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In order for man to receive His life, God put man in front of the tree of life, but He wanted man to choose freely. God put man in the garden of Eden in front of the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 2:8-9). This indicates that God gave man a free will. A soda bottle cannot choose, because it does not have preferences, inclinations, or thoughts. However, the man that God created for Himself is living and has a will, preferences, inclinations, and thoughts. God wants to put His life into man, but He cannot disregard man’s consent and force-feed man like a mother who forces a child to receive medicine. If God forced His life into man, man would consider God to be barbaric, uncivilized, and unpleasant. Instead, God is noble; He does not like to force man. He gave man the freedom to choose. If man has a regard for God, man can choose God. Otherwise, God will let man be.
The matter of free will is a great subject in Christian theology. God has a will, Satan has a will, and man has a will. Therefore, there are three wills in the universe, each of which is free. No one can force God, and no one can force Satan. In the same way, man has a free will. God does not force man; only the evil one, Satan, forces man to do things. Those who are upright do not force others; only evil men force others. Sometimes, evil men, such as bandits and robbers, will also tempt, deceive, seduce, and ensnare. In order to gain man, Satan either forces or ensnares man. However, our God is too great and too noble. He respects man and never forces or ensnares man. God presents man with what He wants to do so that man may choose; then He accepts man’s choice. After God created man, He put man in front of the tree of life because He wanted man to be free to choose.
Given the freedom to choose, man was presented with two opportunities. One opportunity was the tree of life, which signifies God Himself. To choose the tree of life is to choose God, to contact the tree of life is to contact God, and to receive the tree of life is to receive God. Man also had an opportunity to choose the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which signifies Satan.
The tree of life signifies God, because the Bible repeatedly says that God is life (John 1:4; 11:25; 1 John 5:20). But how can we say that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil signifies Satan? The tree of life involves only life. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil, however, is more complicated because it involves knowledge, good, and evil. Knowledge, good, and evil include everything that man contacts in the universe that is apart from God. Hence, in the universe man can contact either God or knowledge, good, and evil. Thus, knowledge, good, and evil refer to everything other than God, and Satan is the center and totality of these three items. If we are contacting something other than God Himself, it belongs to either knowledge, good, or evil. Everything that man contacts or encounters on the earth encompasses either God or knowledge, good, and evil. The things related to mankind are good if they are somewhat noble, evil if they are somewhat base, and knowledge if they involve wisdom. Man’s life on earth involves worshipping, contacting, and gaining either God or knowledge, good, and evil.
To contact life is to contact God, because the ultimate destination of life is God. Similarly, to contact knowledge, good, or evil is to contact Satan, for Satan is the manipulator behind knowledge, good, and evil. The issue of contacting life is that man receives life, but the issue of contacting knowledge, good, and evil is that man receives death. The ultimate issue of everything outside of God, whether it is good or bad, is death. People think that good is different from evil. But the Bible reveals that both evil and good are not life and are outside of life. Furthermore, people, especially those in the twentieth century, regard knowledge as if it were indispensable. The twentieth century can be called the century of knowledge, the age of knowledge. However, we must remember that the issue of knowledge is death, the issue of good is death, and the issue of evil is death. These three items seem different in nature, but they lead to the same destination and result in death.
May we be enlightened to see that as long as something is outside of God, whether it is knowledge, good, or evil, it is not God; rather, it is death. Some people may think that only evil is death and that only evildoers belong to death. They do not consider doing good to be death, nor do they consider studying knowledge or developing the mind to also be death. The Bible reveals that only God is life; everything outside of God, whether it is knowledge, good, or evil, is death. Knowledge, good, and evil do not represent Satan directly; they represent everything outside of God, the ultimate destination of which is Satan.
Everything outside of God is related to Satan. One day the Lord said that He must go to Jerusalem and be killed. Peter, who loved the Lord, took the Lord aside and rebuked Him, saying, “God be merciful to You, Lord! This shall by no means happen to You!” But the Lord immediately rebuked Peter, saying, “Get behind Me, Satan!” (Matt. 16:21-23). Even Peter, who loved the Lord, was called Satan. I hope that we would see the light revealed here. The tree of life is God, because only God is life. Everything outside of God is death, Satan. Our hatred is Satan, and our love may also be Satan. Whether our love is Satan depends on whether our love comes from God, because only God is not Satan. People think that to do evil is satanic, but to do good is angelic. This, however, is not the case. A good deed that is not of God is of Satan.
