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Scripture Reading: 1 John 5:12; Col. 3:4; John 11:25; 14:6; 1:4; 3:16, 36; 10:10
Nothing is more important than life. We all know that the Scriptures are a book of life, not a book of knowledge. Although the Scriptures are written in the way of knowledge, they are not for knowledge but for life. We must realize that in the very beginning there were two trees in the garden of Eden, the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The tree of life is for us to contact and receive, and the tree of knowledge is something we should stay away from. To take from the tree of knowledge means death to us. Only something taken from the tree of life is life to us. Therefore, we must be very clear that today the Scriptures are a garden, and in this Scripture garden there are also two trees. If we take something from the Scriptures as knowledge, we will have nothing but death, but if we take something as life, the result, the issue, to us is life.
What is in the Scripture garden is life as the center of God’s intention. At the very beginning of the Scriptures there is a blueprint with the tree of life as the center. Then at the end of the Scriptures there is another picture with the tree of life again as the center. If we pay full attention to this matter, we will realize that from the very beginning to the very end, throughout the entire Scriptures, there is the central thought, the central line, of life. Life is always the central thought, central matter, and central line. If you would ask me what the Scriptures teach, I must tell you that they teach the matter of life. They are a book of life, revealing to us that God is life to us in Christ through the Holy Spirit.
The picture in Genesis 2 is very clear. After man was created, he was placed in a garden before a tree, which is called the tree of life, showing that God’s intention is that man deal with life. Eventually, at the end of the Scriptures there is the tree of life as the life supply to all the redeemed ones. Therefore, it is clear that if we want to know something about the Scriptures, about the revelation of God, we need to understand and appreciate the matter of life.
Have you noticed that in the entire universe, in God’s creation, life is the center? If we could take away every kind of life — the vegetable life as well as the animal life — the whole universe would be a barren, desolate desert. What is the meaning, the center, and the beauty of the universe? It is life. To be lifeless is to be meaningless. If there were no kind of life in a city — no vegetable life, no animal life, no human life, and even no angelic life — what kind of city would it be? There would be no meaning there. In our home and family there must be life. The more life we have, the more meaning there is. Some people who do not have children buy dogs, cats, birds, or fish. They try to have many kinds of lives in their home because the more life they have, the more meaningful their home is. Today many people have artificial flowers, but these are meaningless because they are beautiful but lifeless. What kind of universe would it be if we took away all the life?
Moreover, have you realized that all the lives in God’s creation are not real lives? All these lives are figures, types, and shadows; they are not the real life. If we desire to understand the Scriptures and the spiritual matters, we must remember well that all the items in God’s creation are not the real items. They are simply figures, symbols, types, and shadows of the real thing. What is the real thing? The real thing is Christ Himself. The heavens are a type of Christ, and the earth is a type of Christ. Everything good, everything on the positive side, is a type of Christ. We do not sit on a real chair; we are seated in Christ. It is the Lord who upholds us; He is the real seat to us, on whom we rest. The only real item is the Lord Christ Himself. The vegetable life, animal life, and human life are figures of the one real life, that is, Christ.
With all lives there is a beauty. The most beautiful things are the things with life. Look at the flowers, the birds, the fishes, and all the animals. When we go to the ocean, we can see how beautiful the lives in the water are. All the beauties of the different lives are types of the beauty of Christ. With Christ as life there is the real beauty.
In addition, have you realized how many different kinds of life there are? These are the riches of life. Simply with trees alone, we can never exhaust naming the different kinds. When I was very young, I thought that I had seen every kind of tree, but when I left my home, I saw many more different trees in the north and in the south of China. With life there are the riches. How many kinds of animals, beasts, birds, and fishes there are! We cannot exhaust telling the names of all the varieties. These are the riches of life, which are a type of the riches of Christ.
Furthermore, there is the power of life. If we bury a tiny seed under the earth, after a few weeks it will break through the earth, grow up, and bring forth many beautiful items. This is the power of life. With Christ as life there is power, which is the resurrection power, the power of resurrection. Nothing can hold or restrict it. The more we restrict it, the more it becomes stronger and more powerful. Remember well that with life there is beauty, riches, and power.
