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In the opening chapters of the Bible the tree of life is presented to us. When we come to its closing chapters, again there is this tree. Why does it still prevail after so many pages, so much history, and so many centuries?
God had an eternal plan. For this purpose He created the heavens and the earth and countless other things. Then He formed a creature that differed from the animals, the plants, and the hosts of heaven. If you looked at him, there would be something about him that reminded you of God.
This man was placed in a garden planted especially for him. Of all the trees growing there, only two are mentioned by name. For many, many years this picture of man and two trees in a garden puzzled me. Why did the Lord God’s first recorded word to His creature concern the matter of eating from these trees? “Of every tree of the garden you may eat freely, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, of it you shall not eat; for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Gen. 2:16-17).
If I had been God, I would surely have talked to Adam about my purpose. I would have told him that since I was his creator, he should worship me morning, noon, and evening. I would have taught him some melodies with which to praise me. Then I would have told him about the wife I would make for him, his counterpart. He would need to love her, and she would need to submit to him, in order that they might be a good example to all the future human couples. I would have told him about the generations to be born and the communities that would be raised up. For all these relationships he would need to develop a good character and show kindness, humility, and patience. But these opening chapters of Genesis are void of any such explanations and exhortations.
Very gradually over these past fifty years I have come to understand the meaning of this simple picture of man and two trees in a garden. The first crucial point is that man was not created independent. Because he had to eat, he was dependent upon others. If God had created Adam with a self-sustaining, unending life, he would not have needed to eat. But man could not live by himself in an isolated way, because he was designed to need food. He was destined to be dependent.
The two trees represent two ways for man to turn to have his need met. The tree of life represents God. The other tree signifies Satan. God’s supply is simple — life. Satan’s supply is complicated — the knowledge of good and evil.
Notice that good does not belong to the category of life. Good pertains to knowledge, just as evil does. Both belong to Satan and issue in death. If you do not depend upon God, you are depending upon that second source. Do not think that you can depend upon knowledge or upon what is good. If you are not depending upon God, your trust is in something that has Satan as its source. However much you struggle to be independent, you are waging a losing battle against your destiny.
If you depend upon God, the issue is life; if Satan, it is death. The second crucial point, then, is that we have only God and Satan to choose between for the source of our supply.
I have already commented on how different God’s approach to Adam was from what mine would have been. God showed no interest in telling him what to do or how to behave. It is the human concept of religion that promotes doing — worship, good behavior, proper relationships with others. Religion presents man with a long list of dos and don’ts.
God’s concern for man was that he choose the right food. All would go well as long as he ate properly. Death would result if he chose the wrong food. This concern implied that man could take God in as his life. Man was not given the divine life when he was created; rather, he was given a free will to choose that life, symbolized by the tree of life.
I used to wonder what the tree of life was. Peach and apple trees I knew, and pear trees I was familiar with, but what was the life tree? Eventually, I found some clues in the writings of John. At the end of Revelation the tree of life reappears: “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” (22:2). Does it puzzle you that a tree could grow on both banks of a river? Surely this tree is a vine, spreading along the banks.
We know who the true vine is from John 15:1. This is the very One who said, “I am...the life” (14:6) and “I have come that they may have life and may have it abundantly” (10:10). The Lord Jesus Himself is surely the tree of life.
The tree of life declares that God offers Himself to man in an edible form. The Lord Jesus brought this same message to man about Himself.
“I am the bread of life...This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, that anyone may eat of it and not die” (6:48, 50). Earlier in this chapter the Lord had miraculously fed the five thousand. The crowd then decided that they would forcibly make Him King. He slipped away and the next day came back and talked with them, not about reigning and lording it over them but about being a loaf of bread for them to eat and thus receive eternal life. Rather than externally control them, He wanted to be received into them and to become part of them.
When Peter was preaching, he told the Israelites that they had killed the “Author of life” (Acts 3:15). The word translated “Author” could also be rendered “Inaugurator,” “Prince,” or “Pioneer.” However it is translated, we can surely infer that life has its source in Him.
John 1:4 tells us that “in Him was life.” Not only was this the case; He Himself was life (14:6) and came to bring us life (10:10). Furthermore, Paul describes Him as “Christ our life” (Col. 3:4). Life, then, is this person.
Here is the first promise given to the overcomers: “To him who overcomes, to him I will give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God” (Rev. 2:7). The tree of life is here again offered to man. Due to the fall the tree of life was closed to him. Through the redemption of Christ, the way to touch the tree of life has been reopened (Heb. 10:19-20).
In the last chapter of Revelation there is the description of the tree of life growing on the two sides of the river (22:2). Because this tree grows in the river of water of life, the tree is no doubt included in the final invitation to man: “Let him who is thirsty come; let him who wills take the water of life freely” (v. 17). By taking the water of life, surely you will get the tree of life growing in it.
From verse 14 we can see that the believers who wash their robes have the right to enjoy the tree of life as their eternal portion in the holy city.
