The Blood, proverbial words of my childhood. I heard countless preachers tell me over the years about the "Precious Blood of Jesus" and how there was no remission of sins without "the shedding of blood."
In childhood just being told that I needed "The Blood" over my life was enough for me to have faith in the blood of Jesus. However, as I matured in my walk with God, I often wondered, Why Blood?
After all blood is just a "specialized body fluid that is composed of a liquid called blood plasma and blood cells." Nothing more than fluid, so why was God himself so "into blood?" Why did his system of Justice demand a blood sacrifice? Of course when ones takes a "Word Journey" from Genesis to Revelations the mystery of "the blood" becomes revealed to you in ways you cannot imagine.
Late one evening as I was in study I came across a book that would forever change my life. This composition is authored by Rev. William Branham, a Christian Prophet who graced the earth in the genesis of this century. Within the script of this amazing, prodigious book were words that pressed me to release my own understanding of scripture and to embrace the revealed truth concerning "the blood of Jesus." I encourage you to obtain your own copy of "The Seven Church Ages" which is the title of the writing in reference.
Most people begin their study of sacred writ in the beginning, in Genesis. However for this study I should like for us to begin with a paradox, a euphemism of sorts in the final pages of Holy Writ, the book of Revelations.
When we open the Book of Revelations we see much symbolism or typification. We know that God himself has revealed himself in simplicity and thus the great mysteries of God can be seen in such anomalies as Rainbows, Sky, Clouds, Rain and in this particular setting even a "tree."
Revelations 2:7 - He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
In the scripture above we notice two things, a tree and a paradise! As a matter of fact we read about eating from this particular tree. Those who are studious of scripture surely understand that this is not a literal tree that we will literally be eating from.
There would be no room for the multiplied millions of saints to gather round this tree and eat literal fruit so that we might stay alive for eternity. How shallow is our thinking when we fail to understand the symbolism of scripture? How small minded are we as believers when we read the above scripture and fail to understand? The natural eye can see a literal tree but you and I, the mature believers understand beyond the natural. We understand beyond the sight of eye and we see "The Message" of the tree and not merely the sight of the tree.
Notice this tree is the tree of LIFE. Without this tree we will not be able to live eternal for it seems that this tree is the source of eternal life. So, I ask you the reader how many times must we gather at this tree to keep living eternally?
Shall we meet there once a day, once a week, once a month? How many apples should we eat once we get there? One, five, twenty, a hundred at a time? Did the preceding questions seem silly to you? Perfect, they should, thus a true sign of your spiritual maturity. However, this is exactly how the church world thinks when reading scripture. Failing to understand beyond the imagery, the allegory, the antithesis failing to see the type beyond the anti-type.
Rev 22:14 - Blessed [are] they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.
There is one group of people in the world who will be allowed to enter through the gates of that beautiful city, the overcomer's those who have eaten of the tree of Life, the Lord Jesus Christ.
This would not be the first time our Lord was described by natural elements. One must look no further than the writings of the Apostle Paul when he made that beautiful statement "this rock was Jesus." He of course is referencing the Rock that issued water in the wilderness. When people read in the Old Testament about a "rock" issuing water all they can see is a literal rock. However, Christ was hiding in the simplicity of a rock and only those who can see beyond the physical attributes of a rock can see "Christ in the Rock" and yet this is the same manner in which "Christ is in the TREE" He is the Tree of Life.
We know that he is the tree of life because a he tells us plainly in his own vernacular "I have come to give you life." How could he have given life had he not been the "tree" from which this life flows? Jesus tells us that when we accept him as Savior at that moment we pass from "death unto life." How can that be? Because beloved when you taste the Lord Jesus you have tasted the "Tree of Life"
Jesus continues to reveal his identity as the tree of life with these words; But I am the Bread of Life that come from God out of heaven. I am the Bread of Life from heaven. And if a man eats this Bread and drinks this Blood, and eats My flesh, has Everlasting Life, and I'll raise him up at the last day."
It's interesting to note that our future home is referred to in our keynote scripture as "the paradise of God." Surely the reader is aware that this is the same definition given to "Eden" in the book of Genesis. Eden was Gods Paradise, it was a type of our coming eternal home. Jesus is seen as the "Tree of Life in the Paradise of God."
Would you like to see the perfection of God? Jesus had already been the Tree of Life in the Paradise of God eons of time before we see him in the book of Revelations. Oh yes, he was seen in the same image at the beginning of creation as he was at the end of time standing in the Paradise of God as the "Tree of Life."
