Placing Man before Two Trees

After God made man as a duplication of Himself, He put this duplication, a living being with a spirit, soul, and body, before two trees—the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The tree of life signifies God, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil signifies Satan. According to Genesis 2:9, all the trees in the garden were pleasant to the sight, but one among these trees was particular, the tree of life. The tree of life was good for food. God warned man not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for in the day that he ate of it, he would die (v. 17). This is also a part of the history of God in creating man.

A Flowing River and Three Precious Materials

By the side of the tree of life in Genesis 2, there was a flowing river, and this flow issued in three precious materials: gold, bdellium, and onyx stone (vv. 10-12). Bdellium is a kind of pearl produced from the resin of a tree. Onyx stone is a most precious stone. We cannot fully understand the significance of these three precious materials until we read through the Bible and come to its end.

Exodus reveals that gold was the base of the breastplate of the high priest, and this breastplate was full of precious stones (28:15-21). In Matthew 13 we can see precious material once again. In this chapter the Lord Jesus first spoke of the wheat that produces the meal, the fine flour. This is good for the making of a loaf, which signifies the church, the Body of Christ. But that meal was leavened (v. 33), so the Lord followed in Matthew 13 to speak of the treasure (v. 44) and the pearls (vv. 45-46). This treasure must consist of gold or precious stones, the materials for the building of the church and the New Jerusalem (1 Cor. 3:12; Rev. 21:18-20). Pearls are also material for the building of the New Jerusalem (v. 21a).

In 1 Corinthians 3 Paul says, “You are God’s cultivated land, God’s building” (v. 9). The cultivated land, the farm, becomes the building through transformation. The believers, who have been regenerated in Christ with God’s life, are God’s cultivated land, a farm in God’s new creation to grow Christ so that precious materials may be produced for God’s building. As God’s farm, we need the watering (v. 6). This watering causes us to grow and be transformed into precious materials. Paul also says that God’s building should be built with gold, silver, and precious stones (v. 12).

In his first Epistle, Peter says that the Lord is a living stone and that we are the living stones who are being built up as a spiritual house (2:4-5). Eventually, at the end of the book of Revelation, the three materials—gold, pearls, and precious stones—are built up into a city. In the beginning of the Bible in Genesis 2, the materials are only existing there, but at the end of the Bible in Revelation 21, the materials have become a building.