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In this volume we will see specifically the types in the Bible that are of great importance with rich significance. The divine revelation in the Bible is not only presented in plain words but also portrayed in types. A picture or portrait is better than a thousand words. In particular, since the revelation in the holy Word concerning the mystery of Christ and the church is spiritual and abstract in nature, it cannot be thoroughly made clear by words; it needs to be portrayed and indicated by figures. Among the types in the divine revelation, the first are the light and the tree of life, which typify Christ as light and life; the significance revealed in these types must be high and great.
First, the light typifies Christ as the light of the universe. The light-bearers, such as the sun and the stars, are merely shadows, but the body is Christ. He is the true light of the universe. He is the Sun of righteousness with healing in His wings (Mal. 4:2). He is also the bright morning star (Rev. 22:16b), appearing privately to His lovers before the darkest hour, prior to dawn. Furthermore, He is the great light that dispels the death and shadow in man (Matt. 4:16).
Psalm 36:9b says, “In Your light we see light.” We can see light only in the light of Christ. When Christ comes to us, He brings light to us that we may know ourselves thoroughly, see our true condition, and realize the corruption of our flesh. If we want light, we must receive Christ and touch Christ. Christ always brings light to us and shines on us in every way (Eph. 5:14). Therefore, Christ is the source of all lights.
In John 8:12 Jesus spoke to the people, saying, “I am the light of the world.” Also, in 9:5 He said, “While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” As the light of the world, Christ enables us not to remain in darkness but to walk in the day that we may not stumble (John 11:9) or lose our direction, not knowing where we are going (John 12:35). We were once darkness (Eph. 5:8a), but now we have become sons of light by believing into Christ as the light (John 12:36b). We even are the light (Matt. 5:14); that is, we are luminaries holding forth the word of life (Phil. 2:15-16), shining forth Christ to enlighten this dark world.
Christ as the light is the light of life (John 8:12; 1:4). The entire Bible shows us that life comes from light. When light comes in, life comes in. Where light is, there is life. The amount of light there is determines the measure of life that is present. Genesis chapter one tells us that before the work of God’s restoration began, the earth was waste and dark, that is, full of death. Hence, the first step of God’s work was to command light to come forth. When light comes, it dispels death, which belongs to darkness, and begins to bring in life. Therefore, life comes after light and begins with light.
God commanded light to come forth on the first day, issuing in the plant life, which is the lowest life, a life without consciousness. This is a type of Christ as the light of life that shined on us and brought the life of God into us when we were newly saved. However, the life we received then was a life in its initial stage, which is neither solid nor shaped. On the fourth day God commanded the sun, the moon, and the stars to shine forth with a light that is more definite and concrete than the light of the first day. Consequently, a higher life was brought in; not only was there the life of animals such as birds, fish, and beasts, but there was the life of man, who is like God. This signifies that we have received a stronger, more definite, and more solid enlightening, and the life in us grows and bears a shape, which means that Christ has grown and is “formed” in us (Gal. 4:19). Finally, on the seventh day God, signified by the tree of life, came forth, and as the highest light He brought the life of God, which is the highest life, signified by the tree of life. When light shines to its utmost degree, life also reaches its apex. When light is perfect, life also is complete. This signifies that when Christ as the light of life shines within us to the utmost degree, our spiritual life becomes full and mature to the extent that we are exactly like God. This is the highest result of Christ as the light of life imparting life to man.
Furthermore, the light of life indicates that light issues from life and belongs to life. Where life is, there is light. Christ first came to be our life, and then this life became the light in us (John 1:4-5). This light of life is subjective and inward, and it is within us.
The tree of life is a symbol, signifying that God is life and the source of life (cf. Psa. 36:9; John 1:4; 10:10b; 11:25; 14:6; 1 John 5:12; Col. 3:4). This God became flesh (John 1:14) and was embodied in Christ (Col. 2:9). The Gospel of John tells us that in Him was life (John 1:4), He came that we may have life (John 10:10), and He is life (John 11:25). Hence, the tree of life mentioned in Genesis 2 typifies Christ as the embodiment of God, who is the source of life.
Christ is the life; He is also the true vine in the universe (John 15:1). These two combined equal the tree of life.
Colossians 3:4 says that Christ is our life. This indicates that Christ as the tree of life is life to the believers in the church today. That Christ is our life indicates that we are to enjoy Him daily as the food supply in our spirit, take Him as life and live by Him, and live Him in our daily life to experience Him, so that all that He is and has attained and obtained may become our subjective experience. Thus, we can grow in His life to have His image and be like Him (2 Cor. 3:18), and we can bear the fruit of life as His spreading in life (John 15:5).
Christ is life to the believers in the church today, and He will be the enjoyment of life in the Paradise of God to the overcomers in the kingdom in the future (Rev. 2:7b). This is the reward that the Lord promised to the overcoming believers in the New Jerusalem in the coming millennial kingdom, that is, a particular enjoyment of Christ as the life supply.
God’s original intention was that man should eat of the tree of life (Gen. 2:9, 16). Because of man’s fall, the way to the tree of life was closed to man (Gen. 3:22-24). Through the redemption of Christ, the way by which man could touch the tree of life was opened again (Heb. 10:19-20). But in the church’s degradation, religion crept in with its knowledge to distract the believers in Christ from eating Him as the tree of life. Hence, the Lord promised to grant as a reward to the overcomers, those who overcome all the distractions in the church’s degradation and enjoy Christ as the tree of life, to eat of Himself as the tree of life in the Paradise of God, which will be the supply of life for them to reign in the kingdom (Rev. 20:4b).
