The more I understand the way God does things, the more I find layer upon layer of symbolism that always seems obvious once I understand it. We know that the things in the Old Testament, in particular were “written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come” (1 Corinthians 10:11). These were all examples, symbols, and warnings for us, from the journeys through the wilderness to the number of cubits inside the holy of holies to the contents of the Ark itself – all of these things God plainly said had deeper meaning.

Hebrews 8:5 Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.

This pattern that God showed Moses was very important to him, because it represented many things – from the plan of God to the pattern of the throne room in heaven, and thousands of things in between. But now I think it’s time to understand two important symbols at once; the Garden of Eden and the Ark of the Covenant. To kill two birds with one stone, so to speak. So let’s start with the Garden;

Genesis 2:9-10 … the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.

That lists three things as being in the midst of the Garden; the tree of life, the other tree (for brevity, the tree of KGE), and the river. While it doesn’t specifically say that the river is in the midst of the garden here, we know that it was from a description of something else patterned after the Garden…

Revelation 22:1-2 And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

So right away we are seeing parallels between the Garden and the Holy City – both have a tree of life. Both have a great river coming out of the midst of it. So let’s look at the Garden again – what do the three symbols there represent?

First, let’s take the river coming out of the Garden (and the river flowing out of the throne of God in the Holy City). What does it represent? This is an easy one, for the Bible explains this symbol in several places…

Zechariah 14:8 And it shall be in that day, THAT LIVING WATERS shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.

So this river in the holy city (and in symbol, in the Garden) is composed of living waters! And what do living waters represent?

John 7:38-39 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (BUT THIS SPAKE HE OF THE SPIRIT, which they that believe on him should receive: …

Living water represents the spirit of God – the “water” that gives LIFE to mankind! And all of those who are made into kings and priests in the kingdom of God will have this living water coming from them – but where does this water come from, ultimately? Where are the headwaters of the holy spirit?

John 5:26 For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself;

So the Father is the ultimate source of these waters! So in symbol, these waters in the midst of the Garden, the waters of life, represent God the Father, the ultimate source of life in the universe!

So that explains the water; what about the “tree” of life? This is also pretty easy, for God explains what the tree means; many times in the Bible a tree is used to represent a person – Zechariah 4, Daniel 4, Ezekiel 17, Jeremiah 11, etc; but who or what is this specific Tree?

Revelation 22:2 In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

We can start by asking what makes it possible for us to be healed? And who? It isn’t God the Father – at least, not directly. It was Christ.

Isaiah 53:5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

And if that isn’t conclusive enough, this tree bears twelve types of fruit. According to John 15:1-8, God is the husbandman, Christ is the vine, and on that vine are branches which have fruit. So if Christ has, say, twelve branches, then He could truly be said to bear twelve types of fruit, right? And guess how many types of fruit Christ bears? Why, he had twelve disciples, each bearing fruit!

John 15:5 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.

Furthermore, on a grander scale, Christ is saving 12,000(!) fruits from 12(!) tribes of Israel in the first resurrection! (Revelation 7:1-8, 14:1-5). So in at least two ways, Christ bears twelve manner of fruits to God, the husbandman!

So that symbol being explained, we are left with the more complicated tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Most people assume this represents Satan. Maybe, maybe not – we’ll soon see. Others think it was just put there to test Adam and Eve – a test which they failed. Again, we’ll see. For now, let’s just get the facts and move on. Satan told Eve:

Genesis 3:5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

Of course, the Devil often mixes truth with his lies to make them more believable. And his promise was that if they ate this fruit, that they would be like gods – and they would know good and evil. But we know that, at the very least, the last part was true – for God afterward said:

Genesis 3:22 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: …

So God said that man now knew good and evil. But he wasn’t like God – at least, not yet. So now let’s move on to the Ark of the Covenant, and look at it in light of what we’ve learned.

The Ark of the Covenant was built by Moses, and was housed in the holy of holies, the innermost chamber of the tabernacle. This was the part that was so special that even the high priest was only allowed to enter there once a year – and even then, he had to make a special sacrifice first, and change into special clothes. This is because this represented the throne room of God, a place that (spiritually) dirty people just don’t go.

And three things were stored in the Ark. A bowl of manna. The ten commandments. And Aaron’s rod that budded. Now if this represents the throne room of God, then what do these symbols represent? Manna is an easy one; Christ Himself gave us that answer:

John 6:48-49 I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.

