Betty Edmondson 02/23/2001 – TREE OF THE KNOWLEDGE …



Betty Edmondson 02/23/2001 – TREE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL

How far have we wandered from the truth? What will it take to remember what we have forgotten? If we stand way back from nitpicking and take a good look at the big picture, maybe we can see the truth emerge-- you know, like one of those funky pictures you have to stare at for a long time until finally a shape begins to form before our very eyes.

The Tree of Life that was in the midst of the paradise of God is still here. The Tree of the knowledge of good and evil that was in the garden is still here. To eat of something is to take it in and believe it.

The Tree of Life was set before the first Adam. Adam was essentially, primarily, inherently GOOD before he became a living soul. His life was God's life and breath. He identified his SELF as God's SELF.

The Tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil is a soul state of relativity that the first Adam began to identify himSELF with as he began to look on the world of form. He WAS the Prodigal Son who wandered away from his father's house, farther and farther into the world of form and relativity. As he lost his identity with the absolute and began to relate to others as separate and apart in the flesh, he began to think of life as separate and many lives, instead of the one life of the absolute Father God.

Psalm 40:7 Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me,

Hebrews 10:7 Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.

The entire book is written about the son of man / Son of God, from the first Adam to the second Adam. It is written about one man. One man became a living soul who multiplied upon the earth like a tree with innumerable branches. He was the son of God and the son of man.

The farther the first Adam wandered out into the world of forms and began to identify his life as form, the more his soul was in sin, in error. He had lost his true identity and began to identify with relationships. Relativity is a state of soul knowledge that has forgotten the absolute. The soul judges everything by relating it to something else. The soul judges or makes assessments by the physical senses, i.e., seeing, hearing, feeling. The soul sees black & white, big & little, back & forth, male & female, up & down, hot & cold, good & evil. Nothing is ever absolute to the living soul that the first Adam became.

When Adam was first created, he ate of the Tree of Life, which is the one life of God that was breathed into him. There was no way he could partake of both trees and keep his absolute identity of good in God. This was the soul that sinned... the first Adam. Only the soul can sin, because only the soul judges and makes decisions.

The LAW of sin and death was in effect in the Garden of Eden.

Ezekiel 18:20 The soul that sinneth, IT shall die.

As Adam began to identify with the relative world of good and evil, he multiplied his identity into a formidable tree of good and evil, or relativity. This one man was a seed that filled the whole earth with his thinking and passed it on to every generation that came out of his loins. This was the only man that God ever created, so he was the soul that sinned.

All the laws that were given to man were children of this essential law: THE SOUL THAT SINNETH, IT SHALL DIE. Look how many people were contained in this one soul. The whole earth. In the fullness of time, the tree was ripe. John the Baptist began to prophecy about one who was to come. He said,

Matthew 3:10-12 And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. [11] I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: [12] Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.

Jesus, the son of man, was born into that first soul that sinned. That is why he could fulfill that LAW OF SIN AND DEATH by dying for the entire human race of souls. By his genealogy of man, he was included in that soul. When he died, the axe was laid to the root of the tree of good and evil.

When Jesus died and his soul went to hell, he preached to the captive spirits in prison all the way back before the great flood. These were the spirits of just men, who had not been reconciled to God.

When Jesus went to the grave, he fulfilled the law of sin and death and the ax was laid to the root of that tree. Now, the Spirit of God that was the true identity of Jesus anointed him and raised him from the grave. He was a seed planted in the earth that was to come forth as the Tree of Life. He was the promised seed to reconcile mankind to God and restore their original identity in God by baptizing them with the Holy Ghost (one Sprit) that would lead them into all truth.

There is only one spirit and only one flesh. It all started with one man as the first Adam and ended with one man as that son of man died, and the Son of God was raised back up in newness of life and took his rightful place as the Son of God. Nobody else could do this except the soul that sinned. The Bible says Jesus was tempted, but was without sin. Although he did not commit sin and always maintained the truth about who he was, he was born of the first seed of Adam and was, therefore, under that curse.

Ephes. 4:3-6 Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. [4] There is ONE BODY, and ONE SPIRIT, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; [5] One Lord, one faith, one baptism, [6] ONE GOD AND FATHER OF ALL, who is ABOVE ALL, and THROUGH ALL, and IN YOU ALL.