What do we mean by the term life? It is hard to give a definition of life. Life is something mysterious. If we go to the scientists, they cannot tell us, and if we go to the medical doctors, they cannot give an adequate definition. I have had a number of good talks with medical doctors about the physical life, and I asked them what the difference is between a dead person and a living person. From the medical point of view there is little difference with respect to the physical body. A dead body and a living body are nearly the same. To me, however, there is a great difference. When a person is dead, he is dead, and when he is living, he is living. How then can we define life, and in the whole universe, what is life?
As Christians, we must know what life is. There is a verse in the Scriptures that says, “He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life” (1 John 5:12). If we have the Son of God, we have life, and if we do not have the Son of God, we do not have life. What then is life? Christ, the Son of God, is life. As we have seen, all the different lives in God’s creation are not the real lives; they are types and shadows. The real life is Christ.
As humans, we have a life. Why then do the Scriptures say that if we do not have the Son of God, we do not have life? We must answer by saying that we have a life in figure, a life in shadow. Yes, we received a life from our parents, but that life is not the real life. That is a life in figure, a shadow of the real life. The real life is Christ. If we do not have Christ, we do not have life, and we are still in darkness. Now we may realize what life is. Life is Christ, the Son of God.
We must know the verses that support this thought. Besides 1 John 5:12 there is Colossians 3:4, which speaks of “Christ our life.” Moreover, in John 11:25 the Lord says, “I am the resurrection and the life,” and in 14:6 He says, “I am the way and the reality and the life.” In addition, John 1:4 says, “In Him was life,” and 10:10 says, “I have come that they may have life and may have it abundantly.” John 3:16 and 36 also support the divine thought that life is simply Christ Himself, the Son of God, as life to us. With Christ as life there is beauty, there are riches, and there is the power of resurrection.
Christ as the Son of God is life to us, but we need to ask what Christ has to do with God and with the Holy Spirit. Here we need to realize the fact of the Triune God. The God in whom we believe is a Triune God, the one God in three persons. Matthew 28:19 says, “Go therefore and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” This verse speaks of three persons, yet the three persons have only one name. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit are one God with three persons.
Second Corinthians 13:14 says, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” Here there are three persons with three items of blessing — Christ, God, and the Holy Spirit with grace, love, and fellowship. Love, grace, and fellowship illustrate the relationship among the three persons of this one God. Love, grace, and fellowship are three items of one thing. We may say that love is grace, and grace is fellowship; fellowship is grace, and grace is love. Stated more clearly, fellowship is the transmission of grace, and grace is the expression of love. There may be love in my heart toward a brother, but how can I express this love? I may buy a nice Bible and present it to him. This Bible is a grace from me to him, and this grace is the very expression of the love in my heart. However, I may be in Los Angeles, and he is in Minneapolis, so I must ask the post office to mail this Bible to him; this is the transmission of the grace. There is the love in my heart, the grace as the expression of my love, and the transmission as a means to pass this grace on to the brother. In the same way, the Father is the very source, the Son is the expression of the source, and the Spirit is the transmission of the expression.
John 1:18 says that no one has ever seen God, but the only begotten Son of God has declared Him. This means that the Son of God is the expression of God. Moreover, the Holy Spirit is the transmission of the Son of God. Therefore, when we say that the Son of God is life to us, we simply mean that God is life to us in the Son and through the Spirit. What is life? In the entire universe God Himself is the very life. With Him there is the fountain of life, the source of life. However, God is life in the Son and through the Spirit. Here is something very mysterious and very wonderful. God is the very life, and He is life to us in His Son and through His Spirit.
In the Scriptures God uses a certain illustration to reveal Himself as life to us. Christ is revealed as the tree of life, and with the tree there is always the flowing river. The tree of life yields its fruits, and the river of life constantly flows with the living water.
Many times the Scriptures speak of a fountain, a source, a well of water, a river, or a stream. From the very beginning, in the book of Genesis, to the very end, in the book of Revelation, there is the line of the river, flowing all the time with the living water. The river is in the second chapter of Genesis, and in Exodus 17 this living water flows out of the smitten rock. Then there is the well springing with water in Numbers 21, as we sing in Hymns, #250: “Spring up, well, with water.” A well is a fountain of water. The Psalms many times say something concerning the living water, a living stream flowing all the time. There is also the flowing stream in Ezekiel 47. Then, when the Lord Jesus came, He told us that He has the living water which springs up into eternal life (John 4:14). Christ is the spring of water, and the Holy Spirit is the flowing stream.
