Innocence and the Tree of Knowledge

 

Innocence and the Tree of Knowledge

Innocence is the absence of knowing evil WMS

The point is this, we have lost our innocence

And let’s be honest, we love the Fruit from the Tree of Knowledge

So much so we are addicted

We all need help

Help to get our eyes fixed on Jesus, who is the Tree of Life

We need the leaves of the Tree of Life to bring healing to the nations and to us

The question is this

Do you want to be innocence?

If so, be careful of what you eat

 

 

 Innocence and the Tree of Knowledge

 

Revelation 2:7 says…

 

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

 To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life,

 which is in the paradise of God.

 

The Tree of Life is in the Paradise of God.

 

Revelation 22: tells us…

 

 The Tree of Life bears 12 fruits

and it yields fruit each month.

 

Then it says about the Tree of Life…

 

And the leaves of the tree are

 for the healing of the nations.

 

We must always be careful

of how we handle metaphors.

 

God’s Word is full of metaphors to

help us understand spiritual truths.

 

We have all seen trees with leaves

and know trees shed their leaves.

 

Falling off the Tree of Life are leaves

and maybe like the fall winds, the healing

leaves not only fall off the tree, but are

blown across the nations to bring healing.

 

It can be hard to understand metaphors.

 

 But we can relate to the need of healing for the nations. 

 

Like the contagiousness of

Covid around the world,

so is the spread of Evil.

 

Whether a mild case or severe case,

around the world in every nation

 we have a pandemic of sin.

 

The picture of the Tree of Life in Revelation reminds

us of a time before the world was inflicted with sin.

 

When the Paradise of God was on earth

and the name was the Garden of Eden.

 

Eden was a place of innocence.

 

Innocence…

 

 the state, quality, or fact of being innocent of a crime

or offense.  lack of guile or corruption; purity.

 

Imagine being Adam and Eve.

 

 The most perfect body of a man and

a women living in no shame.

 

The ability to give names to the living things on earth.

 

Fruit from hundreds of plants to enjoy.

 

To live in a place not corrupted.

 

Every thought was pure and enjoyable.

 

Imagine the things Adam and Eve did not

 think of because they had no knowledge of them.

 

I define Innocence as the absence of knowing evil. WMS

   

Adam and Eve’s innocence gave them the

ability to enjoy everything in the Garden.

 

Purity you and I cannot comprehend.

 

But innocence was lost.

 

I have always felt I had some understanding

of the forbidden Tree of Knowledge.

 

But recently, I see more of the picture.

 

There was so much for Adam and Eve to

know and explore in the Garden of Eden.

 

But a desire that is in all of us worked

in the heads of Adam and Eve.

 

A desire to “know more”…

 

 To know not only good and innocence, but evil.

 

We see the moment Adam and Eve ate of the

Tree of Knowledge, they knew they were naked.

 

They covered themselves with leaves.

 

 Maybe it was in hope of healing

them of the new found shame.

 

The truth be known…

 

We all want the Tree of Knowledge.

 

We want to know the evil side.

 

The knowledge of evil is much more then

darkness, it is like a light into the shameful.

 

Nakedness did not have shame before

eating from the Tree of Knowledge.

 

Sex is the creation of God.

 

Yet, we want to explore, we want

the knowledge of the shameful side.

 

In Iceland the idea is “try before you buy”.

 

Sex on a date is not much different

than a meal on that date.

 

But this idea is not just in Iceland,

 this is all over the world.

 

Truth is a wonderful part of innocence,

 yet we love the knowledge of lies.

 

Lies cover up what we don’t want exposed

 so we love the knowledge of lies.

 

We love the knowledge of anger, it

gives us a sense of power and the

ability to inflict our judgments.

 

There was something in the

 Fruit of Knowledge that was

appealing to Eve and Adam.

 

That same appeal is in all of us.

 

We have all lost our innocence.

 

Over time, societies and nations have

gotten farther from their innocence.

 

Look at your life…

 

Can you remember being innocence?

 

 Can you remember losing your innocence?

 

Over the last few decades,

the loss of innocence has increased.

 

There are always messages being preach and

most of them are not preached in a church.

 

Look at the platform or pulpit of television.

 

I remember the Black and White TVs.

 

That was not a TV that had the color

of Black and White on the outside.

 

The first shows had a high level of

innocence in comparisons to today.

 

Our love for the Tree of Knowledge

has changed the message of TV.

 

We now have 85” TVs and

larger to get the message on.

 

We have given up on innocence…

 

For a world of Knowledge of Good and Evil.

 

We now have more preaching

channels than you can count. 

 

Most of us are watching more then the

good channels because we are

hungry for the Tree of Knowledge.

 

So what is the point?

 

The point is this…

 

 We have lost our innocence.

 

And let’s be honest…

 

 We love the Fruit from the Tree of Knowledge.

 

So much so we are addicted.

 

We all need help.

 

Help to get our eyes fixed on

Jesus, who is the Tree of Life.

 

We need the leaves of the Tree of Life to

bring healing to the nations and to us.

 

The question is this…

 

Do you want to be innocence?

 

If so, be careful of what you eat.

 

 

 

Scripture Reading NIV

 

Revelation 22:1-3

22:1 Then 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 2 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. 3 No longer will there be any curse.

 

 

Genesis 2:25

25 The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

 

 

Genesis 3:6-7

6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.