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Even though we know that the Bible is a book of life and that Christ is life, to some extent we are still short of the revelation of life.
Why is it that the Bible begins and ends with the tree of life? After creating man, God put him in a garden in which was the tree of life. From this picture it is clear that the man created in God’s own image did not have the life signified by that tree. We can also see that it was God’s intention for man to have that life rather than only his human life.
There are several kinds of life mentioned in the Bible. Besides the divine life and the human life, there are also the animal life and the plant life. God’s life is the highest, and the plant life is the lowest. Further, within us as human beings there are three kinds of life. The physical life is called bios (Gk.); the psychological life, psuche; and the divine, eternal life, zoe. God created us with the bios life for our body and the psuche life for our soul. When a person dies, it is the bios that ceases; the psuche lives on.
God did not put the divine life into man when he was created. Rather, He gave man a free will in order that he might choose the divine life, symbolized by the tree of life. As we know, man did not so choose.
Then the Lord Jesus came. In the Gospel of John He is described as the Word and as God, and then we are told, “In Him was life” (1:1, 4). I used to wonder what the tree of life was. I was familiar with lots of different trees, but the tree of life I did not know. In time I came to realize that the tree of life is the Lord Jesus. John 1 mentions life but not the tree. But when you come to John 15, there is the tree. It is a vine tree. A grapevine is not useful in providing lumber for building, nor is it good for burning. It is only good for life. By bringing John 1 and John 15 together, we have the tree of life, the Lord Jesus Himself. He said, “I am...the life...I have come that they may have life and may have it abundantly” (14:6; 10:10). He also told us that He is the bread of life (6:35) and has the water of life (4:14). The bread of life is good for eating, the water of life for drinking.
Christ is also called the Author of life (Acts 3:15). The word translated “Author” could also be translated “Originator” or “Prince.” However we translate it, it indicates that life pertains to Him.
In the Epistles there is the Spirit of life (Rom. 8:2), the word of life (Phil. 2:16), and Christ our life (Col. 3:4).
From all these verses we can see that life is a person, not a condition. Suppose in a meeting people are jumping up and shouting. Would this be an indication that they are full of life? If so, there is more life at a ball game because more shouting and jumping go on there. Jumping is not life, though life may jump. Jumping is a condition; life is a person, Christ our life.
At the end of the Bible the first promise to the overcomers is, “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). Here the tree of life comes into view again. Then the picture in the last chapter includes the tree of life. In the holy city there is a river flowing out of the throne of God; on either side of the banks of the river is the tree of life. I used to wonder how a tree could grow on two banks, but once I realized that this tree is a vine, I could see how it would spread to both sides. This tree grows in the water of life. When you get into the water, you get the tree. Thus, the last invitation in the Bible is, “Let him who is thirsty come; let him who wills take the water of life freely” (22:17). The one who takes the water of life will surely have the tree of life also, because the tree is included in the water. There is the implication that it grows in the water of life.
Though many of us have heard about the matter of life in the Bible, we nonetheless do not see it adequately. Let me illustrate.
Suppose I go home and knock at the door for my wife to let me in. When she does not open it fast enough to suit me, I knock again hard. Then the door opens, and she says, “Why do you have to bang on the door?” I reply, “What takes you so long to get here and open it?” Then I go in and sit down to eat the dinner she has prepared for me. While I am eating, I am regretting, thinking how poor I am. I told others to live Christ and to walk in life, yet look how I behaved. The food is sweet, but the feeling is bitter. I must apologize, confess to my wife, and ask for forgiveness. I am reluctant, because after so much teaching of others to walk in life, I do not have the face to admit my shortcoming. Nevertheless, I do make confession and then add, “I hope from now on I will never behave that way again.”
Do you think my word never to “behave that way again” is right or wrong? To express that kind of wish shows that I am short of the revelation of life. It indicates that I am still trying to improve my behavior, that I am not taking Christ as life, and that I do not have the real intention to take Him as my life.
We need revelation to see that God is not concerned about how we behave. Whether you hate your wife or love her, whether you are proud or humble, are not what matters. God wants you to take Him as your life.
