After seeing such encouraging testimonies of people throughout the Bible who were on the line of life, today we would like to see the line of the tree of knowledge throughout the Scriptures.
If you read many of the stories of these one on the line of the tree of knowledge of good and evil you will realize that not everything they did was evil; rather, they did many good things, noble things, and even things for God.
However, since they didn’t touch God as life and they didn’t depend on God in what they were doing, God did not accept their offering, gift, or service. God doesn’t want “good people” – He wants people of life, those who eat God as the tree of life and depend on Him as life.
In God’s eyes “good people” are in the same category as “bad people” as long as they feed on the tree of knowledge of good and evil and don’t eat God as life. May the Lord shine on us, expose us, and enlighten us to see what the tree of knowledge really is, how it manifests itself, and how we can stay away from it by eating the tree of life.
Seeing the Line of the Tree of Knowledge throughout the Bible
Sadly enough, there are more people on the line of the tree of knowledge than those on the line of life. Since we have the evil nature of Satan in us, it is natural for us to be on the line of death and it is so unnatural to be on the line of life. May the Lord enlighten us to see how we can spend more and more time on the line of life and less and less time on the line of knowledge of good and evil.
Cain presented an offering to God in his own way, not in God’s way; he murdered his brother and went out from the presence of the Lord (Gen. 4:3-9, 16). Cain didn’t do a bad thing – he took the lead to offer a sacrifice to God! However, he did it in his own way and not in the way ordained by God. He was “good” (by offering the sacrifice) and then he became evil (by killing his brother) and the result was that he ran away from God’s presence.
Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord, was a person who was absolutely independent of God, building a kingdom for himself, and the beginning of his kingdom was Babel (Gen. 10:8-11). Nimrod was a mighty man, but he was also independent from God. The result was the tower of Babel, where people depended on man’s council and not on God, declaring their independence from God. The people on the line of life live a life of the tent and the altar, but those independent from God build their own city to have a name for themselves.
The people at Babel held a council, and the result was the construction of a high tower for man’s name and the formation of a city for his possession (Gen. 11:3-4). They declared their independence from God and even wanted to reach God by building a high tower.
Lot drifted away from the line of life by making a choice according to his own sight (Gen. 13:10-13, cf. vv. 14-15, 18). Lot was warned by Abraham not to move into the evil cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, but he ignored this warning and cared more for his satisfaction.
Esau, for the purpose of satisfying his appetite, sold his birthright (Gen. 25:30-34). He was the firstborn, having the birthright, but for the satisfaction of his stomach he sold his birthright, despising it. He cared for his own satisfaction and despised God’s blessing which was given to him.
Pharaoh was rebellious against God, and his heart was hardened toward God (Exo. 5:2; 7:13, 22; 8:15, 19, 32; 9:34-35). First, Pharaoh hardened his heart, and then later he kept his heart hardened toward God and His people even though he saw the miracles and plagues God brought about on his country.
Aaron listened to the people and acted independently to make a golden idol (Exo. 32:1, 4, 24). Aaron didn’t do “an evil thing” – he merely sought to meet the need of the people of Israel. However, he made an idol to replace God, and this led to him missing the good land as a punishment from God.
Nadab and Abihu offered “strange fire” to God (Lev. 10:1-2). In a sense, what they did was not evil – they were worshiping God, but in their own way. God has a set way, an ordained way to be worshiped, but they ignored it. Even though they were priests, they were punished by God for what they did.
Miriam and Aaron were opposed to Moses, not as a result of their contacting God but because of their own motive (Num. 12:1-2, 9-15). Yes, Moses “was to be rebuked” since he married someone not from Israel, but Miriam and Aaron were not one with God when they did it, but were rather carrying out their own motive. They were not eating the tree of life!
The ten spies failed because they looked at the situation in the land by their own sight; they failed because they relied on their knowledge and refused to trust in the Lord (Num. 13:28, 32-33, cf. v. 30; 14:6-9). The ten spies analyzed the situation, rationalized it and contextualized it, and decided that it is not good for them to enter the land of Canaan with all those giants living there! They refused to enter the good land and didn’t trust the Lord. As long as you depend on your mind and your knowledge, you will not trust the Lord.
