When God placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, He gave them two special — likely, supernatural — trees in addition to all the normal fruit-bearing trees to tend.  Concerning these two trees, He gave them a special command, “Do not eat of the fruit on the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.”  Notice that the Almighty made no restriction concerning the fruit of His other special tree, the Tree of Life.  His injunction went on to say that if Adam and Eve failed to obey His prohibition against partaking of the forbidden fruit that they would die as a result.  You might say that these two trees set the stage for the conflict which was to rage throughout human history — the drama of life versus death.

Every Sunday school child knows what happened next: the devil, in the form of a serpent, entered into the garden and drew Adam and Eve into rebellion against God when they tasted and then devoured the luscious fruit of the “death” tree.  Immediately their fellowship with the Heavenly Father was broken and they fell under His judgmental curses.  Yet out of this dark scenario blazed a promise of hope — the first prophecy of the Bible.  In Genesis 3:15, God proclaimed a promise that would dictate the course of supernatural as well as human affairs from the book of Genesis straight through to the book of Revelation.  Addressing the serpent, God proclaimed, “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”

A war had been predicted — a war between the serpent (Satan) and the seed of the woman (the human race, eventually culminating in the person of Jesus Christ).  The conditions of the struggle were depicted in God’s two special trees — the tree of life and the tree of death.  Immediately, God expelled the culprits from the Garden of Eden and set an angelic guard to prevent their return.  A careful reading of the story reveals that it wasn’t as a punishment that God ejected them from paradise.  Rather, it was as a preventative measure.  He did not want them to eat of the Tree of Life. (Genesis 3:24)  Although the scriptures do not explicitly detail the matter, it seems that had they eaten of this tree at this point, they would have inherited eternal life — but they would have inherited this everlasting life in their fallen state.  God does desire that the human race would have everlasting life, but He desires to reserve it for a time when they can enter into it in a redeemed state.  This is the message of the Golden Text of the Bible, John 3:16 — everlasting life, but free from condemnation.  This is the reason that God does not re-introduce the Tree of Life until the New Jerusalem when all present are free from the fallen state.

Well, let’s get back to the war which was set into motion that fateful day in the Garden of Eden.  Satan wasted no time in striking his first blow.  The first offspring in the human family came under his diabolic plot when jealousy was birthed in Cain’s heart, resulting in the murder of his brother Abel.  The attack against the seed of the woman seemed to have inflicted ravaging results, leaving one dead and the other stained with the blood guilt of murder.  The war of life and death seemed to be weighed in favor of death.  But God stepped in and acted on behalf of the woman by sending her another seed, Seth, who grew up to prove to be a righteous and upright man of God!

The story continues to unfold on every page of the Bible as we read of a time when Satan so totally infiltrated the family of mankind that God Himself vowed to eradicate them from the face of this planet.  (Genesis 6:17)  Yet just when it seemed that death was to reign, one man found favor in the eyes of God.  Noah was commissioned to preserve life and continue the human seed. (Genesis 7:15)

In the story of a young boy named Joseph, we see again the war exemplified by these two trees in the primal garden home of Adam and Eve.  His older brothers decided to kill him because of the jealousy that raged in their hearts against him; yet, at the last moment they saw an opportunity to turn a small profit by selling him as a slave.  It’s a familiar story to all of us of how this young man went into Egypt as a slave but was supernaturally promoted to prime minister of the greatest empire of the period.  When his brothers finally came to Egypt begging for food to sustain them from starvation, Joseph proclaimed to them, “Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.” (Genesis 45:5)  What a fascinating twist to the story: their plot of death was actually God’s plan of life!

