The two trees – the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil – are two sources issuing in two ways of life and two principles of living which consummate in two ends; we want to eat the tree of life to live in the way of life according to the principle of life to consummate the New Jerusalem, God’s city of life.
Lord Jesus, unveil us to see the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. May we daily choose You as the tree of life. May we eat You as the tree of life so that we may have You as our source. We want to live in the way of life according to the principle of life so that we may build up the church as the organic Body of Christ consummating in the New Jerusalem, the city of life! Amen, Lord, make us persons of life on the line of life!
The divine revelation in God’s word shows us two trees, two sources, two ways, two principles, and two consummations. First of all, we need to see the two trees – the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
As we are prayerfully considering the book of Job in the light of the two trees, we realise that we believers in Christ have been brought on the line of life by regeneration, but it may be quite easy for us to not live on this line of life.
Like Job, we may try to build up our own righteousness, being perfect and upright in ourselves, and therefore we do not need God nor do we depend on God.
But the Lord Jesus is in our spirit as the tree of life for us to enjoy, partake of, and live by.
The Bible is full of signs; in Revelation 1:12 we have the golden lampstands, then we have the stars, the lion of the tribe of Judah, and then in chapter 5 we have the Lamb, in chapter 6 we have the four horses, and in chapter 12 we see the universal bright woman with a manchild.
In the book of Revelation, right at the beginning of the Bible, we see two trees: when God created man, He put him in the garden of Eden, which God Himself planted, and in the middle of the garden there was the tree of life and also the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
This shows God’s intention to be man’s life so that, as man partakes of God as life, man would fulfill the purpose of God.
It is by His life that we human beings can be one with God, live God, express God, and represent God with His dominion.
However, the first man, Adam, fell, and today we are still in this triangular situation: we have the tree of life in our spirit and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in our fallen being. May we choose life today!
Two Trees are Two Sources issuing in Two Ways with Two Principles of Living and Two Consummations
The two trees in Genesis are not for man to have materials for building but for man to eat their fruit (Gen. 3:3, 6).
The tree of life is God in Christ as food for man to eat, partake of, and live by.
This tree is for the dispensing of the divine life into man so that man would be a life-man, a life-of-God-man, a man who is filled with the divine life to live by this life and express God as life.
The tree of the knowledge of good and evil is also for man to eat, and the fruit of this tree is poison to man for killing.
What does it mean for us to eat? What is eating? To eat is to take something that is outside of us into us and then digest it and assimilate it.
We can eat either the tree of life or the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; the fruits of these trees are for our food.
These two trees signify God and Satan; they are two sources. God is the source of life and Satan is the source of death.
When we eat the tree of life, we take God as our source. Those who partake of the tree of life are men who seek God as life for their supply and enjoyment; Abel was the first of such ones (Gen. 4:4).
The tree of the knowledge of good and evil is the source of men who follow Satan as their poison unto death and eternal perdition; Cain was the leading man on this line (v. 5).
Partaking of either of these trees will cause us to become part of one of two kingdoms.
If we partake of the tree of life, we are part of the kingdom of God, taking God as our source and our life. This kingdom was the kingdom of Israel according to God’s Old Testament economy and then the church according to God’s New Testament economy (Matt. 21:43).
If we partake of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the issue is the kingdom of Satan (Matt. 12:26; Col. 1:13).
These two sources, these two trees, issue in two lines – the line of life and the line of death.
We see these two lines throughout the Bible. Partaking of the tree of life leads us to be on the line of life, which is the way of life.
This way of life is the constricted way (Matt. 7:14), the Way (Acts 9:2; 19:9, 23; 22:4; 24:2), the straight way (2 Pet. 2:15), the way of righteousness (v. 21), the way of salvation (Acts 16:17), the way of God (Matt. 22:16; Acts 18:26), and the way of the Lord (v. 25).
On the way of life, we seek God, we gain God, and we enjoy God in His eternal life as the supply and unto His eternal life as the goal! Hallelujah!
We start on the line of life, the way of life, by being regenerated with the life of God to be born of God in His life and nature (John 1:12-13).
Then, we are being transformed and conformed into His glorious image (2 Cor. 3:18; Rom. 8:29), and we are glorified in Him as glory (v. 30; 1 Pet. 5:10; Heb. 2:10).
In this way, we gain God in Christ as life and we participate in Him to the fullest extent.
People on this line of life in the Bible include Abel, Seth, Enosh, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, Samuel, all the Old Testament prophets, and all the New Testament believers (11:39-40).
Thank the Lord that we are also on this line of life, on which we have come by regeneration, and on which we live by exercising our spirit to enjoy God and live because of Him! Amen!
The second way, issuing from eating the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, is the way of death, also called the broad way (Matt. 7:13), for men to follow Satan to be his children (1 John 3:10) unto death and his companions in his eternal perdition (Matt. 25:41). Oh Lord!
In this way of death and good and evil are people like Cain, Lamech, Jabal, Jubal, Tubal-cain (Jude 11; Gen. 4:16-24), Ham, Cush, Nimrod (10:6-12), Korah, Balaam (2 Pet. 2:15; Jude 11), Saul, Absalom, Antichrist and his followers (Rev. 19:19-21), and all the unbelievers. Oh Lord!
These two ways issuing from the two sources of the two trees lead men to the God-ordained ends: the New Jerusalem as the city of life and the lake of fire.
Depending on which way of life we take today, what source we take, and what principle of living we have, we can have one of two ways or consummations: the New Jerusalem or the lake of fire. Oh Lord!
May we see the principle of life, which is depending on the Lord and contacting Him to gain Him and possess Him to express Him, and may we live in this way today!
