Search
God being man’s enjoyment is related to a tree and a river. Immediately after God created all things and man, the Bible speaks of a tree and a river (Gen. 2:1, 7-10). A tree and a river are again spoken of at the end of the Bible (Rev. 22:1-2). Hence, we may say that everything related to what God is to man and to man’s condition before God begins and ends with a tree and a river. God’s relationship with man and man’s relationship with God depend on a tree and a river.
Genesis 2:8-9 says, “Jehovah God planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there He put the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground Jehovah God caused to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, as well as the tree of life in the middle of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” The tree of life was the central and most important tree in the garden.
After the children of Israel left Egypt, they came to Marah and could not drink the water, for it was bitter. So Moses “cried out to Jehovah, and Jehovah showed him a tree; and he cast it into the waters, and the waters became sweet” (Exo. 15:23-25).
Song of Songs 2:3 says, “As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, / So is my beloved among the sons: / In his shade I delighted and sat down, / And his fruit was sweet to my taste.” This signifies that the Lord Jesus is an apple tree to His lovers; His shade covers them, and His fruit supplies them.
John 15:1 says, “I am the true vine, and My Father is the husbandman.” The Lord Jesus Christ is God incarnated to be a man. In this verse He said that He is the true vine and that the Father is the husbandman.
Revelation 22:2 says, “On this side and on that side of the river was the tree of life, producing twelve fruits, yielding its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.” Here tree is singular. In the New Jerusalem there will not be many trees; there will be one unique tree of life. Verse 19 says, “If anyone takes away from the words of the scroll of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and out of the holy city, which are written in this scroll.” According to this verse, the tree of life is the greatest blessing in the universe. If anyone takes away from the words of prophecy in the book of Revelation, God will take away his part from the tree of life and out of the holy city. This indicates that to not enjoy the tree of life is a very serious matter.
At the beginning of the Bible, God put man in front of the tree of life. At the end of the Bible, a person’s standing before God is related to the tree of life. If we despise the Lord’s words and take something away from His words, the blessing of the tree of life will be taken away from us. In contrast, the Lord said, “To him who overcomes, to him I will give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God” (2:7). This shows the importance of the tree of life in the universe.
The river is first spoken of in Genesis: “A river went forth from Eden to water the garden, and from there it divided and became four branches” (2:10). This river went forth from Eden; that is, it went forth from God, for Eden was where God was. This river divided and became four branches, indicating that it had only one source, God, but it flowed in four directions to supply the needs of people in every place.
Psalm 36:8-9 says, “They are saturated with the fatness of Your house, / And You cause them to drink of the river of Your pleasures. / For with You is the fountain of life.” The river of God’s pleasures is the river of water of life that flows out from God, the fountain of life.
John 4:14 says, “Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall by no means thirst forever; but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into eternal life.” This proves that the water of this river is the eternal life of the Lord. Verses 37 through 39 of chapter 7 say, “On the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes into Me, as the Scripture said, out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water. But this He said concerning the Spirit, whom those who believed into Him were about to receive.” According to these verses, the Spirit is the unique river that becomes rivers of living water in us.
Revelation 22:1-2 says, “He showed me a river of water of life, bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb in the middle of its street. And on this side and on that side of the river was the tree of life.” Here the river of water of life is with the tree of life. The Lord promises to give the spring of the water of life to those who thirst (21:6). Furthermore, the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd and guide those who serve Him to springs of waters of life (7:17). The river of water of life is an exceedingly great matter in the universe. God has promised that those who thirst will drink freely of the water of life, and the Shepherd will guide His sheep to the springs of the waters of life for them to drink.
The Bible repeatedly speaks of the wonderful tree of life and the river of water of life. The tree signifies the Lord Jesus, and the river signifies the Spirit. Everything related to our experiencing and enjoying God is included in this tree and this river. There is a hymn that says, “The tree the glorious Christ does show... / The river does the Spirit show” (Hymns, #509). The tree supplies man with food, and the river quenches man’s thirst so that he may fully enjoy God. This is the story of God being enjoyed by man.
Most people have the natural concept that God is great with glory, honor, and majesty, that He is far above the earth, and that man is a creature who must worship and serve Him respectfully. Although this concept is good, it is a natural human concept; it is not the divine thought. The natural concept is far from God’s intention and is unacceptable to God, because it is not God’s heart’s desire for man.
In Genesis God created the heavens and the earth in five days, and He created man on the sixth day. Then He put man in the garden of Eden. The word Eden means pleasure. According to the natural thought, after putting man in the garden of Eden, God should have demanded that man bow down and worship Him.