Four hundred years later, another skirmish between life and death was played out in the sands of Egypt as a wicked emperor decided to destroy the seed of God’s chosen race.  We have no way of knowing how many hundreds — or even thousands — of baby Hebrew boys were thrown into the Nile to drown or be eaten by the crocodiles, but we know the story of the one baby boy who was pulled out of the Nile by that same wicked emperor’s daughter.  Imagine the irony of the situation in that the one baby that Pharaoh was trying to kill was the exact one that was adopted into his family and raised in his home.  What a paradox that every bite of food the boy ate came from Pharaoh’s table, every stitch of clothes the boy wore was sewn by Pharaoh’s tailors, every school book he studied from was paid for from Pharaoh’s personal treasury.  But the story is far from ending here because this boy grew up to be Moses — the deliverer who commanded plagues upon the people of Egypt, eventually resulting in the death of the firstborn in every house.  Not only did Satan’s pawn (who thought himself to be a king) fail in his mission to kill Moses, he also set in motion the scenario that resulted in widespread death among his people.  The plot continues as the people of Israel did eventually march out of Egypt into a seeming trap between “the devil and the deep blue sea.”  Pharaoh saw his opportunity to slaughter them since there was no way of escape.  Miraculously, God opened the sea and allowed His people to escape unharmed, but He closed the waters in time to eradicate Egypt’s army.  The battle of life and death was continuing — and again the victory was weighed on the side of life.

There is almost no end to the stories that could be cited as we continue to follow this ongoing war through the pages of the Holy Writ.  We could say with the author of Hebrews that time would fail us to recite all the episodes.  A young shepherd boy challenged a monstrous giant warrior who had been a champion fighter since the days of his youth.  Instead of the boy’s body being thrown to the vultures and wild beasts as Goliath had predicted — and anyone looking on would have thought — the giant fell prey to a single stone from David’s sling and his head was cut off as a trophy that day.  A nobleman in the Persian Empire plotted to destroy all the Jews in the empire and built a special gallows upon which to execute Mordecai; however, he found himself the one swinging from the end of its noose.  Daniel spent a night in the den of hungry lions; yet they did not touch him.  The following morning, these same lions pounced upon the prophet’s accusers and totally devoured them before they even touched the ground.  Daniel’s three friends were thrown into a fiery furnace, but when the king looked in to watch them burn, he saw them walking around unharmed and totally unaffected by the flames except that the ropes that had bound them were burned away.  What’s more, he saw an additional person in the furnace with them — God was present to deliver them!

The battle of life and death raged on into the pages of the New Testament as we read of King Herod’s plot to kill the baby who had been born as King of the Jews.  Just as with Pharaoh’s plot to destroy the Hebrew deliverer, we have no record of how many babies met the cruel blade of Herod’s sword — but we do know that the very one he was aiming for was the one whose father was warned by an angel to escape and save the baby’s life.  As we follow the story of this baby, we learn that He grew to become a man who was continually in the crosshairs of Satan’s scope.  After Jesus’ very first sermon, the angry citizens of Nazareth attempted to hurl Him to His death off a cliff outside the city.  On more than one occasion, the religious leaders of the nation tried to stone Him.  Even the created order seemed out to take His life through violent sea storms.  But in every attempt, Jesus’ life was preserved.  There was a war going on — a war instigated by Satan with the issues of life and death as the stakes.  The battles were intensifying, but still it seemed that Satan was constantly being defeated.  Even Pilate, the Roman official who presided over Jesus’ trial, was struck speechless when Jesus countered his threat that he had the power execute Him, “Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above.” (John 19:11)

At long last, the conclusive battle was pitched.  It was the confrontation we know of as the crucifixion — the battle of Good Friday.  The gruesomeness of this encounter defies words.  If we could only imagine that the very thought of it struck dread into the heart of the very Son of God.  The three hours of agonizing prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus travailed so intently that His sweat became as great drops of blood depict the turmoil inside His heart as Jesus faced the cross.  The battle which was about to be engaged was awful, and the toll it would take was awesome.  Yet Jesus finally cried out the most noble words recorded in the pages of human dialog, “Not my will, but thine be done,” as He submitted Himself to the coming conflict.  Immediately, He was betrayed, arrested, tried, condemned, and executed.  I can only imagine the glee Satan must have felt as he watched Jesus writhe in pain under the cruel Roman lashings.  I can envision the delight that he must have enjoyed as he watched the excruciating execution as nails were driven through Jesus’ flesh, thorns were pierced into His brow, and a spear was driven into His side.  Satan must have almost erupted with ecstasy as he heard what seemed to be Jesus’ admissions of defeat, “It is finished!” and “My God!  My God!  Why have you forsaken me?”  Finally, Jesus had given up.  Finally, He had thrown in the towel.  Finally, God had turned His back and left Satan to rule the playing field.  Finally, Satan stood victoriously on the battleground.  He had lost skirmish after skirmish — but this was the “big one.”  This was the round that really counted — and he had won it!