Korah and his company attacked God’s deputy authority (Num. 16:1-3). Korah and his company rebelled against Moses saying, Why do you make yourself more than others? God also speak through us! He wasn’t wrong in his thinking, but he was not one with God eating Him as the tree of life but was rather in his mind, in the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Saul acted independently and did not follow the Lord; rather, he dealt with the enemy according to his preference (1 Sam. 15:8, 11, 22-23). Saul was a moral man, he didn’t kill any of his generals to steal his wife (as David did), but he had his own preference and he acted independently from God. He wasn’t doing bad things, but he did things without asking the Lord – he acted according to his own preference and wish.
Absalom rebelled against his father, King David (2 Sam. 15:10-13). Outwardly, Absalom was a handsome man, and he gained the hearts of many people in Israel. If he would have waited for the Lord’s timing, he might have been made king one day. However, he acted according to his own preference and rebelled against his father. He ended up very bad, being killed in his rebellion.
Ahab was an evil king who married Jezebel, a devilish and idolatrous woman, and built a temple for Baal, the most famous idol of the time (1 Kings 16:30-32). He expressly ignored God’s command of not marrying someone from the Gentiles, and he was influenced by Jezebel to leave God, build an altar for Baal, and lead the entire people away from God in idolatry. We need to be careful in choosing a wife!
The chief priests and the scribes knew the letter of the Bible but not the life of the Bible (Matt. 2:4-6). They knew when the Messiah was to come, they knew what city, and yet they didn’t go to meet Him, know Him, or worship Him. They knew the letter of the Bible but not the life of the Bible.
Nicodemus was seeking knowledge, but what he needed was a new life (John 3:1-3). The Lord Jesus didn’t come to give people a better teaching or a more excellent knowledge – He came to give man life! Nicodemus was seeking for more knowledge, but what he really need was the divine life!
The Jewish religionists searched the Scriptures thinking that in them they had eternal life, yet they would not come to the Lord for that very life (John 5:39-40). They knew the word of God but they refused to come to the Lord to receive life! Even in studying the Scriptures we can receive the letter of the Word of God but not get any divine life unless we come to the Lord personally to receive life!
The scribes and Pharisees held the knowledge of the law but were still under the slavery of sin (John 8:5, 9, 34). The knew the law. The read the word of God. But they were still under the slavery of sin. They had the knowledge of good and evil, but they didn’t have life.
The disciples who were with the Lord still held the traditional knowledge of religion when they saw a man blind from birth (John 9:1-3). Instead of asking the Lord to heal him – in the way of life – the disciples got into their mind to analyze and find out why was this man sick, what was the cause, and how it happened.
Martha was occupied with the line of knowledge, holding the knowledge of the sound teachings regarding the resurrection in the last day (John 11:23-25). She was full opinions, knowing everything related to her brother’s being raised on the last day, etc… – but she missed the Lord Himself as life.
Peter, after receiving the revelation from the heavenly Father, turned to his mind and was utilized by Satan to frustrate the Lord from going to the cross (Matt. 16:17, 21-23). One minute Peter was on the line of life and the next minute he was on the line of death, trying to stop the Lord from going to die on the cross for the fulfillment of God’s plan.
Judas, who was always occupied with thoughts of money, opened himself to the devil and betrayed the Lord for thirty pieces of silver (John 12:4-6; 13:2, 27; Matt. 26:15; 27:5). Even though he was with the Lord for years, Judah opened his mind to Satan by loving money and he got on the wrong tree, even betraying the Lord of life for merely 30 pieces of silver.
The unbelieving Jews kept their law and sentenced the Lord Jesus to death according to it (John 19:7). Wow! The Jews killed God according to the law which was given to them by God. When you’re eating the tree of knowledge you will use even biblical and Scriptural things to kill God and reject Him.