How many sons did God create? ONE. From that one man, the whole earth was multiplied from his flesh. His sin was that he looked outward upon the forms of others and began to separate from them in his mind. He forgot that the entire tree that multiplied from seed to root, to trunk, to branches, to more seeds, to more trees, all still had the same LIFE that was breathed into him in the beginning.

THERE IS ONLY ONE LIFE IN EXISTENCE. THAT LIFE IS GOD'S LIFE. YOUR LIFE AND MY LIFE ARE GOD'S LIFE, AND THEY ARE ONE LIFE. I AND MY FATHER ARE ONE. JESUS AND MY FATHER ARE ONE. YOU AND MY FATHER ARE ONE; THEREFORE, YOU AND I ARE ONE AND WE CAN KEEP THAT UNITY OF THE FAITH.

When Jesus died,

Matthew 27:50-53 Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. [51] And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; [52] And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, [53] And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.

This was the first resurrection, folks. Those souls under the altar resurrected in order to receive the promised seed and be reconciled to God. When Jesus returned to earth on the Day of Pentecost and came rushing through that upper room as a mighty wind, there were tongues of fire on people's heads and they were FILLED with the ONE SPIRIT, the HOLY GHOST, GOD'S SPIRIT, and they were out-of-this-world deliriously HAPPY as they were caught up in the reconciliation with God and began to witness in tongues and dance around with pure joy. They had a reunion with God that day, folks, and the Kingdom of God was restored to this earth.

Jesus, the anointed ONE, the Son of God, was the FIRST FRUIT of that new tree that sprang up on the Day of Pentecost. He said,

John 15:3-5 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. [4] Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. [5] I AM THE VINE, YE ARE THE BRANCHES: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

From which tree are we eating? Do we identify with the dead son of man who went to the grave, or do we identify with the living SON OF GOD whom God raised from the dead and lives forever to intercede for us? Do we identify with sin, or with life? Out of our own mouths we are blessed or cursed. From our own identification, we live or die. Oh yes. People can walk around flatfooted dead, ever identifying their SELF as a sinner, as an individual cut off from God and from one another, as a piece of flesh that has a name.

Jesus said,

John 3:3-8 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. [4] Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? [5] Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. [6] That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. [7] Marvel not that I said unto thee, YE MUST BE BORN AGAIN. [8] The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: SO IS EVERY ONE THAT IS BORN OF THE SPIRIT.

I just want to speak this truth in love: If you think you have to physically die to see the kingdom of God, think again. If you want to find the kingdom of God, search within. If you cannot SEE the kingdom of heaven, it's time to draw nigh unto God and ask him to rebirth your BEING, your SELF, your IDENTITY.

Every accusation that can be made against the soul is true. Everything we call each other in the flesh is true... IN THIS DIMENSION OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL. But if we are judging one another by the seeing of the eyes and the hearing of the ears, we are inaccurate. We are not judging righteous judgment. When you are born again, it rebirths your world and reconciles you to God. One more time, hear this:

Romans 5:10 For if, when we were enemies, we were RECONCILED to God by the DEATH of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be SAVED by HIS LIFE. We are saved by HIS LIFE because it is OUR NEW LIFE. When we are BORN AGAIN, we remember our identity at last. We have returned home.

As we walk in NEWNESS OF LIFE and acknowledge that we are ONE with God, we grow up IN HIM.

As we take in the lessons from the Holy Spirit, those words of life displace the old fruit we used to eat and are life to us. We appropriate those promises from Revelations because we are overcomers, and we begin to EAT from the Tree of Life that is in the midst of the Garden of God. We get up every morning and put on the white robe of God's righteousness. We eat manna from heaven as we hear that still small voice teaching us daily. We draw Christ out of one another instead of pointing to the old man of sin.

As children of God, we are citizens of a new kingdom on this earth right now.

GOD TABERNACLES WITH MAN.

Hebrews 12:22-23 But YE ARE come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, [23] To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,

Matthew 7:19-27 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. [20] Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. [21] Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. [22] Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? [23] And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. [24] Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and DOETH them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: [25] And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. [26] And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: [27] And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

 

 

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