Eat Christ as the Tree of Life and Love the Lord to become the Testimony of Jesus

We need to eat Christ as the tree of life and love the Lord with the first love so that we may become the testimony of Jesus on the earth today.

The primary matter in the church life should be eating the tree of life, that is, enjoying Christ as our life supply; we do this first by loving the Lord with the first love and therefore giving Him the first place, and by enjoying Him so that we may have His shining and be the testimony of Jesus. Amen!

Thank the Lord that He is recovering us back to Himself, back to the enjoyment of Christ as the tree of life!

Today we believers in Christ are in a triangular situation just as Adam was in the beginning: we need to choose between the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

The difference between Adam and us is that we already have the divine life, while Adam did not have it; however, even though we have been regenerated with God’s life, we still have to choose to eat the tree of life day by day.

Eating the tree of life should be the primary matter we do in our Christian life and church life.

When we eat Christ as life, partaking of Him in spirit and remaining in fellowship with Him, we are on the line of life.

But if we do not make the choice of turning to our spirit and setting our mind on the spirit, by default we are in the flesh, and the self is expressed; the result is death. Oh Lord Jesus!

Throughout the Bible and throughout human history, we see these two lines – the line of life and the line of death. The line of life begins with the tree of life and ends with the New Jerusalem.

The line of death begins with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and ends with the lake of fire.

If we read the Bible with these two lines in view, we will realise that all the persons mentioned in the Bible were either on the line of life or on the line of death.

Even more, some were on the line of death but then switched to the line of life, and then went to the line of death. We are the same today.

We may rise up in the morning and contact the Lord in our personal time with Him, and we choose the way of life; but after a few hours, when we have to deal with some things or when someone talks to us, we simply switch to the line of death.

The line of life and the line of death can be seen in Romans 5 through 8, and we believers in Christ need to know how to be on the line of life and remain on the line of life today.

Eating Christ as the Tree of Life and Loving Him with the First Love by Giving Him the First Place in all things

May the Lord enlighten us to see that eating Christ as the tree of life, that is, enjoying Christ as our life supply, should be the primary matter in the church life today (Gen. 2:9, 16; Rev. 2:7).

Both personally and corporately we need to be those who eat Christ as the tree of life, daily partaking of Christ and His riches, and remaining in the enjoyment of Christ.

The content of the church life depends on the enjoyment of Christ; if we enjoy Christ, we have much content in the church life, but if we do not, the church life may seem poor.

The more we enjoy Christ as the tree of life, the richer the content of the church life will be! May we be those who choose the Lord Jesus day by day.

May we choose not only to know about Him by reading the Scriptures but even more, come to Him in His word to know Him subjectively by eating Christ as the tree of life (John 5:39-40).

In Rev. 2:7 the Lord Jesus promises to the overcomer that He will give him to eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God. The first and foremost thing in the church life is not that we have to work for the Lord, but that we have to eat Christ as the tree of life.

We need to eat the Lord day by day, even hour by hour. We need to call on the name of the Lord, pray to Him, and have fellowship with Him throughout the day.

As we read His word, we pray-read His word, and we eat Him as the tree of life. The more we eat Christ, the better. The more we eat the tree of life, the more life supply we receive and the more we will be walking on the line of life.

But to enjoy Christ as the tree of life requires that we love Him with the first love; if we leave our first love toward the Lord, we will miss the enjoyment of Christ and lose the testimony of Jesus (Rev. 2:4-7).

For us to eat Christ as the tree of life, we need to love Him, even love Him with the first love. We need to give the Lord the first place, the preeminence, in all things (Col. 1:18).

He must have the preeminence. Christ must be the first in us.

May we recover the first love toward the Lord by considering the Lord Jesus as the first in everything. May we make Christ everything in our life, thus overcoming the loss of the first love.

Consider your situation before the Lord: is Christ the first in everything to you? Does Christ have the first place in the way you dress, in the things you wear, in the way you walk, and in the way you speak?

We need to come back to the Lord and repent for losing our first love.

We need to repent and remember where we have fallen from, and we need to do the first works, the works that come out of our first love for the Lord. May we never let our love for the Lord become old.

