Every genuine believer in Christ is a miniature garden of Eden, for God as the tree of life is in his spirit and Satan as the tree of knowledge is in his flesh; when we set our mind on the spirit, we enjoy the tree of life and become persons of life.
The two trees can be seen not only in the first and last book of the Bible but also throughout the Bible, for the people of God always have a choice – God Himself as the tree of life or Satan as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
In the book of Job, in particular, we may not see these two trees being mentioned, but we can clearly see that Job was a constitution of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and most of this book is an expression of this tree.
However, half of the last chapter, where Job sees God and repents in dust and ashes, can be considered as an expression of the tree of life.
In Genesis 2 we have Adam in front of two trees, and he was deceived by the devil to choose the wrong tree; because of his choice, now all men are born on the line of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
In the book of Job we can see that he also was in front of two trees, but in him, the tree of knowledge was grown and developed, and he had a lot of knowledge concerning things in heaven and earth and even concerning God, but he was devoid of the tree of life.
Why did God allow Satan to touch his possessions and even his health?
It was because Job was devoid of God; he did not know God as the tree of life but rather, he was an embodiment of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, yet he built up for himself a certain righteousness, a certain integrity, and a certain perfection.
God doesn’t intend to gain “the best product” of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, that is, God doesn’t want to obtain a good man, an ethical and moral man, and an upright man.
What God wants is a person on the line of the tree of life, a person who partakes of God as life, who depends on God as life, and who lives because of God as his life.
This is what the Lord Jesus did: He didn’t live by the tree of knowledge of good and evil, even though He had a lot of knowledge; rather, He contacted God, prayed much, and remained before God and in God, so that in His living He did not live according to good and evil, right and wrong, or anything like that, but according to life.
This is so different from the natural thought, from the religious thought; many people today, including many of the believers in Christ, still try to please God and do the good instead of doing the evil, yet without contacting God.
May we realize that God wants not good men or upright men but God-men, those who love God, seek God, pursue God, and take God in as the tree of life to live because of God!
As a Miniature of the Garden of Eden, we have God as the Tree of Life in our Spirit and Satan as the Tree of Knowledge in our Flesh
The story of Adam is our story, and the story of Job is also our story; we all as believers in Christ are a miniature garden of Eden.
Why do we say that? It is because we have Satan as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in our flesh, and we also have God as the tree of life in our spirit (Gen. 2:9; Rom. 8:2, 5-6).
We are a miniature garden of Eden because the triangular situation involving God, man, and Satan is now within us (Gen. 1:27-29; 2:9, 16-17); this situation is now in our inner being.
To Adam, the tree of life and the tree of knowledge was outside of him, and he had to make a choice.
Six thousand years later, God Himself is planted in our spirit as the tree of life, and the satanic life and nature are in our flesh as the tree of knowledge; we cannot get rid of either of these trees, and we cannot live independently of both of them.
Unfortunately, the tree of knowledge in our flesh has grown huge, even monstrously huge, for throughout the years we have been feeding it, fertilizing it, and growing it.
But the tree of life has not grown very much because we didn’t water it or fertilize it; rather, we have fed the tree of knowledge, and we have watered it and fertilized it.
We need to do some serious work in this garden in our inner being.
Through the fall of man, the tree of knowledge of good and evil is in us, and through regeneration, the tree of life is now in us. Hallelujah!
Our spirit is mingled with the Triune God, so the tree of life is in our spirit, always ready to impart life to the inner parts of our being when we set our mind on our spirit (1 Cor. 6:17; Rom. 8:6).
Our body, which has become the flesh, is mixed with the sinful element of Satan (Rom 5:12; 6:6, 12).
As those who were represented by Adam in Gen. 2, we have the tree of life in our spirit and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in our flesh (Rom. 6:9; Rev. 2:7; 22:14).
Whenever we contact the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, we become dead, for death is imparted into our inner being; whenever we contact the tree of life, we gain life, and life is minister to our inner being (Rom. 8:5-6, 10).
This is what happened with Eve, and this is our situation today; we need to guard ourselves against the enemy, realizing that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is right here in our flesh, and the tree of life is in our spirit.
When God put man in the garden of Eden, He gave him two responsibilities: to till the ground and to guard the garden of Eden.
To till the ground refers to cultivating the tree of life, and to guard the garden refers to guard ourselves against the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
On one hand, what we need to do is to cultivate the tree of life, water it, and eat and enjoy God in Christ as our life in the form of food.
On the other hand, we need to guard ourselves against the tree of knowledge; this tree is everywhere, and we should always be on guard not to contact it and not to take it in.
We shouldn’t waste our time watching the so-called news and taking in the entertainment, for even though they may seem to offer temporary satisfaction, they actually impart death into us.
If we stand on the side of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and contact Satan, we will live out the life of Satan, the devil, and the result will be death (2 Cor. 11:3; Rom. 3:23; 1 John 3:4).