When religion speaks of God, worship and service are involved. But the first thing that the Bible reveals concerning God’s relationship with man is not man worshipping God but God putting man in a garden in front of a tree near a flowing river. God did not speak of having a desire for man to worship and serve Him or for man to do something. What the Bible reveals is completely different from the religious concept. God put man in front of the tree of life with a river next to it. This indicates that man was to eat the fruit of the tree of life and drink of the river. Hence, man’s first responsibility before God is to have a proper attitude toward the tree of life and the river of water of life. Man’s condition before God depends upon how man deals with the tree of life and the river of water of life. Man’s condition depends on whether he eats the fruit of the tree and drinks of this river.
After God formed Adam from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, Adam became a living soul (Gen. 2:7). However, Adam was still not complete; God determined that Adam needed to eat and to drink. Adam had to eat and to drink in order to maintain his life. This is the principle that we live by today: in order to be healthy, a person needs to eat and to drink. Therefore, eating and drinking are indispensable to man.
What man eats and drinks are what he becomes. For example, people who always eat beef smell like beef. Hence, we must pay attention to what we eat. The Bible says that “man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out through the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4), and it says that the Word is God (John 1:1). God did not tell Adam, “If you worship and serve Me, you will live. In addition, you must love others and do good.” Rather, God put Adam in front of the tree of life near a river. God wanted Adam to eat the fruit of this tree and to drink from the river so that he would live. The tree signifies Christ, and the river signifies the Spirit. Since God is in Christ and God is Spirit, He wants man to eat Him and drink Him, that is, to enjoy Him.
After God created man, He put Himself in front of man as the tree of life and the water of life in order for man to eat Him and drink Him. None of us is complete; we need God as food to supply us and make us complete. Without God as our food, life supply, and nourishment, we are incomplete. A person without God is an incomplete person, because he does not have life or satisfaction.
Every person has a body, a soul — which includes the mind, emotion, and will — and a spirit. Even a person who is highly educated has a sense that he lacks something. He does not lack material things; he lacks God. We need God to be our life, our nourishment, and our supply and thus to make us complete. A person without God is incomplete, deficient, and empty. The Lord Jesus said, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me shall by no means hunger, and he who believes into Me shall by no means ever thirst” (John 6:35). He also cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink” (7:37). These verses show that man is hungry and thirsty. Without God, man is deficient and incomplete. His life is incomplete because he lacks the eternal God.
A complete person is a person who gains God and enjoys God as his life supply and who lets God live in him. As a result, his disposition is desirable, his conduct is proper, and his life is complete. Such a person has been made complete by God.
God makes us complete by being our food and drink. A person cannot live without food and water; he must eat and drink daily. This shows God’s intention in being the tree of life and the river of water of life. We need to eat and drink Him daily so that He can fill us and make us complete.
There are at least two verses in the Bible that speak of how man receives God as his enjoyment. Song of Songs 2:3 speaks of a person who knows and enjoys God as her Beloved, Husband, and Supplier. The believer in this verse compares her Beloved to an apple tree. She finds delight in His shade and sits down, and His fruit is sweet to her taste. Psalm 36:8 speaks of a person being saturated with the fatness of God’s house and drinking of the river of God’s pleasures. One verse speaks of God as a tree supplying fruit, and the other speaks of God as a river for man to drink.
The Gospel of John also speaks of man receiving God as his life and enjoyment. Hence, it says that the eternal God was incarnated so that He could become man’s life and enjoyment (1:1, 14; 6:35; 4:14). On the one hand, John says that God is like a vine (15:1), and on the other hand, John says that God is like rivers of living water (7:38).
At the end of the Bible the tree is with the river. Revelation 22:1-2 says, “A river of water of life, bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb in the middle of its street. And on this side and on that side of the river was the tree of life.” The tree of life will be enjoyed in eternity by all those who have been saved by the grace of God. The tree of life grows on both sides of the river of life as an eternal blessing to those who have been saved by grace. The central thought of the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, is the tree of life and the river of water of life.
The tree signifies Christ, the embodiment of God, coming to be man’s life. The river signifies the Spirit, the transfiguration of Christ, flowing into man as the water of life. God is embodied in Christ, and Christ has been transfigured into the Spirit (Col. 2:9; 1 Cor. 15:45). Now God is the tree of life to be man’s food, and He is the river of water of life for man to drink. The tree and the river are God in Christ as the Spirit to be our life supply.
The Christian life is not a matter of worshipping or serving God, or of doing good, but of eating Christ and drinking the Spirit in order to enjoy God. If we eat Christ, we will spontaneously live out Christ, and if we drink the Spirit, He will flow out of us. God is not focused on our worshipping or serving Him or on our doing good. His intention is for us to eat and drink Him. God is embodied in Christ and realized as the Spirit for man to eat and drink. Therefore, the Lord said to the hungry and thirsty people, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me shall by no means hunger, and he who believes into Me shall by no means ever thirst” (John 6:35). He is the tree of life and the bread of life, and the Spirit is the river of water of life. God wants us to eat and drink Him so that He may become our life, our nourishment, and our supply. He is our completion; without Him we cannot be complete in this life or in eternity. Only by eating, drinking, and gaining the Lord can we be blessed and made complete.
