From the very beginning of the Bible we see that God put two choices in front of man: the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil; today we need to live in the principle of life by depending on God.
Moses did the same thing: in Deut. 30 he put before the children of Israel two choices: life and death, blessing and curse; he charged them to choose life so that they may live in the land which God is giving them.
Today we are faced with this choice again and again: we need to choose between life and death, between blessing and curse.
The life that we need to choose is not the human life or the psychological life; rather, it is the divine life, the uncreated, eternal, divine life of God.
Actually, God Himself is life; the entire Triune God is life, and God flows out as life into man. In the entire universe only God is life, and only the life of God is real life.
Our human life is here today and gone tomorrow; even if we have some great accomplishments today, by tomorrow these are forgotten.
But the divine life, the life of God, the life which God Himself is, this life is real life, and it is a life that flows out of heaven to the earth, out of eternity into time, and He flows as life into us.
Our God is constituted with life; life is the content of His being, and He constantly flows as life into man. As long as we are willing and open to receive the divine life, He will flow into us.
As believers in Christ, we are human beings that have another life in them – we have the divine life, the uncreated, eternal life of God.
This life is in our spirit, and when we set our mind on our spirit, our mind becomes life and peace.
When we exercise our spirit and set our whole being on our spirit, the divine life in our mingled spirit spreads into our mind, emotion, will, and even in our mortal body, so that our entire being would be filled with life.
God wants us to choose life; in every situation and in every thing we need to choose life.
This means that we need to turn to the Lord again and again and live according to the principle of life, which is the principle of depending on the Lord.
Two Principles of Living: the Principle of Life (dependence on God) and the Principle of Right and Wrong (Independence from God)
In Gen. 2:9, 16-17 we see two choices before man – the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
The tree of life signifies the Triune God embodied in Christ as life to man in the form of food, for man to take God in as life and live because of Him (Rev. 2:7; John 1:4; 14:6; 10:10; 6:35, 57, 63).
After God created man, He put him in a garden called Eden, and in the middle of the garden there were two trees: the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
The tree of life is the Triune God Himself in the form of food; it is God good for food, God in a touchable and receivable form, for man to receive God’s life.
God’s life is no longer mysterious and hidden; this life is presented to man as a tree which we can touch, come to, and feed on. Man can now eat and enjoy God’s life.
Some Christians say that the tree of life is over now, but actually, when the Lord Jesus was on earth He said He is life (John 11:25) and He is the vine tree, a tree (John 15:1).
He is the reality of the tree of life for us to eat! The tree of the knowledge of good and evil signifies Satan as the source of death (Heb. 2:14).
As opposed to the tree of life, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil signifies Satan. This is a negative tree, more complicated than the tree of life; it is not called “the tree of death” but the result of eating of it is death.
The tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil represent two principles of living – the principle of life (which is dependence on God) and the principle of right and wrong (which is independence from God).
There are two principles of living today in our life: the principle of living by life or living by the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Life signifies dependence; just as a child, after he is born, he depends on the mother’s milk and on food for him to grow, so when we enjoy the divine life, we depend on God.
It doesn’t matter how much we are grown in the human life, we cannot graduate from eating, drinking, and breathing; we depend on food, drink, and air.
Similarly, God wants us to depend on Him. In Joshua we see the story of the Gibbeonites coming to the children of Israel and deceiving them by dressing in old and worn out clothes, having old and stale food, and telling them that they came from far away because they heard of Israel and God, and now they want to be their servants and live among them.
The children of Israel did not seek the counsel of Jehovah but received them and entered into the covenant with them; this is the principle of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Similarly in the garden of Eden, Eve lived in the principle of the knowledge of good and evil when she did not take her husband as her covering but engaged in a conversation with the serpent.
In this way, the serpent came to this weaker vessel who, instead of running to her husband, she opened herself to dialog with the serpent, which allowed him to inject poison in her mind and bring in man’s fall.
Today in our Christian life we have two principles of living: we can live either by the tree of life by depending on God, or we can live by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil by trying to do good (and not the evil), thus not depending on God.
May we come before the Lord and be honest with Him saying,
Lord Jesus, show us the two principles of living – the principle of life and the principle of right and wrong. May we turn to You again and again to take You as life, thus depending on You and taking You as our everything for our Christian life and church life. Save us from mere knowledge of good and evil; turn us to life! Save us from engaging into a conversation with the enemy – keep us pursuing You, enjoying You, and taking You as our life! Amen, Lord, we choose life! We choose to live in the principle of the tree of life by depending on You in everything!
Our Need to Live in the Principle of Life, Discerning things According to Life
The Gospel of John shows us a few examples of living according to the principle of life versus living according to the knowledge of good and evil.
In this gospel we see that the tree of life is versus the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and the Lord Jesus was always in the principle of life.
In John 4:10-24 we see the case of the Samaritan woman, a sinful woman, who was ready to argue with the Lord concerning the place where man should worship God.
The Lord Jesus, however, told her that she is thirsty, and He gave her to drink; He turned her from her religious mind to life, and gave her to drink the water of life.