If we leave our first love toward the Lord, we will miss the enjoyment of Christ and we will lose the testimony of Jesus! Oh Lord!

The first cause of the degradation as seen in the Lord’s speaking to the church in Ephesus in Revelation 2 is leaving the first love.

In the Old Testament, Israel failed God because they forsook God, the fountain of living waters; in the New Testament, the first cause of the church’s degradation is leaving the first love for the Lord.

To leave our first love for the Lord is just to leave Christ, not taking Him as the first in everything.

May we open to the Lord in all things and concerning all things, giving Him the first place in all things. As we get dressed, as we take care of so many things, may we check with the Lord and ask Him how He feels about this and that.

Even as we put on a certain shirt or dress, we can check with the Lord and ask Him to shine on us, even to reveal to us how He feels about this.

We need to have many intimate talks with the Lord concerning all things and in all things.

To recover the first love is to consider the Lord Jesus as the first in everything; if we make Christ everything in our life, this means that we have overcome the loss of the first love (Col. 1:18b; John 14:21, 23; Psa. 90:1; 91:1; Phil. 3:13-14).

May we have much prayer before the Lord concerning this matter, repenting in a genuine way and returning to Him again and again.

May we learn to turn our heart to Him in all things and concerning all things so that we may give Him the first place in all things.

Lord Jesus, we love You and we want to eat Christ as the tree of life today! Amen, Lord, may eating Christ as the tree of life be the primary matter in the church life! Keep us coming to You to enjoy You and partake of You as our life and life supply. May all the saints have a rich enjoyment of Christ so that the content of the church life will be rich in Christ! Amen, Lord, we love You! We turn our heart to You. We want to love You with the best love, the first love. Keep us coming to You in all things and concerning all things. Oh Lord, forgive us for forsaking our first love toward You. We want to love You more. Recover our first love for You. May we love You with the best love. Oh Lord, we give You the preeminence in all things. May You be the first in everything. Have preeminence in our daily life with all the daily things we are involved in. We want to make Christ everything to us so that we may love Him with the best love and eat Him as the tree of life today!

Love the Lord, Eat the Tree of Life, have His Shining, and be the Testimony of Jesus

In Revelation 2:1-7 the Lord spoke a word to the church in Ephesus in which He used four “l” letter words – love, life, light, and lampstand.

First, He told them that He had something against them, that is, that they had left their first love.

Then He said that they need to repent and remember where they have fallen from and do the first works, otherwise the lampstand will be taken away from them (this implies the light).

Finally, He promises the overcomers that He will give them to eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God.

We can say that the Lord’s speaking to the church in Ephesus can be summarised with these four crucial words – love, life, light, and lampstand.

As believers in Christ who pursue Him and desire to be rescued from any degradation, we come to the Lord day by day to love Him, eat Christ as the tree of life, remain under the Lord’s light, and be the testimony of Jesus, the lampstand holding Him as the light.

May we overcome the loss of the first love so that we may maintain our eating of Christ as the tree of life and shine forth the divine light as the lampstand.

This means that we need to give the Lord the preeminence in every way and in everything so that we may recover the first love.

When we love the Lord with the first love, we will enjoy Him as the tree of life, and this will be the primary matter in the church life.

As we enjoy Christ as the tree of life in the church life, we will have His shining, for His life is the light of life (John 8:12). Amen, eating Christ as the tree of life causes the divine life to shine on us and bring us in the divine light!

In the divine light, we confess what the Lord exposes in us, and we have more fellowship with God and with one another (1 John 1:7, 9). Then, we will be shining in our daily life and corporately as the lampstand.

However, if we do not love the Lord with the first love, we will have no appetite to eat Christ as the tree of life, and there will be no shining; this will cause us to lose the testimony of Jesus, for the Lord will come and remove the lampstand. Oh Lord!

Loving the Lord, eating Christ as the tree of life, and being under His shining are so crucial to us being the testimony of Jesus today!

If we have love toward the Lord, even the best love, we will have life, and we will eat Christ as the tree of life.

As we eat the tree of life, the divine light shines on us, and we become the testimony of Jesus, the lampstand holding Christ forth as the light.

