Day: August 14, 2022

The Tree of Life, Chap 9, Section 2 of 3

Posted on in Corporate Reading, The Tree of Life

LEARNING TO EXERCISE OUR SPIRIT 
TO CONTACT AND ENJOY CHRIST

By His death Christ did away with all the negative things, such as our sinful nature and our sins. He has cleansed us with His precious blood, and in His resurrection He became a life-giving Spirit. He was transfigured into a life-giving Spirit. Now we are prepared, and He is available. All that is needed is for us to enjoy Him. After the children’s hands have been washed, cleansed, and the juice is available, it would be stupid for the children to listen to the watermelon or to look at the watermelon and not eat it. Many of us have been like this toward the Lord. Throughout our Christian life, we have been listening, learning, seeing, reading, and studying, but we have not been eating. We have been starving, yet we did not feel hungry. If we are in desperate need of food and do not feel hungry, this means that we are sick. The Lord rebuked the church in Laodicea because they said that they were rich, when they were really poor (Rev. 3:17). They were poor, yet they did not have the feeling or the sense that they were poor. They thought that they were rich. They thought that they knew everything. They had all the doctrines, but they did not have the goal. They did not have the Lord Himself dining with them. May the Lord be merciful to us and deliver us from the doctrines and from the teachings that distract us from the enjoyment of Christ.

We all have to learn to eat and drink the Lord by exercising the proper organ to take Him in. The proper organ is our spirit. Our wonderful Lord, the tree of life, the Word become flesh, the God-man, died to pave the way and to prepare the place. Through His death He has done away with all the negative things, and we are [153] cleansed. In His resurrection He has also become a life-giving Spirit. If we are going to contact this Spirit, we have to exercise our spirit. “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit” (John 4:24). We should not merely exercise our mind to understand, to learn, and to study, but we should exercise our spirit to contact Him, to drink Him, and to eat Him. By His blood our conscience has been purged, so our spirit is cleansed and free from any kind of condemnation. We have the peace to contact Him. The more we open ourselves to the Lord from our spirit, the more we have the peace and the sense that He is one with us. We can contact Him as the life-giving Spirit within us and enjoy the Lord.

This is why Hebrews 4:12 tells us that the spirit must be divided from the soul. The soul is the real problem. The background of the book of Hebrews is related to the Judaizers distracting people from the enjoyment of Christ. They may have told a Hebrew believer, “We are the descendants of our forefathers who received the law from our God. We have to believe in Jesus, yet we shouldn’t give up the law.” This doctrinal argument would have confused the Hebrew believers. Paul wrote Hebrews to tell these Christians that they had to deal with the living Christ and to enjoy this living Christ, not to deal with a religion. We do not need a religion, but we need a living person, who is Christ as the tree of life. If we are going to deal with a religion, we need the soul, the mind. But if we are going to deal with a living person, who is Christ, the life-giving Spirit, we have to learn how to exercise our spirit. Our spirit has to be divided from our disturbing and deceived soul. We have to discern our spirit from this deceived and disturbing soul. We have to learn to exercise our spirit to contact and enjoy Christ, the life-giving Spirit.

On the one hand, Christ is in the heavens. On the other hand, He is in our spirit. With the resurrected and ascended Christ there is no problem of space or time. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (13:8). He is like the air. With the air there is no problem of space or time. As the air, Christ is everywhere. He is heavenly, not earthly, and He is spiritual, not fleshly. We must learn how to exercise our spirit to contact this heavenly and spiritual Christ, who is the life-giving Spirit. With us there is the problem of yesterday, today, and tomorrow. We may tell others not to come to see us after midnight, but the Lord never would tell us not to contact Him after midnight. He is available any time. [154]

Air is different from food. We take food at certain times, but we breathe the air at all times, even when we are sleeping. With the air there is no problem of time or space. A person may be so busy that he even forgets to eat, but he will never be too busy to forget to breathe. Whenever we turn to the Lord and wherever we are, He is there as the divine air, the divine pneuma. Where He is, there is the Holy of Holies. Where He is, there is the throne of grace. Our contacting Him depends only on one thing—the exercise of our spirit. We have to touch, to sense, to heed, His indwelling presence. If we use the wrong organ, His presence will be hidden from us. If we try to look at a fragrance in the air, we are using the wrong organ. If we exercise our sense of smell, we will immediately sense and enjoy the fragrance.