So manna represents Christ. That’s a no-brainer. So what do the ten commandments, represent, in symbol? They are the law of God, obviously. And where does that law come from? Not Jesus – Jesus is just the JUDGE of the Law. But the original GIVER of the law is someone else…

James 4:12 There is ONE lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy:…

James says that there is ONE lawgiver – not several. Not two – one. Now Christ is the JUDGE (Revelation 19:11, etc). And Christ said that His Father was greater than He (John 14:28). And without fail, in every governing body, the Lawgiver makes the laws, and the Judge just interprets them! Which means that the Lawgiver can only be God the Father – which means that the ten commandments in the Ark represent God the Father!

Micah 4:2 And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

So just as the water of life flowed out from Eden and will flow out from Jerusalem, the LAW, the words of life, will go out from the New Jerusalem! This gives us a beautiful tie in for the Garden of God – where the waters of life and the tree of life were – and the Holy city, where the waters of life and the tree of life will be, in the throne room of God.

It also ties back to the Ark of the Covenant, which sits in the Holy of Holies, and ALSO represents the throne room of God! These three things are all one parallel symbol! So let’s keep exploring and see what else shows up!

The final thing in the Ark was the rod of Aaron that budded. If this theory is correct, then this represents the same thing as the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil did. In Numbers 17, God was angry at the children of Israel once again for murmuring and griping at Moses. So the head of each tribe of Israel was commanded to take a stick and write their name on it, and then lay them all up in the outer part of the tabernacle, and then the one that God liked would miraculously blossom – thus, theoretically, settling the question of who God wanted in charge.

Numbers 17:7-8 And Moses laid up the rods before the LORD … and, behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds.

So right there, we can see two basic facts about this symbol; firstly, that it was an almond branch. Secondly, that it was a symbol of the high priest, and the rulership of Israel. It was a direct symbol of authority. That was the whole purpose of the miracle, to show WHO God wanted in charge (See verse 10).

The only other real explanation of an almond branch in the Bible is in Jeremiah 1. Jeremiah was being set up as a prophet by God, and being given his official orders.

Jeremiah 1:9-12 …And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth. See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant. Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Jeremiah, what seest thou? And I said, I see a rod of an almond tree. Then said the LORD unto me, Thou hast well seen: for I will hasten my word to perform it.

So God sets him up as a prophet, as a person who speaks for God, and then to prove what He meant to Jeremiah, He showed him an almond branch – the exact same symbol He gave Israel, for the exact same reason – to prove that this person had authority from God. Later that almond branch passed from Levi to Jesus (see Hebrews 7), who now wields the same almond-branch authority as high priest and judge – authority that He will later share with others who are proven worthy to use it, and whom He can trust not to abuse it!

The word translated Almond is the Hebrew shaqed, and translators all agree that it actually means almond – Strongs adds the additional comment “the almond (tree or nut; as being the earliest in bloom)” – so the Almond tree was the earliest to bloom. Interesting. God’s priesthood will be the 144,000 who are the “first harvest”, who according to the reasoning you just saw, will wield almond branches!

But there’s more! The Hebrew word for almond comes from the root word shaqad, meaning “to be alert, i.e. sleepless; hence to be on the lookout (whether for good or ill):— hasten, remain, wake, watch (for).” – the exact job of the kings and priests in the world to come – to be on the lookout “for good or ill” to either reward or correct it

And now let’s jet back to the Garden and take a deeper look at the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Adam and Eve were not allowed to eat of this tree. Because it would give them knowledge of good and evil. Something which, by God’s own admission, it did do (Genesis 3:22).

See, up until Eve’s sin, they had allowed God to be their conscience; His spirit was in them, and made judgments of right and wrong for them. They trusted Him to do this. But when they ate of that fruit, they took it upon themselves to judge right and wrong FOR THEMSELVES!

If this symbol corresponds to the almond branch of the Ark, then they symbolically took the authority of the PRIESTHOOD upon themselves! They decided to do what God was supposed to do for them! The job which later Aaron, now Jesus, and one day the first resurrection saints were to do for them!

But they took this right which belongs only to the incorruptibly righteous TO THEMSELVES! They STOLE the right to decide right and wrong, and were totally unqualified to do so – as later events have clearly showed!

You have to QUALIFY yourself to judge good and evil! You must first OVERCOME your own nature, and show that YOU WILL CHOOSE RIGHTLY when given the choice between good and evil! You have to PROVE that you know the difference – and Adam and Even clearly didn’t!

Hebrews 5:14 But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

For it is obvious from that scripture that God intended to give that authority to judge right and wrong to mankind ANYWAY – ONCE WE HAD PROVEN OURSELVES WORTHY!