May we keep ourselves in the enjoyment of Christ as our love, life, and light so that we may keep the testimony of Jesus as the shining of the lampstand in our locality (Rev. 12:17).

If we have the testimony of Jesus, we will testify of Christ’s person as God and as man, and we will testify of Christ’s human living, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, descension, and second coming. Amen!

The evil condition of the wicked, however, is that they don’t come to the Lord to eat and enjoy the Lord (see Isa. 55:1-2, 6-7; 57:20-21). Oh Lord!

The wicked do many things, but they do not come to contact the Lord, to take Him to receive Him, to taste Him, and to enjoy Him. In God’s eyes, nothing is more evil than this (Jer. 2:13).

May we stop our doing and our working and simply enjoy the Lord, loving Him with the first love, and allowing Him to shine on us. May we come to Him to drink of Him, even to eat what is good, letting our soul delight itself in fatness.

May we seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near, and forsake any evil way or evil thoughts as we return to Jehovah!

There are many things we need to do for the Lord and in the church life, but our primary matter is eating Christ as the tree of life as we love Him with the first love and let Him shine on us, for in this way we become and hold forth the testimony of Jesus.

Lord Jesus, we give You the preeminence in every way and in everything so that we may recover our first love. We love You, Lord Jesus, and we give You our best love. Oh Lord, we come to You in love to enjoy Christ as the tree of life today. May You become our life and life-supply in everything today. May Your life shine in us and expose any darkness and sin; we confess our sins and remain in the light even as You are in the light. Oh Lord Jesus, shine in us and shine through us! May we be those who hold forth the testimony of Jesus by allowing Christ to shine through them in all things both personally and corporately! Amen, Lord, we want to overcome the leaving of the first love, maintain the eating of Christ as the tree of life, and shine forth the divine light as the lampstand! Hallelujah, we are the testimony of Jesus, the corporate expression of the Christ whom we eat as the tree of life and whom we love with the first love!

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 in the message for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1991-1992, vol. 4, “The Overcomers,” chs. 2-3, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Chapters 5 through 8 of Romans – the Kernel of the Bible (2025 ICSC), week 1, The Line of Life and the Line of Death in Chapters 5 through 8 of Romans.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – The two trees – the way of life versus the religion of death, article by Ron Kangas in, Affirmation and Critique.
  – The tree of life, article via, Holding to Truth in Love.
  – To maintain the eating of Christ as the tree of life, a portion from, The Overcomers, Chapter 2, by Witness Lee.
  – What Does It Mean to Love God with All Your Heart? More via, Bibles for America blog.
  – In the paradise of God, a portion from, Life-Study of Revelation, Chapter 10.
  – Allowing Christ the Preeminence for the Advance of God’s Move Today, via, Living to Him.
  – Growing in life by eating Jesus, a portion from, The Flesh and the Spirit, Chapter 5, by Witness Lee.
  – Revelation (Program #3) – The Testimony of Jesus Particular and Consummate, via, Bible study radio.
  – What is the Testimony of the Scriptures concerning God as Our Food? More via, The Hearing of Faith.
  – Love—The Basis and Power of Authority, via, Shepherding Words.
  – Christ is the Tree of Life, new song via, Hymnal.net.
  – Eating the tree of life, a portion from, The Divine Economy, Chapter 2, by Witness Lee.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – To Ephesus, the word is clear: / “To your first love you’re not so near; / You’ve left to work so far away; / Repent, return to Him today.” / Thus, we must all turn back to Him, / Leave other loves, for these are sin. / Oh, let us hearken to His call— / If we miss this, we’ve missed it all! (Hymns #1274 stanzas 3-4)
  – The tree of life, how sweet the fruit, / With God as life complete. / I once was dead, but now I live, / Was starved, but now I eat. / ’Twas God that brought me to the tree, / With Christ Himself as meat; / How precious did that tree become / When I began to eat. (Hymns #1143 stanzas 1-2)
  – The Church the lampstand is to Christ, / Christ is the lamp with God as light; / The light divine from Christ doth shine, / The Church upholds its glory bright. / The light which shines within the lamp / Is God as life, unique, divine; / The stand must therefore be of gold / To match the glory which doth shine. (Hymns #822 stanzas 1-2)