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Scripture Reading: Gen. 2:8-9, 16-17; Rev. 2:7; 22:14; John 6:35a, 57b
I. Two choices remaining in front of man:
А. The tree of life:
1. Signifying God as life to man.
2. Issuing in a dependent life.
B. The tree of knowledge:
1. Signifying Satan as evil to man.
2. Issuing in an independent life.
II. God wanting man to receive Him as life by the way of eating:
А. Eating being the unique way to receive nourishment organically.
B. God being man’s real food.
C. To receive God by eating being to have God assimilated into man’s being metabolically.
III. God forbidding man to eat the tree of knowledge:
А. God’s first commandment to man.
B. Eating — to receive something in — being critical to man:
1. After man was created, God not asking man to do anything.
2. God only charging man not to eat wrongly.
C. To eat the tree of knowledge being to receive Satan as an evil life into man’s being.
D. God’s forbidding commandment being a warning to man:
1. Indicating God’s greatness in dealing with man.
2. Indicating God’s love to man.
3. Indicating God’s desire that man would eat the tree of life to receive God into him as his life.
In this lesson we want to see God’s intention in man.
In Genesis 2 we see two choices remaining in front of man.
One of the two choices before man was the tree of life (vv. 8-9).
The tree of life signifies God as life to man.
The tree of life issues in a dependent life. We need to develop this point so that the saints understand what we mean. The tree of life first signifies God as life to man. If man would take the tree of life, that would issue in a dependent life in man. Very few Christians realize that life always produces dependence. All the matters related to life are matters of dependence. You cannot graduate from any matter of life. Eating is a dependent matter. You cannot say that you have eaten the best food and that you have eaten more than enough, so you do not need to eat anymore. The matters of drinking and breathing, of course, are also dependent matters from which we do not graduate.
This shows that to take God as our life issues in a dependent life. Knowledge, on the other hand, issues in independence. If a person goes to college and gets a degree, he does not need that college any longer. When a person knows what his professor knows, he does not need to depend on his professor anymore. But if you were to take your professor as your life, you could never be independent from him. If you took him for your knowledge, you could be independent. But if you took him as your life, you could not be independent. You would have to be dependent upon him all the time.
God is not knowledge to us. God is life to us. We take Him as our life, and this divine life right away issues in a kind of dependence within us. We have to depend upon Him all the time. He is the vine, and we are the branches. The branches have to abide in the vine (John 15:5). Apart from the vine, the branches become dead. This vine tree’s life issues in a kind of dependent life in all the branches. All the branches depend upon the vine’s life.
The dependent life is also seen in Abraham’s following the Lord. Hebrews 11:8 says, “By faith Abraham, being called, obeyed to go out unto a place which he was to receive as an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going.” The Lord did not let Abraham know where he was going. He did not give Abraham a road map. Once the driver gets a road map from a person, he no longer needs that person. Because he has the map, he does not need to depend on the person who gave it to him. But if a person would give you himself, his presence, instead of a road map, you could never be independent from him. You would have to take him as your map, being dependent upon him all the time. That was the real case with Abraham. Abraham exercised his faith to trust in God for His instant leading, taking God’s presence as the map for his traveling. Thus, Abraham became dependent upon God.
The God of glory appeared to Abraham (Acts 7:2), and that appearing issued in Abraham living a dependent life. Thus, taking the tree of life into us makes us dependent upon that life, the life of the tree of life, all the time. This is like the branches of the vine depending upon the vine, the life of the vine, all the time.
We have to stress again and again that the tree of life signifies God as life to man and that once man takes the tree of life, takes God as life, right away this divine life issues in a dependent life in man. Before taking this tree of life, the very God as life, man is independent. But after man takes the tree of life, God as life, it becomes absolutely impossible for man to be independent. Right away the divine life of God causes man to depend upon God all the time.
If we in the churches minister knowledge to people, they may learn the things we teach and then go their way. But if we minister life to people, they can never be independent. Life is not an independent matter but a dependent matter. Some people may come to the church, learn something, and then want to go away to do something, using what they have learned. They may take the knowledge they have acquired and be independent, but there will be no life in what they do. We need to be those who depend upon the tree of life, that is, God Himself as life to us.
The other choice before man was the tree of knowledge.
The tree of knowledge signifies Satan as evil to man. This evil is actually an evil life.
The tree of knowledge issues in a kind of independent life in you. The more knowledge you give people, the more independent they can become. Knowledge causes people to be independent. When you take in the tree of knowledge, you will feel that you do not need to depend upon God. Instead, you will depend upon your knowledge. But if you take in the tree of life, this causes you to depend upon God. Life is a matter of dependence, but knowledge is a matter of independence.
These critical points are pointed out by Brother Watchman Nee in a booklet entitled Two Principles of Living. These two principles are actually two lives. One is the dependent life and the other is the independent life. One is the principle of dependence and the other is the principle of independence. The tree of life issues in a principle of dependence, and the tree of knowledge issues in a principle of independence. Due to the fact that man took the tree of knowledge, man became altogether independent from God. But whoever repents to God and receives Him as life becomes dependent on God.
Before we were saved, we were altogether independent of God. But when we repented to God and believed in God, we became dependent. Whenever we have been independent, that was the time we lived by knowledge. Whenever we lived by our spirit, by life, we were altogether dependent upon God. Thus, these are two kinds of principles issuing from two kinds of lives. The divine life makes us dependent, and the satanic life makes us independent. To be independent means to be rebellious. To rebel means to be independent from God.
