We Die by What We Eat, and We Live by What We Eat

Eating is a very important factor. There is no one who can live without eating. However, we need watch what we eat. There are so many poisonous mushrooms even though they look the same as regular mushrooms. People need to eat in order to live but there are many cases where people died by eating the wrong thing.

The history of humankind itself can be said to be a ‘history of death by eating the wrong thing’. God commanded Adam and Eve, the first human beings, “not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil”. And God said, “When you eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, you will surely die.” Unfortunately, Adam and Eve who had been tempted by the snake’s temptation ate the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil and were driven out from the Garden of Eden and fell into the curse of death. All of humankind came to die because of one person’s crime (Romans 5:12).

However, God’s plan is truly marvelous and mysterious. God established a plan for salvation by eating for humankind that came to die by eating. As the saying goes, ‘Where there’s a problem, there’s a solution’, at the place where humankind came to die, there is a hint that leads to life.

Gensis 3:22 And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”

As the starting point of faith is the Garden of Eden, so the ending point is also the Garden of Eden. The only way for humankind who came to die by eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil to have life again, is to eat from the tree of life in the Garden of Eden. Jesus said there had been things hidden since the creation of the world and that He would reveal them (Matthew 13:34-35). What is the meaning of the tree of life?

John 6:53-57 Jesus said to them … unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. … I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will love because of me.

Jesus said that we can live forever by eating His flesh and drinking His blood. In the Garden of Eden, we can live forever only by eating from the tree of life. In other words, the reality of the tree of life in the Garden of Eden is Jesus’ flesh and blood. Then, how can we eat Jesus’ flesh and drink His blood? It is to keep the Passover. Jesus called the Passover bread, His flesh, and the wine, His blood (Matthew 26:19-28).

The new covenant Passover is the good news and the secret of eternal life given to all humankind. The disciples of Jesus who followed Him knew the importance of the Passover and emphasized that the Passover must be kept till the end of the world.

Unfortunately, the Passover which is the reality of the tree of life was abolished in A.D. 325 and was unable to be kept for over 1600 years. However, the Passover, thought to have disappeared forever has surprisingly been revealed in the world again. The fact that the Passover is being kept these days means that the way to the tree of life has been opened again. Then, who opened the way to the tree of life, the Passover?

Isaiah 25:6-9 On this mountain the LORD Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine … he will swallow up death forever … In that day they will say, “Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us.

There is no other wine than the Passover wine that destroys death forever. God revealed the secret of the tree of life which had been hidden for ages. It is only God who can save humankind who came to die by eating something from the beginning, by giving them something to eat to live.