a governing principle in the Bible: the two trees with two lines, two flows, and two destinations!

It is so easy to read the Bible and try to understand it through your own perspective and way of seeing things – and especially when we come to the book of Psalms, where there are so many expressions of the sentiments, emotions, and desires of the psalmists…

But we need to see that there’s a governing principle in the entire Bible! I was inspired and touched today by the fourth message in the Crystallization Study of the Psalms(1), entitled, The God-man who satisfies God’s desire and fulfills His good pleasure.

In Psalms 15 and 16, written by the same person, we have the answer to the question in Psa. 15:1, O Jehovah, who may sojourn in Your tent? Who may dwell on Your holy mountain? In Psalm 15 we see that the answer seemingly is – someone who is upright, holy, righteous, who is correct and good towards others, who does not do bad things, etc.

But in Psalm 16 we see a God-man, not a good-man, who satisfies God’s heart – Christ Himself! The same composer of the psalms, but two different speakings – one by a man who wants to be righteous, wants to keep the law, etc – and another speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

There are two lines which run through the Bible, which constitute the governing principle for our understanding the book of the Psalms and of the Bible itself. There are two sources, two flows, and two destinations!

The first is the Tree of Life – the line of life, which started in the garden of Eden with God who created man in His own image and likeness and put man in front of the tree of life. At the same time, in the same garden, there was the tree of knowledge of good and evil – these two lines began in the garden of Eden with the two trees.

The tree of life is simple: just LIFE, LIFE, LIFE! But the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is so complicated: knowledge, good, evil, and even death (the result of eating that tree). This is the “family of the tree of the knowledge” – good, evil, knowledge, and death.

Good and evil, together with knowledge, belong to the same tree! The good teachings of Confucius and the good philosophies and ethics – together with the evil deeds of the bank robbers and the murderes are, as far as God is concerned, are from the same source! Both are from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. These two lines run throughout the Bible – and they have two consummations!

The two lines with the two sources have two flows – as seen firstly in Abel and Cain. Abel was a shepherd, tending to sheep so that he might offer them to God as a sacrifice, while Cain was a tiller of the ground, earning his living by the sweat of his brows. Seemingly both were OK, especially when they both brought God an offering – Abel brought a lamb (according to God’s desire and prescription), while Cain brought what he considered he had the best to offer(from the fruit of the earth).

Seemingly it was all good – but the result is that, when Cain saw that God did not like his offering, he desired to kill and actually killed his brother. One moment he was offering a sacrifice to God, and the next he wanted to kill his brother – both GOOD and EVIL are there, and the result is death.

Another example of persons on the line of life and the like of the knowledge of the good and evil is Sarah and Hagar – one is a free woman, the wife of Abraham, while the other is the slave, the maidservant, through which Abraham, in his impatience to wait for God’s promised seed, had a son.

In Galatians 4 we see that Sarah is on the line of life – she represents the covenant of grace, and she is the mother of all the believers, and she also represents Mount Zion. Hagar, on the other hand, represents the law, the old covenant, and she stands for Mount Sinai. Many times we are on “the wrong mountain” – we need to move mountains, make sure we’re on Mount Zion!

Hagar brought forth slavery, and she was rejected by God together with her son, but Sarah produced the son who inherited all the blessings, and this is grace! The line of life consummates in the New Jerusalem, the Bride of the Lamb, and the city of water.

The line of the knowledge of good and evil consummates in great Babylon, the great harlot, who ends in the lake of fire.

We need to see the two sources, the two flows, the two lines, and the two destinations! In the book of Psalms David jumps from one line to another – many times he speaks of being righteous and keeping the law, while in some specific Psalms he speaks under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit concerning the only One who can fulfill God’s heart’s desire – Christ, the God-man!

The whole world runs on and feeds on the tree of knowledge – we are born here, raised up here, taught to be good and hate evil. The whole world system runs on the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which results in death.

We may hate evil and love good – but they are of the same family! The line of the knowledge of good and evil frustrates the fulfilling of God’s economy – and only on the line of life can the economy of God be accomplished!

Forget about DOING this or that, about keeping the law or trying to be righteous, about obeying the code of ethics or being a good person – simply KISS THE SON! Kiss Christ, love Him, enjoy Him, spend time with Him, and let Him infuse you with Himself! To be on the line of life – where we are brought through our regeneration – we need to be one with Christ, the living Person, who is the God-man processed and consummated through the incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension!

He is now the life-giving Spirit (not the knowledge or good-giving Spirit) and He imparts the tree of life into us! God’s economy is in faith, and it is altogether centered around this God-man in His processes and His doings! Christ is the reality, the embodiment, of the tree of life! [sharing inspired from the brother’s speaking in the second message of the recent training]