«　WEEK 4　DAY 5　»

　　John 15:1 I am the true vine, and My Father is the husbandman.

　　4-5 Abide in Me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine; you are the branches. He who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.

　　We have been grafted into Christ, becoming the branches of the vine tree revealed in John 15…We have been grafted into Christ by this all-inclusive Spirit. When we believed into Jesus as the Savior, this all-inclusive Spirit came into us, delivering us from all the negative things on the negative side and grafting us into Christ so that we might become a branch of Christ on the positive side. (CWWL, 1965, vol. 2, “The Tree of Life,” p. 137)

　　This life-giving Spirit, who is Christ Himself, who is the Word that was God, who is the Son of God, and who is the reality of the Triune God, is within us. We have to learn not only to feed on Him, to eat of Him, but also to abide in Him. John 1:12-13 tells us that we have to receive Him and that to believe in Him is to receive Him. The book of John also tells us that we have to drink of Him (4:14; 7:37) and that we have to eat Him (6:57). Furthermore, John tells us that we have to abide in Him (15:4). The order in John is to receive Him, to drink of Him, to eat Him, and to abide in Him. In order to abide in Him we first have to receive Him. Then we have to learn how to drink of Him and feed on Him. By drinking of Him and feeding on Him, we can abide in Him.

　　We all have to realize the reality of the tree of life. God’s intention is to present Himself to us as the tree of life. We not only eat of this tree, but we also are abiding in this tree. Not only do we take something of the tree into us, but we also have become a part of the tree. By drinking of the Lord and by feeding on Him, we become a part of Him; we become the branches of the tree. For the branches to absorb the life-juice of the tree is the real drinking. The branches are drinking of the tree and eating of the tree by absorbing the life-juice of the tree. The branches absorb all that the tree is and has and also abide in the tree, have their existence in the tree. Without the tree the branches can do nothing, and they cannot even live or exist. It is in the tree that they have their existence.

　　The more you try to put yourself to death by reckoning yourself to be dead, the more you will be alive. Brother Watchman Nee once told us that a person can commit suicide in many ways, but no one can commit suicide by means of crucifixion. To be crucified there is the need of others to put you on the cross. You cannot nail yourself to the cross. Forget about putting yourself to death. Just feed on Him and abide in Him. The more you absorb the life-juice of Christ as the tree of life, the more you will sense the killing element within you.

　　The Triune God is the tree of life to us, and we can share of this tree of life because of His incarnation plus His death and resurrection. By His incarnation He brought God into man, and by His death and resurrection He has brought man into God. Also, by His death and resurrection He became a Spirit; He was transfigured from the flesh into the Spirit, a life-giving Spirit. This life-giving Spirit brings God into us and brings us into God. He grafts us into Christ, the universal tree, to make us branches of this tree. Now we need to enjoy all that He is. Through our abiding and our enjoying Him, the church will come into existence as the real expression of the Triune God. Out of our enjoyment and experience of the tree of life, God’s eternal purpose will be fulfilled. How important it is that we know this tree of life and that we experience this tree of life in such a living way! (CWWL, 1965, vol. 2, “The Tree of Life,” pp. 137-139)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1965, vol. 2, “The Tree of Life,” ch. 7; Life-study of Galatians, msgs. 9-10, 16