This power to discern, and choose between, good and evil, is what was conveyed to Adam and Eve by taking of that Almond tree! And they were not ABLE to take of it yet! They were not QUALIFIED to take of that tree, for before you can rule others, and make decisions about right and wrong, YOU MUST FIRST PROVE YOURSELF FIT!

John 16:33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

Christ OVERCAME the world, and THEN, ONLY then, was He handed that almond branch once given to Aaron! Only then was He symbolically given to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and given “all power in heaven and in earth!” (Matthew 28:18).

So the center of the Garden, the midst of the Holy City, the belly of the Ark – and one thing more – all are exact parallels showing God the Father, Christ the Savior, and the high Priesthood who rules at His right hand!

I said “one thing more”, because I have saved the most glorious for last – these analogies all pale as the shadows that they truly are, beside the TRUE fulfillment of their symbols!

1 Corinthians 3:16 Know ye not that YE ARE THE TEMPLE OF GOD, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

WE Are the temple of God! We are the Garden, the City, and the Tabernacle in which God wishes to dwell!

In us, that is, in the heart of Man, is the true home for these symbols! For we aren’t supposed to merely have the Ten Commandments written on our walls, but in our HEARTS! Just as it was in the Ark, in the Garden, and in the Holy City! And we aren’t supposed to merely worship Jesus, but have His spirit – His own conscience – in the midst of our hearts! Just as He was in the midst of the Garden of Eden!

Ephesians 3:17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; …

And just as the Tree of Life grew beside the River of Life, And just as the Manna that fell in the wilderness was secured in the heart of the Ark of the Covenant, so also we must have Christ IN us, our hope of Glory (Colossians 1:27) – Just as that the Conscience of God was in Adam and Eve’s heart before their sins chased it out.

Because as it stands now, Christ isn’t in the hearts of most men! And the Law certainly isn’t written there! And so they have no right to be determining right and wrong for themselves and others, and are to this day continuing in the sin of Adam and Eve when they do so anyway!

But God has always wanted to write His law on the hearts of men; “After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.” (Jeremiah 31:33). That’s what He wanted from the beginning! To transplant the contents of the Ark INTO the heart of Man!

But their heart was uncircumcised, and hardened, so that God could not get to it. They didn’t want him there! They didn’t want God in their hearts – they wanted MOSES to tell them the law (Exodus 20:19). They wanted him to write it on stone, so that they could observe it outwardly! And so God had Moses store all the writings of the old covenant (but NOT the ten commandments) in a chamber OUTside the Ark, (Deuteronomy 31:26) just as the old covenant was stored OUTside their hearts!

2 Corinthians 3:14-16 But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away.

But when Christ died, the veil that protected the Holy of Holies – and the Ark of the Covenant with it – was torn! The Ark represented the heart of man, and when the veil was torn at the death of Christ, that veil was symbolically opened and the New Covenant was officially proclaimed. Man now had DIRECT access to the throne room of God, and could go before the Mercy Seat PERSONALLY. Man hadn’t been able to do this since the Garden of Eden!

For this same analogy tells us that when Adam was in the midst of the Garden of Eden, He was there with the river of life, the tree of life, and the priesthood. But when Man sinned, he was thrown from the Garden, and the VEIL was erected around the Garden, preventing sinful man from seeing the holy of holies!

The veil had to be created at man’s first sin, and it disappears as soon as man’s heart becomes circumcised and his heart follows Christ instead of Sin!

Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

And for those people, there is no veil, and never will be! But for people without a circumcised heart, people who were yet carnal, there had to be a veil for their own protection! The Ark was covered when it was moved (Numbers 4:5) because it could not be seen by a spiritually uncircumcised people!

1 Samuel 6:19 And he smote the men of Bethshemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the LORD, even he smote of the people fifty thousand and threescore and ten men: and the people lamented, because the LORD had smitten many of the people with a great slaughter.

No carnal man can look on God and live (Exodus 33:20). And so when they opened the Ark, they saw inside symbols which directly represented God and Jesus, and so they died on the spot – though probably not as dramatically as Indiana Jones portrayed it, no less finally.

And now we can start to wrap this up. For though this is the heart of it (no pun intended), there are several other tangents to this analogy which must be brought out. As I said up front, the life-source is God the Father, the River of Life. But Christ, the tree of life, is able to heal and bring forth fruit ONLY because of the Father (John 14:10). And so Christ, symbolically, grows on the banks of that river.

Acts 17:28 For in him [God the Father] we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.

