IV. In the fourth day's work our Lord's Ascension is typ ically suggested.

The Resurrection did not complete our Lord's redemption work. In order for that He must enter the Heavenly Place not made with hands. He must take His seat on the right hand of the Majesty on high. He must go "into heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God for us" (Heb. 9:24).

Once more we find the type corresponds with the Antitype. In the fourth day's work our eyes are removed from the earth and all its affairs and are turned to the heavens! (See vs. 14-19). As we read these verses and gather something of their typical import, do we not hear the Holy Spirit saying, "Seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth" (Col. 3:1, 2). And as we lift our eyes heavenwards what do we see? "Two great lights"-typically, Christ and His people. The sun which speaks to us of "the Sun of Righteousness" (Malachi 4:2), and the moon which tells of Israel and the Church (Rev. 12:1), borrowing its light from, and reflecting the light of, the sun. And observe their functions. First, they are "to give light upon the earth (v. 17), and secondly, they are "to rule over the day and over the night" (v. 18). So it is with Christ and His people. During the present interval of darkness, the world's night, Christ and His people are "the light of the world," but during the Millennium they shall rule and reign over the earth.

Thus in the first four days' work in Genesis 1, we have foreshadowed the four great stages or crises in the accomplishment of the Work of Redemption. The Incarnation, the Death, the Resurrection, and the Ascension of our blessed Lord are respectively typified. In the light of this how precious are those words at the close of the six days' work: "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made" (Gen. 2: 1, 2). The work of Redemption is completed, and in that work God finds His rest!

As we continue our meditations on the book of Genesis may God in His condescending grace reveal unto us "wondrous things out of His Law."

3. TWO TREES

GENESIS 2

It is not our purpose to give a detailed and exhaustive exposition of Genesis, rather shall we attempt to single out some of the less obvious treasures from this wonderful mine, in which are stored inexhaustible supplies of spiritual riches. This first book in the Word of God is full of typical pictures, prophetic foreshadowings, and dispensational adumbrations, as well as important practical lessons, and it will be our delight to call attention to a few of these as we pass from chapter to chapter.

In studying the typical teaching of the Old Testament Scriptures we learn from them sometimes by way of contrast and sometimes by way of comparison. A striking illustration of this double fact is found in the second chapter of Genesis. In the ninth verse we read of "The tree of knowledge of good and evil." In Acts 5:30 we read, "The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree"; and again in 1 Peter 2:24, "Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree." Now the thoughtful reader will naturally inquire, Why should the Cross of our blessed Lord be spoken of as a "tree"? Surely there must be some deeper meaning than that which appears on the surface. Was it not intended by the Holy Spirit that we should refer back to Gen. 2:9 and compare and contrast these two trees? We believe so, and a quiet meditation thereon reveals some remarkable points both of comparison and contrast between the tree of knowledge of good and evil and the tree on which our Lord was crucified. Let us consider some of the points of contrast first.

1. The first tree was planted by God. "And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden and the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil" (Gen. 2:9). This tree then was planted not by Adam, but by Adam's Maker-God. But the second tree, the tree to which our Lord was nailed, was planted by man. "And they crucified Him" (Mat. 27:35) is the brief but terrible record. It was human hands which devised, provided and erected that cruel tree on the hill of Calvary.

In marked contrast from the first tree, it was the hands of the creature and not the Creator which planted the second tree.

2. The first tree was pleasant to the eyes. "And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat" (Gen. 3:6). Exactly in what this "pleasantness" consisted we do not know, but the Divine record seems to indicate that this tree was an object of beauty and delight. What a contrast from the second Tree! Here everything was hideous and repellant. The suffering Saviour, the vulgar crowd, the taunting priests, the two thieves, the flowing blood, the three hours darkness-nothing was there to please the outward eye. The first tree was "pleasant to the eyes, but concerning the One on the second tree it is written, "They saw in Him no beauty that they should desire Him."

