The first two chapters of Genesis and the last two chapters of Revelation present two similar pictures. If we look carefully into these two ends of the Scriptures, we will realize that both of them are related to the matter of God being life to man. The scene that is found in Genesis 2 reveals that after man was created, God put him before the tree of life. God’s intention was that man would receive Him as life. Although man was created according to the image of God, which is Christ (Col. 1:15; 2 Cor. 4:4), man did not have the life of God. God put man before the tree of life with the intention that man would partake of this very tree and receive the life of God.
The eternal intention of God is to impart His very life into created man. However, before man partook of God’s life, he was tempted by the enemy, Satan, to pay attention to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil instead. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil signifies something other than the tree of life. Only God Himself is the source of life. He is the unique fountain of life, the flow of life. However, in this universe there is another source, which is Satan, the enemy of God. Man was tempted by Satan to touch something other than God Himself. In this way, man committed sin, which brought in death. Eventually, four thousand years later Christ came and accomplished redemption. He redeemed man from sin, annulled death, and released His divine life in resurrection. Now as the Spirit He can be received by anyone who will believe into Him. Whoever believes into Him receives Him as life (John 1:12-13).
At the end of the Scriptures, the tree of life is still there, growing in the flow of living water to supply the glorious city, the New Jerusalem (Rev. 22:1-2). The ultimate picture in the Scriptures is the tree of life, growing in the flow of living water to be the food supply for all the redeemed ones. These two pictures, in Genesis and in Revelation, show us clearly that from the beginning God’s intention and His ultimate goal have been that man take Him as his life. The Triune God is life to us. The Bible reveals clearly and simply that God in the Son and as the Spirit desires to impart Himself into us as life. By so doing, God mingles Himself with us. When we put tea into water, the tea mingles with the water. Then it is neither merely tea nor merely water; it is tea mingled with water, tea-water. We are a “cup of water,” and God is the “tea.” God put Himself into us to mingle with us, making us a God-man. We are a God-man because God is within us and even mingled with us. We have the boldness to tell people that we are not only a man but a God-man. No longer are we merely a cup of plain water; we are a cup of tea-water. We have the tea color, the tea taste, and the tea essence because we are mingled with the element of the tea. God Himself is now mingled with our spirit. How wonderful and marvelous it is that God in the Son and as the Spirit can be mingled with us! We not only have God but share in God Himself. The very Triune God, the Father in the Son and as the Spirit, is now indwelling us. This is a wonderful fact, and it is the revelation of the entire Bible.
Between the two ends of the Bible, there is one book among the sixty-six which specifically deals with the matter of life. This is the Gospel of John, which is a book of life. The Gospel of John is usually referred to as a book of life. It tells us that in the beginning, in eternity, was the Word, and the Word was God (1:1). We all know that a word, simply speaking, is an expression. The words we speak are our expression. Since Christ is the Word of God and Christ is God, this indicates that Christ is the expression and explanation of God. One day this expression, the very Word of God, became a man by the name of Jesus. As a man, He dwelt among men not in a spectacular way but in a common way. Although He lived as a common carpenter, He was the very God dwelling among people (Mark 6:3). At that time no one understood much about Him. A number among people looked down on Him, yet some respected and honored Him very much. One day the crowds had the intention to make Him a king because they thought that He was so marvelous and wonderful. With just five barley loaves and two fish, He was able to perform a miracle to feed the five thousand (John 6:10, 14-15). However, He did not want to be a king, nor did He come to be a king. Instead, He told them that He was the bread of life (v. 35). He came not as a king but as the bread of life to be eaten by us. He came not to be honored by man but to be eaten by man. Even if we would honor Him as a king, He would not be happy. To render respect like this would not satisfy Him. Only one thing makes Him happy—that we take Him in and eat Him.
God’s eternal intention is not to be worshipped in a religious way nor to be served by us, but to be eaten as food. He wants to enter into us, be digested by us, and become our very constituent. He desires to mingle Himself with us. This is His desire and intention. We have to take Him in as food and digest Him so that He might become our very constitution. Many of us may think that since our Lord is so glorious, great, and wonderful, we should enthrone Him in the heavens. Our concept is to prostrate ourselves in worship before Him. However, the Lord can never be happy with this. He may say to us, “Don’t keep Me in heaven. I wish to dwell in your heart. I wish to be received by you, digested by you, and wrought into your very being. I want to be mingled with you to such an extent.”
Once as I spoke with a group of Christians, I asked a sister, “Will you tell me how the Lord is a help to you?” She said, “Since the Lord is in the heavens as the almighty One, when I pray, He answers me. He simply stretches out His strong arm and mighty hand to do something for me. Isn’t this wonderful?” But I shook my head and said, “Sister, this is not the way the Lord works today in the New Testament age. Today the Lord’s way is to come into us and dwell within us. He is not in the heavens stretching out His mighty arm to help you; He is now within you.” There are many people who think that the Lord is in the heavens stretching out His arms to help them in this way. On the contrary, the way the Lord takes today is to enter into man, dwell within him, and energize him from within. His working within us strengthens and energizes us, making us strong, active, and full of vitality so that we can never be idle and never be quiet. The way the Lord takes today to strengthen us is not from the outside but from within. As I am speaking for the Lord, He helps me and strengthens me but not from the heavens outwardly. He energizes me from within, because His indwelling, working, and strengthening are from my spirit. He works within us because He is life, even the bread of life, to us. This is wonderful!
In Matthew 15 a woman came to the Lord crying out, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David!” The Lord, however, did not answer her. Eventually the Lord told her that He was a small piece of bread on the table (vv. 22-27). That woman called Him the Lord and the Son of David. This is not wrong. He is both the Son of David and the Lord, yet as the Son of David and the Lord Himself, He comes as bread to the children to be eaten by them.
We need the realization that the Lord Jesus Christ is food to us. The best way to experience the Lord is to take Him in as our food. I am not saying that we should not worship the Lord or serve Him, but the best way to deal with the Lord and make Him the happiest is to take Him as food. We must learn to take the Lord as our life, enjoying Him, applying Him, and appropriating Him daily. No doubt, He is the Lord and the almighty God, yet He is also food to us. The very God in His Son as the Spirit is food for us to take, to digest, and to mingle with our being. At this point God becomes subjective to us, saturating our entire being. This is His eternal purpose and ultimate intention. Nothing is more important or necessary than this. Before, we may have had the thought that the best way to contact the Lord was to worship Him, serve Him, and do something good to please Him. Now we see that we need to take Him as food, enjoy Him as our life within, and apply Him moment by moment in everything in our daily living. May we all be deeply impressed that this is the best way to contact God and make Him happy. As we enjoy Him, we can apply Him as everything.