约十五5 我是葡萄树，你们是枝子；住在我里面的，我也住在他里面，这人就多结果子；因为离了我，你们就不能作什么。

　　启二二2　 在河这边与那边有生命树，生产十二样果子，每月都结出果子，树上的叶子乃为医治万民。

　　在创世记一至二章里，几乎每件事都是神圣启示的种子。这两棵树也是这样的种子，……在圣经接下来的各卷中逐渐长大，并且在启示录里成熟收割。在启示录二十章十节和十四节，我们看到死亡被扔在火湖里；在二十二章二节，我们看见生命在新耶路撒冷里。在圣经起头我们看到死亡和生命，到了结尾再次看到死亡和生命。在圣经首尾之间有两条线—死亡线与生命线。这两条线都是始于创世记而终于启示录。死亡始于善恶知识树，终于火湖；生命始于生命树，终于新耶路撒冷。我们得救之前是在死亡线上，得救以后就被摆在生命线上（创世记生命读经，二○○至二○一页）。

　　John 15:5 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.

　　Rev. 22:2 And on this side and on that side of the river was the tree of life, producing twelve fruits, yielding its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.

　　Nearly everything in Genesis 1 and 2 is a seed of the divine revelation. The two trees are such seeds…These seeds grow in the following books of the Bible and are reaped as a harvest in the book of Revelation. In Revelation 20:10 and 14 we see that death is cast into the lake of fire. In Revelation 22:2 we see that life abides in the New Jerusalem. At the beginning of the Bible we find death and life, and at the end of the Bible we again see death and life. Between the two ends of the Bible two lines are set forth—the line of death and the line of life. Both lines begin in the book of Genesis and end in the book of Revelation. Death begins with the tree of knowledge of good and evil and ends with the lake of fire. Life begins with the tree of life and ends at the New Jerusalem. Before we were saved, we were on the line of death. After we were saved, we were put on the line of life. (Life-study of Genesis, p. 162)

　　生命树表征神对人乃是生命。……生命树产生倚靠的生命。……人若接受生命树，这会在人里面产生倚靠的生命。……凡与生命有关的事，都是倚靠的事。你无法从任何生命的事毕业。吃是倚靠的事。你不能说，你吃过上好的食物，你吃得太够了，所以你不需要再吃了。当然，喝与呼吸也是倚靠的事，是我们不能毕业的。

　　这表明接受神作我们的生命，会产生倚靠的生命。另一面，知识产生独立。……神对我们不是知识，神对我们乃是生命。我们接受祂作我们的生命，这神圣的生命立刻就在我们里面产生一种倚靠。我们必须一直地倚靠祂。祂是葡萄树，我们是枝子。枝子必须住在葡萄树上（约十五5）。离了葡萄树，枝子就成为死的。……所有的枝子都倚靠葡萄树的生命。

　　在我们得救以前，我们全然向神独立。但我们向神悔改并相信神，就成为倚靠的。每当我们独立，那就是我们凭知识而活的时候。每当我们凭着我们的灵，凭着生命而活，我们就全然倚靠神。因此，这乃是由两种生命所产生的两种原则。神圣的生命使我们倚靠，撒但的生命使我们独立。独立的意思就是背叛；背叛的意思就是向神独立。

　　神要人借着吃的方式接受祂作生命。……吃是生机地接受养分唯一的路。……你所吃的，就成为你生机的养分。……吃是唯一的路，而神是人唯一的食物。……我们所吃一切物质的食物都是影儿。神是我们食物的实际〔参西二16~17〕。……借着吃接受神，就是新陈代谢地将神吸收到我们的所是里。……祂的新元素就顶替我们的所是，我们的旧元素就被排除（李文集一九七九年第一册，六五四至六五五、六五七至六五九页）。

　　吃指明倚靠。神是我们的食物，由生命树所表征，意思就是我们必须不断倚靠神。我们必须来到神这里，好一再从祂得喂养。……我们若吃知识树，就不倚靠神，反倒使我们向神独立。在神眼中，最大的罪乃是独立。我们必须学习不断地倚靠神（李文集一九九○年第一册，二七七页）。

　　参读：生命信息，第二十六至二十七章；享受基督，第一章。

　　The tree of life signifies God as life to man…The tree of life issues in a dependent life… If man would take the tree of life, that would issue in a dependent life in man… All the matters related to life are matters of dependence. You cannot graduate from any matter of life. Eating is a dependent matter. You cannot say that you have eaten the best food and that you have eaten more than enough, so you do not need to eat anymore. The matters of drinking and breathing, of course, are also dependent matters from which we do not graduate.

　　This shows that to take God as our life issues in a dependent life. Knowledge, on the other hand, issues in independence. God is not knowledge to us. God is life to us. We take Him as our life, and this divine life right away issues in a kind of dependence within us. We have to depend upon Him all the time. He is the vine, and we are the branches. The branches have to abide in the vine (John 15:5). Apart from the vine, the branches become dead… All the branches depend upon the vine’s life.

　　Before we were saved, we were altogether independent of God. But when we repented to God and believed in God, we became dependent. Whenever we have been independent, that was the time we lived by knowledge. Whenever we lived by our spirit, by life, we were altogether dependent upon God. Thus, these are two kinds of principles issuing from two kinds of lives. The divine life makes us dependent, and the satanic life makes us independent. To be independent means to be rebellious. To rebel means to be independent from God.

　　God wanted man to receive Him as life by the way of eating…Eating is the unique way to receive nourishment organically…What you eat becomes your organic nourishment… Eating is the unique way, and God is the unique food to man… All the physical food we eat is a shadow. God is the reality of our food [cf. Col. 2:16-17]…To receive God by eating Him is to have God assimilated into our being metabolically… His new element replaces what we are, and our old element is discharged. (CWWL, 1979, vol. 1, “Basic Lessons on Life,” pp. 488, 490-491)

　　Eating indicates dependence. That God is our food, signified by the tree of life, means that we must depend on God continually. We must come to Him in order to feed on Him again and again… Taking the tree of knowledge makes us independent of God. In the eyes of God the greatest sin is independence. We must learn to depend on God continually. (CWWL, 1990, vol. 1, “The Triune God to Be Life to the Tripartite Man,” p. 233)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1978, vol. 2, “Life Messages, Volume 1,” chs. 26-27; CWWL, 1965, vol. 3, “The Enjoyment of Christ,” ch. 1