Saul of Tarsus, a foremost religionist, persecuted the church until God revealed His Son in him (Gal. 1:13-16; 2:20). Before God was pleased to reveal His Son in him, Saul of Tarsus thought he did a very good thing for God by persecuting and locking up the followers of one called “Jesus the Nazarene”. He might have been doing a “good thing” in his own eyes, but he was not on the line of life.
The Corinthian believers were enriched in all knowledge but were puffed up and still infants in Christ (1 Cor. 1:5; 8:1; 3:1). Even the knowledge and understanding of many of the doctrines and truths in the Bible can make you to be puffed up and not grow in life, unless you touch Christ and enjoy Him as the tree of life. Knowledge puffs up, but God gives the growth in life!
The Gnostic philosophy distracted and spoiled many believers from enjoying Christ as their life (Col. 2:8, cf. v. 6). Philosophy and teachings are on the line of the tree of knowledge, no matter how good they are. Unless we touch the tree of life and eat God as life, even the best philosophy will distract us from Christ and will bring in death.
The dissenters in the church make divisions and causes of stumbling contrary to the teaching of God’s economy (Rom. 16:17; 1 Tim. 1:4). Being in the church life doesn’t guarantee that you’re on the line of life. As long as we hold to our own understanding of the Bible and opinions concerning God’s plan and we don’t care for God’s economy, His dispensing, we are on the line of death and we impart death into others.
The teaching of Balaam, the teaching of the Nicolaitans, and the teaching of Jezebel deceived the early churches, who turned away from the eating of and feasting with the Lord (Rev. 2:14-15, 20, 24, 7, 17; 3:20). No matter how good a teaching is, how practical and Bible-inspired it is, as long as it distracts us away from eating Christ as the tree of life, we should reject it and stick to the line of life.
Antichrist will be the man of lawlessness, the son of perdition; he will be the giant on the line of knowledge, and his destiny is to be cast into the lake of fire with Satan, the source of death (Rev. 13:5-8; 2 Thes. 2:3-4; Rev. 19:20; 20:10). The greatest man on the line of the tree of knowledge of good and evil will be Antichrist himself, who will lead many astray and will do many good and evil things toward God and His people.
Praise the Lord for the Choice of Life!
As Paul tells us, “The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” (2 Cor. 3:6b)! This means that the Bible in dead letters, which belongs to the tree of knowledge, kills, but the Spirit, who belongs to the tree of life, gives life. Besides the line of knowledge there is the line of life (cf. Deut. 30:19-20)!
So, praise the Lord for the choice of life! We today have the choice of life – we can choose life, eat God as the tree of life, and care for nothing but for God as life!
We don’t need to do this or that, work this or improve that, but we simply need to enjoy God as our life and life supply. It is out of the enjoyment of the Lord as our life and supply that we can live the church life and build up the Body of Christ.
Lord, thank You for the choice of life. Make us persons of life, those who care more for eating Christ as life and taking God in as life and life supply than for doing a work for God. Lord, we choose You right now. We choose life. We want to be simplified and reduced to simply being those who take God in as life. We love You, Lord! We love to eat of You and drink of You, being single for Your purpose of reconstituting us with Yourself!
References and Further Reading
- Inspiration: bro. Andrew Yu’s sharing in the message and portions in, Life-study of Genesis (msg. 16), 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.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Christ Jesus is the food we eat; / He is our bread, He is our meat; / He is our life-supply complete; / We daily eat of Him.
# I’ve found the One of peerless worth, / My heart doth sing for joy; / And sing I must, for Christ I have: / Oh, what a Christ have I! / My Christ, He is the Tree of Life / With fruit abundant, sweet; / My hunger He doth satisfy; / Of Him I daily eat.
# Christ is the tree of life / Eating Him always satisfies. / Christ is the river / Drink Him, our joy and pleasure. / Eat Him and drink Him, / Christ our enjoyment. / God is our treasure. / He is our joy and pleasure.
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