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In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth
(Creation of Man) (Fall of Man) (Universal sinfulness of man) (Tree of Life) (First Promise of Messiah)
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Creation of Man
The Genesis account of the creation of mankind;
This is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, before any plant of the field was in the earth and before any herb of the earth had grown. For the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground.
And the Lord formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
The Lord God planted a garden eastwards in Eden, and there He put the man He had formed.
And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden.
And the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in that day that you eat of it you shall surely die."
And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from the man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.
Both the Qur'an and the Hebrew Bible record the fall of man from the Grace of the Lord God and the sending out of both Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. This is what is recorded in the Hebrew Bible in Genesis Chapter 3.
Now the Serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman "Has God indeed said, "You shall not eat of every tree of the garden"?". And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, "You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.""
Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die, for God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
Then the Lord called to Adam and said to him, "Where are you?" So he said, "I heard Your voice in the garden. and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself." And He said, "Who told you you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree which I commanded you that you should not eat?" Then the man said, "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree and I ate."
And the Lord God said to the woman, "What is this that you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate." So the Lord said to the serpent;
"Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel."
To the woman he said.
"I will greatly multiply your sorrows and your conception; in pain you shall bring forth children; your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you."
Then to Adam He said;
"Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, "You shall not eat of it."; "Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life, both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you shall return".
And Adam called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skins, and clothed them.
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.
The Universal Sinfulness of Man
Before the coming of Messiah godly men knew and understood that no person in themselves possessed eternal righteous holiness (sinlessness) and that even earthly righteousness would be insufficient on the Day of Judgment. The prophets confirm this in their writings.
Samuel recorded the prayer of Hannah;
"No one is Holy like the Lord, for there is none besides You, nor is there any rock like our God." (1 Samuel 2:2)
The Preacher in Ecclesiastes conveyed God's message and said;
For there is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin" (Ecclestiastes 7:20)
The King and Prophet David said;
"God looks down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there is any who understand or who seek God. Everyone of them has turned aside; they have together become corrupt; There is none who does good, No, not one." (Psalm 53: 2-3)
David explained the birth condition of every man and woman;
"Behold I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me" (Psalm 51:5)
The universal sinfulness of everyone born of the natural process is acknowledged in the sayings of Muhammad;
Narrated Abu Huraira:
The Prophet said, "When any human being is born. Satan touches him at both sides of the body with his two fingers, except Jesus, the son of Mary, whom Satan tried to touch but failed, for he touched the placenta-cover instead." (Sahih Muslim 4.506)
Narrated Said bin Al-Musaiyab:
Abu Huraira said, "I heard Allah's Apostle saying, 'There is none born among the off-spring of Adam, but Satan touches it......... " (Sahih Muslim 4.641)
Narrated Abu Huraira:
"...And Moses argued with Adam and said to him; "You are the one who got the people out of Paradise by your sin and thus made them miserable...." (Sahih Al-Bukhari vol 6 book 60:262)
The Messiah himself confirmed the universal sinfulness of mankind. In answering an enquirer who recognised him as the divine Messiah and called him "Good" the Messiah tested his faith by questioning him;
"Why do you call Me good?. No one is good but One, that is, God" (Matthew 26:17)
The questioner persisted in his belief of who Messiah was (he didn't modify his form of address) but, sadly, put his earthly riches before following the Lord God.
And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The Tree of Life was also in the midst of the garden, and the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil." (Genesis 2:9)
As we have seen above, in the section on the Fall of Man, the Lord God told Adam and Eve that they would die if they ate from the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The consequence of their disobedience was a broken relationship with the Lord God and separation from Him. Messiah taught that separation from the source of spiritual life results in spiritual death. He used the example of a vine tree and branches. If the branch is cut off it withers and dies. Anyone who is not grafted on to the tree does not receive sustenance and dies.
Adam and Eve did not die physically so the serpent's lie was a half truth as all good lies are. But they died spiritually and their communion with the Lord God was broken. To ensure that mankind could not overcome, by his own efforts, what the Lord God had decreed , the Lord God drove Adam and Eve out of the garden and we read this;
"And now lest he put out his hand and take also of the Tree of Life, and eat, and live for ever...." (Genesis 3:22)
" So He (The Lord God) 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 3:24)
The Lord God made access to the Tree of Life by way of the "flaming sword" which turned every way, to guard the way to the Tree of Life. From the very beginning there has only been one way to the Tree of Life which is the source of eternal life.