One can only conclude from this scriptural journey that if the tree described in Revelations was not a literal tree then we are safe to recognize the same truth in the book of Genesis, causing Gods Word to line up perfectly from beginning to end. We find further proof of this in the New Testament when the blind man who received his sight exclaimed that he saw men as "trees walking."
Therefore I concur that if the Tree of Life in Genesis was not a literal tree but rather a person or entity then we have no choice but to also acknowledge that the "Tree of Knowledge" could not have been a literal tree as well. Rather, this must also be a person or entity that stood in direct opposition or contrast to the tree of life.
For scriptural understanding let us approach the scriptural account of creation concerning these trees.
Gen 2:9 - 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.
I would like for you to notice carefully the word "food." Please note that God mentions his creation of the trees in detail. He said there were some that were simply pleasant for sight and others would produce food. He is categorizing these trees.
Once he does this, he then talks about another set of trees. These trees were not pleasant for the eye nor were they good for food but rather they stand alone as he mentions them after he mentions the trees of the ground.
These two trees are separate, they do not fit with the natural trees they are for a specific purpose in scripture. Now, we know these are not natural trees because no tree of earth can give life. With the same token no natural tree could give knowledge for they have no mind, no soul in which to have knowledge or share knowledge. Have you ever thought why a tree would have knowledge? Perhaps the trees of Eden had brains or thought processes or minds to know with! Poppycock, rubbish, only vain imaginations would cause the church of our Lord to believe such elementary explanations and elucidation of scriptures.
I render to you beloved that this tree of knowledge was Satan himself who had been cast to the earth, so we know he was "on the earth" at this time. We must remember it was Satan who lifted himself in pride, he had full knowledge. He had served in the hierarchy of eternity, he had heard the counsel of the ages. His eyes beheld the throne, he knew the songs of angelic and seraphic choirs as he led them in worship.
Satan also had knowledge of Gods creation. He knew as well, that he himself had no ability to create nor could he give life but he could give knowledge, carnal knowledge of good and evil. He could never create his own creation that would worship him; but in this arena in Eden where death meets grace, where hate meets love he could somehow circumvent the perfection of God and pervert the human race that God had created for his own pleasure.
A Perfect man a perfect woman co-equal both one flesh with the other, they strolled through misty mornings and fragrant air, their diet was that of resplendent, lush fruit glistening by the fresh, musical rivers of Eden. Through their vessels flowed the perfect blood, the untainted blood given to them by Yahweh himself. They were born of a perfect seed, the Spoken Word of God.
Eternity was their inheritance, the Spoken Word was theirs to create with. Their evening companion was Yahweh himself who came to visit them for late garden rendezvous. And in this perfect Paradise stood two choices, life or knowledge of evil. The eternal Word of God or Satan himself, the choice would soon present itself and the choice must be made.
Adam was the Son of God, he was created by God himself with the very breathe of Yahweh in him. After he was created he was commissioned to have dominion over the earth, he was as scriptures states, literally God of this World. Some years later after Adam had spent time naming every species of animals on the earth it was then that he discovered his own loneliness. God recognized it was not good for Adam to be alone and thus he laid Adam to sleep and created Eve in the image of Man and called her "Man with a Womb" or Wombman, Woman.
Adam was created in the Image of God in the original creation but Eve was created as a help to Adam, she was created in the image of man. Adam & Eve's children would have all been the Sons of God, perfect in every way, descendent's of Yahweh himself. Satan knew the plan of God was to have Sons and daughters created in his likeness and even though he would be unable to stop this creation he could most definitely pervert this perfect bloodline of the Sons of God.
There were many animals in the Garden of Eden. Surely, there were many there that we do not see today. We know by scientific research that there is a proverbial "missing link." It is widely believed in the scientific community that there must have been at one time a particular creature that was the "missing link" between man and animal. Thus, the reason they will never nor have ever been able to breed human with animals. There is a genetic "missing link" that makes the process humanly impossible.
This particular creature that spoke with Eve in the Garden of Eden, influenced by Satan is called a Serpent. However, the word Serpent conjures up modern day mental images of a snake. One must remember that this creature was nothing like a snake in its beginning. This creature according to the book of Genesis was able to communicate with Eve in an intelligent interaction. We also know from scripture that this creature walked upright because it was not until after the curse that this creature would crawl upon its belly.
