In God’s economy, we believers in Christ are not only eaters of the tree of life but we are also branches of this tree, and we may eventually become a small tree of life, a reproduction of Christ as the tree of life! Amen!
This week we come to the last week in this series of HWMR, and the title is, Becoming a Reproduction of Christ as the Tree of Life for the Ministry of Life.
These two matters of becoming a reproduction of Christ and the ministry of life are not just for selected saints, those who are serving Him, or the older and more mature brothers and sisters in Christ.
The heart’s desire of the Lord, depending on our openness for the light to shine unhindered, is to make us all a reproduction of His firstborn Son as the tree of life.
And we’re all in this process of becoming such a reproduction, daily learning to minister Christ as life to those we contact.
In our fellowship and in the church meetings, we will minister life to one another, and the Lord’s greatest prophecy in Matt. 16:18 will be fulfilled, for He builds His church through us, the many members of the Body of Christ.
May the Lord make us such ones, the overcoming ones who are serious about enjoying Christ and ministering Christ for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ, prepare the bride of Christ, and consummate the New Jerusalem.
In Matt. 25 we have the ten virgins, five of which had oil in their vessels and five did not; they were constituted with the life-giving Spirit not only in their spirit but also in their soul.
Day by day we need to be those who pay the price to gain more of the Spirit not only in our spirit but also in our soul.
The world today teaches us to have a balanced life, a good diet, to take care of our person and be independent, to develop ourselves and pursue a career, and to do things that satisfy us and make us happy.
But the Lord Jesus within us wants to grow in us as the tree of life and make us a small tree of life, a reproduction of Christ as the tree of life.
He is carrying out His central work in each one of us personally by making His home in our hearts (Eph. 3:16), by being formed in us, and by transforming us into His image so that we may be led to maturity in life and manifest our function as members of the Body of Christ.
Amen, may we be those who cooperate with God’s inner work, His work of reconstituting us with Himself and of imparting His life and nature into us by our eating and drinking of Him!
May we be those who not only eat the tree of life but also abide in the Lord to be branches of this tree, and eventually become a small tree of life, a reproduction of Christ as the tree of life!
God’s Intention is that all the Believers in Christ become a Reproduction of Christ, the God-man
God’s intention for us, His believers in Christ, is not only that we know Him according to His word, obey Him as He speaks within us, or trust in Him when all kinds of things happen to us.
John 12:24 shows us that the Lord Jesus came as the one grain that fell into the ground to die and produce many grains.
We are the many grains, the reproduction of the one grain, and we are being broken, grounded to powder, blended together with the Spirit as the oil, and made into one loaf.
God predestinated us to be conformed to the image of His firstborn Son (Rom. 8:29).
God’s intention is that all the believers in Christ become a reproduction of Christ, the God-man.
God decided our eternal destiny without even consulting us; He created us in His image and according to His likeness, and He is working within us and around us to make us a reproduction of Christ.
The only option for us as believers in Christ is to be conformed to the image of God’s firstborn Son; this will happen either during our life on earth or during the millennium, but it will happen.
We shouldn’t look at ourselves, however, and think that there’s no hope with us, for we are still so full of defects, weaknesses, flaws, and sins, so we can’t really be a reproduction of Christ.
We should simply trust in the divine life in our spirit that operates in us to conform us to the image of Christ.
The Spirit of life operates in us, and He has been sevenfold intensified to intensify God’s organic salvation in us to produce us as His overcomers, a reproduction of Christ.
Becoming a reproduction of Christ requires that we be reborn of the pneumatic Christ in our spirit and then gradually transformed by the pneumatic Christ in our soul.
What is born of the flesh is flesh, but that which is born of the Spirit is spirit (John 3:6); we were born of the Spirit when we believed into the Lord to be part of the reproduction of Christ.
Now we are daily being transformed by the Spirit operating in our soul as we behold the Lord (2 Cor. 3:18).
We become Christ’s reproduction by a process that involves the riches of the divine life being dispensed into us and experienced by us (Eph. 3:8; Col. 3:4, 10-11).
This is a gradual process; everything of life takes time and is part of a lifelong process.
It is an organic process involving our enjoyment of Christ with all His riches, and having these riches dispensed into us to be experienced by us.
When we come to the Lord in the morning, the best we can, we need to open for Him to carry out His intention.
Yes, there are things we need to deal with, and there are many things that the light exposes; all the dealings, however, are like taking a thorough shower, like washing our garments in the blood of the Lamb.
They are for our further opening to the Lord to carry out His intention to make us a reproduction of Christ.
Every day is a dispensing day, a divine dispensing day, a day for us to receive more of God’s dispensing and become a reproduction of Christ.