Eating the tree of life was not only God’s original intention for man but will also be the eternal issue of God’s redemption. In the ultimate manifestation of the New Jerusalem, all God’s redeemed people will enjoy the tree of life in full, which is Christ with all the divine riches as their life supply for eternity (Rev. 22:2).
The tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil signify two persons in the universe—God and Satan. The tree of life typifies Christ as the embodiment of God, who is the source of life; the tree of the knowledge of good and evil typifies Satan as the source of sin and death. The content of the tree of life is God’s life; the content of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is Satan’s evil life, nature, and character—these three equaling sin and death. Adam ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, yet what entered into him was sin, which resulted in death (Rom. 5:12). Romans ——8 shows us that sin is like a person who can enter (5:12), reign (v. 21), lord it over people (6:14), deceive and kill people (7:11), and dwell in people, causing them to do things against their will (vv. 17, 20). This indicates that sin must be the embodiment of Satan, the evil one. It is dormant within the flesh of fallen man, but when it is aroused by man’s willing to do the good, it becomes the evil (v. 21), which results in death (5:12). Therefore, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil must be a type of Satan as the source of sin and evil.
Since the tree of the knowledge of good and evil signifies Satan as the source of sin and evil, what it includes—knowledge, good, and evil—must also come out of Satan as the evil source. Satan is the adversary of God, and knowledge, good, and evil of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil are in contrast to the life of the tree of life. All these—knowledge, good, and evil—are distractions and frustrations that prevent people from receiving and enjoying the life of the tree of life and thus cause them to be alienated from God.
The life of the tree of life is dependent on God, whereas the knowledge, good, and evil of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil are independent of God. Anything we do in dependence upon the Lord is in the principle of the tree of life. Anything we do independently of the Lord is in the principle of the tree of knowledge. Independence is a spiritual insulation that disconnects us from the life of God.
The Greek word for evil means that which is evil in character. This must be the evil life, nature, and character of Satan himself. This evil is independent of God as the source of life. Since good is also independent of God as life, it is ranked with evil. If men do evil, they will fall under the judgment of God. But even if men do good, since they do it independently of God, the good they do is also ranked with evil; hence, they likewise will fall under the judgment of God.
Knowledge appears to be something good. Almost everyone likes knowledge and has a craving for knowledge. Even the majority of Christians are greedy for it. However, behind knowledge is death. Second Corinthians 3:6 says that “the letter kills.” The letter is knowledge. Therefore, knowledge is independent of God and is also ranked with good and evil, which are independent of God as life.
Adam took in Satan by eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Thus, through the one man, Adam, sin entered into the world (Rom. 5:12); that is, sin entered into man to dwell in man’s body (7:17). At the same time, this sin brought in death, and death came through sin (5:12). Furthermore, the wages of sin is death (6:23a). The wages that man earns for committing sins is death, first in his spirit and then in his body.
Satan is the source of sin, and death came through sin. Moreover, Satan also has the might of death (Heb. 2:14). Therefore, he must also be the source of death.
Because of the fall of man and the entering in of sin, death passed on to all men and reigned in man (Rom. 5:12, 14). This death daily entangles man and damages man, causing man to become weak and wither up and bringing every part of man into a failing state. Finally, death brings man’s body into death and causes man’s soul and spirit to perish in the suffering section in Hades (Luke 16:22-24). This is the first death.
Hebrews 9:27 says, “It is reserved for men to die once, and after this comes judgment.” Therefore, man’s first death is not the ultimate end. At the end of the millennial kingdom, at the conclusion of the old heavens and old earth, all the dead who have not been saved through faith in the Lord Jesus will be resurrected and will pass through the judgment before the great white throne (Rev. 20:11-13). This judgment will result in their being cast into the lake of fire (v. 15). This is the second death of those who commit sins. Their spirit, soul, and resurrected body will die eternally in the lake of fire to suffer eternal torment.
Among the types in the divine revelation in the Bible, the first are the light and the tree of life, which typify Christ as light and life. The light typifies Christ as the light of the universe, the source of all lights, the light of the world, and the light of life. As the light of the universe, He is the reality of all light-bearers. As the source of all lights, He brings light to us and enlightens us in every way, that we may know ourselves and see our true condition. As the light of the world, He enables us not to remain in darkness but to walk in the day. He also causes us who believe into Him to become sons of light, even to become the light, shining forth Christ to enlighten this dark world. As the light of life, He dispels death, which belongs to darkness, and brings life to man, and He causes life to grow in His believers even unto full maturity, to the extent that they are exactly like God.
The tree of life typifies Christ as the embodiment of God, who is the source of life. He is life to the believers in the church today, He will be the enjoyment of life in the Paradise of God to the overcomers in the kingdom in the future, and eventually, He will be the supply of life to God’s redeemed in the New Jerusalem for eternity.
The tree of the knowledge of good and evil typifies Satan as the source of sin and evil. Knowledge, good, and evil of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil are in contrast to the life of the tree of life. Life is dependent on God; knowledge, good, and evil are independent of God. Moreover, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil brings in death, signifying that death is of Satan. Today this death damages man and causes man to die. Eventually, this death will become the second death of those who commit sins, that is, the eternal death of their whole being—spirit, soul, and body—in the lake of fire to suffer eternal torment.