In John 9:1-3 we see a man who was blind from birth begging; the disciples and the others were trying to find out who sinned so that he would be this way – himself or his parents.
However, the Lord said that it wasn’t this man nor his parents, but he was born so that the works of God might be manifested in him.
Sometimes some difficult things may happen, some mishaps, some difficult situations or even calamities, and we may ask what did we do wrong for God to punish us, measuring things by right or wrong.
However, the Lord wants to manifest His glory and His works, so we need to be turned to life!
In John 11:2-27 we see the case of Lazarus being dead for four days when the Lord came, and Martha expressing her opinion and discontent that the Lord came so late to see him; however, the Lord turned her to the principle of life, for He Himself is life and resurrection.
We need to realize that there are these two principles of living: the principle of life (the tree of life, depending on God) and the principle of the tree of knowledge of good and evil (independence of God).
While most Christians live by the principle of the knowledge of good and evil, right and wrong, God desires to have people who live by life.
Many times we do things because they are good (and not evil) and right (and not wrong); our consideration is that if something is evil, we stay away from it, but if it is good, we should do it.
But what about God? What about His divine life in us: is His life flowing and increasing in us? Do we only evaluate things according to right and wrong, or do we live in the principle of life?
For example, a brother may be ill, and we may want to go visit him; there’s nothing wrong with it but rather, we should visit the sick.
However, do we just go and visit because it is good thing to do, or did we turn to the Lord and He gave us a feeling that we should go visit him?
In our Christian life and church life, what kind of standard do we live by? Is it just what’s good vs what’s wrong, or is it by depending on God?
![Christianity is life,…not a matter of asking whether something is right or wrong…[but] of checking with the life inside us whenever we do something. What does the new life which God has given us tell us inwardly about this matter?…What does our inner life say? If the life is strong and active within us, we can do this; if the life is cold and retreating within us, we should not. Our principle for living is inward instead of outward. Watchman Nee, Two Principles of Living (booklet)](https://i0.wp.com/agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Christianity-is-life…not-a-matter-of-asking-whether-something-is-right-or-wrong….jpg?resize=450%2C675&ssl=1 "Christianity is life,…not a matter of asking whether something is right or wrong…[but] of checking with the life inside us whenever we do something. What does the new life which God has given us tell us inwardly about this matter?…What does our inner life say? If the life is strong and active within us, we can do this; if the life is cold and retreating within us, we should not. Our principle for living is inward instead of outward. Watchman Nee, Two Principles of Living (booklet)")
In our Christian life and church life, we should discern matters not according to right and wrong but according to life and death (2 Cor. 11:3; Gen. 2:9, 16-17).
If we merely evaluate things according to right or wrong, according to what we see outwardly, but we don’t contact the Lord to depend on Him, we are not able to grow in life.
We should discern things according to life and death; we don’t do certain things not because they are evil but because we don’t have the sense of life within us that we should do them.
We don’t go to a certain place not because that is an evil place to go to, but because we have the sense of death within, a lack of life.
We should stop our reasoning and opinions and just turn to the Lord to enjoy Him as life, check with Him, and be guided by the principle of life.
The principle of life is simple: we sense life flowing, we are happy within, and we sense the Lord is happy.
The principle of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is complicated: there are pros and cons, there are many options, there are ideas, and we need to compromise…Oh Lord!
May we choose the simplicity toward Christ by being in the principle of life!
Lord Jesus, save us from discerning matters according to right or wrong; may we live according to the principle of life and pay attention to the inner sense of life in our spirit! Amen, Lord, turn us from knowledge to life; turn us from good and evil to life; turn us from right or wrong to life! May we choose life by choosing to turn to You, depend on You, and sense the flow of life within us. May we stop when the divine life within tells us to stop, and may we go when we have a sweet flow of life. Oh Lord, may we be so simple toward You and reject any opinions, ideas, pros and cons, and other things from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil! Amen, we choose life!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. James Lee for this week, and portions from, CWWN, vol. 56, “Two Principles of Living,” pp. 418-432, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Deuteronomy, week 12, Life and Blessing under the Government of God.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Life is God the Father in Christ Jesus / As the Spirit flowing into us. / How enjoyable, this Person wonderful! / He’s our life so rich and bountiful. / Lord, our human spirit now contains You. / Still Your purpose in us You would do; / If our wandering mind would leave old thoughts behind, / Then Your life and peace in it we’ll find. (Hymns #1193)
– In our daily living / It’s this life that we are sensing. / Are we in the flesh or in the Lord? / If you’re dead and empty / And the troubles you have plenty, / Saints, get out of there and flee back to the Lord! / Then you’ll sense life flowing / It’s this life that’s overcoming / Satan, flesh, and the world, and sin. / What a life we’re having. / Lord, Your virtues manifesting, / Thus, we’re branches bearing fruit in John 15. (Song on, Life is God the Father)
# For knowledge only bringeth death, / Though evil or though good it seem; / For any thing apart from God, / Is but the fruit of Satan’s scheme. / Not only evil, but the good / Is contradictory to Christ; / Not only knowledge of the bad, / But even good is versus Christ. (Hymns #733)
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