Ⅲ
In order for us to eat Christ as the tree of life, we must give Him the first place in all things, which is to love Him with the first love, being constrained by His love to regard and take Him as everything in our life—Rev. 2:4- 5; Col. 1:18b; 2 Cor. 5:14-15; Mark 12:30; Psa. 73:25-26; 80:17-19:
A
To love the Lord with the first love, to give Him the first place in all things, is to eat Him as the tree of life; eating Christ as the tree of life, that is, enjoying Christ as our life supply, should be the primary matter in the church life—Rev. 2:7; John 6:57, 63.
B
The content of the church life depends on the enjoyment of Christ; the more we enjoy Him, the richer the content will be; but to eat Christ as the tree of life, to enjoy Him as our life supply, requires us to love Him with the first love—Rev. 2:4-5.
C
On the one hand, strictly speaking, to eat of the tree of life in the Paradise of God in Revelation 2:7 refers to the particular enjoyment of Christ as our life supply in the New Jerusalem in the coming millennial kingdom.
D
On the other hand, we are enjoying the crucified and resurrected Christ as the tree of life, the food supply in our spirit, as a foretaste today in the church; every local church is a paradise of God, where Christ is the tree of life for us to enjoy.
E
When we give the Lord the first place in everything and maintain our eating of the crucified and resurrected Christ as the tree of life throughout the day, the church, no matter what its condition may be, becomes paradise to us; thus, our feeling and our attitude toward the church depend upon our situation.
F
"If we do not enjoy Christ as the tree of life in the church life today, surely we will not participate in the tree of life in the kingdom age. According to my experience, today the church in Anaheim is a paradise to me"—The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1994-1997, vol. 5, "The Vital Groups," p. 157.
G
The intrinsic reason for the desolation and degradation of the church is that Christ is not exalted by God's people; they do not give Him the preeminence, the first place, in everything; whenever God's people exalt Christ, giving Him the preeminence in every aspect of their living, there is restoration and revival—Psa. 80:17-19.
Morning Nourishment
Rev. 2:4-5 But I have one thing against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore where you have fallen from and repent and do the first works; but if not, I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place, unless you repent.Col. 1:18 And He is the Head of the Body, the church; He is the beginning, the Firstborn from the dead, that He Himself might have the first place in all things.
God's original intention was that man should eat of the tree of life (Gen. 2:9, 16). Because of the fall the way to the tree of life was closed to man (3:22- 24). Through the redemption of Christ the way by which man could touch the tree of life, which is God Himself in Christ as life to man, 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 the overcomers to eat of Himself as the tree of life in the Paradise of God, as a reward. This is an incentive for them to leave religion with its knowledge and return to the enjoyment of Himself. This promise of the Lord restores the church to God’s original intention according to His economy. What the Lord wants the overcomers to do is what the whole church should do in God’s economy. Because of the church’s degradation, the Lord came to call the overcomers to replace the church in the accomplishing of God's economy. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 4171)
Today’s Reading
The eating of the tree of life not only was God’s original intention concerning man but also will be the eternal issue of God’s redemption. All God's redeemed people will enjoy the tree of life, which is Christ with all the divine riches as the redeemed's eternal portion for eternity (Rev. 22:2, 14,19)…The Lord in His wisdom made the enjoyment of Himself in the coming kingdom a reward in order to encourage His believers to overcome religion’s distracting knowledge in teachings and return to the enjoyment of Himself as the life supply in the church life today for the accomplishing of God’s economy.
Eating the tree of life, that is, enjoying Christ as our life supply, should be the primary matter in the church life. The content of the church life depends on the enjoyment of Christ…But to enjoy Christ requires us to love Him with the first love. The first love will bring us to the tree of life…When we give our first love to the Lord Jesus, He will give us to eat of the tree of life…To love Him with the first love, the best love, is to give the Lord the first place in all things. In order to give Him the preeminence, we must be willing to be adjusted, to be broken, and to be made nothing so that the Lord can have a way in us, through us, and among us for the building up of His organic Body. We should pray, “O Lord Jesus, I love You first, and I love You best. My first love belongs to you. O Lord Jesus, I give the priority of my love to You.” If we leave our first love toward the Lord, we will miss the enjoyment of Christ and lose the testimony of Jesus; consequently, the lampstand will be removed from us. These three things—loving the Lord, enjoying the Lord, and being the testimony of the Lord—go together.
When we overcome to return to Christ as our first love by giving Him the preeminence in every way and in everything, we will enjoy Him as life and will shine forth the divine light as the lampstand to keep the testimony of Jesus (1:9; 12:17) in our locality. We will testify of Christ's person as God and man as well as Christ's human living, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, descension, and second appearing. The shining of the light is a testimony. In every aspect of our daily life we should be shining forth Christ. This shining is the shining of the lampstand. We need love, life, light, and the lampstand. Then we will be rewarded by the Lord with what we live and are in Him. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 4171-4172)
Further Reading: The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 409; CWWL, 1991-1992, vol. 4, “The Overcomers,” chs. 2—3; CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “The Vital Groups,” ch. 11