All the obstacles, hindrances, and negative things, such as the world, Satan the devil, the demons, darkness, sin, sins, and the flesh, have been done away with, and all the requirements of God’s glory, God’s righteousness, and God’s holiness have been fully met. There is no problem for us to contact God. Furthermore, God has gone through a process so that He can be available to us. The melon has been made into juice. The Triune God became a man, and this God-man, Jesus, became a life-giving Spirit. Everything is prepared, and He is so available, just like the air. He is waiting for us to do one thing—to exercise our spirit. When we exercise our spirit to contact the Lord, we sense that we are in the Holy of Holies and that we are touching the throne of grace. We can obtain the needed mercy and find grace flowing within us as the living water to be our timely help. This is the way to enjoy the tree of life today. I believe the Lord will recover the experience of the tree of life among His children.

By His all-inclusive death and His wonderful resurrection, He has paved the way and has prepared the place. It is now so easy for us to get into the Father and so easy for the Father to be brought into us. Everything is done, all has been prepared, and Christ has become a life-giving Spirit. The life-giving Spirit is the ultimate expression of the Triune God. He was the Creator, the almighty God, and as the Word, He became flesh. He is the God-man who passed through death and resurrection to become a life-giving Spirit. This life-giving Spirit is the Creator, the almighty God, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Included in this life-giving Spirit are Christ’s incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. The [155] fulfillment of all the requirements of God’s righteousness, holiness, and glory is also included in the life-giving Spirit. He is so available. All we need to do is receive this Spirit by calling on the name of the Lord (1 Cor. 12:3; Acts 2:17a, 21). Then we will enjoy Him within.

The book of Hebrews tells us that we have to be delivered from religion into this living person. We have to give up religion to take this living One. It needs sixty-six books of the Bible to define who this living One is. This marvelous and wonderful living One is as available as the air. All our troubles and problems have been solved by His all-inclusive death. Our conscience, the main part of our spirit, has been fully purged and thoroughly cleansed. We should have the full peace, the full confidence, the full boldness, and the full assurance to come to contact Him. We can come into the Holy of Holies and touch the throne of grace to enjoy Him as mercy and as grace, as the flowing water and as the enjoyable life.

 

The Tree of Life, Chap 9, Section 1 of 3

Posted on in Corporate Reading, The Tree of Life

CHAPTER NINE

CHRIST OPENING THE WAY TO THE TREE OF LIFE

Scripture Reading: Gen. 3:22-24; Heb. 4:12, 14-16; 10:19-20

THE REQUIREMENTS OF GOD’S GLORY, 
GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS, AND GOD’S HOLINESS 
FULFILLED BY THE DEATH OF CHRIST

Genesis 3:22-24 says, “Jehovah God said, Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat and live forever—Then Jehovah God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to work the ground from which he was taken. So He drove the man out, and at the east of the garden of Eden He placed the cherubim and a flaming sword which turned in every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.” Cherubim signify the glory of God (Heb. 9:5). The requirement of the glory of God closed the way to the tree of life from fallen man. The sword signifies judgment by God’s righteousness. We have to fulfill God’s righteousness; otherwise, we are under the judgment of God. Fire signifies God’s holiness. The requirements of God’s glory, God’s righteousness, and God’s holiness kept fallen man from the tree of life. Until these requirements could be fully met, the way to the tree of life could never be open to fallen man.

Hebrews 4:14-16 says, “Having therefore a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast the confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all respects like us, yet without sin. Let us therefore come forward with boldness to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace for timely help.” In these three verses there is Christ as the High Priest ascended to the heavens. Second, this ascended Christ can be touched with the feeling of our weaknesses. Although He is in the heavens and we are on this earth, He can be touched by the feeling of our weaknesses. Third, in verse 16 [150] we are charged to come forward to the throne of grace. Verse 14 tells us that Christ, who is on the throne of grace, is in the heavens. How then can we come forward to the throne of grace in the heavens? Before we solve this problem, let us read verses 12 and 13 of chapter 4: “The word of God is living and operative and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit and of joints and marrow, and able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature that is not manifest before Him, but all things are naked and laid bare to the eyes of Him to whom we are to give our account.” Hebrews 10:19-20 says, “Having therefore, brothers, boldness for entering the Holy of Holies in the blood of Jesus, which entrance He initiated for us as a new and living way through the veil, that is, His flesh.” In these verses we are told that we have the boldness to enter the Holy of Holies. The throne of grace is equivalent to the expiation cover in the Holy of Holies (Exo. 25:17, 21). Thus, to come forward to the throne of grace means to come into the Holy of Holies. We enter into the Holy of Holies in the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way.

