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The first way is the way of life, the constricted way, for men to seek God, to gain God, and to enjoy God in His eternal life as the supply; the second way is the way of death and of good and evil, the broad way, for men to follow Satan to be his children—Matt. 7:13-14; Acts 9:2; 1 John 3:10a.
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The first principle is the principle of life—the principle of dependence on God; the second principle is the principle of death and of good and evil—the principle of independence from God—Gen. 4:3-4; Jer. 17:5-8; John 15:5.
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The two consummations are the final outcome of the two trees, the two sources, the two ways, and the two principles:
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The consummation of God’s way of life is a city of water of life, the New Jerusalem—Rev. 21:2, 9-11; 22:1-2.
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The consummation of the way of death and of good and evil is a lake of fire—19:20; 20:10, 14-15.
Morning Nourishment
Rev. 22:1-2 And he showed me a river of water of life, bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb in the middle of its street. And on this side and on that side of the river was the tree of life, producing twelve fruits, yielding its fruit each month…Two lines, as the two ways, originate from the two sources. The first way is the way of life, the constricted way (Matt. 7:14), the Way (Acts 9:2; 19:9, 23; 22:4; 24:22), the straight way (2 Pet. 2:15), the way of righteousness (2 Pet. 2:21), the way of salvation (Acts 16:17), the way of God (Matt. 22:16; Acts 18:26), and the way of the Lord (Acts 18:25), for men to seek God, to gain God, and to enjoy God in His eternal life as the supply and unto His eternal life as the goal, that they may be born of God in His life and nature (John 1:12-13), transformed and conformed into His glorious image (2 Cor. 3:18; Rom. 8:29), and glorified in Him as glory (Rom. 8:30; 1 Pet. 5:10a; Heb. 2:10a) to gain Him and participate in Him to the fullest extent. In this way of life are Abel, Seth, Enosh, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, Samuel, all the Old Testament prophets, and all the New Testament believers (Heb. 11:39-40). God’s purpose in dealing with Job was to turn him from the way of good and evil to this way of life that he might gain God to the fullest extent. (Life-study of Job, p. 201)
Today’s Reading
The second way is the way of good and evil, the way of death, the broad way (Matt. 7:13), for men to follow Satan to be his children (1 John 3:10a) unto death and his companions in his eternal perdition (Matt. 25:41). In this way of death and of good and evil are Cain, Lamech, Jabal, Jubal, Tubal-cain (Jude 11a; Gen. 4:16-24), Ham, Cush, Nimrod (Gen. 10:6-12), Korah, Balaam (2 Pet. 2:15; Jude 11b), Saul, Absalom, Antichrist and his followers (Rev. 19:19-21), and all unbelievers (Rev. 20:15).These two ways, the way of life and the way of death, lead men to the two God-ordained ends—the New Jerusalem and the lake of fire—respectively.
The two ways, the way of life and the way of death and of good and evil, constitute the two controlling, ruling, and regulating principles by which men have their relationship with God. The first principle is the principle of life, according to which all men in the way of life keep their contact with God, and by which they seek God, gain God, possess God, and enjoy God, step by step, until they reach the fullest extent. The second principle is the principle of death and of good and evil, in which all men in the way of death follow Satan either consciously or unconsciously, and through which they reject God and His way of life to be Satan’s companions unto death and eternal perdition.
God’s purpose in dealing with Job severely was to adjust his logic concerning his relationship with God from the principle of good and evil according to ethics to the principle of life according to God, that he might be one who gained God and participated in God for the fulfillment of God’s eternal economy.
The two ends are the two destinations of the two ways men take in their relationship with God. The New Jerusalem, as the best and most glorious end of God’s way of life, is a dynamic incentive for us to seek God until we gain Him to the fullest extent according to His love and grace; and the lake of fire, as the worst and most miserable end of Satan’s way of death and of good and evil, should be a solemn warning to the men who follow Satan in his way against God’s economy, to turn from his way of death to God’s way of life that they may escape Satan’s eternal judgment and eternal perdition, according to God’s righteousness and justice. (Life-study of Job, pp. 201-203)
Further Reading: CWWL, 1965, vol. 2, “The Tree of Life,” chs. 1-10, 14-16; CWWL, 1981, vol. 1, “God’s Eternal Intention and Satan’s Counterplot,” chs. 1-2