55: Banished from the Garden

Then the LORD God said, ‘Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever’— therefore the LORD God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the Tree of Life. (Genesis 3:22-24)¹

When God drove Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden, He stationed cherubim at the entrance to the garden with a flaming sword that turned every way forbidding entrance to the garden and access to the Tree of Life. God did this out of His mercy. If man had eaten from the Tree of Life in his sinful state, he would have forever remained in that sinful state and cut off from the life of God. Sin and God cannot meet, but because God loves us so much, He sent His Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.² This everlasting life is the fruit of the Tree of Life, Jesus Christ. Jesus came down from heaven so that we could be brought back to fellowship with God and the purpose for which we were created.

These cherubim guarding the Tree of Life can be seen many years later in the types and shadows of the ark of the covenant in the Tabernacle that God instructed Moses to construct as a chamber for His presence. In the Holy of Holies was a box containing the symbols of all man’s failures to live up to His standards, to submit to His authority, and to trust His provision. The items representing these failures were the Ten Commandments, Aaron’s rod, and manna. God covered man’s sin with His mercy by placing a covering on the Ark, a golden seat called the Mercy Seat. Formed with one piece of gold with this seat were two angels that looked down on the seat. Each year the high priest would sprinkle the blood of an innocent lamb on the seat.³ The angels would see the blood, and the sin of the people would be covered for another year. These angels were the guardians of God’s righteousness just like the cherubim placed at the entrance of the Garden of Eden guarded the Tree of Life and Christ’s righteousness.

Fast forward thousands of years, and we see two angels in the empty tomb of our Savior: one at the head and one at the foot of where Jesus had laid.⁴ Jesus, our Tree of Life, came out of heaven to die our death, and entered back into heaven to bring us back with Him.

(from pages 102-103 of Unveiling Jesus)

Want more from Tricia Gunn? Check out excerpts from the Unveiling Jesus 20-part series!

Unveiling Jesus, by Tricia Gunn, is a verse by verse study of the pure gospel of grace. It’s an amazing journey of love, identity, and freedom in Christ.

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¹Scripture taken from the New King James Version®.  Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.  Used by permission.
²John 3:16
³Exodus 25:17-22
⁴John 20:12