We have seen that the tree of life is nothing less than God Himself in His Trinity presented to us. But due to the fall of the human race, man became sinful, and the way to the tree of life was closed. Man had fallen short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23). Man was also under the condemnation of God’s righteousness, and man was against God’s holiness. God’s desire was still that man would enjoy Him as the tree of life, but His glory, His righteousness, and His holiness kept fallen man away from the tree of life. No fallen man can get through these three items—the cherubim, the slaying sword, and the flaming fire. If man is going to eat the tree of life, he has to fulfill the requirements of God’s glory, God’s righteousness, and God’s holiness.

On the one hand, man’s fallen condition, man’s sin, has to be solved, has to be taken away. On the other hand, all the requirements of God’s glory, God’s righteousness, and God’s holiness have to be fulfilled. Otherwise, there is no way for human beings to eat the tree of life. Where is the tree of life? The tree of life is in the Holy of Holies. How could a sinful person get through the outer court, enter into the Holy Place, and pass through the inner veil into the Holy of Holies to eat the tree of life? On the altar in the outer court, [151] the sacrifices dealt with the fallen condition and the sins of man. The altar typifies the cross of Christ. On the cross, not only was sin dealt with, but also the veil was rent (Heb. 10:20). This is the second veil (9:3) within the tabernacle, which typifies the flesh of Christ. When Christ’s flesh was crucified, this veil was rent (Matt. 27:51), thus opening the way for us who were excluded from God, signified by the tree of life (Gen. 3:22-24), to enter into the Holy of Holies to contact Him and take Him as the tree of life for our enjoyment. Christ, the eternal all-inclusive sacrifice, died on the cross, on the altar. He fulfilled all the requirements of God’s righteousness, God’s holiness, and God’s glory. By His death Christ opened the way for us to eat God as the tree of life. This is why Christ told us in John 14 that He had to go to prepare a place for us.

The Gospel of John tells us that the Word who was God became flesh (1:14), and this is the Christ, the Messiah (v. 41), the One who is the life (14:6), the light (8:12), the food (6:35), the drink (7:37-38), the air (20:22), the Shepherd (10:11), the door (10:1), and so many other items. How could Christ be so many things to us? We have sin within, and we commit sins without. If Christ is going to impart Himself to us as so many things, He has to solve the problem of sin and sins. God’s glory, righteousness, and holiness would not allow Him to impart Himself to such sinful persons. Therefore, Christ had to fulfill the requirements of God’s glory, righteousness, and holiness through His death on the cross.

HOW THE GOD-MAN WAS MADE AVAILABLE TO US

Now we need to see how this God-man could be made available to us. As an illustration let us use the example of a family partaking of a watermelon. The parents will not let their children eat with dirty hands. The children have to first wash their hands before they eat the watermelon. Then the melon has to be cut into pieces. When the slices are eaten by the children, they become juice for easy digestion. On the one hand, the children are cleansed; on the other hand, juice is available for them to digest. The Triune God has been processed in a similar fashion. In order for the watermelon to get into the children, the sequence is first watermelon, then slices, and finally juice. The Father is illustrated by the whole melon; the Son by the slices; and finally, the Spirit by the juice. The Father is not only the Father but is also the Son. And the Son is not only the Son but is also the [152] Spirit. In other words, this melon is also the slices to eat and the juice within us. The melon disappears after it is eaten. Originally, the melon was on the table, but after being eaten, the melon is in the whole family. The Father is in the Son, and the Son is the Spirit, who is just like the juice. Actually, the Spirit is more available than the juice because the Spirit is air (Gk. pneuma and Heb. ruach). Both pneuma and ruach can be translated into four English words—air, breath, wind, and spirit. Christ, the God-man, in resurrection became a life-giving Spirit. This big melon became the refreshing juice.