The second emphasis in the Lord’s recovery is a wonderful person-Christ. Christ is the central subject of the Bible, and His riches are unsearchable (Eph. 3:8). In this chapter I would like to present a living biography of Christ.
The first point in the biography of Christ is in John 1:1: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Christ is the Word of God, and the Word is God. The Word, who is Christ, is the One who was, who is, and who is coming (Rev. 1:4b). He is all three tenses- past, present, and future, because He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Heb. 13:8). In the past He is Christ; in the present He is Christ; and in the future He is Christ.
Christ was the Word in the beginning. “In the beginning” in John 1:1 refers to eternity past. Christ was in the beginning without any beginning. This is the first item of Christ’s biography. Christ is not only the Word of God but also the Word who was God in eternity past without any beginning. Christ as the Word of God is the speaking of God. He is the explanation, definition, and the content of our unlimited God.
Furthermore, Colossians 1:15 tells us that this Christ is the image of the invisible God. He is not only the definition and content of our God but also the image and expression of God. God is invisible, yet this invisible God has an image. Hebrews 1:3 says that Christ is the effulgence of God’s glory and the impress of His substance. This is the second item of the biography of Christ.
In the beginning of time and in the creation, God created man in His own image (Gen. 1:26). Since Christ is the image of God, we were created in the image of Christ, who is God’s image. A photo is the image of a person. Because we were made in the image of Christ, we are photos of Christ. This is the third point of the biography of Christ.
In Genesis 2 man as the photo of Christ was put before the tree of life (v. 9). Also before man was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the tree of death. Genesis 2:17 says, “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” There were two trees in front of man. If he ate the tree of life, surely he would get life. If he ate the other tree, he would become dead. Thus, man as the photo of Christ has two destinies-life or death. Man has these two choices.
When Adam and Eve heard God’s explanation about the two trees, the subtle one, the serpent, was crouching there, waiting for an opportunity to poison them. He put a doubt, a question mark, into Eve when he asked her, “Hath God said...?” (Gen. 3:1). A question mark is shaped like a snake standing upright. Every doubt and question about what God says is the snake, Satan. The woman was caught when she began to talk to the serpent, the subtle one. She should not have talked with him. Rather, she should have referred the serpent to her husband. Then she would have had protection. However, she boldly answered the serpent’s question and got caught. She did not take the fruit of the tree of life. Instead, she took the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and received death.
The knowledge of good and evil, right and wrong, issues in death. Whatever we do apart from Christ as life issues in death. To love people apart from Christ is death; to hate people apart from Christ is death; and to be neutral apart from Christ is death. To do anything apart from Christ is death, and not doing anything apart from Christ is also death. Then what shall we do? We should call on the name of the Lord Jesus. Only He is the tree of life.
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