As we enjoy the all-inclusive Christ as the tree of life, we live Christ and express Christ, and He is so rich to us; today we enjoy a foretaste of the tree of life, and the enjoyment of the tree of life will be the eternal portion of all of God’s redeemed!
Praise the Lord for the tree of life, God in Christ as life to us in the form of food. We open to You today, dear Lord! We exercise our spirit to contact You and partake of Your riches. Show us a vision of the tree of life and impress us with our need to partake of this tree today. Save us from merely having knowledge of good and evil; may we know life, enjoy life, and grow in life by partaking of the tree of life in our spirit! Amen!
God’s intention from the beginning to the end of the Bible is the same: He wants to dispense Himself into man as life to be everything for man so that man would partake of God, enjoy God, and be filled with God to be the corporate expression of God.
The only way God’s purpose in creating man can be fulfilled is by man taking in God as the tree of life so that God as life may be constituted into man and live through man for God’s expression.
We see the tree of life not only in the first few chapters in Genesis but also in the last chapters of the Bible, Revelation 21-22.
For eternity our portion is to partake of God in Christ as the tree of life, that is, it is our destiny to enjoy God as food so that we may live because of Him.
The tree of life is so central to God’s purpose that it is there both when God created man and when God obtains the New Jerusalem.
Nothing is more crucial to both God and man than the tree of life. This is why the Lord Jesus, when He came to be incarnated, said again and again that He is life, He wants to give us life, and He gives His life for us so that we may have life.
The life He gives us is not the physical life nor is the psychological life but the zoe life, the divine life.
We believers in Christ have received the divine life in our spirit at the time of our regeneration; now we need to enjoy Christ as the tree of life, grow in life, and allow this life to be manifested in us.
This involves a daily process of turning to our spirit, contacting the Lord, praying, and fellowshipping with the Lord in all things.
Also, we come to the Lord’s word with our heart turned to Him to eat Him as the tree of life, and we come to the meetings of the church to be under the hearing of the faith and be infused with more of God in Christ as life.
Eat Christ as the Tree of Life to Enjoy the All-inclusive Christ and Express Him
The Gospel of John is a book of life, for in it we see that Christ came and life was in Him, and this life was the light of men (John 1:4). Wow, He came full of life, life was in Him, and this life was actually the light!
Again and again in the Gospel of John we see Christ presenting Himself to man as life – God in Christ is life to man in the form of food. Christ is the bread of life (John 6:48); when we eat Him, we eat life, we are filled with life, and we live because of Him (v. 57).
He is the living bread, the bread that came down out of heaven, the bread of life, and the bread that gives us life. We simply need to eat Him in His word by the exercise of our spirit.
As we eat Christ in His word, there’s an inward spiritual metabolic process going on; He is digested and assimilated into our being, and our old element is discharged.
Christ is the light of the world, and he who follows Him shall by no means walk in darkness but shall have the light of life (John 8:12).
He is the light; as we remain under His shining and follow Him, we have not only light, but the light of life.
In John 10:10 the Lord said that He came so that we may have life and may have it abundantly.
Hallelujah, He came to lay down His physical life and His soulish life so that we may have His divine life, and may have it abundantly.
He is the good Shepherd laying down His life for the sheep (v. 11).
Thank the Lord that He laid down His life for us; now we can exercise our spirit and partake of the divine life in resurrection. Christ is the resurrection and the life; he who believes into Him, even if he should die, shall live (11:25).
He is not only the divine life and the eternal life; He is also resurrection life. His life overcomes death. Only Christ as life can overcome death. All other kinds of life end in death, but Christ as resurrection life overcomes death.
When we eat Christ as the tree of life, we have the life that overcomes death.
John 14:6 further says that the Lord is the way and the reality and the life. He is the way to the Father; He is the reality of all positive things, and He is the life.
No one comes to the Father except through Jesus Christ, for He’s the way to the Father and the life that enables us to contact the Father.
Christ is the reality of all positive things in the universe, for He is all-inclusive; as such a One, He is life to us in the form of food. He is the real food and the real drink.