Satan being the most beautiful of angels spoke to Eve through this creature in Eden. We know that Satan had the ability to enter into the animal kingdom by virtue of New Testament scripture. We see Jesus sending demon Spirits into the swine, thus affirming the fact that demonic Spirits have access to animals of the earth.
Here Satan begins to beguile Eve. He speaks words to her that cause her to doubt Gods eternal Word. He presents her with carnal knowledge, the knowledge that would bring death to the entire human race. Through the means of this beautiful creature of the Garden he offers her the "fruit of pleasure" the "fruit of sin" the taste of knowledge of her own body that she did not previously have. When referencing any dictionary or thesaurus you will find the word "seduce" as an alternative for beguile. Hence we understand that Satan in all of his beauty and deceit seduced Eve with "carnal knowledge" and thus she learned from Satan this pleasurable fruit of sexuality.
Until this point Adam & Eve are the untainted perfect bloodline of Yahweh. However, once this deception is placed upon Eve things will never be the same. We know from Paul's writing in the New Testament that Eve was deceived and Adam was not. Paul explained to us that Eve being the weaker vessel could not resist Satan and thus became deceived.
Once Eve tasted this pleasurable and delicious fruit she then offered the same pleasure to Adam. Now, we know without a doubt from Pauls writings that Adam was not deceived, he knew that Eve had committed a great sin against God. According to Gods' own Word, Eve would now be killed and destroyed that very day.
Adam was the perfect type of Christ, he was the original Son of God. We know by the example of Christ rising from the dead that God would not have allowed his only Son to be destroyed but Eve being in the image of man rather than God could have annihilated but her life would be saved in the fact that Eve was Adams wife. Eve came from Man, not from God and thus she would have been eternally destroyed for her wretched sin.
However, Adam being the perfect type of Christ, without deception willingly tasted the fruit she offered to him. He like Christ who knew no sin, yet became sin for us, he became Eve's sin that Eve might find life in Adam and not be destroyed by God.
Eve was flesh of Adams flesh, she was his companion, the love of his life, they were one. He willingly took her sin upon himself and immediately after she had carnal knowledge with the Serpent then Adam lay with her and partook of this carnal knowledge and tasted the pleasurable fruit of sin. Thus they had the "final understanding of carnal knowledge." I can only trust that you the reader are mature enough to understand that the filthy acronym that youhear spoken by so many people comes from the phrase "Final understanding of carnal knowledge."
What happened immediately after they enjoyed the pleasure of this fruit? Their eyes were opened and they recognized their physical bodies. They recognized their nakedness and they were immediately filled with shame for the sin that had fallen prey to. Scriptures teaches us they they covered their loins. Please note the loins, the place of sexual activity is where their shame lie. Had they merely eaten an apple off of a tree then would they not have chosen to cover their mouths instead?
It was all different now! Inside of Eves womb was the gestation of two separate seed lines, two separate destinies, Cain & Abel. Everything has now changed, the perfect creation of God is now tainted, the bloodline is perverted. The earthly has mixed with the heavenly inside of one womb and the fate of mankind is forever sealed.
The reader must look no further than any website search engine to read the thousands of stories of “bi-paternal twinning" women having twin children from separate fathers. The question was posed to Dr. Jefferson Littlefield about the possibility of twins being born of separate fathers. Here is reply;
Yes. If she ovulates and releases two eggs in the same months and also is exposed to sperm from two men, she can get pregnant with twins, one fathered by each man. There is no physical problem related to carrying pregnancies fathered by different men.
Historical records are replete with thousands of twins born from separate fathers. Some twins are multi racial with one being black and the other white. It is by the same pattern that Eve being exposed to the seed of the Serpent and later the seed of Adam became pregnant with twins from different fathers. We know this to be the case by the very words of Jesus;
I John 3:12 - Not as Cain, [who] was of that wicked one.....
The first question that comes to the authors mind is who was "that wicked one." We know that nothing created by God was wicked. We know that Adam was created without sin, he was perfect, he was the Son of God. So, if Adam was not "that wicked one" then who was?
Cains Father was the Serpent who was indeed possessed of "that wicked one"
Interesting to note in the scripture above is the word "of", Cain was "of" that wicked one. When we study that word in this context we find the original word was the Greek word "ek" which simply means "out of." Thus a more proper reading would be "Not as Cain who was out of that wicked one"
The author finds it most interesting that religious scholars still try to convince us that Eve simply ate an apple or perhaps a grapefruit and because she was disobedient God cursed the entire race of his Sons. Yet, you and I disobey God in our daily lives and we see no such punishment.