However, if we stand on the side of the tree of life and contact God, we will live out God, and the result will be life (John 11:25; 14:6; 15:1, 4-5).
Hallelujah, the Triune God is now in our spirit to be the tree of life for us to partake of and enjoy! Amen, Lord, we want to contact You as the tree of life and partake of You so that the divine life may be imparted into our inner being and we may live because of You! We stand on the side of the tree of life and we reject the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We choose You, Lord, and we choose life; we want to cultivate, water, and fertilize the tree of life in our spirit so that our entire being may be filled with life! We want to guard ourselves against the tree of the knowledge of good and evil so that we may not receive death or spread death! We stand on the side of the tree of life by contacting God, enjoying God, and living out God, so that life may grow in us and may flow through us!
We need to Set our Mind on our Spirit to enjoy God as Life, Live Christ, and Minister Life
As we live our daily life, we are faced with a choice day by day and even moment by moment: will we choose the tree of life or will we remain by default in the line of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?
We need to decide whether we set our mind on our spirit to receive life and be filled with life, or whether we set our mind on our flesh to remain in death and spread death.
When we set our mind on our spirit, we abide in Christ, for He as the life-giving Spirit dwells in our spirit.
Paul admitted in Rom. 7 that in him, that is, in his flesh, nothing good dwells; rather, sin dwells in him, and this sin is much stronger than he is.
But praise the Lord, even though sin dwells in our flesh, Christ as the life-giving Spirit dwells in our spirit!
Romans 8 shows us that all we need to do is turn our being to the living One who indwells our spirit and stay one with Him.
When we set our mind on our spirit, when we turn to the Lord and set our mind on Him, we have life, peace, light, comfort, strength, and all that we need.
When we set our mind on our spirit, we enjoy God as life, we express Christ, and what comes out of us is nothing but life.
How can we set our being on the mingled spirit so that we may be in the line of the tree of life? It is by praying and by pray-reading the word of God, calling on the name of the Lord.
It is so easy for us to be distracted from the Spirit in our spirit; our mind is quickly drawn to other things.
What we need to do is simply to pray, not merely asking the Lord about things or for HIm to do something for us, but just pray to contact the Lord and set our mind on the spirit.
When we set our mind on the spirit by praying, we enjoy God, we receive life, and He will take care of us and do everything for us.
We simply need to flip the switch; by default, the mind is set on the flesh, but when we set our mind on our spirit, we have life and peace (Rom. 8:6).
In Rom. 8:5-6 we see a miniature of the garden of Eden: the flesh and death are on one side, the spirit and life on the other side, and the mind is in the middle; the mind represents our being.
We need to learn to turn our being to the living One who dwells in our spirit and stay one with Him; this is to flip the switch.
When we set our mind on the spirit, we have life, peace, light, comfort, and strength; our mind is filled with life and peace, and our thirst is quenched and our hunger satisfied. Hallelujah!
When we set our mind on our spirit, we receive life – the divine life, the eternal life, the zoe life of God; no matter what happens outwardly, we are at peace.
We have peace because there’s no discord between our outward behaviour and our inner being (Isa. 9:6-7; 26:3).
When we speak with our mind set on the spirit, life is embodied in our words because we are one spirit with the Lord (Prov. 18:21; John 6:63; Eph. 4:29).
The result of our setting our mind on our spirit is not only that we enjoy life, but also that our words give life; when we speak, we prophesy, and life is embodied in our words because we are one spirit with the Lord.
Our words will not cause people to doubt the word of God, they will not impart death, but they will water the tree of life in others, causing it to grow and providing additional life so that both us and others will become men of life.
Lord Jesus, we want to learn to turn our being to the living One who indwells our spirit and stay one with Him. We turn to You, Lord, and we set our mind on You to enjoy You and be filled with You as life. Hallelujah, when we set our mind on our spirit we have life, peace, light, comfort, strength, and all we need! Amen, Lord, we want to contact You in spirit and set our mind on You. Save us from being distracted fro the divine Spirit in our spirit; save us from being drawn to other things. We just love You, Lord, and we set our whole being on You. Keep us one spirit with You today. You are our love, our patience, and our everything; You are everything to us. Fill us with Yourself as life and flow through us as life to all those around us!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Mark Raabe for this week, and portions from, Life-Study of Romans, Chapter 39 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes (2020 winter training), week 4, Man and the Two Trees.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Lord, teach us only Thee to touch, / That with Thy life we filled may be, / And not to touch the good or bad, / Or anything apart from Thee. (Hymns #733)
– Lord, teach us to discern the spirit / That we may never set our mind / Upon the flesh but on the spirit, / That sin and self no more may bind. (Hymns #746)
– Let’s keep practicing the application / Of this life by minding just the Son. / Praise Him for the way to live by Him today! / Lord, on You our minds will ever stay. (Hymns #1103)
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