Notice that when God created Adam and placed him in a garden before a tree, He did not command Adam to worship Him, to love his wife and be a good husband, or to behave nicely and be a good father to the children they would have. If we were God, we would no doubt have given Adam many such exhortations. We would have also added some negative commands — that Adam must not be hateful or be proud or kill his wife or smite his children. Our Genesis 2 would have been much longer!
God’s only command to Adam was regarding eating. If Adam ate of the wrong tree, death would be the result; if he ate of the right tree, life — the eternal, divine life — would be his. What we eat becomes part of us. The food we eat is assimilated to become our very being. We are composed of the chickens, cows, and other foods we have eaten. In that garden stood the tree of life, signifying the Prince, Originator, Author of life, Jesus Christ, the very God, as our life. Had Adam taken of that tree, he surely would have taken God into him; God would have been in him. This very thought is in the New Testament, in the Gospel of John, when the Lord Jesus said that He would be in us and we in Him (14:20). How is He to be in us? We must receive Him, as signified by eating and drinking. He is the bread of life (6:35). “He who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me” (v. 57). He is also the One who has the water of life. “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). The Lord Jesus likened our receiving Him to eating and drinking. When we eat and drink, something is taken into us.
When we come to the Bible, however, we miss this concept that God desires to come into us to be our life. Genesis 2 clearly implies this. But we pass over this concept and pay attention to what the Scripture says about love, submission, kindness, or humility. In effect, we each have our own version of the Bible. Brother Nee once told us that everyone’s Bible is according to himself. Though there is only one Bible, in the hands of Christians it becomes many. Our Bible reflects us; it says what we want it to say. If we are slow, when we read the Bible, we overlook the portions that mention being quick. If we are husbands, we overlook the verse about husbands loving their wives and pay attention to, “Wives, be subject to your own husbands as to the Lord” (Eph. 5:22). The wives, for their part, slight the verses on submission and notice the verse that says, “Husbands, love your wives” (v. 25). Throughout the whole Bible runs the theme of life. But because we do not have this concept in us, we do not notice it. Instead of reading something from the Bible into us, we read into the Bible what is already in us. That is why we find submission, love, humility, and kindness there. That is why we see good behavior and correction in its pages.
We need a revelation of life. Then we will realize that whether we love or hate, it is still from ourselves. In a way, love is worse, because then we expose ourselves; when we hate, we try to hide it. The same is true with humility and pride. It makes no difference whether we are proud or humble. God wants us to live Christ, not humility or pride. I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I, but Christ who lives in me. This is God’s desire and intention.
If I see this, I will speak to my wife differently after I lose my temper with her for not opening the door fast enough. Rather than promise not to behave that poorly again, I will say, “Dear, I feel ashamed. I did not live Christ. Pray for me, that I may have the grace, in things great and small, to live Him. Whether I am humble or proud before you, there is no Christ. Pray for me. I do look to Him that I may live Him in every situation.” This is what God wants. By living Christ the tree of life gets into us.
In the early days of my Christian life I repented many times for my sins, weaknesses, and failures. Now, however, most of my repentance is for being short of Christ. A number of times after I have been with the brothers and treated them in a courteous, humble way, I have gone to the Lord to repent: “Lord, forgive me. I was humble, but I was short of You. The brothers appreciated me and thought I was nice, but I did not minister any Christ to them. Forgive me, Lord, that I did not live You.”
Have you ever repented that you are short of Christ? You love others, but there is no Christ. You behave properly, but there is no Christ. You may have repented for not honoring your parents or for other wrongdoing, but you need a higher repentance. You need to repent of your goodness or of the humility you have practiced outside of Christ. You may have been born humble. You live out your humility, but you have not lived out Christ; you are short of Him.
The church life is not a life of good behavior. The church is the Body of Christ, not the body of love, humility, or patience. Because we are His Body, what we are must be Christ. My physical body expresses only me. The Body of Christ must express only Him. The love in the church must be Christ. The same is true of every other virtue.