May we stay away from the principle of death and of good and evil, in which people follow Satan either consciously or unconsciously to reject God and His way of life to be Satan’s companions unto death and eternal perdition! Amen!
Lord Jesus, grant us to see that the two trees – the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil – are two sources issuing in two lines, two ways, two principles, and two consummations! Amen, Lord, we choose to eat You as the tree of life! We choose to partake of You as life. Thank You for bringing us on the way of life through regeneration. Hallelujah, we have believed into Christ, we are born of God with His life and nature, and now we have Christ as the tree of life in our spirit. We exercise our spirit today, dear Lord, to seek You, gain You, and enjoy You. We want to gain more of You so that we may be constituted with You and live one spirit with You. Transform us and conform us into Your glorious image, even glorify us in You as glory so that we may gain You and participate in You to the fullest extent! Keep us on the line of life, living according to the principle of life, to gain God as life and live our Christ for HIs expression and manifestation! Amen!
Eat the Tree of Life to Live on the Line of Life According to the Principle of Life
The entire divine revelation in God’s word is clear concerning God and Satan being two sources issuing in two lines, two ways of living, two principles of life, and two consummations.
We thank the Lord that, by His mercy and grace, He has brought us on the line of life; all genuine believers in Christ are on the way of life today, and sooner or later, our consummation is the New Jerusalem, the city of life.
But what about today, what kind of life do we live? Do we live on the line of life? Do we live according to the principle of life?
Many times, we have to admit, we live according to the principle of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, trying to do the good and reject anything evil.
We may think we choose right, for we don’t want to do anything bad or evil, but as long as we do not take God as life, depend on Christ as life, and live out Christ as our life, we are in the principle of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and are therefore in death.
We may be believers in Christ who are born of God to be bona-fide children of God yet live in the line of death. Oh Lord Jesus!
This is why we need to set our mind on our spirit (Rom. 8:6); instead of allowing our mind to wander and think its own things, even to make up its own mind and build up its own righteousness as Job did, we should set our mind on our spirit.
Then, we will enjoy life and peace. Our spirit is life because of righteousness (v. 11); when we exercise our spirit and set our mind on our spirit, our mind becomes life! Amen!
Furthermore, as John 6:63 says, the words that the Lord speaks to us are spirit and are life, and as verse 57 also says, if we eat the Lord, we can live because of Him.
Our Christian life is a life of eating the tree of life; we need to eat Christ as the tree of life in His word and depend on Him as life, even live because of Him as our life. Christ is our life.
Whether we feel it or not, whether we realise this or not, Christ is our life. Our life is hidden with Christ in God, Christ is our life, and we need to take Christ as life and live by Him as our life in our daily living today.
May we choose to be on the line of life today by eating the tree of life and living according to the principle of life.
The principle of life is keeping in contact with the Lord, seeking the Lord, gaining Christ, possessing Christ, and enjoying Christ until we are fully one with Christ.
This is what we want to do today; we want to gain more of Christ.
We do not consider that we have arrived; we simply forget what is behind and stretch forward to gain more of Christ, even to be found in Him, having Him as our lived-out righteousness (Phil. 3:8-13).
This is a choice; it does not come naturally. We need to choose to set our mind on our spirit and pray-read the Word of God to enjoy Christ as our life day by day.
We need to remain in contact with the Lord daily, conversing with Him about all things and opening every aspect of our life to Him.
May we live according to the principle of life so that we may remain on the line of life today.
May we live in the reality of the kingdom of God today by exercising our spirit, setting our mind on our spirit, and living according to the Spirit (Rom. 8:4).
And may we pay careful attention to what we eat; today there is a lot of food being put before us and freely given to us, but we need to carefully choose our diet.
We need to eat Christ and reject so many things that seem so sweet, so attracting, and so shining in the world.
There is a constant stream of news, entertainment, sports, and all kinds of things tailored to us specifically by all the algorithms in the apps and websites we use; we need to choose to eat the tree of life and remain on the line of life!
Lord Jesus, we set our mind on our spirit. Hallelujah, our spirit is life, and when our mind is set on our spirit, our mind becomes life! Praise the Lord for our mingled spirit! Oh Lord, we exercise our spirit to partake of You as life and take You in as life. We come to Your word to receive Your living speaking, for Your living words are spirit and are life. Fill us with Yourself. We want to seek You so that we may gain You. Lord Jesus, may we gain God, possess God, and enjoy God until we are filled with God. We choose to live on the line of life according to the principle of life. May our daily life be one of contacting the Lord to seek the Lord and enjoy the Lord. Amen, Lord, in all the things of our daily living, we just want to open to You, enjoy You, and live because of You, for You are the tree of life! Teach us how to take Christ as life and live because of Christ! We come to You, Lord, to eat You in Your word so that we may live because of You! May we live on the line of life according to the principle of life today!
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 Job, msgs. 6-7 (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 2.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Oh, we’ll stay on God’s life line, never turning aside. / We don’t care for vain knowledge, which will cause us to die. / Lord, we’ll touch You by calling on Your name each day; / Living in Your appearing, in Your presence we’ll stay. (Hymns #1194 chorus)
– He within us is the living Spirit / In our spirit, flowing out of it / Into all our heart, transforming every part / By the life which He Himself imparts. / Now He must have our cooperation. / We must set our mind upon the Son. / We must turn away from all that leads astray, / Till our mind is set on Him each day. (Hymns #1193 stanzas 3-4)
– Christ to me is so subjective, / Life imparting all the way; / As the Spirit He revives me / And refreshes day by day. / Christ to me is so subjective, / All my being He transforms; / By the mind and will renewing / To His image He conforms. (Hymns #537 stanzas 2-3)
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