Apples And Oranges

Did you ever think that apples and oranges could lead you to Christ? There is a secret to all of this. The "apple" represents the Garden of Eden and the "orange,", well, I’ll have to let you in on this a little later in the story. Well the garden was spectacular, flowers and trees and animals of every kind with an abundance of God’s special treasures. He had prepared a home for all of His creatures, but especially for His own kind, the ones who were created in His own image, humans, men and women and children who would eventually populate the universe. It was paradise, and God was in control. There was one stipulation; and that was to never eat from the Tree of Knowledge because that Tree was so bad that if you just ate one fruit from it, you were certainly going to die. There was no doubt about it and God knew it. And He said to woman and man, do not eat that fruit but to eat only the fruit that He prepared for His children because it was good, and there was always an abundance of it. The Garden of Eden was special. It was alive with splendor, beauty beyond compare. Yet there was one thing there that was not, and that was the "Tree of Knowledge". The Tree of Knowledge was ugly beyond description. It was hideous, outrageous, distasteful and incredibly detestable and God hoped that the woman and the man would find this tree the same as He saw it. And He placed on this tree "apples", not many, only two. And He said, “If you eat these two fruit you will surely die”. Who would ever question God, because He was always right and He knew best how to protect his children? God knew beyond a shadow of any doubt that as soon as He said, “Don’t,” they would say, “why not?” At least to themselves anyway. How could two apples make anyone die? It didn’t seem possible. So, they would go about their business each and every day and they were faithful to God in being obedient to him, until one day, while they were about their work, Eve ran across a snake. Now, the snake was very cunning. He was intelligent beyond compare. And the snake said to Eve, "What do you think of this tree, the tree of knowledge?” “ It is one of the most beautiful trees in the Garden." Eve had remembered what God had spoke of that tree, and so she decided not to listen to that snake, at least for the time being. And time would go on. One day led to another and then one day, while Eve was about her business, she met up with that cunning snake again. And again he would tell her about the tree. He told her that the fruit from this tree would make her brilliant beyond anything she could ever imagine. And so she thought of how that would make her like her Father, her Dad, her God in heaven. See, her Father was God, and she felt, if she was as smart as God, how would that cause her to die? And so she was interested in what the snake had to offer. She would sit and listen to that snake whenever she got the chance. She pondered in her heart what would it be like to be so smart that she would have the galaxy eating out of her own hand. For that must be what it was like to be God, to have total control, to be in charge, and to be the ruler of the universe. She would go to the Tree and she would smell the apple that hung from the limb. It was small and gray. It didn’t have anything about it that she desired. The only thing that attracted her to that tree was the snake. Eve would sit thinking, could I just take one bite, only one small itty-bitty bite? Who would know? Eve was tempted, and she didn’t even know it, but God knew, because He created that tree and the snake, with its wickedness, also. God knew that Eve would be the first to bow down to the temptation of sin because Eve was the weaker of the two. The day of the departure from Eden was creeping up on Adam and Eve and they did not even know it. God had big plans; He was going to send them on a journey into the real world, the world of evil and destruction. He wanted them to know what it was like being without His love and being totally on their own. He knew that Eve would eat that apple even before He planted that tree, because our God is in control of all things, even the desires of the flesh.