So we need to open to the Lord’s dispensing every day, opening all the inner parts of our being to allow Him to make His home in our heart and settle down in all the rooms of our inner beings.
The Lord is faithful to expose what is negative and what doesn’t match His life and nature; we confess and repent, and He has a way to dispense more of His life and nature into us.
May we be those who are open to the divine dispensing every day so that the riches of the divine life would be dispensed into us and experienced by us day by day to be produced as a reproduction of Christ, the God-man.
Lord Jesus, unveil us to see God’s intention to make us a reproduction of Christ, the God-man. May we realize that God desires to gain Christ being reproduced in all of us, the believers in Christ. Hallelujah, we were reborn of Christ in our spirit and we’re being transformed by the Spirit in our soul to become a reproduction of Christ! Amen, Lord, we open to Your divine dispensing today. Dispense more of the riches of Your life into every part of our being. Make Your home in our heart and conform us to Your image. Keep us open to Your divine dispensing today. Have Your way, dear Lord, to dispense Yourself into us so that our old element would be discharged and Your divine element would reconstitute our being with Yourself!
Being not only Eaters of the Tree of Life but also Branches of this Tree who become a Small Tree of Life
May the Lord have mercy on us and unveil us to see what is God’s intention in His economy.
In His economy, He doesn’t want man to only partake of the tree of life but even more, that man would be part of the tree of life, a branch in this tree, and even become a small tree of life, a reproduction of Christ as the tree of life. Wow, Hallelujah!
This is something organic and gradual; as we enjoy Christ daily and allow Him to work Himself into us, we become a reproduction of Christ.
1 Pet. 2:21 says that the Lord has laid the pattern of His God-man human living before us as an underwriting copy, for us to trace it and follow His pattern.
This doesn’t mean that we need to outwardly imitate Christ or copy what He did; it means that we need to eat the Lord, be filled with Him, enjoy Him, and experience Him, so that it is no longer us who live but Christ who lives in us (Gal. 2:20), and we live one with Him.
For us to become a reproduction of Christ as our model, we need to experience Christ as the One living in us, being formed in us, and making His home in our hearts (Gal. 2:20; 4:19; Eph. 3:16-17).
This is very experiential, for we experience Christ as the One living in us.
For Christ to be formed in us means that He is growing throughout our entire being, and we allow Him to grow; this will cause us to be conformed to His image and become a reproduction of Christ as the God-man.
As we open to Him day by day, He abides in us not as if He were in a hotel or a vacation home; He makes His home in all our hearts.
He removes the things that are not according to Him, He redecorates our entire being, and He makes His home in our mind, emotion, and will.
There are certain memories and dreams that He will wash away, and there are some concepts that He may simply remove.
He will adjust our way of thinking, He will balance our emotions, and our will shall be subdued by Him to be made strong for the Lord and against the enemy.
As we become a reproduction of Christ, spontaneously we will live Christ by the bountiful supply of His Spirit (Phil. 1:19, 21).
This is effortless; it is not by our own striving, perfecting ourselves, or trying our best to behave in a certain way, but it is effortless, an issue of our growth in life.
We will not be only eaters of the tree of life but also branches of this tree, and we are becoming a small tree of life, a reproduction of Christ as the tree of life (John 1:4; 12:24; 15:1, 4-5).
He planted Himself in our hearts, He is growing in us, and He will bear fruit in us for others to partake of the ever-fresh and ever-new fruits of the tree of life.
In Gen. 2:9 the tree of life was unique, but today this tree grows in us as we grow in life.
The Lord sowed Himself as the seed of life into our hearts, and He grows in us to make us part of the tree of life, even a small tree of life as His reproduction.
May we be those who cooperate with His growth in us, receive His divine dispensing, and learn to minister life to others by sharing with them the riches of Christ we have enjoyed.
We may speak to our neighbours, friends, and relatives, and discover that they have an emptiness within them, for they feel that their living on this earth is empty and is a vanity of vanities.
So we may speak to them concerning the Lord Jesus, the One who gives meaning to their life and imparts the real life into them, and they may pray to receive the Lord.
Hallelujah, in this way the tree of life spreads into them, for we minister life to them and bring them into an organic union with the Lord.
May we be those who learn to minister Christ to others by first enjoying Christ, partaking of His riches, experiencing Him, and allowing Him to work Himself into us, so that the tree of life within us would grow and we become a small tree of life, a reproduction of Christ as the tree of life.
