Due to Adam’s fall, God closed the way to the tree of life, and apparently throughout the ages people couldn’t eat of it….but actually, if you read the Bible carefully you will notice that there have been many who were on the line of life and were enjoying the tree of life in their daily living!
Through God’s promised redemption, the way to the tree of life has been opened to the people in the Old Testament, and through Christ’s opening the way to the tree of life we all now have access to the tree of life!
Most of the people who enjoyed God the tree of life in both the Old and the New Testament did not really knew this, but they lived a life of calling on the name of the Lord, walking with God, working with God, fighting God’s battles, living Christ, and enjoying Christ.
We need to look at some of these patterns presented to us by the Bible to be encouraged, learn, aspire to, and pray for the Lord to make us such person on the line of life, those eating God as the tree of life.
The Line of the Tree of Life Throughout the Scriptures
We need to see the line of the tree of life throughout the Scriptures, from the very beginning all the way to the end. There are at least 19 cases of people who were on the line of life, who enjoyed the tree of life, and who spontaneously were in God’s presence and under God’s blessing.
Abel contacted God in God’s way (Gen. 4:4). Abel didn’t assume (as his brother did) that he knows the way to worship God; rather, he contacted God all in God’s way, and he put aside his opinion, thought, and personal concepts. Whenever we contact God through Jesus Christ, by offering Christ as the perfect sacrifice and by enjoying Christ as the tree of life, we eat of the tree of life and partake of God as our life!
Seth and Enosh called upon the name of the Lord (Gen. 4:26). They realized that they are frail and mortal, and they began to call on the name of the Lord. They not only prayed – they called on the Lord’s name audibly and desperately! A very simple way to enjoy the tree of life is to call on the name of the Lord! Just be simple: depend on the Lord by calling on His name!
Enoch walked with God (Gen. 5:22, 24). The Bible doesn’t tell that Enoch worked for God or did many great things for God – he simply loved God and walked with Him until he was not, because God took him! For the last 300 years of his life, Enoch walked with God. He simply loved being in God’s presence, enjoyed being with God, and walked with God in his daily living, until God raptured him!
Noah walked with God and worked together with God (Gen. 6:9, 13-14). Noah went further than Enoch: he not only walked with God but also received a vision from God concerning what He wants to do, and then he worked together with God to build up the ark. In our daily walk with the Lord we need to walk with God and be open to Him to see His desire, His mind, and His will, and then serve God according to His desire (not our own desire) and His thought (not our own thought).
Abraham lived in the appearing of God and called upon the name of the Lord (Acts 7:2; Gen. 12:7-8; 17:1; 18:1). He wasn’t a super-spiritual person – he was just like us, but the God of glory kept appearing to him! When God appeared to him, Abraham was infused with faith and lived by faith in God. He called on the name of the Lord, build up an altar (consecration), and lived in a tent (for God’s interest). With his up and downs, Abraham walked according to the appearing of God.
Isaac and Jacob lived in the appearing of God and called upon the name of the Lord (Gen. 26:2, 24-25; 35:1, 9; 48:3). Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob all had a very similar experience – they all called on the name of the Lord, followed Him wherever He wanted them to go, enjoyed the good land promised to them by God, and lived a life of the altar and the tent for God’s glory. This is the reason that God is called the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – three generations enjoying God as the tree of life.
Moses lived in the appearing and the presence of God (Acts 7:30; Exo. 3:2, 16; 33:11, 13-15; 34:29; 25:9). After some failures, Moses learned to cease from doing things according to his natural knowledge, his own way, and his own energy, and he lived in God’s appearing, His constant presence. Ever since God appeared to him in the wilderness in the burning bush, Moses lived in God’s presence and depended on His constant leading. God’s presence was everything to him in his walk and work for the Lord. On the mountaintop Moses experienced a full enjoyment of God as the tree of life, being infused with God’s glory to shine out God.
The children of Israel journeyed in the presence of the Lord (Exo. 13:21-22; Num. 14:14). Some people may look at the people of Israel’s journey through the wilderness and may see only their failures, but they were in God’s presence, they journeyed with God, and God took care of them by being everything to them. They enjoyed God as the tree of life again and again until they were constituted with God. They travelled in God’s presence and enjoyed God.
Joshua lived and worked in the presence of the Lord (Josh. 1:5-9). Joshua started as a young man carrying out God’s desire as uttered through Moses, and when he was appointed as a leader over Israel he continually depended on God, living and working in God’s presence.