Eventually, in Revelation, at the end of the entire Scriptures, there is a clear picture of God in Christ as the center with a living stream flowing out of this center. In the New Jerusalem God is in Christ the Lamb as the center, and from this very center a living stream flows out to reach all the redeemed ones to be received by them as their life supply. Many times in the New Testament we are told that there is such a living stream. This very stream is the outflow of God Himself to reach us and be received by us as our life supply.
The way for God to be life to us is to constantly flow out. With the living water there are three aspects. First there is the source, the fountain. Then there is the spring to store the water. Finally, there is the flow, the stream. God the Father is the source, Christ the Son is the spring, and the Holy Spirit is the flow, the stream, of living water. Therefore, the Father is in the Son, the Son is through the Spirit, and the Spirit reaches us, enters into us, and lives and dwells within us to be life and the life supply to us. God is life to us as living water flowing in Christ and through the Holy Spirit. Now, if we have the Holy Spirit, we have the Son, and if we have the Son, we have the Father. On the other hand, if we do not have the Spirit, we do not have the Son, and if we do not have the Son, we do not have the Father. The fountain, the well, and the stream are all one.
Many Christians today pay much attention to the matter of the Holy Spirit, but they often do not realize that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of life, the Spirit of Christ, Christ Himself as life to us. If we want to receive the Holy Spirit, we need to realize that the Holy Spirit is Christ as life to us. If we do not experience Christ as life to us by the Spirit, we will be dead. Moreover, our experience and understanding concerning the Holy Spirit will be different from that in the Scriptures.
Today many Christians think that they have had a certain experience of the Holy Spirit, but inwardly they do not understand the matter of life. They do not realize that Christ is life to us. I have heard many messages from this kind of Christian concerning the manifestations, the evidences, of the Holy Spirit, but I have never heard a message about the Holy Spirit being Christ Himself as life to us. They have neglected this matter. If you try your best to find books, messages, or articles about the Holy Spirit, you will see that it is hard to find a word on the Holy Spirit being Christ Himself as life to us. I have read many books about the so-called Holy Ghost, and the result is that I am very disappointed. In the Scriptures the Holy Spirit is revealed as the Spirit of life, the living water of life, to us, but among so many books about the Holy Spirit it is hard to find one that conveys the revelation, even if expressed in different words, that this very Holy Spirit is Christ as life to us.
Many people today pay much attention to speaking in tongues. Apparently, the purpose of speaking in tongues is the edification of a believer. The real edification of a Christian, however, is the true growth in life. Edification is a life matter. To have true edification, we must know life, realize the experiences of life, and have the real growth in life. It is regrettable that many people who speak in tongues do not have much growth in life. In 1936 I myself helped many people to speak in tongues, but after one year, by 1937, I found that none of them had the real growth in life. Because of this I asked myself what the purpose of helping people to speak in tongues is. If there is something real in speaking in tongues, there must be some real growth in life. The best way to test, check, and discover if speaking in tongues is real or not is to check whether or not there is some real growth in life. We need to realize that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ as life to us.
Now we may consider something very subjective to us. This very Spirit of life reaches us not only by coming down upon us, but even the more by entering into us, dwelling within us, and living in us. The Triune God — the Father in the Son through the Spirit — is now within us. We have three parts: a body, a soul, and a spirit. The Triune God has entered into us and is now dwelling and living within us by making His home in our spirit. If we are going to know life, we must realize that God is life to us in Christ through the Spirit, and this Spirit as life to us is now dwelling and living in our spirit. Our spirit is the residence, the house, the home, of this very Spirit.
Remember well that today the Triune God is life to us as the Father in the Son, the Son through the Spirit, and the Spirit in our spirit, taking our spirit as His residence to dwell and live there. If we desire to know and realize the real experiences of life, we must know that today the Triune God is in our spirit as life to us. The Father is in the Son, the Son is in the Spirit, and the Spirit is in our spirit as life to us. This is the very center of the Christian life, and this is the very center of the church life. What we deal with is nothing other than this very Triune God, as the Father in the Son through the Holy Spirit, who dwells and lives within our spirit.