God has enlightened us to see these two trees. Moreover, these two trees represent everything in the universe. One tree represents God, and the other tree represents everything outside of God. Only God is life. Anything outside of God, whatever it may be, is death; it is Satan. Even the words of the Bible can bring man into death if the Spirit is not in them. Only God is life, because only God is Spirit (John 4:24). Only the Spirit can cause man to gain God in order to enliven man (2 Cor. 3:6). Everything outside of God is related to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the totality of which is Satan and the ultimate end of which is death.
From Genesis 3 to the end of Revelation, the Bible mainly speaks of Satan indirectly through his deeds and hidden activities in persons, matters, and things. Even in Genesis 3 the name Satan is not mentioned; rather, there is mention of a serpent, which is Satan. If someone says that Satan is in Genesis 3, he is being too rigid. We must take a more indirect way and say that there is a serpent in Genesis 3, that Satan was hidden in this serpent, and that the serpent was the embodiment of Satan. Satan was in the serpent; therefore, the serpent was Satan.
Isaiah 14:12-15 says, “How you have fallen from heaven, / O Daystar, son of the dawn! / How you have been hewn down to earth, / You who made nations fall prostrate! / But you, you said in your heart: / I will ascend to heaven; / Above the stars of God / I will exalt my throne. / And I will sit upon the mount of assembly / In the uttermost parts of the north. / I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; / I will make myself like the Most High. / But you will be brought down to Sheol, / To the uttermost parts of the pit.” Bible scholars acknowledge that these verses refer to Satan. On the surface these verses are about the king of Babylon, but Satan was hidden in the king of Babylon.
In the same principle, Ezekiel 28:12-17 says, “Take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre, and say to him, Thus says the Lord Jehovah, O you who sealed up perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty, you were in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone was your covering...The workmanship of your tambourines and your pipes was prepared with you on the day that you were created. You were the anointed cherub who covered the Ark; indeed I set you, so that you were upon the holy mountain of God; you walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. You were perfect in your ways from the day that you were created, until unrighteousness was found in you. By the abundance of your trading they filled your midst with violence, and you sinned. So I cast you out as profane from the mountain of God, and I destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom by reason of your brightness. I cast you to the ground; I presented you before kings that they may look at you.” This portion does not speak explicitly of Satan but of the king of Tyre. However, Satan was hidden in the king of Tyre.
When Peter rebuked the Lord in Matthew 16, he was not being evil but good; however, Satan was hidden even in Peter’s good. In John 13 Judas was also Satan (vv. 21-27). In Revelation Antichrist is Satan (13:1-8). This is a principle: Satan is hidden in persons, matters, and things.
Sometimes when the brothers and sisters are speaking, I am clear that they are brothers and sisters on the outside but Satan on the inside. They are children of God, but they are Satan on the inside; their words make them oracles of Satan. Satan often speaks from within our friends, relatives, spouses, parents, and children. He is not only in persons but also in things. Some things may be an embodiment of Satan, because he hides in and behind them. He has a cunning plan to disguise and embody himself in many things. This is another principle of Satan.
In Genesis 3 Satan was embodied in a serpent. The serpent was originally pleasant to the eye, being delicate in shape and having a beautiful pattern. It became hideous later because of the curse. The serpent may have climbed up the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and coiled itself around it in order to get Eve’s attention. When he caught her attention, he spoke, and Eve was tempted. Eve did not know that Satan was in the serpent. Many people seem to be worshipping idols, but they are actually worshipping Satan, because Satan is behind every idol.
When we read the Bible, we can see Satan’s subtle tactics. The principle of his activities is usually not to do things himself. He wanted to frustrate the Lord Jesus from going to the cross, but he did not do this personally; instead, he used a disciple who loved the Lord. Peter thought that he loved the Lord, but he had no realization that Satan was using him (Matt. 16:21-23). Therefore, we must be watchful. If our loving intentions and loving heart for the Lord can be used by Satan, how much more can he use our love for the world and the things of the flesh? If our considerations for the Lord and our love for the Lord can be used by Satan, we should not think that Satan cannot use other things. In fact, outside of God every thing, matter, and person is Satan.
