Genesis 3:24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.
The opportunity to eat from the tree of life, and live forever, was apparently gone forever. How sad it must have been for Adam and Eve to leave the garden and venture into the untamed world. There they would die, and all their descendants would also die. This was the worst day in the history of the world.
Thankfully, the tree of life appears again at the end of the Bible. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit (Revelation 22:2), wrote John. The tree of life first appeared in the old paradise of Eden. And because of Jesus Christ, it will appear again in the new paradise of God’s eternal kingdom.
This is helpful for understanding the Bible’s storyline. It is the record of paradise lost through sin, and restored through Jesus Christ. The cherubim mentioned above were later embroidered on the temple curtain (2 Chronicles 3:14), which kept people away from the presence of God. That curtain was torn from top to bottom when Jesus died on the cross for us (Matthew 27:51). This shows the way to God is now open to everyone who comes through faith in Jesus Christ.