Yahweh must now deal with the fall of his Son and all of his future sons that are now doomed by Adams decision to take upon him the sin of Eve, the sin of sexual pleasure. He arrives on the scene and his fury is kindled. As a parent his anger is not out of "anger" but out of disappointment in his Sons decision to disobey, to learn carnal knowledge. He knows what the future now holds with the Seed of Satan in the earth, he knows that his sons have lost their birthright and caused Satan to become God of this world.
Of course he's angry with Satan, he curses the body of this creature so that it will no longer be able to interbreed with the human race again. He causes the Serpents body to be changed and he is cursed to crawl on his belly forever. Of course he curses Adam by making him work with the sweat of his brow. However, his true anger can be seen when he curses Eve. Please note that Gods' attention is on her womb. His anger is kindled at whats growing in her womb he then curses her womb. He curses her in childbearing since this is where this beginning of sin was birthed, in the womb.
However, Eve still being in deception declares of her child of Satan "I have gotten a man from the Lord" she as Paul tells us was still walking in deception.
Both sons are born as twins. However, they have very different natures. One has the nature of his Father Adam. Abel is a lover of God, he is tender, he is the one born of Adam and displays his fathers characteristics. Cain is born with his father Satans characteristics, he is jealous, he is prideful and he is religious. However, he is also a murderer. Jesus said of Satan "he was a murderer from the beginning." Can you see "like father like son?"
Cain was the first murderer, perfectly reflecting his Father. Cain leaves to begin his own family in the land of Nod. The reader should note that in every single genealogy of scripture Cain is never listed as a Son of Adam. Abel was the bona fide and legitimate son of Adam, once he was killed by Cain God raised up another seed to take his place with Seth, the 2nd son of Adam. In all of the genealogies Seth is mentioned as Adams eldest son, never Cain, not once!
Jesus in speaking to certain people in the New Testament told them that they were "of their father, the Devil." He meant exactly what he said, we were all born the Sons of Satan, we were all born with original sin and thus in order to be saved we had to all be "BORN AGAIN"
Have you ever wondered why the term "Born Again?" Our first birth was a sinful birth, we were born in sin and shapen in iniquity. The very lustful act that caused our conception was rooted in flesh. We were all tainted with this sin nature, this sin curse, the seed of the Serpent.
Should the reader not understand the above statements then lets refer to scripture. At the time of the curse Yahweh makes a profound statement -
Gen 3:15 - 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.
One must read closely and understand. Here Yahweh himself is telling us that there will be a future war between to seedlines; Satan's Seed and the Womans Seed, which is the righteous seed of Adam.
I ask the reader who was Satan's Seed? First we must recognize that this is not "seeds" that you plant in the ground, this if offspring. The original word for seed is the Hebrew word "zera" which means "SEMEN VIRILE" in laymen terms, Sperm!
Again the question begs an answer, "Who is Satans Seed in the above scripture" or "Who is Satans offspring or child from his Semen Virile or Sperm"
If you cannot answer the question or refuse to acknowledge it then you have missed out on the greatest revelation of scripture.
Do you remember the scripture that talks about the "Sons of God knowing the daughters of men?" Who do you think this is referring to? The Sons of God were the sons of Seth while the daughters of men were the daughters of Cain.
Here we arrive at the New Testament. For all of creation has been sold into the slavery of Satan. The Sons of God have no inheritance for it has been mortgaged by Adam. There will be no returning to Eden to undo what Satan has done. However, God has a Son who will be virgin born, he will bypass the tainting of the Serpents Seed. He will bypass the sperm of man which transports that sin nature to every creature born of the earth. Jesus Christ will be born just like the original Adam with the perfect blood, the untainted blood. He will come to create a new race of Sons, a new creation, a new family of the Sons of God.
One man asked Jesus "Master, what must I do" and Jesus answered "You must be born again" the man lamented that he could not re-enter his mothers womb again and Jesus explained that this man had already been born of water (natural birth) but that he must now be born of the Spirit which supersedes the natural birth and gives you a spiritual birth beyond the reach of the Seed of Satan.
Having been born again, we have now cried Abba Father, transcended the curse of our original nature, been adopted as Sons of God, now identifying with the spotless and untainted blood of our elder brother, Jesus Christ. Because of this we have now been accepted in the beloved.
Blessings
Shane Vaughn Th.D.