Some saints may ask, “How can someone such as me be Satan?” But even their asking this question is Satan. If we understand Satan’s tactics, we will realize that he is everywhere; he is in every matter, in everything, and in everyone. Everything outside of God is Satan. Satan is often behind someone’s attitude and words; he is behind someone’s glare and behind the things that gleam in our eyes. Many persons, matters, and things are Satan. If we understand this, we are blessed.
The tree of the knowledge of good and evil refers to everything outside of God. If we say that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is Satan, we are being too rigid. There are only two choices in the universe: God and everything outside of God. Everything outside of God includes many things. It includes not only your wife but also you. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil includes everything outside of God. The guiding principle is knowledge, good, and evil. Everything that is not God, that is outside of God, is indicated by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Every person, thing, and matter in the universe should be for God. God created man for Himself, not for other things or other matters. Wives are not for their husbands, and husbands are not for their wives; children are not for their parents, and parents are not for their children. Husbands, wives, parents, and children are all for God. All people, things, and matters are for God. However, people can choose God, or they can choose persons, matters, and things that are outside of God. The tree of life signifies God, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil signifies everything that is outside of God. God is life; hence, the tree of life signifies God. Everything outside of God is either knowledge, good, or evil and thus is signified by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Everything is included in these two trees.
The Scriptures are God-breathed and are of God, but if they are not used properly with the Spirit of God, they will be dead letter, that is, related to death. Death belongs to Satan. The Bible came out of God, but in this Bible God said, “The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” (2 Cor. 3:6). If our knowledge of the Bible is not in God, it is the letter, which can kill us. Some may think that going to a movie theater is of death, of Satan, but that going to a meeting in order to hear a message is of God. This is not necessarily the case. It is possible for a brother to touch death, not life, while listening to a message, praying, or even giving a message. Death is Satan. Some believers preach the gospel because of envy (Phil. 1:15), some brothers administrate the church out of themselves, and some believers work for the Lord by their flesh. These are all of death. There is nothing that cannot be used by Satan. Even the people, matters, and things in a small family can be the embodiment of Satan.
The tree of the knowledge of good and evil signifies everything that is outside of God. On the surface it may not seem that people, matters, and things are Satan, but they can all be the embodiment of Satan and be unto Satan. Hence, they issue in death. In contrast, the tree of life signifies God Himself and is unto God. Since God is life, the tree of life issues in life.
We should not think that Satan is only behind the wrong things that we do but not behind the right things that we do. Whether something is right or wrong is not the point; it is whether or not it is in God. Some may say that it is wrong to watch movies but that it is right to preach the gospel and pray. However, just as Satan can hide behind the watching of movies, he can also hide behind the preaching of the gospel and prayer. Therefore, the question is not whether we are doing the right thing but whether what we are doing is in God or outside of God. If our preaching of the gospel and prayer are in God and of God, they will be life. If they are outside of God, they will be death.
We must see that only God is life and that everything outside of God is death, not life. If God’s word is not received in God, it is not life. God’s word is life and should give man life. But God’s word must be received in God or else it will be death. Anything that we do outside of God or apart from God, no matter how good or how great it may be, is death.
In the center of the garden of Eden there were only two trees. The tree of life signifies God. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil signifies everything that is outside of God; it has Satan as its source, and it issues in death. The name of the tree of life, its content, and its nature are simple, because the tree of life signifies God. God’s nature is life, and He is life. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil, however, is more complicated; it has knowledge, good, and evil, and it issues in death. In other words, Satan is hidden in all matters, things, and persons, that is, in every fallen thing in the universe. Therefore, the end of everything other than God is death. God put these two trees in front of man in order for man to choose whether he wanted God or something outside of God. No matter what man chooses, as long as it is not God Himself, it will eventually issue in death.
The content, nature, and issue of the tree of life are life, and the principle of the tree of life is dependence. Matters of life are in the principle of dependence. For example, our breathing is a matter of life. A brother who takes a deep breath when he gets up in the morning still needs to breathe during the rest of the day. He cannot stop breathing. Similarly, a sister who eats breakfast must still eat lunch. She cannot say, “I am a veteran at eating; I do not need to eat anymore.” Matters of life must not be stopped or interrupted. This is dependence. Even though we eat every day, we still need to eat every day even if we have lived sixty years. We would die if we did not eat for a month, drink for a week, or breathe for two minutes. Life cannot stop or be interrupted. Therefore, the principle of the tree of life is dependence. The principle of the tree of life is to be dependent on God daily, that is, to fellowship with Him, live in Him, and never leave Him, not even for a moment. Whenever we leave God, we have death. Whenever our fellowship with God is interrupted, our sense of life and the light of life will stop within us. When we leave God, everything of God stops. This is the principle of the tree of life.