Now we come to the experiential aspect of eating Christ as the tree of life and drinking the Spirit as the water of life.
Man’s introduction to the tree of life began in Genesis 2. After God created Adam, He put him in the garden of Eden. There were many trees in the garden, but in the middle of the garden there was the tree of life. God wanted Adam to eat of the tree of life.
Even though Adam had the highest created life, it was still only a created life; he did not have the uncreated, eternal life of God. Therefore, God put him in front of the tree of life so that he would contact and receive God’s eternal life. The focus of the tree of life in Genesis 2 corresponds to the thought in the Gospel of John, which is that man would gain the life of God (1:4). Our first experience of the tree of life is regeneration, whereby we receive the life of God.
In Exodus 15 the children of Israel came to Marah, but they could not drink the water, because it was bitter. God showed Moses a tree to cast into the waters. Then the waters became sweet (vv. 22-25). This incident shows that in our journey through life the only way to be saved from bitterness, suffering, anguish, and misery is to cast the tree into the bitter waters, that is, to receive Christ into our bitter situations. Then we are healed from being bitter, and we become sweet and are able to rejoice and praise in our suffering.
Song of Songs 2:3 says that the Lord whom we pursue is as an apple tree. We can sit down in His shade to enjoy His covering, and we can taste of His fruit. This experience follows the experience at Marah. After we take the Lord into our sufferings, the Lord will change our bitterness into sweetness. The Lord will also become our enjoyment — He will cover us with His shade and supply us with His fruit so that we may have delight in His shade and sit down to enjoy the sweetness of His fruit.
John 15:1 says that the Lord is the vine. The emphasis of the vine is not our enjoyment of the Lord but our union with Him. We have become the branches of the vine; that is, we can experience an intimate union with the Lord. We were once without Christ, we were without hope in the world (Eph. 2:12), and our life was filled with pain. Then one day we received Christ, and our life became sweet. Now, when we seek Him, we can enjoy Him by sitting under His shade and tasting the sweetness of His fruit. Then we will enter into a life union with Him. He is the vine, and we are the branches. We have a life relationship with the Lord.
Revelation 22:2-19 reveals what the enjoyment of those who are saved by grace will be in eternity. In eternity the Lord will still be the tree of life for us to enjoy. We will enjoy this blessing for eternity. A person who does not enter into this blessing in this age will suffer eternal perdition. This blessing is the enjoyment of Christ as our food and supply for eternity.
Our experience of the water of life is related to drinking the Spirit. We did not make up the expression drink the Spirit. First Corinthians 12:13 says that we were all “given to drink one Spirit.” Verse 4 of chapter 10 says also, “All drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank of a spiritual rock which followed them, and the rock was Christ.” According to these verses, God’s people can drink the Spirit who flows forth from Christ. When we drink the Spirit, we will have the following experiences.
John 16:8 says, “When He [the Spirit] comes, He will convict the world concerning sin and concerning righteousness and concerning judgment.” Our experience upon drinking the Spirit is to see our sinful condition. Feeling sinful and being convicted of sin are proof that the Spirit has entered a person and is working within him. Believers often ask how to be filled with the Spirit. Being filled with the Spirit is not a matter of feeling excitement but of letting the Spirit search us and dig out our sins and shortcomings. If we are willing to receive His shining and to confess and deal with our sins one by one, the Spirit will be able to fill us.
Stanza 3 of Hymns, #250 says, “I will dig by praying, / Dig the dirt entirely, / Thus release the Spirit, / Let the stream flow freely.” The dirt in us is sin. As soon as we are saved, the Spirit indwells us; however, He cannot fill us, because we are still full of sin. This can be likened to a glass that cannot be filled with water because it is filled with dirt. The dirt must be emptied out before water can be poured in. The amount of dirt that is removed is the amount of water that can be poured into the glass. Water can fill the glass only when the dirt has been removed. We should ask ourselves whether we have ever thoroughly confessed our sins to the Lord even once.
It was eight years after my salvation that I had a thorough confession of my sins. In 1925 I repented and was saved. I knew that the Holy Spirit lived in me. However, it was not until 1933 that I began to confess my sins daily to the Lord. During that time, when I prayed, I cared for nothing other than confessing my sins. The more I confessed, the more there was to confess. I spent several days and nights confessing my sins until I sensed that I was free from the heavy burden of sin and was assured, refreshed, and uplifted in my spirit. I began to mount up with wings like eagles (Isa. 40:31); I was full of joy within and could not stop singing and praising. That was an experience of being filled with the Spirit.
