When we Eat Christ as the Tree of Life, the Church becomes the Paradise of God to us

In order for us to eat Christ as the tree of life, we must give Him the first place in all things, that is, we need to love Him with the first love so that we may enjoy Him as life in the church life and have the testimony of Jesus; as we do this, the church life becomes the Paradise of God, where we eat the tree of life with all the saints.

Lord Jesus, we love You. We give You the first place in our being. We love You with the first love. We give You our best love. Oh Lord, we exercise our heart of love to just love You and enjoy You. We take You in as the tree of life. Supply us with Yourself as life. Keep us depending on You in all things as life. Amen, Lord, may we give ourselves to eat Christ as the tree of life in the church life so that the church life may become the Paradise of God to us! Amen!

God’s original intention related to man involves the tree of life, for man was created in God’s image and according to His likeness and was placed by God before the tree of life.

We see the tree of life in the garden of Eden in Genesis chapter 2, and in Revelation 21-22, the last two chapters of the Bible, the tree of life is present again.

From eternity to eternity, God is life, and He wants to give Himself as life to man so that He may be man’s life and everything.

He wants man to partake of Him as life and depend on Him as life. We believers in Christ are those who have received Christ as our life, and now Christ is our life.

Day by day we need to allow the life of Christ to grow in us, spread in us, and flow in us, even flow out of us to others also.

For this, we need to deal with all kinds of problems and obstacles to the divine life in our being.

Everything in our natural being is a hindrance to God’s life, so we need to open to the Lord and deal with every part of our being before Him.

God will never force Himself on us or through us; He wants to gain our cooperation.

May we be willing to let the Lord shine on the darkness of our human concepts, our hypocrisy, our rebellion, and our natural capability so that we may deal with all these matters by the cross.

There’s only one solution to all the obstacles to God’s life in us: we must pass through the cross and let the cross break us.

When we allow the Lord to break through in us and let the cross operate in us to deal with all obstacles to God’s life in our being, Christ’s life will be unhindered in us.

May we be those who cooperate with the Lord in this way today.

For us to Eat Christ as the Tree of Life, we must Give Him the First Place in All Things, Loving Him with the First Love

There is a connection between eating Christ as the tree of life and taking Him as our first love. For us to eat Christ as the tree of life, we need to give the Lord the first place in all things, which is to love Him with the first love (Rev. 2:4-5; Col. 1:18b; 2 Cor. 5:14-15; Mark 12:30; Psa. 73:25-26; 80:17-19).

Christ is the Head of the Body and the First in all things; we need to give Him the first place. He is the beginning, the Firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself may have the first place in all things.

When we give Him the first place in all things, we love Him with the first love. However, when we lose our first love for the Lord, degradation comes in.

May we take Christ as the first in all things, giving Him the first place.

We may be faithful to the Lord, test the prophets and the apostles, and do lots of works as a labour of love before the Lord, but if we leave our first love, we are in danger of the Lord coming to remove the lampstand from us.

Oh Lord, the beginning of the degradation of the church is to leave the first love. Nothing but love can keep us in a proper relationship with the Lord.

To love the Lord doesn’t mean that we have bubbly feeling or an emotion toward Him; the love of God has been poured out in our heart, and we love the Lord with the love which He is in us.

May we turn our heart to the Lord to just love Him. To love the Lord with the first love, to give Him the first place in all things, is to eat Christ as the tree of life (Rev. 2:7; John 6:57, 63).

Enjoying Christ as our life supply, that is, eating Christ as the tree of life, should be the primary matter in the church life.

We may know this, we may be familiar with this, but we need to practice daily coming to the Lord and enjoy Him in His word. We need to exercise our heart of love toward the Lord to love Him with the best love and give Him the first place in all things.

When we give the Lord the first place in big and small things, we will enjoy Him as the tree of life.

The content of the church life depends on the enjoyment of Christ; the more we brothers and sisters enjoy Christ, the richer the content of the church life will be.

But for us to eat Christ as the tree of life, to enjoy Him as our life supply, requires us to love Him with the first love.

When we give the Lord the first love, He becomes the first in our being.

In all things, from small things like the way we comb our hair and the clothes we wear, to the big things such as the job we should take, the city or country we should live in, and the person we should marry, we need to give the Lord the first place.