Finally, in verse 19 a solemn warning is given that anyone who takes away from the prophecy will lose his part in the tree of life and in the holy city. From these verses we may infer that the tree of life is one of the outstanding features of the eternal blessing.
Do not lose sight of God’s intention for man as represented by this tree: God wants you to take Him as your life. By eating of this tree, man would have the divine life. What you eat is taken into you and becomes part of you. The tree of life signifies the Author, the Originator, the Prince, of life — Jesus Christ, God Himself, as our life.
The symbolism in Genesis of the tree of life finds its explanation and fulfillment in the Gospel of John. As Adam was offered the divine life if he would eat of the tree of life, so also, when Christ came, man was presented with God’s life and told that it could be received by eating. It was to make this point that the Lord Jesus in chapter 6 talked so much about Himself as “the true bread out of heaven” (v. 32). He 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...For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes into Him should have eternal life...I am the living bread which came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he shall live forever...He who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me” (vv. 35, 40, 51, 57). It is so clear that the way the Lord is to be received is by eating.
In the very next chapter He spoke further of Himself as the One who is drinkable as well as edible: “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” (7:37-38).
When I was still a child, I heard that Christ is the bread of life. I recall wondering even back then how to eat Him, but no one gave me even a hint. Then when I was about twenty, a renowned traveling preacher came to town. I still remember the message he gave on John 10:10 about the more abundant life. But he left me with no impression of how I could have such a life.
Christ is invisible, abstract, and mysterious. Even our physical life is mysterious and invisible. There is ample evidence that we are alive, but the life itself cannot be seen. Christ may be present with us and be in us, but we cannot see Him or touch Him in a physical way.
We need to be clear, furthermore, that this mysterious One is nothing other than God Himself. Do not think that besides Christ, there is God. Christ is God. Romans 9:5 describes Him as “the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever.” Christ is also the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17) and the Word (John 1:14).
The many terms used to describe Christ help us to understand how we can take Him as our life. He is the tree of life, the bread of life, the water of life, the Spirit of life (Rom. 8:2), and the word of life (Phil. 2:16). The tree of life indicates the source. The bread of life indicates that this life is edible, and the water of life indicates that it is drinkable. The Spirit of life refers to the Spirit of God, and the word of life reminds us that this life can be found in the Bible, the Word of God.
Surely we can all testify that when we touch the word of the Bible in spirit, we find Christ. Wherever we turn in the Bible, Christ is there. This Christ in the word is our food. “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out through the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4). To live on the words that proceed from God’s mouth is to live by Christ, for He is the living Word out of the mouth of God.
Be sure you have a good spiritual breakfast every morning by prayerfully reading this book. You must put this ahead of every other duty or demand on your time. The way to eat Christ is to open to receive Him in His Word. Do this several times a day. You will be nourished, strengthened, comforted, and built up. The Bible is an inexhaustible mine of riches. The more you read it, the more you will value it.
How do we enjoy Christ as the water of life? He is not only the Word for us to eat but also the Spirit for us to drink. Spiritual drinking or breathing is praying. Mingle your reading of the Bible with prayer. Instead of making up prayers, repeat the words of the Scripture you read as your prayer. As you make pray-reading the Word your habit, you will be full of both food and water.
In times past you may have tried to find out the Lord’s will for your life. You may have been concerned to distinguish between right and wrong. You may have spent time praying about what you should do and should not do. Dear ones, drop this kind of attitude. It is in the realm of the Old Testament commandments.
Turn from that way to pay your full attention to Christ. If you are going to speak, do not ask, “Lord, is it Your will that I speak? Lord, what should I say?” Rather, pray in a simple way, “Lord, are You going to speak? I do not care for right and wrong, for speaking or not speaking. I only care that it is You who are speaking.” If you are at an end regarding your wife, pray, “Lord, I am getting mad at my wife. Are You mad at her too?” He will not be; thus, the door will be closed on your anger.
Learn not to do anything without the Lord. Do everything with Him. In God’s economy it is not a question of what to do and what not to do. The vital question is, who does it — you or He? Even love, if it springs from you, is not acceptable to God. Whether it is love or hate, it must be Christ who is loving or hating.
Why does the tree of life still appear in the closing book of the Bible? God wants to remind us that His intention for man will surely be realized. Man’s disobedience caused only a temporary interruption. God’s unchanging desire is to be received into His creature as food that the two may be one. His thought was not that man might behave decently and honor Him as the Creator with suitable worship. No! The tree was there declaring, “Here is God’s life. Take this life into you and live by it.”
When Christ came, once again God was presenting Himself to man in an edible form. “He who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me” (John 6:57). What we eat is assimilated by our bodies and becomes part of us. In a similar way, by receiving God’s life into us, He becomes us and we become His expression.
We partake of the tree of life when we open to receive Christ in His Word. He will be our food and drink even in the New Jerusalem.
