(birds singing)
(leaves rustling)
- [Jon] The story of the Bible begins in a garden
where God and humans live together.
- [Tim] And the biblical authors want us
to see this garden as a type of temple.
The top is the most sacred place,
the holy of holies, where God's presence is most intense.
- [Jon] And that's where we find the tree of life.
So what's this tree all about?
- [Tim] Well, it represents God's own life
and creative power that is made available to others.
In fact, God's first command
is that humans eat from all of the trees,
including this one.
- [Jon] So you're ingesting God's own life.
That sounds intense.
- [Tim] Yeah, this meal transforms the one who eats it,
or, in the words of the story, it leads to eternal life.
- [Jon] Okay, but on the way to the tree of life,
the humans have to pass by another tree
called the tree of knowing good and bad.
- [Tim] And God says that eating from this tree
will kill you.
- [Jon] How does it do that?
- [Tim] Well, it represents taking the authority
to do what is good in your own eyes.
And when humans do that...
- [Jon] It leads to broken relationships,
violence, and death.
- [Tim] And so here's the thing,
both trees look beautiful,
but one of them is a false tree of life.
- [Jon] And the humans take
from this false tree of life.
- [Tim] And they're exiled from the garden for good.
- [Jon] Which raises the question,
can anyone ever get back to the tree of life?
- [Tim] Well, later on in the story,
we meet a man named Moses,
and he encounters God in a desert tree on top of a mountain.
- [Jon] Oh, you mean the burning bush,
where Moses is told that he's standing on holy ground.
- [Tim] Yeah, it's a plant on a mountain,
radiating with God's life and power,
just like the tree of life.
- [Jon] And God tells Moses,
"Bring your people up to this mountain
so we can form a partnership."
- [Tim] And this partnership will force them
to make a choice.
Will they follow gods of their own making,
or receive life from the true God?
- [Jon] And in this story,
they give their allegiance to an idol.
- [Tim] And it's just the first of many.
The story goes on to show generation after generation
choosing gods of their own making.
And these idols were usually placed on tall hills,
like beautiful trees,
but they're false trees of life
that lead the people into self-destruction,
exile, and death.
- [Jon] It's like death's grip on us
is too strong to resist.
Is there any hope?
- [Tim] Well, let's turn now to the story of Jesus.
He came to announce that God's eternal life
was available once again through him.
- [Jon] So Jesus thinks of himself as the tree of life?
- [Tim] Yes, this is what he meant when he claimed
to be the vine that brings God's life into the world.
- [Jon] And Jesus invited people to eat from him.
- [Tim] Yeah, he was inviting people to trust him
and be transformed by his life.
But Jesus also exposed how corrupt humans are,
how much they love false trees of life.
And so Jesus presented people with a new choice
between life or death.
- [Jon] And this time, they don't just choose death,
they also chose to attack the one who sustains all of life.
- [Tim] Yes, Jesus is led up to the top of a hill
where he dies upon a tree.
The cross is the sad and violent result
of humanity's desire to do what is good in our own eyes.
- [Jon] The tree of life has been overcome
by the power of death.
- [Tim] Well, it seemed that way,
but Jesus said that he was a seed of God's life
that would die in the ground,
but then grow into a plant that would bear much fruit.
- [Jon] So to defeat death, Jesus went through it.
- [Tim] And now, this new tree of life
stands before us all, we can eat from it,
but it will mean passing through death, like Jesus,
allowing our old way of being human to die.
- [Jon] So that a new humanity can grow in its place.
- [Tim] Yes, Jesus said he is the vine
and we are his branches.
So not only do you eat from this tree,
you're invited to become a part of it,
helping produce its fruit
so that his life and love can spread through us to others.
- [Jon] And so the story of the Bible ends
in a new garden.
- [Tim] Which is also a kind of temple
with the tree of life at its center,
providing healing and life forever
to all who choose to eat from it.
(birds singing)