We need to have many intimate conversations with the Lord, bringing before Him our desires, our needs, our purposes, and our aims, and give Him the first place in all things.

In a sense, we may say that God doesn’t care what shirt we wear today and how we comb our hair, for these are personal and insignificant things, but if in these things we consult the Lord and love Him, we learn to give Him the first place, and therefore we eat Christ as the tree of life.

The more ground we give the Lord in our being, the more we love Him, and the more we partake of the tree of life.

This is to be an overcomer, that is, to be a person who overcomes to eat Christ as the tree of life. God’s original intention was that we as men would eat the tree of life, but because of man’s fall, the way to the tree of life was closed to man (Gen. 2:9, 16; 3:22-24).

But praise the Lord, through Christ’s redemption, the way for us to eat Christ as the tree of life was opened again (Heb. 10:19-20).

Now we have a new and living way to enjoy Christ as the tree of life. However, the church is degraded, and religion is everywhere; many Christians pay attention to knowledge or works instead of paying attention to Christ and eating the tree of life.

So we need to overcome today, that is, overcome the loss of our first love for the Lord, by eating Christ as the tree of life and giving Him our first love, therefore giving Him the first place in all things.

Today the Lord is calling the overcomers to do what the church should be doing, to give the Lord the first place, love Him with the first love, and eat Christ as the tree of life.

For us to give the Lord the preeminence in all things, we must be willing to be adjusted, to be broken, and to be made nothing so that the Lord may have a way in us, through us, and among us for the building up of the Body.

May we be the Lord’s overcoming saints today, those who eat Christ as the tree of life in the church life for the accomplishing of God’s economy.

Lord Jesus, we love You. We love You first. We love You best. Our first love belongs to You. Amen, Lord, we give the priority of our love to You. We give You the first place. We come to You in all things and concerning all things. We love You and we need You. We take You as our life and as our love. Save us from leaving our first love toward the Lord. May we give You the first place in all things, big or small, so that we may enter into the enjoyment of Christ as the tree of life! Oh Lord Jesus, we return to You as our first love. We give You the preeminence in every way and in everything. May the primary matter in the church life be our enjoyment of Christ as the tree of life. Amen, Lord, we love You with the first love and we come to enjoy You as the tree of life! Save us from loving anything or anyone else more than You! We are willing, Lord, for You to have a way in us and among us. We are willing to be adjusted, broken, and be made nothing so that You may have the first place in our being!

When we Eat Christ as the Tree of Life, the Church becomes the Paradise of God to us

If we read Revelation 2:7 we can say that, strictly speaking, eating the tree of life in the Paradise of God refers to the particular enjoyment of Christ as our life supply in the New Jerusalem in the coming millennial kingdom.

But on the other hand, we believers in Christ are enjoying the crucified and resurrected Christ as the tree of life, the food supply in our spirit, as a foretaste in the church life today!

When we do this, when we eat Christ as the tree of life in the church life, the church life becomes the Paradise of God to us, for Christ is the tree of life in the middle of the church life for us to enjoy. Amen!

May we have an ear to hear what the Spirit is speaking to the churches so that we may be the Lord’s overcomers today, those who eat of the tree of life today.

The tree of life is in the Paradise of God. If we drift away from the Lord by not loving Him with the best love and not giving Him the first place in all things, even though we may do many works for the Lord, He advises us to repent and return to the best love and do the first works.

Oh, may we be those who give the Lord the best love today by giving Him the first place in every detail of our Christian life and church life! May we exalt Christ in all things!

When we give the Lord the first place in everything and maintain our eating of the crucified and resurrected Christ as the tree of life throughout the day, the church will be a paradise to us.

No matter the condition the church is in, as long as we eat Christ as the tree of life, the church becomes a Paradise to us!

Our feelings and our attitude toward the church depend upon our situation. We may look at the local church we are in and at the church life we have and we may think that this is not the Paradise of God.

Well, we need an adjustment; we need to eat the tree of life! When we enjoy Christ as the tree of life, our attitude will change, for we will realise that indeed, the church is the Paradise of God! Oh Lord!

This is so true in our experience. If we allow any negative or critical thought or attitude to creep into our being, even though we base our criticism on real facts and on tangible problems and needs in the church life, our attitude toward the church may not be that positive, and we may even leave the church life.