There are believers who have been saved for many years but have not had a thorough confession of their sins. It is not that the Spirit does not visit them or shine on them but that they have refused to confess their sins. As a result, they are clogged by the dirt of sin.
I have spent a substantial amount of time before the Lord to consider the condition of the saints. Many saints, experientially speaking, are deadened in their spirit. Merely preaching doctrine is futile to these saints. They must be led to “dig wells.” It is not a matter of receiving the Spirit or of the Spirit coming upon them. These saints are closed; their soul is like a fortress, even though they appear to be without sins or problems. Such a condition makes it difficult for the Spirit to flow; thus, they need a thorough digging.
The river of water of life has flowed into us, but it cannot flow through us because we are closed, clogged, and unwilling to open and confess our sins. It is not that we do not have the sense of sin but that we refuse to confess our sins. If we are willing to confess a sin when the Lord shines on it, He will shine on something else for us to confess. If we confess this, He will shine on another item. This can be likened to a house that has not been cleaned for many years. Before it is cleaned, we may not see the dirt, but once we begin to clean it, we discover the filth that is everywhere. The house will look like new only after a thorough cleaning, that is, after all the filth is cleared away. This is the type of cleaning that we need.
Even though some of the saints are in their teens, they have accumulated sins. They profess that the Lord Jesus is their Savior, and they believe that He bore their sins on the cross, but they have never spent time to thoroughly confess their sins. Therefore, they are not living, and they have pushed the Spirit into a small corner so that He cannot move within them. The Spirit has no ground to reign in them. They initially drank the living waters for their salvation, but this water has not become in them a fountain flowing forth as rivers of living water (John 4:14; 7:38). Therefore, even though the Spirit is within them, they are poor and dry because the Spirit does not flow out as rivers of living water.
In order for the Spirit to flow out as rivers of living water, we must have a thorough confession of our sins. There is no other way. The Spirit is waiting for us to confess our sins. It might be that He has been shining on our sins for more than three years, but instead of cooperating with Him, we refuse to confess our sins. When the Spirit comes to us and we sense our sins, we should confess them immediately. This is the work of the Spirit (16:8). We should say, “Lord, forgive me.” If we receive more shining, we should continue to confess until we are filled with the Spirit. This is the kind of digging spoken of in Hymns, #250.
The brothers and sisters who pray in a released way in the meetings are like unclogged passages for the Spirit. Other brothers and sisters, who pray faintly, are like smoking flax. These saints either do not pray often, or they are clogged because they have not confessed their sins in a long time.
If I were in a gathering where some saints prayed faintly, I would immediately pray, “Lord, dig in us; dig away our sins. Empty us; empty our filth.” I would also fellowship with them, saying, “Brothers, if we have the Spirit’s shining and a sense of condemnation, we need to confess our sins. We should confess whatever the Spirit shines on. We need to be cleansed of our sins. We must not confess in a general or vague manner but confess our sins item by item, just like settling an account. We should confess not only sinful words and deeds but also our sinful intentions and motives. We should confess until we realize that there is nothing good in us and that there is nothing good in our dealings with our parents, siblings, teachers, schoolmates, and especially with the Lord. We should confess our sins until we are ashamed, remorseful, sense our hopelessness, and see that our only recourse is to deliver ourselves to the Spirit. Then the Spirit can gain the ground to fill us and be poured out upon us. Furthermore, we will taste the rivers of living water and know what it is to drink of the Spirit.”
When we drink the Spirit, He also causes us to exalt and glorify the Lord Jesus, that is, to praise and worship Him. John 16:14 says, “He [the Spirit] will glorify Me, for He will receive of Mine and will declare it to you.”
When the Spirit works, we first sense the need to confess our sins. We should not think that everything is fine as long as we give the Lord Jesus glory and praise. We should call upon the Lord Jesus when we sense our sins. We must confess our sins until we no longer sense our sinfulness and are at peace. Then the Spirit will spontaneously lead us to offer praises to the Lord.
There is a Christian group that first leads a person to thoroughly confess his sins and then leads him to praise the Lord. Although this is not so accurate doctrinally, it is correct experientially. Those who have confessed their sins have an open heart and can immediately praise the Lord. When we praise Jesus the Lord, we experience the pouring out of the Spirit.
May we all have prayers of thorough confession. We should confess at night and in the morning until we are refreshed and unclogged, that is, until we no longer have any burdens, coverings, or blockages. Then we will see that the Lord Jesus is lovely, glorious, and worthy of our honor, praise, and worship. Not only so, the Spirit will be poured out upon us and will fill us; we will drink the Spirit richly and be saturated with the Spirit. Then rivers of living water will flow and overflow from within us to supply all those in need. This is the experience of the river. May the Lord lead us to have such experiences.