Well, at least that’s the way it looked.  Everyone agreed — even (or should we say “especially”) Jesus’ disciples.  They were all hiding in fear; they were all awestruck with astonishment and disappointment; and they were all devastated with defeat.  The Prince of Life had been killed! (Acts 3:15)

But there was one factor which Satan had failed to remember — the prophecy which propelled him into this great struggle in the beginning.  There was a prophecy that the heel of the seed of the woman would be bruised, BUT the next breath goes on to say that the head of the serpent would also be bruised.  Satan had been so busy trying to bruise Jesus’ heel that he failed to realize that he was only setting himself up to have his head bruised.  Some authors have written vivid stories about a battle between Jesus and Satan in the bowels of hell.  The truth is that no one knows exactly what happened next.  Since the Holy Spirit didn’t see fit to inspire any of the authors of the Bible to pen the story, I assume that it is none of our business.  But I can say one thing about what happened: it was devastating to Satan.  Consider the contrast that is written into the prophecy.  There is a deliberate parallel structure intended to draw the focus of attention to the difference between the injury to the heel of Jesus and the injury to the head of Satan.  If we can take the horror of the crucifixion and multiply it by the factor which determines the difference between a bruised heel and a bruised head — that tells us what level of injury was inflicted upon Satan that day.

When that confrontation was complete, Jesus emerged with a proclamation of victory, “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.” (Revelation 1:18)  He had claimed the ultimate victory in this war against death.  Now He alone holds the keys that unlock the prison gates of death and hell.  The message of Easter’s empty tomb is that through Christ we have the opportunity to be freed from the curse of death and be granted the blessing of life.  For all who are willing to receive Him, He is willing and ready to unlock the chains of death and hell.  The risen Jesus brings us to the same place which Moses brought the people of Israel in Deuteronomy 30:19, “I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your seed may live.”

This is the meaning of the angelic proclamation on that resurrection day when they questioned the spice-bearing guests, “Why seek ye the living among the dead?” (Luke 14:5)  The resurrection drew a definitive line between life and death and placed all who come to the empty tomb at a place of decision between the two.

The resurrection draws a line of demarcation between a living savior and a dead religious leader.  Every religion can celebrate its own “Christmas” to commemorate the birth of its founder.  I’ve witnessed many Buddhist festivals proclaiming that the historic figure Siddhartha Gautama was born, but I’ve also visited the sites where various parts of his body are entombed — a tooth in one place, three hairs in another, and a shoulder bone in yet a different location.  Neither Buddha nor any other religious leader left an empty tomb behind.  Every religion can also have its time to commemorate the death of the leader.  Buddhism combines Buddha’s birth, death, and enlightenment into one massive holiday.  The Shiite Muslims commemorate the assassination of their founder in a bloody reenactment of his martyrdom as the devotees slash themselves with razors — a macabre “Good Friday” parallel.  Christmas and Good Friday do not mark the uniqueness of our faith; it is only in Easter that we meet the risen savior.