Gideon fought the battle in the presence of the Lord (Judg. 6:12, 16). Gideon started as a shy young man, but once God called him and infused him with faith, he fought God’s battles in the presence of the Lord. He ate God as the tree of life and continually depended on God.
Samuel prayed and called upon the name of the Lord (1 Sam. 12:23; 15:11; Psa. 99:6; Jer. 15:1). Ever since from his childhood, Samuel had God’s speaking, prayed, and called on the name of the Lord, and he enjoyed God as the tree of life all the time. He never sinned against the king by ceasing to pray for him. He was a man of life living on the line of life, enjoying God as the tree of life.
David trusted in God, looked to God, and enjoyed God as life (1 Sam. 17:37, 45; 30:6; Psa. 27:4, 8, 14; 36:8-9). David’s secret was that he desired to dwell in the house of God continually, so that he may behold God’s beauty. He enjoyed God’s presence, respected God’s choice, acknowledged God’s will, and enjoyed God. Even though he failed, he always repented and returned to the Lord, seeking His forgiveness. He realized that with God there’s the fountain of life. He really enjoyed God as the tree of life.
Daniel prayed to God constantly and contacted Him continually (Dan. 6:10-11; 9:2-4; 10:1-3, 12). Even from a young age, he refused to eat the king’s food and drink, and he enjoyed God very much. He didn’t trust in his intelligence but rather was a man of prayer, depending on God constantly, and praying to Him at least three time daily. Daniel ate of God as the tree of life by contacting Him daily and continually.
Jesus as the Son of God lived by God (John 5:19; 6:57; 14:10). The Lord Jesus was Himself the tree of life, and at the same time He depended on God the Father as His life and life supply. He didn’t do anything according to His way, for Himself, for His purpose, or for His glory – He always lived, walked, and worked according to the Father who was in Him. He completely depended on God as life, worked for God, gave God the glory, and did everything by depending on God.
The New Testament believers live by the Lord and enjoy the Lord (John 15:5; 6:57; 14:19; 6:35; 15:11; 16:24; 17:13; 1 John 1:4). Today we as believers in Christ need to stay on the line of life by enjoying God as our life and our life supply. When we enjoy God as the tree of life, our daily life, work, and walk will be for the building up of the church. The more we enjoy the tree of life, the more we do NOT do things in ourselves, by ourselves, and for ourselves, and the more we will be one with the Lord and live, act, work, and walk in Him.
Paul lived out the Lord (Gal. 2:20; Phil. 1:19-21a). The Apostle Paul was a pattern of living out Christ for His magnification whether in good or not-so-good situations he was in. For Paul, to live was Christ, and to die was gain. He was fully one with Christ, doing everything in the index of His eyes and striving to pursue Christ so that he might gain Him. Paul ate God as the tree of life and he lived out Christ for God’s glory.
The church as the Body of Christ lives by Christ as life (Eph. 1:22-23; Col. 3:4). In the church, Christ is our life and our living, and He is everything to us for the building up of His Body. Today the church is God’s expression in a corporate way by all the members of the Body eating Christ as the tree of life and living by Christ as their life.
The New Jerusalem is sustained by the river of water of life with the tree of life (Rev. 22:1-2). At the end of the Bible we see that all those on the line of life will consummate in the New Jerusalem, the city of life. In this city the constant supply is God in Christ as the Spirit flowing as river of water of life and Christ as the tree of life available for all to eat and enjoy. Our destiny as God’s people is to continually depend on Christ as the tree of life for eternity!
Lord, we choose You as the tree of life as our constant supply for our Christian life and church life. We praise You that we can choose life! Make us person of life, believers who constantly enjoy God as the tree of life. We depend on You as our life and we want to take You in as the tree of life all the time. Keep us on the line of life! Gain so many who reject the tree of knowledge of good and evil and choose You as life. Lord, life is all we need. Keep us enjoying You as life today!
References and Further Reading
- Inspiration: bro. Andrew Yu’s sharing in the message and portions in, The Tree of Life (ch. 2), 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: Two Principles of Living, and, Life-Study of Genesis (msg. 16).
- Hymns on this topic:
# Lord, we would be as Abel, fully contacting You; / Not by knowledge or concept, but by life fresh and new. / Just as Enosh began to call upon Your name, / And as Enoch who walked with You, we’ll do just the same.
# Lord, teach me each day in Thy presence to live, / From morning to evening my one world Thou art; / O let not my heart be contented or rest / When loving or seeking what with Thee doth part.
# How sweet the Name of Jesus sounds / In a believer’s ear! / It soothes his sorrow, heals his wounds, / And drives away his fear.
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