No one should ever say, “I am a veteran at being in God and at having fellowship with Him, so I do not need to fellowship this morning.” When we do not have fellowship with God and do not live in our spirit, the sense of life within us stops. This is death. The tree of life is a matter of life, and its principle is dependence on God, of not being severed from Him.
The principle of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is different. Its content is everything outside of God, its nature is death, its issue is death, and its principle is independence. The principle of the tree of life is dependence on God, but the principle of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is independence from God. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil may be referred to as the tree of knowledge. Life is versus knowledge. Life requires dependence, but knowledge produces independence. The principle of the tree of life is for man to depend on God, but the principle of the tree of knowledge is for man to be independent of God.
For example, consider a hired servant who is told what household chores to do and how to do them. If she does not understand, she may need some help the first few days, but after she understands, she will do things according to her knowledge. Then she will not need to be dependent. We like employees who can work in this way. When a servant learns quickly and does things according to what she has learned, the employer will be satisfied. However, we would not be happy if our children learned everything and no longer needed us. We want to see our children in the morning, at noon, and in the evening. The more we see them and have intimate conversations with them, the happier and sweeter we feel inside. We are not happy if we do not see our children for a long period of time.
The children of God need to live in God by beholding His face constantly and having many intimate conversations with Him. As servants of God, we also need to live in Him. We should not consider ourselves as “veteran” servants of God, who know everything about God’s house, who always do everything correctly, and who, therefore, do not need to see God’s face. We must bear in mind that such servants are not well pleasing to God. There is no such thing as a veteran servant of God. God does not want service based on knowledge but service in life. Service based on knowledge is in the principle of independence, because a person can “graduate” from God. With service in life there are no veterans, for we can never graduate from, be apart from, or be independent of God. The service of life requires dependence on God. If we depended on Him when we gave a message yesterday, we still need to depend on Him in order to give a message today. We should not think that because a message was good in Taipei, it can be given in the same way in Tainan. Such an assumption is in the principle of independence. Knowledge makes man independent.
Some people say that since they have fifty messages prepared, they need to prepare only two more messages in order to be able to give a message every Lord’s Day of the year. Such messages are according to knowledge, which results in death. A good message is in life. Those who speak life do not care about how many messages they know. Every time they speak, it is as if they do not know how to speak. They depend on God, fellowship with God, contact God, and live in the spirit.
Now we know the significance of these two trees. The tree of life signifies God, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil signifies everything outside of God. The content, nature, and issue of the tree of life are life, and its principle is dependence on God. The content of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is knowledge, good, and evil, that is, everything outside of God. The nature and issue of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil are death, and the principle of this tree is independence from God. Therefore, when we depend on God, touch Him, and have fellowship with Him, we are living by the tree of life. When we are independent from God, we may still pray, preach the gospel, give messages, and live our daily life, but we have left God and are living outside of God. The nature and issue of such a living is death.
Just as Adam was placed between the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, man is still in between these two trees today. Man must choose God or choose that which is outside of God. If he chooses God, he will depend on God, but if he chooses that which is outside of God, he will become independent of God. If we always live in God and have fellowship with Him, we are choosing the tree of life. However, if we go away from God and become severed from Him, we are choosing the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
To touch the tree of life is to be dependent; that is, we look to God, depend on Him, have fellowship with Him daily, and always contact Him inwardly. Then even our visiting of the brothers and sisters will be the issue of our spirit contacting the Spirit, giving a message will be the issue of our spirit contacting the Spirit, and praying will be the issue of our spirit contacting the Spirit. When our living is a matter of contacting God, we are choosing the tree of life, which issues in life. Otherwise, we are independent of God and not relying on our fellowship with Him; instead, we are choosing the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
May the Lord have mercy on us and unveil us to see that wanting only God and depending on Him in everything is to live by the tree of life. To want anything outside of God and to be independent of Him is to live by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Today we still have these two choices—God or everything outside of God. If we depend on the life of God, we are in God. If we do not depend on God but are independent of Him, we are outside of God.