But there is more to that subject, too. For Ezekiel, in his vision of the New Jerusalem, saw this river and this tree as well – with a few more details. For Christ may not be the only one who dwells beside that river…

Ezekiel 47:1-3 … behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house [the Temple] eastward: … and the waters came down from under from the right side of the house, … And when the man that had the line in his hand went forth eastward, he measured a thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters; the waters were to the ankles.

These are obviously the same waters that come out from under the throne of God in Revelation, and of course in Eden as well. And so the man measures another thousand cubits (let’s say, 1500′ or so), and the waters were to the knees. A thousand more, and the waters were to the waist – another thousand and they were so deep that he couldn’t pass over it.

You can see these numbers charted on the right into a graph; you can see that the waters of the river of life rise, not in a random pattern, but in a very definitely EXPONENTIAL pattern. This is important, so keep it in mind!

Verse 8 Then said he unto me, These waters issue out toward the east country, and go down into the desert, and go into the sea: which being brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed.

These waters – waters of life, mind you – go out into the deserts and on to the sea and heal the waters. Many waters – such as the whore sits on in Revelation 17:1 – represent many peoples. People which will be healed when the knowledge of God covers the earth as the waters cover the sea (Isaiah 11:9)!

Verse 12 And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed [or, used up]: it shall bring forth new fruit according to his months [twelve fruits – one for each tribe, disciple, etc], because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary: and the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine.

There was only ONE tree in the Garden – the noun is definitely singular in Genesis. Yet according to Revelation 22:12, “on either side of the river, was there the tree of life” – which seems odd, for how can a tree be on both sides of such a mighty river? It can only grow on one side or the other! But Ezekiel clears it up by telling us…

Verse 7 … behold, at the bank of the river were very many trees on the one side and on the other.

So here we have MANY trees of life! ONE tree of life in Genesis, and “VERY MANY” in the Holy City! What can this mean? Remember, that Christ received life from His Father (John 5:26)! This is why He grows on the banks of the great River of Life!

Ezekiel 47:12 (BBE) …it will have new fruit every month, BECAUSE its waters come out from the holy place: the fruit will be for food and the leaf will make well those who are ill.

It has these fruits, BECAUSE of the living waters that come from God the Father! And The Father has given Christ this water, and this power to give life to others! But Christ goes a step further and promises to give us, not only life for ourselves, but the same ability to pass life on to others! That not only can CHRIST pass on those rivers of living water to people…

John 4:14 …whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

…But that Christ will pass on to us the power to GIVE THE LIVING WATER to OTHERS! That the same power that now flows from HIS belly as He grows beside the River of Life, can be given in full to US!

John 7:38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, OUT OF HIS BELLY SHALL FLOW RIVERS OF LIVING WATER.

Christ is offering us a chance to be one of those incredibly special Trees of Life growing alongside the river of the spirit of God! A river that grows deeper, exponentially, as it flows out from Jerusalem! And as it grows, new trees are planted alongside it to add their own living waters to that river of life to swell its flow! And so the waters continue to grow deeper and deeper until finally it fulfills the promise given in Isaiah 9:7 that “Of the [exponential!] increase of his government and peace THERE SHALL BE NO END”!

APPENDIX

But there is another layer – even deeper – that is the real answer. The Ten Commandments are just words. Perfect, holy words, but words nonetheless. What is behind the Ten Commandments is the Law; the Law came from the one Lawgiver, God the Father. The Ten Commandments represent the spirit of the Father.

We’ve already said that the Manna represents the spirit of Christ. What we haven’t said is that the almond tree represents all the spirits of just men made perfect. In the world to come, the Father will rule, Jesus will be the high priest, and all the church of God saved from this time will be “an holy nation, a royal priesthood” (1 Peter 2:9). And what is a royal priesthood if not “kings and priests”, who shall “reign on the Earth” (Revelation 5:10).

The almond branch cut from the tree of knowledge of good and evil has been given to Jesus, giving Him the right of the priesthood. He in turn will pass it on to us, when we have qualified ourselves to exercise the knowledge of good and evil for ourselves. And then the world will have, not only the holy spirits of God and Christ, but also the holy spirits of all the saints helping to guide the people of the second resurrection into salvation.

Revelation 7:17 For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

So the three things in the center of the Garden – the water of life, the tree of life, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil – represent God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Firstfruit priesthood. These are mirrored in the Ark by the Ten Commandments, the Manna, and Aaron’s rod.

And the same symbols abide in the heart of every true Christian.