[b]Genesis 3:20-24 -“The man called his wife Havah [life], because she was the mother of all living. ADONAI, G-d, made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. ADONAI, G-d, said, "See, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil. Now, to prevent his putting out his hand and taking also from the tree of life, eating, and living forever.’ therefore ADONAI, G-d, sent him out of the garden of Eden to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. So he drove the man out, and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden the k'ruvim and a flaming sword which turned in every direction to guard the way to the tree of life."[/b] So, in Genesis, G-d says that men would live forever if they eat from the tree of life. This is the first reference to eternal life, in the scriptures. Let’s look some more to see if there are any other ways to have eternal life: [b]Deuteronomy 4:39-40 - "Know today, and establish it in your heart, that ADONAI is G-d in heaven above and on earth below - there is no other. Therefore, you are to keep his laws and mitzvot which I am giving you today, so that it will go well with you and with your children after you, and so that you will prolong your days in the land ADONAI your G-d is giving you forever."[/b] This passage seems to say that you can live forever by keeping the commands and decrees of G-d. Let us try to confirm this from another passage: [b]Ezekiel 20:10-13 - "So I had them leave the land of Egypt and brought them into the desert. I gave them my laws and showed them my rulings; if a person obeys them, he will have life through them. I gave them my Shabbats as a sign between me and them, so that they would know that I, ADONAI, am the one who makes them holy. 'But the house of Isra'el rebelled against me in the desert. They did not live by my laws; and they rejected my rulings, which, if a person does, he will have life through them; moreover, they greatly profaned my Shabbats. Then I said I would pour out my fury on them in the desert, in order to destroy them.'"[/b] Ezekiel never comes right out and calls it eternal life, but, it is obvious that the way to live is through the commands of G-d. This life is different than what the wicked do when they walk and breathe. The wicked do not live like the righteous. The only difference must be in how long they live. Also I will hear the christian say “that was for the Jews” Let us look at Yeshua’s words to make this point clear. [b]Matthew 19:16-17 - "A man approached Yeshua and said, ‘Rabbi, what good thing should I do in order to have eternal life?’ He said to him, 'Why are you asking me about good? There is One who is good! But if you want to obtain eternal life, observe the mitzvot.'" Mark 10:17-19 - "As he was starting on his way, a man ran up, kneeled down in front of him and asked, -Good rabbi, what should I do to obtain eternal life?' Yeshua said to him, 'Why are you calling me good? No one is good except G-d! You know the mitzvot'" Luke 10:25-28 - "An expert in Torah stood up to try and trap him by asking, 'Rabbi, what should I do to obtain eternal life?' But Yeshua said to him, 'What is written in the Torah? How do you read it?' He answered, 'You are to love ADONAI your G-d with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your understanding; and your neighbor as yourself.' 'That's the right answer," Yeshua said. 'Do this, and you will have life.'"[/b] So, the second way to live forever is to obey the commands of G-d. By obeying Torah we inherit eternal life. If a Jewish person were to stand up in a christian church and ask the question, "What shall I do to inherit eternal life?" The pastor would gladly invite the Jew up to the stage and tell him how stupid Jews are for not seeing G-d is three instead of one and have him bow and say the "sinner’s prayer." Funny that the Messiah never said such a thing but each time said to obey Torah. Lets look now, at a third way to live forever: [b]John 6:43-51 - "Yeshua answered them, 'Stop grumbling to each other! No one can come to me unless the Father -- the One who sent me -- draws him. And I will raise him up on the Last Day. It is written in the Prophets, `They will all be taught by ADONAI. Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from G-d -- he has seen the Father. Yes, indeed! I tell you, whoever trusts has eternal life: I am the bread which is life. Your fathers ate the man in the desert; they died. But the bread that comes down from heaven is such that a person may eat it and not die. I am the living bread that has come down from heaven; if anyone eats this bread, he will live forever.'"[/b] So we can see that another way to live forever is to eat of the Bread from Heaven. Yeshua is obviously The Bread from Heaven. This is clarified in: [b]John 3:10-17 - "Yeshua answered him, 'You hold the office of teacher in Isra'el, and you don't know this? Yes, indeed! I tell you that what we speak about, we know; and what we give evidence of, we have seen; but you people don't accept our evidence! If you people don't believe me when I tell you about the things of the world, how will you believe me when I tell you about the things of heaven? No one has gone up into heaven; there is only the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man. Just as Moshe lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that everyone who trusts in him may have eternal life. For G-d so loved the world that he gave his only and unique Son, so that everyone who trusts in him may have eternal life, instead of being utterly destroyed. For G-d did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but rather so that through him, the world might be saved.’”[/b] Clearly we can see a third way to live forever involves believing in the Son of G-d. This third way is described, repeatedly, throughout the scriptures, in various ways. They all boil down to faith in Messiah, G-d's word, His Torah. Let us summarize the methods, used by G-d and described in His scriptures, for obtaining eternal life: 1. Eat from the Tree of Life. 2. Obey the commands of G-d. 3. Believe in the Son of G-d. These three ways to live forever are all clearly spelled out in the Scripture, yet there is a problem. Let us look at the problem: [b]John 14:6 - "Yeshua said, "I AM the Way and the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father except through me."[/b] Yeshua seems to be saying that there is only one way to life and it is through Him. Yet, we have already seen that there are clearly three ways to live forever. How do we resolve this? Proverbs puts all three of these together: [b]Proverbs 3:13-20 - "Happy the person who finds wisdom, the person who acquires understanding; for her profit exceeds that of silver, gaining her is better than gold, she is more precious than pearls -nothing you want can compare with her. Long life is in her right hand, riches and honor in her left. Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who grasp her; whoever holds fast to her will be made happy. ADONAI by wisdom founded the earth, by understanding he established the heavens, by his knowledge the deep [springs] burst open and the dew condenses from the sky."[/b] The above passage is read, in the synagogue, when the Torah scroll is returned to the ark. When we say this, we agree that the ultimate wisdom is Torah. This passage shows that through Torah the world was created and is the Tree of life. So, the Tree of Life, the Torah, and Yeshua are all the same entity. Yeshua must be the Tree of Life. Yeshua must be the Torah. Yeshua is THE way and THE truth and THE life! This has profound implications for the believer today. It means that we must obey all of G-d's commands in the Torah or we will, in effect, be discarding a part of Yeshua. It means that if we make a distinction between the laws of G-d that we must obey and those that we don't have to obey, that we must somehow believe in part of Yeshua and not in all of Him. This does not work! Just as Yeshua is a single entity, so also is the Torah a single entity. We can not divide the commands of God anymore than we can divide the body of Messiah. We either obey all of the Torah or we have rejected Messiah. As a Jew, you can not separate Torah from the Son. As a Gentile, you can not separate the Son from Torah.