The Choice at the Tree

We make choices every day. We choose when to get up, what to wear and eat. When we choose, we use our judgement on what is the best choice. We do most or all of this without really thinking about it. Sometimes we come to an important decision and then we agonize over the right thing to do. But for most of us, our daily life is full of choices that we don't even think about.

For my second installment in this series, The Trees in Eden, I want to talk about the second tree: the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Like the tree of life, we see echos of this tree throughout scripture. Where echos of the tree of life pointed us to temples, echos of this tree point us to crucial decisions. What I find fascinating about the echos of this tree is that every decision is really the same decision that Adam and Eve had in the garden.

Three Forgotten Temples

I think when most Christians think about temples in the Bible they have in mind one of two things. Either they think of the Tabernacle in the desert or they think of the Temple built by Solomon. These are in fact the most prolific temples. If you read Exodus you find out that the creation of the tabernacle was very specific in its lengths. When you get to Kings and Chronicles, Solomon dedicates the temple. This is the temple that gets destroyed by Babylon. It is at this place that Ezra and Nehemiah build the second temple. It's no wonder that this is the temple that comes to mind.

Yet there are three other temples. Three temples more important than the rest. One is the template -- the blueprint -- for all those that come after. If we don't understand it, we cannot truly understand any other. One does not look or feel like a temple. It is dark and seems hopeless. And yet it is this temple that gives us all hope. The final temple is full of light. It is a future temple. It is the temple as it was always meant to be. These are the three forgotten temples.