Identifying Trees of the Garden

     It occurred to me one day: I see men's souls as "trees". I had believed for quite some time that Adam, who was assigned to, "dress and keep the Garden" (Gen 2:15), was given the responsibility to attend to the other living souls who would come through multiplication. Why was it not the Garden? Because the Garden didn't need attended, but people do! 

     In the midst of the Garden were the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. He was to attend those trees as well. The Tree of Life represents Jesus Christ, and the other tree philosophies. I have renamed it "The Philosophy Tree." Dressing and keeping the Garden" entails right doctrine (The Tree of Life) and the doctrine of the world (The Philosophy Tree). They each have their place, one is the Doctrine of God and the other knowing the difference between good doctrine and evil doctrine - the Law of God and the law of sin, respectively.

     My thoughts about the trees in the Garden was verified when I read about blind Bartimaeus's healing. He saw, "men as trees walking." (Mark 8:24). Later on, I discovered that Isaiah heard men as trees singing:

For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. (Isa 55:12).

     Then, to my astonishment, Isaiah clarified it more:

To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified. (Isa 6:3)…  For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations. (Isa 61:11).

     Speaking of Zion - Old Jerusalem - what I believe is the location of the Garden, the people of Zion are called "trees of righteousness." Isaiah went on to validate "dressing and keeping" those trees when he wrote, "the Lord... will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations." In other words, God will grow the Garden by the "trees" within it. Who is to dress and keep it? God's people will minister or superintend the "trees" of the Garden:

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound... (Isa 61:1).

     Dressing and keeping the Garden is, "preaching good tidings to the meek."  Since only God is good (Mat 19:17), the "news" then is preaching "the good news," or the gospel of salvation.
    Who are the meek? Those who diminish themselves (born again; John 3:7) in front of God, and by that, will "inherit the Earth" (Mat 5:5).
     Do you not see? Isaiah was preaching the gospel! Who are the "preachers" to whom he was referring? You Christians - assigned to dress and keep living souls because of the royal priesthood (1 Pet 2:9). According to plan, Christians all have the same job assignment as Adam; we are to serve and keep a hedge of safety (Strong's Dictionary; "dress and keep") about the "trees" of the Garden.
    Serving and keeping safe is agape-type love - the way God intends for His people to love the other "trees." When God made that assignment, it was His way of saying the following:

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. (Mat 22:37-40). 

     Why do you suppose that Matthew used the expression "hang all the law and prophets." I believe he was referring to Jesus hanging on his "tree" - the cross. (Acts 5:30) which was in Old Jerusalem - the midst of the Garden of Eden. 

     God spoke the Greatest Commandment back in the Garden of Eden and Isaiah commented on it! One can find the entire gospel of Jesus within the chapters of Genesis, mostly in chapters one through three.

     Throughout scripture, mankind is always punished by death by hanging from trees (Gen 40:19; Deut 21:22; Josh 8:29, and so forth). Judgment is about whose "tree" people choose to hang on. Faithful people hang from the Tree of Life, vicariously in Jesus, and the iniquitous from the Philosophy Tree, or hanged vicariously from the unrepentant sinner's cross or "tree."

     If people know the New Testament, they can understand the Old Testament if they look for Jesus in God's Word. Holy Scripture is all about Jesus. The Doctrine of Christ (Heb 6:1) was in the Tree of Life and the doctrine of men under the Tree of Knowledge, hence "The Philosophy Tree."

    If royal priests don't serve and keep safe other "trees of the Garden," the hedge God puts around the faithful (Job 1:10) will not be there to keep men safe. 

     There was a gate around the Garden protected by cherubim. That implies that there was a hedge of safety about the Garden for there to be a gate. Inside the Garden of God is where the faithful are safe. Since Jesus is in the midst of the Garden, and His "Tree" is the center point, then those who stand under Jesus's Tree - the Cross - are kept safe from the evil one. The unrepentant sinner was symbolic of Satan crucified on his Tree - the Philosophy Tree of the Doctrine of Men. Choose "trees" wisely people; your life depends on it!