Strictly speaking, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil does not refer directly to Satan, but it is ultimately related to Satan. The tree of life signifies God, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil ultimately signifies Satan. Therefore, when Adam stood before these two trees, he was standing before God and Satan. On one side was God, and on the other side was Satan. Adam stood in between God and Satan. This picture fully depicts the condition of the three parties—God, man, and Satan—in the universe. God wants to gain man, and Satan wants to gain man. The struggle between God and Satan is focused on man.
Whether it is God or it is Satan who gains man depends on what man chooses. If man chooses the tree of life, he is choosing God and will be gained by God. If man chooses the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he is following Satan and will be gained by Satan. Man’s choice in the garden of Eden had a great impact on the universe. God gave man the freedom to choose so that man could choose God or Satan. Choosing God issues in life; choosing Satan issues in death.
Genesis 2:15 says, “Jehovah God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and to keep it.” This verse says that God put Adam in the garden of Eden so that he would be responsible for two things: working and keeping. Adam’s working the garden of Eden signifies the growth of life. The parable of the sower in Matthew 13 is in this principle (vv. 1-23). Hence, things growing out of the earth signify the life of God growing in man.
According to Genesis 2, in order for things to grow out of the earth, there must be both rain from heaven and a man to work the ground. Thus, concerning God’s creation of man, this chapter says that it had not rained upon the earth and that there was no man to work the ground (vv. 4-6). This means that before man was created, God had not yet caused it to rain upon the earth, because there was no man on the earth, to cooperate with God. Consequently, life could not grow out of the ground. God fulfilled His responsibility when He created man and when the living water flowed out from God to water the earth (vv. 7, 10), but there was still another responsibility related to working the ground. Working symbolizes man cooperating with God so that the life of God can grow. God has His work, and man also has his work. God’s work is to cause it to rain, and man’s work is to work the ground.
In the parable of the sower the Lord Jesus spoke of man bearing the responsibility to deal with his heart after the seed of God had been sown into his heart (Matt. 13:3-9, 18-23). This dealing is symbolized by working the ground. After the life of God enters into man and the Spirit of God is sent down as rain, man still has the responsibility to deal with his heart. If man accepts this responsibility, the life of God will grow in the man of dust through his cooperation with God. The first responsibility that God wanted man to bear corresponds to the first aspect of His purpose, which is for man to have His life and live in Him in order to be like Him.
The second responsibility that God wanted man to bear was to keep, to guard, the garden. Guarding indicates dealing with the enemy. Man needed to guard the garden because there is a robber, an enemy, in the universe—Satan. Guarding corresponds to the second aspect of God’s purpose. God put man in the garden of Eden to bear the responsibilities of working the ground and guarding the garden so that man would have the life of God, live in Him, be like Him, and deal with His enemy.
Genesis 2:16-17 says, “Jehovah God commanded the man, saying, 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.” Here God gave man a warning, a prohibition. God told man that the tree of knowledge was off limits. Man was not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, because if he contacted the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he would die. Since the tree of the knowledge of good and evil refers to everything outside of God, the significance of God’s prohibition is that man should contact only God; he should not contact anything outside of God. This prohibition is very severe. If God by His grace enlightens us to see this word, we would prostrate ourselves before Him, and we would no longer dare to touch anything outside of Him, because whenever we touch something outside of God, the result will be death. We must see the seriousness of this warning.
After reading the Bible, some people say, “God is too jealous. He does not want us to love anything other than Him. Loving anything outside of Him is death.” This is true indeed, because man was not created for anything other than God. Man was created for God; thus, God has the unique authority over man. Man is solely for God; therefore, man should not touch anything outside of God. People today touch many things outside of God. Unbelievers aside, even those of us who are saved touch things outside of God much of the time. Every day we are touching things outside of God; every day we are touching death. No wonder we are all so dead at the bread-breaking meeting. To touch things outside of God is to touch death; only to touch God is to touch life.
Today the universe is like the garden of Eden, containing God and the things outside of God. What will we choose? If we choose God, who is life, the issue will be life. If we choose things outside of God, which are the embodiment of Satan, the issue will be death. Some believers cannot open their mouth to praise or pray in the bread-breaking meeting because they love their children too much. With others their love of knowledge prevents them from opening their mouth. Some love their status, others love their clothing, and still others love their jobs. To love these is to choose things that are outside of God, and the result is to choose death. Hence, God warned man that everything outside of God is off limits. When we touch anything outside of God, we touch death. This is a warning and a prohibition. God prohibited man from touching anything other than Him. When man touches things other than God, he is corrupted and falls into death.