Even at the end of a great feast, the Lord stood up and called all those who are hungry and thirsty to come to Him and drink (John 7:37-39).
He is God embodied to be life to us in the form of food and drink; He is the tree of life for us to enjoy and partake of.
John 15:1 confirms that Christ is the vine tree, and John 14:6 tells us that He is the life. Christ is the tree of life. Today we can have life and live because of Him, because Christ is the tree of life. He has dispensed Himself into us. When we eat the tree of life, we receive life.
We receive life by eating and drinking Christ. All the aspects of the all-inclusive Christ revealed in the Gospel of John are the outcome of the tree of life.
When we eat Christ as the tree of life, we partake of many aspects of the all-inclusive Christ and we live because of Him, thereby expressing Him.
If we feel that we are hungry and thirsty, if we feel we lack the experience and enjoyment of Christ, and if we see that we do not express Christ, we simply need to come to the Lord in His word to eat Him as the tree of life so that we may be filled with Him and express Him!
Lord Jesus, thank You for coming to us as the Triune God embodied to be life to us in the form of food. Amen, Lord, we want to eat You today as the tree of life. We take You as the bread of life. We exercise our spirit as we come to Your word to eat You in Your word. Your words are our real food, and we can eat You as the living bread to live because of You. Amen, Lord, we want to follow You as the light of the world so that we do not walk in darkness but have the light of life. Amen, may we have the light of life and may we walk in this light today! Oh Lord, thank You for coming to us as the good Shepherd, laying down His life for His sheep. Thank You for laying down Your physical life and Your soulish life so that we may obtain and enjoy Your divine life! Amen, Lord, we exercise our spirit to enjoy You as the resurrection and the life; You are the resurrection life for us to receive, enjoy, and live by. We believe into You. We come to the Father through Jesus, the Son, for He is the way and the reality and the life! Oh, what an all-inclusive Christ we have for our enjoyment and experience so that we may express Him! Amen!
The Enjoyment of the Tree of Life will be Our Eternal Portion as God’s Redeemed Ones
The tree of life in Genesis 2 is also seen in the last chapter of the Bible, in Revelation 22:14; this shows us that the enjoyment of the tree of life will be our eternal portion as God’s redeemed ones.
If Adam had partaken of the tree of life in Genesis, he would have cooperated with God for the fulfilment of His purpose.
But because Adam did not partake of the tree of life but fell, being deceived by Satan, the tree of life was closed to man (Gen. 3:22-24).
But praise the Lord, Christ came and fulfilled all the requirements of God’s righteousness, holiness, and glory, and now the way to the tree of life is open to man (Heb. 10:19-20).
We today as believers in Christ can and should enjoy Christ as the tree of life. As we live our Christian life in the church life, the enjoyment of Christ as the tree of life is our common portion (John 6:35, 57). We can eat Christ as the tree of life and live because of Him.
Furthermore, if we are the Lord’s overcoming saints, those who overcome to eat Christ as the tree of life in this age, we will enjoy the tree of life as a dispensational reward to the overcoming believers in the next age (Rev. 2:7).
In the next age, the overcomers will enjoy the tree of life in a special way as a reward. And for eternity, in the new heaven and new earth, the enjoyment of the tree of life will be the eternal portion of all of God’s redeemed people (Rev. 22:14, 19).
There is a throne in the centre of the New Jerusalem, and out of the throne there’s a river of water of life flowing; on both sides of the river there is the tree of life bearing fruit every month for all of God’s redeemed to eat and live. Hallelujah!
In John 1:29 we see Christ as the Lamb of God for our redemption, and in John 6:35 and 15:1 we see Christ as the tree of life for our life supply.
He redeemed us so that He may impart Himself into us as our life supply. If we today eat Christ as the tree of life, if we eat Him and live because of Him, we will be rewarded with a special portion of Christ as the tree of life in the next age.
And for eternity, we will be in the enjoyment of the tree of life as our eternal portion. Praise the Lord!
If we apply the types and figures seen in the New Jerusalem to our experience, we realise that we need to enthrone the Lord in our being and have a river flowing from Him as the Lord and King.
