "In righteousness you will be established; You will be far from oppression, for you will not fear; And from terror, for it will not come near you. "If anyone fiercely assails you it will not be from Me. Whoever assails you will fall because of you. "Behold, I Myself have created the smith who blows the fire of coals And brings out a weapon for its work; And I have created the destroyer to ruin. "No weapon that is formed against you will prosper; And every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their vindication is from Me," declares the LORD.  And when the New Jerusalem comes down out of the heavens, which Yeshua has been building (John 14:2 "In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.) Revelation 21:2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.  The New Jerusalem will not travail to give birth, but she will be full of many many children – more than the current Jerusalem. 

Revelation 22:10-12 And he said to me, "Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. "Let the one who does wrong, still do wrong; and the one who is filthy, still be filthy; and let the one who is righteous, still practice righteousness; and the one who is holy, still keep himself holy." "Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done. "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end."  The Alef Tav.  The Spirit and the bride say “Come”.