To see this is to have a revelation of life. This vision will make you hate your love. You will reject your patience. You will condemn your humility. This is not to say that you will be hateful, impatient, and proud. No, it means that you will live only Christ. You will not know love or patience or anything else. You will know only Christ and the church. Once you have seen life, you will hate what is good but not life. Many men love their wives, but it is not Christ who is the love. Our love must be Christ.
If you are truly seeking after the Lord, the day will come when you will see that what God desires is not your doing, your behavior, or your virtues, but Christ. Christ is to be your living, your daily walk, your everything.
One day, after I had been saved a number of years, Brother Nee asked me, “What is patience?” I did not know how to answer. Finally, he said, “Patience is Christ.” Patience is Christ. It sounded like a foreign language. I knew what patience was, but I did not know how to answer his question. Then when he said that patience is Christ, I could not understand. I was not educated that way.
In these years, however, since 1962, I have ministered along this line many times. I have learned that many in the churches do not have this revelation. They may have some knowledge about it, but knowledge does not affect you. As Proverbs 29:18 says, “Where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint.” A vision controls, but knowledge does not. It is not enough to know that Christ is life. You need to see this as a vision that governs your life.
When I was young, I heard it said that Christ is the bread of life. At that time I did have Christ within. I remember wondering: if He is the bread of life, how do I eat Him? But nobody told me. Then several years later a renowned traveling preacher came to town and gave a message on John 10:10. I remember the subject well, on how Christ came that we may have life and may have it abundantly. But I was left with no impression as to how to take Him as life.
Even our physical life is mysterious, not to mention taking Christ as life. Though I am obviously alive and full of life, my life itself cannot be seen or touched. This is even more true of Christ. He is invisible, yet real. He is concrete, yet abstract. He is present with us, yet mysterious. If He is the bread of life, how do we eat Him? If He has the water of life, how do we drink it?
We need to realize that Christ is nothing less than God Himself. Do not think that besides Christ there is God. Christ is God. This is beyond our understanding, but do not be bothered by the teaching regarding the Trinity. The Bible clearly says that Christ is God (John 1:1; Rom. 9:5). Christ is also the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17; 1 Cor. 6:17). Furthermore, He is the Word (John 1:14). For us to take Christ as our life, we must realize that Christ is mysterious, that He is God, that He is the Spirit, and that He is the Word.
In the Scriptures we have the terms tree of life, bread of life, water of life, Spirit of life, and word of life. Why are so many terms needed to describe Christ as life? It is to help us understand this abstract, mysterious One. The tree of life indicates the source of life; the bread of life, that this life is edible; the water of life, that it is drinkable; the Spirit of life, that life is just the Spirit of God; and the word of life, where that life is to be found.
To find this invisible One who is the Spirit, we have a book called the Bible, the Word of God. The Bible itself is not Christ or the Spirit, but the word of the Bible is the Spirit and is Christ and is God. We say this because in our experience when we touch the Word, we touch the Spirit, Christ, and God. To find Christ we cannot go to the heavens. If we say that He is in our spirit, others will say that they cannot get into our spirit to see Him. But we can find Him in the Word. If we are asked where Christ is, we can reply that He is in John 1:1-18. We can tell the inquirer that if he will read these verses over and over and open himself, he will find Christ. Try preaching the gospel in this way.
For ourselves we can testify that Christ is not only in John 1 but in every chapter of the Bible. This One 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). Every word that proceeds out through the mouth of God conveys Christ. Christ is the real living Word out of the mouth of God.
Every morning we need to have two breakfasts. I do not need to exhort you to have your physical breakfast, but I surely would encourage you to set aside time first thing in the morning to have your spiritual breakfast by reading the Word.
You may say that you are too busy, that you go to school or to work too early, that you have young children, or that you have to get your husband off to work. These are just excuses. The more you excuse yourself, the more excuses you have. For many years I would go into my study in the morning and find on my desk a pile of letters or manuscripts or other things requiring my attention. It was a temptation to take care of the work. Now, however, by His mercy and grace I have learned to ignore the work on my desk and first turn to the Word.