God wanted man to receive Him as life by the way of eating.
Eating is the unique way to receive nourishment organically. To receive anything organic, there is no other way except by eating. What you eat becomes your organic nourishment. We need to develop this point.
Eating is the unique way, and God is the unique food to man. Here we have to tell people that all the physical food we eat is a shadow. God is the reality of our food. You can use Colossians 2:16-17 to show this.
I like to use these two words — organically and metabolically. To receive God by eating Him is to have God assimilated into our being metabolically. When we receive God into us, His new element replaces what we are, and our old element is discharged. This is a kind of metabolism. Our physical, organic eating and metabolic digesting and assimilating are an illustration of the eating, digesting, and assimilating of Jesus as our spiritual food. This is not just our concept. This is the deep concept in the whole Bible.
When the Lord Jesus came, He said, “I am the bread of life” (John 6:35a), and “He who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me” (v. 57b). The tree of life is seen in Genesis 2 at the beginning of the Bible and in Revelation 2 and 22 at the end of the Bible. This tells us that the whole concept in the Bible is that man has to eat God, to take God in organically, and to assimilate God metabolically so that God may become his “fibers,” his “tissue,” his very being. The food that we eat eventually becomes our being. We become what we eat. We are a composition of the food that we have assimilated. God today is our food in the same principle.
In Revelation 2:7 the Lord Jesus promised the church in Ephesus that to the one who overcomes, He would give to eat of the tree of life. The last promise in the entire Bible is a promise of the enjoyment of the tree of life, which is Christ with all the riches of life (22:14).
God did not say anything to Adam regarding the tree of life, but God did say something regarding the tree of knowledge. God forbade man to eat the tree of knowledge (Gen. 2:17).
God’s first commandment to man was related to his eating. He charged man not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Eating is critical to us because eating is to receive something into us. If you eat the right food, you will receive the nourishment. If you eat something poisonous, you will die. Parents hide all the poisonous things from their children and keep them out of their reach. Even the chemical and drug factories put a warning label on certain things to show that they are poisonous, or they may put their drugs in special containers that cannot be opened by children. What man takes into him is critical. It is a matter of life or death. Eating is critical to man.
After man was created, God did not ask man to do anything. God was concerned only about what His created man would eat.
God only charged man not to eat wrongly. How man would turn out and what man’s destiny would be was altogether dependent upon what he would eat.
When man ate the tree of knowledge, he received Satan as an evil life into his being. All these points regarding God’s intention in man are altogether not according to man’s natural concept. This is why we need to stress these points, expound them, and make them so clear and impressive to all the saints.
God’s forbidding commandment was a warning to man, indicating that God was great in His dealing with man. Only a small man forces people to accept his opinion. No one who is great or honorable will coerce people.
God’s forbidding commandment to man also indicates God’s love to man. Because God loved man, He warned man not to eat the wrong thing.
God’s warning to man concerning not eating the tree of knowledge indicates three things: God’s greatness, God’s love, and God’s desire. God’s desire was that man would eat the tree of life to receive God into him as his life.
God did not force man to take what He wanted man to take, but He left this decision up to man. His warning man indicates that, on the one hand, He was great and, on the other hand, He was loving. He did not force man to do what He desired. This shows that He was great. Yet He warned man not to take the wrong thing, and this implies that God had love. He put man mainly in front of two trees, and He warned man not to take the tree of knowledge. This surely implies that God wanted man to take the tree of life. Thus, God’s warning indicates His desire. God wanted man to take the tree of life, that is, God Himself, into man as man’s life.
This lesson is very crucial. It is a kind of revolutionizing concept to the human mentality. We must have this lesson as a preparation for the saints to go on in life.
Question: What is the best way to show that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil represents Satan’s life?
Answer: The Bible shows us that in this whole universe there are only two sources. Satan came in to seduce man to partake of the tree of knowledge. This means that Satan captured man by getting man to take him in. This is a big thing in the Bible. The tree of life and the tree of knowledge actually are the two controlling lines through the sixty-six books of the Bible.
In the families, in the nations, and even in the churches, God is here as the tree of life, and Satan is here as the tree of knowledge. Which way would you take, and whom would you contact? If you contact God, you get life and you depend upon God. If you take the tree of knowledge, you get Satan. If you get Satan, you become independent from God. To become independent means to rebel. The more you take the tree of knowledge, the more you rebel against God and become independent from God. When you take the tree of knowledge, you become one with Satan, who was and still is a rebel. If you take the tree of life, you are one with God and become dependent upon God.
These two principles are with us today, but most people always take the tree of knowledge. It is very rare to see persons who would take the tree of life. Even in our daily life, we have to admit that we take the tree of knowledge. When a husband argues with his wife, he is taking the tree of knowledge. The more we argue about who is wrong and who is right, the more of the tree of knowledge we eat. As a result, we become deadened and independent from God. Then we have to repent and confess. We have to get the cleansing of the precious blood, and the blood brings us back into contact with God. When we contact God again, we become dependent on God. The next time we are tempted to argue, we should say, “Lord, if You do not debate, I will not debate. If You do not argue, I will not argue. I am one with You.” We all need to live a dependent life of the tree of life and turn away from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