There’s a river flowing in us whenever we enthrone Christ in our being. And this river flows in the middle of the golden street; the golden street signifies the divine nature of God.
We are partakers of the divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4) and we should live by the divine life and according to the divine nature. If we want to enjoy the river of water of life and eat the tree of life, we need to walk according to the divine nature in our being.
On the one hand, we eat Christ and partake of Him as the tree of life so that we may have life abundantly and live because of Him.
On the other hand, we take heed to the Lord’s life and nature within us.
We may be about to do something or purchase something, and the Lord within us tells us not to do that thing or buy that thing.
We may argue with the Lord and reason with Him, and we may even prevail; we may do that thing or purchase that thing. But when we do this, we sense that the flow of life within us has stopped; we don’t feel that the Lord flows in us as life.
We may have a temporary enjoyment of the thing we have done or the thing we purchased, but there’s no flow of life and there’s no supply of life.
But if we heed the Lord’s speaking within us, if we walk according to the divine nature in our spirit, we sense the flow of life. Outwardly nothing changes, but we feel watered and nourished inwardly.
This is a practical way for us to cooperate with the Lord to live according to the tree of life, that is, walk according to the divine nature in the divine life in our spirit.
Our experience many times is that we fail; we disobey the Lord, we do not heed His inner speaking, and we even rebel against Him, doing what He does not want us to do and not listening to His inner word.
But praise the Lord, we can wash our robes in the blood of the Lamb and come forward to enjoy Christ as the tree of life (Rev. 22:14).
May we be encouraged to eat the tree of life and partake of the Lord until He in us is life and He is expressed through us.
The enjoyment of the tree of life will be the eternal portion of all of God’s redeemed (Rev. 22:1-2, 14).
The fruits of the tree of life will be the food for us as God’s redeemed in eternity; these fruits will continually be fresh, produced every month.
May we eat Him as the tree of life today and may we live according to His divine nature in us so that we may express Him as the tree of life!
Lord Jesus, we choose to eat You as the tree of life today! Amen, Lord, we exercise our spirit as we come to Your word to eat You as the bread of life and drink You as the living water. You are our life and our life supply. We want to eat You as the tree of life and walk on the golden street by walking according to the divine nature. Amen, Lord, we enthrone You in our being. We give You the first place. Rule and reign in us. We treasure the sweet flow of life. Hallelujah, there is a river of water of life flowing out of the enthroned Christ in our being! Amen, Lord, we want to have the river of water of life flowing in us. May we walk according to the divine nature, taking heed to Your inner speaking and restricting, so that we may partake of You as the tree of life and drink the Spirit as the water of life. Oh Lord, we say Amen to Your inner speaking. We want to obey Your inward No so that we may have more life, even to have a continual flow of life! Praise the Lord, our eternal portion for eternity is the enjoyment of the tree of life! Hallelujah!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by the brothers on this topic, and portions from, Life-study of Revelation, msg. 65, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Noah, Daniel, and Job – Patterns of Living an Overcoming Life on the Line of Life to Fulfill the Economy of God (2026 International Chinese-Speaking Conference), week 4, Job and the Two Trees – day 5.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Christ Jesus is the food we eat; / He is our bread, He is our meat; / He is our life-supply complete; / We daily eat of Him. / We daily eat of Him, / We daily eat of Him. / He is our life-supply complete; / We daily eat of Him. (Hymns #1145 stanza 3)
– Eating is man’s destiny / And the Lord’s recovery; / This defeats the enemy— / Overcome! / Come enjoy the tree of life, / Leave the doctrines, leave the strife! / Overcome by eating Christ— / Overcome! / Teachings ne’er transform the soul, / Teachings never reach God’s goal, / Eating Christ will do it all— / Overcome! / We must overcome to eat, / By ourselves and when we meet, / Eat Him as the feast complete— / Overcome! (Hymns #1273 stanzas 2-3)
– We are washing all our robes the tree of life to eat; / “O Lord, Amen, Hallelujah!”—Jesus is so sweet! / We our spirits exercise, and thus experience Christ. / What a Christ have we! (Hymns #1151 stanza 3)