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3. God forbade man to eat of the first tree. "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it" (Gen. 2:17). A divine prohibition was placed upon the fruit of this tree. But again, how different from the second tree! How startling the contrast! There is no restriction here. In this case man is freely invited to draw near and eat of the fruit of this tree. The sinner is bidden to "Taste and see that the Lord is good." "All things are ready, Come." The position is exactly reversed. Just as man was commanded not to eat of the fruit of the first tree, he is now commanded to eat of the second.

4. Because God forbade man to eat of the first tree, Satan used every artifice to get man to eat of it. Contrariwise, because God now invites men to eat of the second tree, Satan uses all his powers to prevent men eating of it. Is not this another designed contrast marked out for us by the Holy Spirit? Humanly speaking it was solely due to the cunning and malice of the great enemy of God and man that our first parents ate of the forbidden fruit, and can we not also say, that it is now primarily due to the subtle devices of the old serpent the Devil that sinners are kept from eating the fruit of that second tree?

5. The eating of the first tree brought sin and death "For in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die" (Gen. 2:17). It was through eating of the fruit of

this tree that the Curse descended upon our race with all its attendant miseries. By eating of the second Tree comes life and salvation. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life" (John 6: 53, 54). Is there not in these words of our Lord a latent reference to the history of man's fall, and a designed contrast from the first tree? Just as by the act of "eating" man lost his spiritual life, so by an act of "eating" man now obtains spiritual and eternal life!

6. Adam, the thief, through eating of the first tree, was turned out of Paradise, while the repentant thief, through eating of the second Tree, entered Paradise. We doubt not that once again there is a designed antithesis in these two things. A thief is connected with both trees, for in eating of the forbidden fruit our first parents committed an act of theft. Is it not then something more than a coincidence that we find a "thief" (yea, two thieves) connected with the second Tree also? And when we note the widely dif ferent experiences of the two thieves the point is even more striking. As we have said one was cast out of Paradise (the garden), the other was admitted into Paradise, and to say the least, it is remarkable that our Lord should employ the word "Paradise" in this connection-the only time He ever did use it!

Now, briefly, let us consider some of the points of resemblance:

1. Both trees were planted in a garden. The first in the Garden of Eden, the second in a garden which is unnamed. "Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden" (John 19:41). Are we not told this, for one reason, in order that we should connect the two trees? Is it not a striking point of analogy, that both the first Adam and the last Adam died in a "garden"!

2. In connection with both trees we find the words "in the midst." "The tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil" (Gen. 2:9). The word "and" connecting the two trees together and intimating their juxtaposition in the midst of the garden. In like manner we also read concerning our Saviour, "They crucified Him, and two others with Him on either side one, and Jesus in the midst."

3. Both are trees of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Where in all the world, or in all the Scriptures, do we learn the knowledge of good and evil as we do at the second Tree-the Cross? There we see Goodness incarnate. There we behold the Holiness of God displayed as nowhere else. There we discover the unfathomable love and matchless grace of Deity unveiled as never before or since. But there, too, we also see Evil-see it in all its native hideousness. There we witness the consummation and climax of the creature's wickedness. There we behold as nowhere else the vileness, the heinousness, the awfulness of sin as it appears in the sight of the thrice holy God. Yes, there is a designed resemblance as well as a contrast between the two trees. The Cross also is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

4. Finally, there is another tree beside the one that was planted in Eden, of which Genesis 3: 6 is true, "And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat." Ah! that second Tree is surely "good for food," too. The Cross of Christ and all that it stands for, is the very meat and marrow of the believer's life. It is "good" as "food" for the soul! And how "pleasant" it is "to the eyes" of faith! There we see all our sins blotted out. There we see our old man crucified. There we see the ground upon which a holy God can meet a guilty sinner. There we see the Finished Work of our adorable Redeemer. Truly, it is "pleasant to the eyes." And is not this second Tree also "a tree to be desired to make one wise"? Yes; the preaching of the Cross is not only the power of God, but "the wisdom of God" as well. The knowledge of this second Tree makes the sinner "wise" unto salvation.

In closing this little meditation we would call attention to one or two other scriptures in which a "tree" figures prominently. First, from Genesis 3:17 we learn that the "tree" is linked directly with the Curse: "Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life." In the light of this how significant are the following passages: In Genesis 40 we have recorded the dreams of the two men who