Throughout the years, as we live the church life, our attitude toward the church means a lot.

If we pick up a kind of opinion toward the church, that there’s a problem there, there are some deficiencies, that the church is not up to standard, we are in a perilous situation.

We may be completely right, for there’s a great need for shepherding, there is not enough visitation among the saints, the new ones are not properly cared for, and many other problems may be present, but in assessing these things, do we eat Christ as the tree of life, or do we just pass on some observations or criticism?

Who are we to say something about the church life? Our only duty is to enjoy Christ as the tree of life. If we don’t presently eat Christ as the tree of life, we are in the darkness of our human concepts.

We have concepts of how the church life should be, we may have an attitude toward others or expectations from them; however, we may not eat the tree of life.

Instead of complaining or speaking out concerning the need, we should pray; we should pray and enjoy Christ as the tree of life.

If we eat Christ as the tree of life today, we will participate in the tree of life in the kingdom age, and the church becomes a paradise to us.

We need to practice this. We see the needs. We feel the need for this or that in the church life. May we eat Christ as the tree of life and not speak negatively or make critical observations concerning the saints or the church.

The intrinsic reason for the desolation and degradation of the church is that Christ is not exalted by God’s people, that is, they don’t give Him the preeminence, the first place, in everything.

Whenever we as God’s people exalt Christ, giving Him the preeminence in every aspect of our living, we will have restoration and revival (Psa. 80:17-19).

We may think that the church has a lot of needs and is quite cold, we may feel we need shepherding and no one shepherds us, may we come to the Lord and give Him the first place.

May we as the church give Christ the preeminence, recognising Him as the One who is at the right hand of God. May we call on Him and be restored and revived today!

Exalting Christ is the way for revival and restoration! Praise the Lord!

Lord Jesus, we give You the first place in everything. We want to maintain our eating of the crucified and resurrected Christ as the tree of life throughout the day. Amen, Lord, may our focus be eating Christ as the tree of life in the church life as the paradise of God! How wonderful it is when we give Christ the first place, give Him the first love, and eat Him as the tree of life! Amen, Lord, may we see that this is our need today: just to enjoy Christ as the tree of life! We open to You. We bring You our needs, the needs in the church, and the lacks we see in the church life. Save us from judging or criticising the saints or the church; may we rather pray and enjoy Christ as the tree of life. Amen, Lord, we exalt You. We give You the first place. We give You the preeminence in every aspect of our living so that we may experience restoration and revival! Amen, Lord, restore us! Revive us! Make the church the Paradise of God in reality, where all the saints eat Christ as the tree of life!

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 brother Ray Mulligan on this topic, and portions from, The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 409, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Experiencing, Enjoying, and Expressing Christ (4) (2025 December Training), week 41 (msg. 5), The Tree of Life – day 4.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – To maintain the eating of Christ as the tree of life, a portion from, The Overcomers, Chapter 2, by Witness Lee.
  – Have You Eaten the Tree of Life Today? More via, Holding to truth in love.
  – In the Paradise of God, a portion from, Life-Study of Revelation, Chapter 10.
  – The Tree of Life: A Missional Reflection on Revelation 22 and God’s Ultimate Purpose, via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – The tree of life in Revelation, a portion from, Life Messages, Vol. 1 (#1-41), Chapter 26, by Witness Lee.
  – The two trees – the way of life versus the religion of death, article by Ron Kangas in, Affirmation and Critique.
  – In order for us to eat Christ as the tree of life, we must give Him the first place in all things, which is to love Him with the first love, being constrained by His love to regard and take Him as everything in our life. More via, Living to Him.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – 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)
  – Thus within the church-life garden / There’s a fruit-producing tree / Full of life and so available to eat. / So be simple, don’t be hardened, / Drop your concepts—eat that tree! / Take in Jesus every moment—He’s so sweet! / I’m so happy in this lovely place, / In the garden growing in His grace! / There is no finer pleasure / Than to eat the living tree / And to get the living water into me. (Hymns #1237 stanza 3 and chorus)
  – 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. / I freely eat this living tree, / For eating is the way / To put God’s life inside of me, / To live by Him today. (Hymns #1143 stanzas 1 and 4)