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[Regnus Numis]

According to Answers in Genesis, God cast Adam and Eve out of the garden to prevent them from eating from the Tree of Life and living forever in a "sin-cursed" world. However, this answer leaves me wondering why God even created the Tree of Life if He wasn't planning to allow Adam and Eve to eat from it after their sin. If Adam and Eve were already immortal before the Fall, then the Tree of Life was unnecessary. They only needed to eat from the Tree of Life after sinning, but since God prevented them from doing so, He shouldn't have created it in the first place.

[jimwalton]

There is no suggestion that the tree of life is the food of immortality, like the fountain of youth or something. The fruit of the tree seems to extend life (Gn. 3.22), but it doesn't instantly grant immortality. It symbolizes what is only God's to give: He is the source of life, and life is only given by him (not by eating something) and is only found in his presence (Deut. 30.11-20). So it was a literal tree, but it wasn't magical or sacramental (the eating of it didn't confer an automatic spiritual transaction). The fruit was designated by God with a particular function, and that's the only thing that made it particularly effective for anything. God gives life (Proverbs 3:16-18), and life from Him is necessary to enjoy all other gifts. Notice that the man and woman eat freely from the tree (Gn. 2.16).

Obviously the tree held out hope for something the man and woman didn't already have. In other words, they were mortal (not already immortal as you are wondering)—so someday they were going to die. Eating from the tree was symbolic of them having a relationship with God and continuing in His life. This "fruit" (what it represented) was meant to be "eaten."

Why did God prevent them from eating from the tree after they sinned? Their sin had created a barrier between them and God, and by their choice they cut themselves off from God's presence. Fellowship between man and God was broken. The action of banishing them from the Garden was God enforcing what had been warned: Eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil prompts the judgment of the sentence of death. They will not be allowed to live eternally in their sin (which would only increase their pain on earth and their judgment before God in heaven).

Why did God create it in the first place if He was going to prevent their access to it? It represented a relationship with Him. It wasn't magical fruit, but symbolic sustenance. God was their life; He didn't have to create that. The overwhelming loss was not the Garden of Eden, but the presence of God. Throughout the entire rest of the Bible, the object is not to regain Eden, but to regain access to God's presence. God provides a way for this over and over: sacrifices, tabernacle, the Law, the Temple, and finally and completely in Jesus Himself.