Lord Jesus, we want to become a reproduction of Christ as our model so that we may be a small tree of life. May we experience Christ as the One living in us, being formed in us, and making His home in our hearts. Make Your home in our hearts a little more today. Be formed in us and conform us to the image of Christ, the firstborn Son of God. We just open to You, dear Lord, and we allow You to work Yourself into our inner being. Make us Your reproduction. Keep us abiding in You as the tree of life until we become Your reproduction, a small tree of life. Amen, Lord, flow in us and through us to minister life to others also!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ron Kangas in the message, and portions from, The Conclusion of the New Testament (msgs. 56, 302), by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Taking the Way of Enjoying Christ as the Tree of Life (2022 Memorial Day Weekend Conference), week 6, entitled, Becoming a Reproduction of Christ as the Tree of Life for the Ministry of Life.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Jesus lived the God-man pattern, / Set the way for us to follow, / He denied His natural man and / Was obedient unto death, / Once He was the only God-man; / Now we are His duplication. / As the many grains we’re blended / As His corporate reproduction. (Song on, God has called us for His purpose)
– We’re Thy total reproduction, / Thy dear Body and Thy Bride, / Thine expression and Thy fulness, / For Thee ever to abide. / We are Thy continuation, / Thy life-increase and Thy spread, / Thy full growth and Thy rich surplus, / One with Thee, our glorious Head. (Hymns #203)
– God in His own image / Hath created man, / That he may be able / To fulfill His plan; / That he may receive Him / As the tree of life / To become His fulness / As to man the wife. (Hymns #971)
We need to be sowers and planters, sowing and planting Christ into many vacant sinners. Today there are many sinners who do not have Christ… If we have some dear friends who are still not believers in Christ or are believers in Christ in name but not in reality, these kinds of friends may have a feeling of emptiness within them. They may feel that their living on this earth is empty and is vanity of vanities. If they would pray, “Lord Jesus, I do not want to be empty anymore. I want to take You; I want to receive You,” immediately they would be filled by Christ as either a seed or a plant. Sometimes they will be blessed to receive Christ not only as a small seed but as a large plant planted into their being. This will cause them to feel that they are filled with Christ. They will be happy and will tell others that they are no longer empty, but they now have something within them, that is, Christ. Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1993, vol. 2, “The Organic Union in God’s Relationship with Man,” pp. 420-421
God’s intention in His economy is for us to be not only eaters of the tree of life but also branches of this tree, and even to be a small tree of life, a reproduction of Christ as the tree of life.
We become Christ’s reproduction by being reborn of Him in our spirit, transformed by the Spirit in our soul, and conformed in our whole being to His image.
May we remain open to His divine dispensing today and follow His pattern by becoming His reproduction.
As those who have been reborn of the pneumatic Christ in our spirit our need is to be transformed in our soul by such a one that He may be reproduced in us to be a miniature tree of life.
We are not here to imitate Him but to take Him as the model – the underwriting – by tracing His steps as He grows and is formed in us to experience the riches of the divine life!
amen Brother God has planted the seed of life into our Spirit when we received the Lord now we need to be those who sow seeds into the unbelievers and allow this seed to grow into us until it becomes the tree of life we need to allow the Lord to become our life and person
Aaaaameeen! Yes Lord thank You for regeneration, for planting Yourself as the Spirit in our spirit, Oh Lord transform us in our soul that we would be the reproduction of Christ by experiencing You living in us and being formed in us. Lord keep us in this wonderful process today! Amen!
Amen and Amen!
We are also appointed to fill the vacant soul by sowing and planting the seed and the small plant respectively.
O Lord Jesus help us to propagate you boldly without any fear!
Amen brother. What we need is not imitation but reproduction.
The manner of life that expresses the Triune God is a reproduction of Christ.
The tree of life has to grow in all of us, causing us to be small trees of life.
Hallelujah for the process of spiritual reproduction, making us living copies of Christ.
Amen Lord make us the best Eaters and reproduce us to be your many trees of life! Keep us open to your infilling more and more day by day!
Aaaaameeeen brother!
Yes Lord do it in us!
Amen Lord, keep us open to Your divine dispensing, to fill and saturate us with Your riches and become Your reproduction! May we be those enjoying You day by day, undergoing the process of spiritual reproduction to make us living copies of Christ expressing Him for the Father good pleasure!
Amen.
Yes lord thank you are our model , the prototype, the first born.
Today we are your many sons ..
your reproduction . May we continue to grow and depend on you as our vine and we are the branches. May the tree of life in us continue to grow in us.
Lord thank you for your person and your love. Oh Lord Jesus , we love you! Thank you for you recovery. Keep recovering our hearts.
Ammeenn!!!
Praise the Lord!!!!
By eating the tree of life and by being branches of the tree of life eventually we become a small tree of life. The tree of life in Genesis is one and unique. But now the tree of life has been planted into us and growing in us causing us to become a small tree of life as a reproduction of Christ as the tree of life.