Take ten minutes to eat a few verses. Do not eat too much. Do not read the Bible in a haphazard way. Ask the Lord what book you should read. If it is Romans, read it through consecutively, a few verses a day. Do not skip over what does not appeal to you. You may not like the last part of chapter 1, but read it anyway. It will preserve and inoculate you. After you have gone through Romans, the Lord may constrain you to read through 1 Corinthians. Before too long you will find that there is a difference in your life. Because Christ is in the Word, when you take in the Word, you are taking Him in. This rich nourishment will make you grow.
Nothing can compare with the riches in the Bible. I appreciate the Life-study messages, but not one is as rich as the Bible. The writings of Confucius are good in ethics, but they lack the riches of life found in the Bible. However many times I reread its pages, there is always something new. It is an inexhaustible book. Just one word can help you in a general way, in a negative way, and in a positive way. I have had this book in my hand for over fifty years, and scarcely a day has gone by when I have not read it. I have never gotten tired or bored with it. The more you read it, the better. Nothing will nourish, strengthen, comfort, and edify you like the Bible.
Every morning, then, have a good spiritual breakfast. Then at noon take another five to ten minutes to turn to the Word. In the evening spend a little more time to read two or three chapters. You will never regret doing this. It is the way to eat Christ.
Besides being the Word for you to eat, Christ is also the Spirit for you to drink. To drink, spiritually speaking, is to breathe. To breathe is to pray. By praying you breathe. By breathing you drink. Mingle your reading of the Bible, then, with praying. In your ten minutes in the morning, read your verses, then reread them with prayer. There is no need to compose a prayer. Simply pray the words of the verses. Repeat them as your prayer. Use the text of the Bible as your prayer book. If you are reading in John 1, you can say, “In the beginning. Thank You, Lord, You were there in the beginning. In the beginning was the Word. Lord, You were the Word and You were in the beginning.” By pray-reading in this way you will be eating and drinking. To eat without drinking is dry. Our reading needs to be mingled with our praying. After you pray and read, read and pray, you will be full of food and water. You will have taken in Christ Himself.
It may have been your former practice to seek the Lord’s will, to find out what is right or wrong, and what you should or should not do. Do not follow that way any longer. Simply keep your whole being turned to Christ. Do not ask, “Lord, should I stay here or go?” or “Lord, what shall I speak?” Pray rather in a simple way, “Lord, are You staying here, or are You leaving? Lord, are You going to speak? I am not interested in whether this is right or wrong, whether I should speak or not speak. I only want to know, is this You?” If your wife offends you, check with the Lord: “Lord, I am annoyed with my wife. Are You mad at her too?” The Lord will say, “No, I am not annoyed with her.” Since the Lord is not annoyed, there is nothing for you to do.
Learn not to do anything without the Lord. Do everything with Him. In God’s economy it is not a matter of what to do and what not to do. The question is, who is doing it, you or He? Even when it comes to loving others, your love is not acceptable to God. It must be Christ who loves. Whatever you are doing, keep checking with the Lord: “Lord, is this You or me?” Do not be concerned about the world, Satan, your sins, your weaknesses, and your mistakes. Keep your whole attention centered on Christ: “Lord, apart from You I would not do anything. I would not even say a word to my wife. I would not hate people; neither would I love them. I would do nothing without You. Apart from You I am jobless; I have no life to live; I am through.”
We have tried other ways. We read and practiced what Christian books advocated as the way to victory or holiness. The books were of little help; the ways did not work well. Eventually, we found out that Christ is the only way that really works. When you do everything in Him and with Him, the flesh, sin, and worldliness will flee away.
“Lord, grant me the grace that day by day this matter of doing everything with You may not be a mere teaching. I want it to be my moment-by-moment practice. All day long I would not live apart from You. I want to do everything with You and in You.” If you will practice this daily and hourly, you will find that Christ will be your life practically. Apart from Him we can do nothing (John 15:5), but we can do all things in Him who empowers us (Phil. 4:13). This is the Christian life.