I once read a statement by the Dali Lama in which he expressed concern for a boy lama who was under custody of the Chinese government in Tibet.  His fear was that the boy may be influenced to abandon Buddhism.  When I read those words, I was again impressed concerning the power of the resurrection.  In Buddhism, they have exchanged God’s promise of the resurrection for Satan’s counterfeit called reincarnation.  The theology of reincarnation is that the soul of each individual passes on to a new cycle of life in another life form (another person or possibly an animal) at death.  The boy lama is supposedly the new life form of a departed enlightened Buddhist leader.  Imagine having been an enlightened priest and then coming back in a future life only to deny that enlightenment in the next life cycle!  What a faulty system to leave such fallibility and failure in the mix.  Resurrection, on the other hand, verified Christ and unquestionably proved Him to be divine. (Romans 1:4)  Without the resurrection, Jesus was another good teacher like those of all the other dead religions; with the resurrection, He is the living savior of a living faith.

It is in the resurrection of Jesus that we find the dividing line between living faith and dead religion.  The Apostle Paul wrote, “If the dead be not raised, we are of all men most miserable.” (I Corinthians 15:19)  It is true that religion without a living relationship with the resurrected Christ is a most miserable existence.  I once spoke with a Buddhist man concerning Christianity.  His response was that Christianity was too hard whereas Buddhism was very easy.  It seems that his daughter had converted to Catholicism for a period of time but after about four years returned to her ancestral religion because as a Catholic she had to go to mass every Sunday.  As a Buddhist she could sleep in on the weekend!  I agree that religion (be it a form of Christianity or any other creed) will become an oppressive list of “do”s and “don’t”s without the resurrection power of Christ living through the believer.  My evaluation of the matter is that if we are to live this life with no hope or promise of eternity, why not take the easy way out and live for all the self-gratification you can get?  Abandon the regulations of religion and society and go all out for wealth and fun.  On the other hand, if you deny yourself the pleasures of unrestraint by yielding to a religion that cannot ensure a life after this one — you have lost in this life and not gained anything in the next; you are of all men most miserable.  “If Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain and your faith is also vain.” (I Corinthian 15:14)

The resurrection delineates the difference between the law of the spirit of life and the law of sin and death.  No matter how many times the Hindus and Buddhists claim that they have been reincarnated, they still depend on the accumulation of good karma in each life to ensure a better life in subsequent incarnations.  Here we see the fallibility of every belief system short of the resurrection reality.  Paul said it best in I Corinthians 15:17, “If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.”  (Also see Romans 6:5-6)

The resurrection places us at a point of choice between being alive to God through Christ (Romans 6:11) and being dead in trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1).  It places us at the decision spot between obtaining a lively hope (I Peter 1:3) or being subject to the second death (Revelation 20:6).  We must make that choice because the resurrection of Christ also ensures the resurrection of all the human family to stand before the one who holds the key to death and hell — a promise of liberation to some and a threat of imprisonment to others.  “Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.” (John 5:29)

Although the resurrection places us at a choice between life and death, it does not place us at a choice between the present life and eternal life after death.  In Japan, most of the people are members of both the Shinto religion and the Buddhist faith.  Their reasoning is that the Shinto religion provides more for their present lives while Buddhist doctrines give them more hope for the afterlife.  It is only in the resurrection that we see an affirmation of both the present and the future.  The resurrection faith ensures the best of both — a full life now and an even fuller life to come.  (Romans 6:5-6, I Corinthians 15:42-44)

The truth of the resurrection is so vitally at the core of the Christian message that it came to be the distinctive mark of the authentic gospel.  Note that the first decision made by the apostles was to find a replacement for Judas as a “witness…of his resurrection.” (Acts 1:22)  They did not call for a witness of the miracles or teaching; first and foremost, they wanted someone who could verify the distinctive fact of Christianity — that Jesus came back to life, leaving the tomb empty and Satan defeated.  The uniqueness of the apostles’ message was the validity of the resurrection. (Acts 4:33, 17:18)  In fact, the message was the characteristic of the Christian faith that drew reaction and persecution from those who heard the apostles preach. (Acts 4:2, 17:32, 23:6)  The truth is that every time this gospel of the resurrection is proclaimed, it again draws the battle line and demands that the hearers choose either life or death.