LESSON #1: PURITY AND INNOCENCE
When God created man, He created him with purity and innocence. Man was like a little child, not knowing good and evil. He was naked but was not ashamed because he did not know that he was naked. When God created man, He created him with humility and dependence. Man was like a little child, dependent and trusting. When God commanded man not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he simply obeyed. He trusted in God with all his heart.
LESSON #2: BECOMING INDEPENDENT
When man sinned, he lost his purity and innocence. Man became corrupted and was no longer like a little child. He knew good and evil. He was naked and was ashamed. When man sinned, he became independent. He came up with his own idea to cover his nakedness. He sewed fig leaves and made himself a covering. He no longer trusted in God with all his heart but leaned on his own understanding.
LESSON #3: FROM A CHILD TO AN ADULT
Every little child is pure and innocent, not knowing good and evil. He fully depends on his parents and completely trusts them. He can also easily depend on God and trust Him. As the child grows up, he begins to know good and evil. So, he begins to be independent of his parents and lean on his own understanding. When he becomes an adult, he will be a fully independent person. It will be very difficult for him to trust God because he knows good and evil by himself. He will always lean on his own understanding.
LESSON #4: BORN AGAIN AS A BABY
When we believe in Jesus Christ, we are born again and enter the kingdom of heaven. Our spirits are born of the Holy Spirit and we become like newborn babies, pure and innocent. As our spirit receives the pure milk of the word of God, we grow to be little children, humble and dependent on God. We experience the kingdom of heaven in our lives. The Lord Jesus said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:3)
LESSON #5: THE TWO TREES IN THE GARDEN
When we are born again, we become like the first man whom God created. God puts us in the garden of Eden in our heart just as He put the first man in the garden of Eden. There were two trees in the garden of Eden, the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In the garden of Eden of our heart, the two trees are Jesus and our own self. Jesus is the tree of life from our spirit and our own self is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil from our soul.
LESSON #6: THE RESULT OF KNOWING GOOD AND EVIL
God commanded the first man whom He put in the garden of Eden, “Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2:17) The Lord Jesus said to those who believe in Him, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.” (Luke 9:23-24) Eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is a picture of both not denying ourselves and not taking up our crosses. It comes from a desire to save our lives. What is the result? The loss of our lives, which is death.
LESSON #7: REALIZING OUR TRUE STATE
The tree of the knowledge of good and evil has grown so much in our lives before we believe in Jesus. We have been eating the fruits of this tree for so long that it has become our daily diet. We are so used to leaning on our own understanding of good and evil in making decisions. As a result, we are dying, but we do not realize it. We do not know our true state until God enlightens us. When we believe in Jesus Christ, God plants the tree of life in the garden of our heart. This tree of life is also the tree of light because Jesus is both the life and the light (John 1:4). We begin to realize that the reason we are dying is because we have been independent, leaning on our own understanding of good and evil.
LESSON #8: PATIENCE IN HUMBLING OURSELVES
How do we eat of the tree of life? By trusting the Lord with all our heart. However, this is only possible when we have decided not to make any decision according to our knowledge of good and evil. Instead, we humble ourselves in the sight of the Lord before making any decision until our hearts become pure and innocent like the hearts of little children. It will take some time before we become dependent on the Lord and trust in Him with all our heart. Therefore, we should not be hasty but be patient in doing so. The Lord Jesus said, “By your patience possess your soul.” (Luke 21:19)
LESSON #9: THE RENEWAL OF OUR MIND
Paul the apostle wrote, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” (Romans 12:2) The tree of the knowledge of good and evil has become the tree of the world. The way of the world is according to the knowledge of good and evil. As the people of God, we should not think like the world, but we should be renewed in our mind by the word of God so that we may know the will of God. The good, the acceptable, and the perfect will of God are the three stages of the growth of the tree of life in us. When it is just the root, we only know the good will of God. When the trunk has grown up from its root, we know the acceptable will of God. When it bears fruit, we know the perfect will of God. The more our mind is renewed, the more our knowledge of the will of God grows and our lives are transformed.
