Gleanings from the Bible Ruth 2:2

The Tree of Life

In the opening pages of the Bible, we find two trees that represent two very different sources—the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God placing man in front of the tree of life indicates that God’s intention and desire is for man to receive Him as life by taking Him in as food so that God might organically become the constituent of man’s being.  According to John 1:1 and 4, life is in Christ as the Word, the embodiment of God (Col. 2:9). The tree of life grows along the two sides of the river of water of life (Rev. 22:1-2), indicating that it is a vine. In John 11:25 Jesus said that He is the life, and in 15:1 He said that He is the true vine. Thus, He is the tree of life. Unlike the fruit of an apple tree, which may be hard to reach, the fruit of a vine is low and accessible. Accordingly, Christ was processed through incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection to become available as the life-giving Spirit so that man might have life and live by eating Him (10:10b; 6:51, 57, 63; 1 Cor. 15:45b). In addition, the Greek word for tree may also be translated as “wood,” which points to Christ’s cross. The word life indicates the life given to the believers following Christ’s resurrection (cf. John 12:24; 20:22). In short, the tree of life signifies the Triune God embodied in Christ as life to man in the form of food.  

The tree of the knowledge of good and evil signifies Satan as the source of death to man (Heb. 2:14).  It also signifies all things apart from God, for anything that is not God Himself, including good things, scriptural things, and even religious things, can be utilized by Satan, the subtle one, to bring death to man (John 5:39-40; 2 Cor. 3:6b). Accordingly, God said in Genesis 2:17, “In the day you eat of it [the tree of the knowledge of good and evil] you shall surely die.” Most people think of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil simply as the tree of evil, but it actually has three components: knowledge, good, and evil. We may glean from these two trees that God’s intention is not for man to learn and have knowledge of the difference between good and evil and thereby choose the good.  However, this is essentially the core of all religions: to know the difference between good and evil, choose the good, and reject the evil so that after death one may go to a “good place.” Actually, God’s intention is that man would take in Christ as his life so that man would be constituted with the divine life, and organically, even spontaneously, live by Him (John 6:57; Gal. 2:20). The name of the tree of knowledge of good and evil is subtle because Satan, who has the power of death (Heb. 2:14), always likes to conceal himself. So, Satan and death are not only behind evil; they are also behind knowledge and good that is apart from God. We find an example of Satan’s subtle appearing in the Gospels. When the Lord spoke of His coming crucifixion, Peter said, “God be merciful to You, Lord; this shall by no means happen to You!” (Matt. 16:21-23). Peter’s intention was good, as he wanted nothing bad to happen to the Lord. Nevertheless, the Lord Jesus turned to Peter and said to him, “Get behind Me, Satan!” Apparently, Peter had been the speaker; actually, Satan was behind Peter’s good intention.

The two trees issue forth in two lines—the line of life and the line of death—that run through the entire Bible and reach their consummation in the book of Revelation.  Death begins with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and ends with the lake of fire (Rev. 20:10, 14). Life begins with the tree of life and ends in the New Jerusalem, the city of the water of life (22:1-2).  All the negative things in the Bible are on the line of the tree of knowledge, and all the positive things are on the line of the tree of life. On the line of life, we have the tent of Noah, the tent of Abraham, the tabernacle, and the temple. The line of knowledge began with Cain and continued through all the ungodly people. On the line of knowledge is the city of Enoch, Babel, Sodom, the treasure cities of Pharaoh, and Babylon, which captured the things on the line of life. We find the same two lines in the New Testament. Although many items in the Old Testament, including the law, were originally on the line of life, the Pharisees treated them as mere knowledge and brought them onto the line of knowledge. Accordingly, when the Lord Jesus came, the religious leaders were altogether on the line of knowledge. Only the Lord Himself was on the line of life. For instance, the Pharisees were certainly on the line of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil when they condemned the Samaritan woman to death for the act of adultery even though they were right according to the Old Testament law (John 8:3-5).  In contrast, Jesus was altogether on the line of the tree of life when He said, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her” (v. 7). Again and again, He brought His disciples to the line of life. On the day of Pentecost His disciples put many other people on the line of life. At that time, the Pharisees and their religion were on the line of knowledge, and the church was on the line of life. However, not long afterward, the church became degraded, falling from the living Christ to dead scriptural knowledge and became a religion on the line of knowledge (Rev. 2:7; 3:1).

The tree of life causes man to be dependent on God (John 15:5), whereas the tree of knowledge causes man to be independent from Him (cf. Gen. 3:5).  The principle of the tree of life is dependence. We may graduate from various schools, but we never graduate from eating. Furthermore, we cannot graduate from drinking water or from breathing air. Obtaining a certain body of knowledge permits us to graduate and be independent from parents, teachers, and others. However, in the things pertaining to life, we can never be independent. We are constantly dependent upon life! The Bible can be either of these two trees to us. If we depend on the Lord and exercise our spirit as we touch the Word, the Bible is the tree of life. However, if we are independent from the Lord and exercise our mind to study the Bible only as a book of letters, it will be the tree of knowledge. The Lord Jesus told the Pharisees, “You search the Scriptures, but you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life” (John 5:39-40). To merely search the Scriptures is to come to the tree of knowledge; to contact the Lord through the Word is to come to the tree of life! Never make the Bible the tree of knowledge. Always take it as the tree of life. The letter kills because the letter is knowledge (2 Cor. 3:6). The letter of the Bible kills whenever the Bible is separated from the living God. The determining factor is whether or not we are dependent upon the Lord as we come to the Bible. If we are dependent upon Him, everything we receive will be the tree of life. We should never think that the two trees mentioned in Genesis 2 are ancient history. Which line are you on—the line of life or the line of knowledge, which leads to death?

“Gleanings from the Bible” is a seven-part series contributed by a local Christian home meeting group that loves the Lord Jesus, believes that the Bible is God’s Word, and cares for the oneness of the Body of Christ. For more information please visit our website at www.fromhouse2house.org or email us at info@fromhouse2house.org.  This article is based in part on footnote 91 and 92 in chapter 2 of Genesis from the Holy Bible Recovery Version published by Living Steam Ministry.