The Tree of Life Signifies Christ as Life to Man – He’s So Available and Satisfying!

In Genesis 1 we see God’s intention and His purpose, and in Genesis 2 we see the way God accomplishes His intention. The way God obtains a man in His image to express Him and represent Him is by man taking in God as the tree of life to be filled with Him and live by Him.

We really need to see that in God’s eyes the earth is the centre of His creation, the garden of Eden was the centre of the earth, and the tree of life was the centre of the garden of Eden.

The way a human being can express God is seen in the tree of life. The way we as men in God’s image can have God’s image and dominion depends on how much we take in and live by the tree of life. If we don’t have God’s life in us, we can’t properly express God – at the most, we can “act like one who tries to express God”.

It is very significant to see that, right after God created the heavens, the earth, the plants, the animals, and man, He planted a backyard, a garden, which He called, Eden (pleasure). God wants man to be delighted and satisfied, and for this, He planted a garden with many beautiful fruitful trees and flowers and plants, and in the middle of the garden, He put the tree of life.

Today we want to see what does the tree of life signify, how can we relate to the tree of life, and what kind of Christians we should be today in the fulfilment of God’s purpose.

The Tree of Life Signifies Christ as Life to Man in the Form of Food

God planted a garden called Eden, and in the middle of the garden, He put the tree of life (Gen. 2:8-9). The tree of life signifies the Triune God embodied in Christ as life to man in the form of food. The fact that God placed man in front of the tree of life and gave him indications to eat of this tree shows that God’s intention is to come into man as life and be lived out through man for the fulfilling of His purpose.

The whole Bible shows us that God is life, and He wants to be life to His people. When the Lord Jesus came, in Him was life (John 1:4), and He Himself was life (John 11:25; 14:6; Col. 3:4a). Also, Christ said that He is the vine tree (John 15:1) and He is life – this shows that Christ is the tree of life.

God came in Christ and was processed through incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection so that man can receive God as life and live by Him. The whole universe is centred on Christ as the tree of life, and there’s nothing more crucial to both God and man than this tree.

Time and time again the Lord Jesus said that He came to be man’s food, man’s life supply, so that man would eat Christ and assimilate Him metabolically for God to become the very constituent of man’s being and be lived out in him (see John 6:35, 57). For us to live Christ and to fulfill God’s purpose in creating us, we need to eat Christ as the tree of life and care only for Him as life.

The Principle of a Christian is Not Right vs Wrong but LIFE

The Bible clearly shows us that God doesn’t want us to do the right thing and no do the wrong thing – God wants us to eat Him as the tree of life. The principle of the Christian life is not doing the right things vs not doing the wrong things but taking care of the tree of life. The tree of life is meant to be the center of our Christian life and church life.

Besides the tree of life there’s another tree – the tree of knowledge of good and evil, which brings in death. Many people think that since the Bible is “the good Book”, it teaches us about good and evil, encouraging us to do good and not do evil. But the truth is that the Bible doesn’t teach us to do good, and the Bible doesn’t teach us to do evil either. The Bible teaches us God as life to man.

The principle of good and evil is not Christianity – it is something pagan, foreign from God. All pagan religions talk about good and evil, but Christianity teaches only life. We live, we work, and we have our being in the divine life, by enjoying Christ as the tree of life – this is the Christian life.

As Christians, we don’t need to struggle to be moral, be ethical, and do the good things; rather, we need to pay attention to the tree of life. The Lord Jesus clearly illustrated this in the sermon on the mount (Matt. 5-7) – the “good thing” when someone slaps you on the right cheek is for you to slap him back, but the way of life is to turn the other cheek also. The good thing is to give someone the outer garment if he asks you for it, but the way of life is to give him the undergarment also.

To the human mind it doesn’t make sense, but this is the principle of the tree of life. We Christians are those who eat the tree of life, take God in as life, and live by this divine life according to its life principle. This is not a doctrine, a set of rules and precepts, but it is a life – the divine life living in man.

Christ as the Tree of Life is Reachable, Accessible, and Satisfying!

The book of Genesis doesn’t say what kind of tree was the tree of life, whether it was a peach tree or apple tree, but if you read the rest of the Bible you will notice one thing – God wants to be accessible to man! The tree of life is not a banana tree or a coconut tree, something so tall and hard to reach to, but a vine tree – reachable, touchable, eatable, and available.

Christ is the vine tree, giving us life whenever we turn to Him and call on Him. He is not hard to reach – He is right here inside of us whenever we call on Him! The minute we call, Lord Jesus! Christ enters into us and He is so rich to us!

As the almighty God, Jesus is High, Majestic, Splendid, and Great. But when He came down to us to be our food, He was lowly, reachable, broken into pieces, even as the crumbs under the table for us to eat (Matt. 15:21-27). Whatever we eat has to be much smaller than us, even in small bites and pieces.

Christ was processed, cut, broken, and become small enough for us to eat and enjoy, so that we may eat Him and live because of Him (John 6:48, 57). As we eat the Lord as the tree of life, we are satisfied and pleased. Wherever we are, whatever we are doing, whatever situation we are in, we can contact Him, open to Him, and eat Him, and Christ as the tree of life nourishes us, satisfies us, and pleases us.

Lord, save us from doing things according to the principle of right or wrong. Make us tree-of-life Christians. Keep us eating You as the tree of life, Lord, and keep us feeding on You as life. Only You satisfy, and only You can nourish us. Thank You for becoming small enough for us to eat, digest, and assimilate. Lord, may we be those who eat the tree of life and live by the tree of life so that You may gain Your expression and representation!

References and Further Reading

• Inspiration: bro. Andrew Yu’s sharing in the message and portions in, Life-study of Genesis (msg. 11), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on the Crystallization Study of Genesis (1), week/msg 6, The Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.
• Further reading on the same topic:
  # We can Taste God (via BiblesForAmerica blog).
  # Living by the Principle of the Tree of Life (via holdingtotruth.com).
  # Can man hinder God by Not Eating the Tree of Life? (via lifeandbuilding.com).
  # Man’s Concept and God’s thought in John 6 (via, achristianoncampus).
  # God wants us to Eat and Be Satisfied with the Tree of Life (via newjerusalem blog).
• Hymns on this topic:
  # Dear Lord, Thou art the Tree of Life, / The very life supply; / Thy fruits, replete with life divine, / Our hunger satisfy.
  # God gave His Son to man to be / The tree of life so rich and free, / That every man may taste and see / That God is good for food.
  # In Eden’s garden fair we see / That God before two trees placed man, / The trees of life, and knowledge too, / Which for the Lord and Satan stand. / The tree of life the center is / Of God’s eternal, perfect plan, / Denoting God in Christ as life / To be received as all by man.