The Prophets of the Hebrew Bible understood that eternal righteousness came by way of the Tree of Life. King Solomon said;
"The fruit of the righteous is the Tree of Life and he who wins souls is wise". (Proverbs 11:30)
"Happy is the man who finds wisdom.......She is a Tree of Life to those who take hold of her" (Proverbs 3:13 &18)
Here Solomon equates the Tree of life to "wisdom". Later Solomon declares "wisdom" to be eternal and the agent by which the Lord God crafted creation and by whom He gives life to all who find "wisdom". "Wisdom" is a personality and the Lord God declares of those who reject "wisdom"; "But he who sins against me wrongs his own soul; all those who hate me love death." (Proverbs 8:36)
Concerning "wisdom" Solomon said;
"Does not wisdom cry out, and understanding lift up her voice? She takes her stand on the top of the high hill, beside the way were the paths meet." (Proverbs 8:1-2)
"I wisdom, dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge and discretion. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate." (Proverbs 8:12-13)
"I love those who love me, and those who seek me will find me. Riches and honour are with me, enduring riches and righteousness." (Proverbs 8: 17-18)
"The Lord possessed me at the beginning of His way, before his works of old. I have been established from everlasting, from the beginning before there ever was an earth. When there were no depths I was brought forth; while as yet He had not made the earth or the fields, or the primal dust of the world. When He prepared the heavens I was there." (Proverbs 8:22-27)
"When He (Lord God) marked out the foundations of the earth I was beside Him as a master craftsman; and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him, rejoicing in his inhabited world, and my delight was with the sons of men." (Proverbs 8:29-31)
Wisdom then speaks instruction;
Now therefore, listen to me, my children. For blessed are those who keep my ways. Hear instruction and be wise and do not disdain it. Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favour from the Lord; but he who sins against me wrongs his own soul; all those who hate me love death." (Proverbs 8: 32-36)
In the Jewish Zohar, a Bible commentary claiming to possess the "Keys to understanding", Wisdom is here given the title of Metatron. The Metatron is also the title given to the Angel of the Lord who appeared to Moses as a fire from within a bush (The burning bush - Exodus 2:2). This wisdom which is referred to as the Metatron is in fact a personality of the Lord God . Furthermore the "flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the Tree of Life" is also given the title Metatron and Rabbi Simeon says "The way to the tree of Life is by the Metatron."
The Messianic believer who wrote the book to the Hebrews (in the Injeel) records that this personality of the Lord God which the great prophet Moses knew was Messiah. This truth will be further expanded in a paper on the three personalities of the Lord God.
The Tree of Life, Wisdom, Metatron and Messiah are one and the same.
In the Messianic writings (the Injeel) Messiah teaches extensively using fruit, trees and branches as objects to bring out many truths. In one section in the Book of John He taught that believers were branches of the True Vine which was himself and that if they remained in Him they would bear fruit. That means they would bring forth a life worthy of the tree in which they were sustained as branches.
In speaking to the people Messiah often explained that what He came to offer was something which must be consumed. Some of Messiah's claims are that He was the "Bread of Life" and that He was "Living water". He even said that to gain eternal life he himself had to be consumed symbolically by those who believed. This all was to explain that he was not only the way to the Tree of Life but that he was Life itself.
In the Injeel by the Apostle John we read of Messiah:
"In Him was Life, and the Life was the light of men." (John 1:4)
The message of Messiah conveyed by the Apostle John in the Revelation:
"He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies (of believers). To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the Tree of Life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God." (Revelation 2:7)
"I am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last. Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city." (The Holy City) (Revelation 22:13-14)
The way to the Tree of Life is by Messiah. The right to eat of the Tree of Life is by Messiah. To eat of the Tree of Life is to live forever in the Holy City with God.
Although we sin, God is merciful and gracious. But God is eternal and His word and decrees are also eternal. There is no changing or turning with God for he is holy and eternal. The punishment to Adam and Eve had to be carried out. God in a demonstration of His supreme mercy provided a way for man to repent and to be reconciled to Himself at the very instant that it was needed and the first promise of the means by which this would be achieved was made in the presence of Adam, Eve and the Serpent in the Garden of Eden. It is by faith in the promise of God by which mankind is saved. Messiah fulfilled that promise which was given at the instant that sin came into the world.
In the book of Genesis we read:
Then He (God) said........."Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat from?" Then the man (Adam) said, "The woman whom you gave me to be with me, she gave me of the tree and I ate." And the Lord God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me and I ate." (Genesis 3: 11-13)
The Lord God then spoke to the Serpent, Eve and Adam in turn and to the Serpent he said;
".....And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel." (Genesis 3:15)
The key statement here is the most unusual promise concerning the "seed of the woman". In the Hebrew scriptures a man's genealogy is never reckoned after the woman but only after the man. Here we have the promise of someone who would crush the head of Satan (the serpent) while suffering a slight wound being promised a lineage from the woman, not from Adam. (The NIV states "..he will crush your head and you will strike his heel").
In total contradistinction to Hebrew and Biblical convention we here have a promise of a Redeemer who would come from the seed of a woman. One way in which we would recognise him is that in His birth only his mother would be taken account of.
Godly men from ancient times took this verse to be a clear messianic statement. It is referred to as such in the "Targums of Jonathan" and the "Jerusalem Targums".
Many hundreds of years after the events in the Garden of Eden a great prophet named Isaiah wrote that Messiah would come only from the seed of a woman. In his prophecy we read;
"Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call his name Immanuel." (Isaiah 7:14) (Immanuel = God with us)
A sign given to signify who was Messiah was to be his virgin birth. The one who fulfilled this promise and hundreds of other prophecies concerning Messiah in the Hebrew Scriptures is Isa Al-Messih, Jesus of Nazareth.
The above prophecy along with some other major prophecies are explained in a separate webpage listed on the index on the Home Page. To return to the Home Page please return to the top of this page to click on the link.
Khuda Hafiz
(Creation of Man)(The fall of Man)(The universal sinfulness of man)(The Tree of Life)(The first Promise of Messiah)
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