The consistent line in the Bible is life. Apart from life, there is no other way for God to accomplish this goal of making man the same as He is. Only through the way of life can God’s life be wrought into man to operate, transform, and cause a metabolic reaction in man, so that man may be transformed and become the same as God.
In Genesis 1 when man is mentioned, the image of God is also mentioned (v. 26). Then in chapter two when man is mentioned again, immediately life is mentioned (v. 7). Only when God’s life enters into man can man have the genuine image of God. Only when God’s life enters into man can man be the same as God in nature, appearance, radiance, and color. Thus, Genesis 1 and 2 mention the image of God on the one hand and the life of God on the other. In chapter two after God created man, He put man in front of the tree of life. This indicates that God wanted man to be the same as He by means of this life. For man to be the same as God in nature, appearance, radiance, and color, he must allow God’s life to enter into him.
The city of the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21 is composed of jasper and precious stones, signifying that we redeemed ones are jasper and precious stones. In Genesis 2, however, the Adam who was created by God and who was in the garden of Eden was a man of clay, a muddy man. Many people, after being saved, admire the condition of Adam in the garden of Eden, but they do not realize that the Adam who was in the garden of Eden did not have the life of God. In other words, he was merely clay, not gold or precious stone.
There is no comparison between us, who are also men of clay, and Adam who was in the garden of Eden, because even though he was a man of clay, he was not ruined or filthy like us. If we made a doll out of clay, at first it would be pretty and complete. But then if some children hug it, kiss it, and touch it with their hands, it will very quickly lose its shape. Its nose may drop off, and its ears may fall down. The “clay doll” in the garden of Eden was a complete doll, but we “clay dolls” who are outside of the garden of Eden were born filthy and crippled. Thus, we cannot be compared with Adam. However, we now have the gold, pearl, and precious stone in us. Although the “clay Adam” in the garden of Eden was good, the gold, bdellium (which corresponds to the pearl), and precious stones were outside of him and were not in him.
God put Adam in front of the tree of life because He wanted Adam to eat of the tree of life and receive it into him. Once the tree of life enters into man, it becomes a river of living water that waters and transforms man and eventually brings forth the gold, pearl and precious stones. This is the story in Genesis 2. Although the gold and precious stones were the issue of the flow of life, they did not flow into Adam. Because God’s life had not entered into Adam, the gold, pearl, and precious stones were outside of Adam.
Then in chapter three the evil one came and caused Adam to contact the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Before the tree of life could enter into Adam, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil came into him. In this way, the river of water of life disappeared, and what emerged was the sword of fire (3:24). Originally, in front of the tree of life was a river of living water (2:10), but due to Adam’s fall, something of Satan entered into man, and the river of water of life became a flame.
Revelation 4 mentions the throne of God and the seven lamps of fire before the throne. Then chapter twenty-two mentions the throne of God again, saying that there is a river of water of life proceeding out of the throne of God. There are two main sections in Revelation. At the beginning, Revelation says that there is fire coming from the throne of God, and at the end, it says that there is water proceeding out of the throne of God (22:1). In Daniel 7 the vision that Daniel saw was the same as what John saw at the beginning of Revelation—a stream of fire issuing forth and coming out from the throne of God (vv. 9-10). However, at the end of Revelation, what comes forth from the throne is not fire but water.
After God created Adam, He put him before the tree of life. From the tree of life flowed a river that had four branches flowing in four directions—east, west, north, and south. The flowing of these four branches produced gold, pearl, and precious stones. The description of the New Jerusalem at the end of Revelation also mentions the tree of life and the river of water of life flowing through the four corners of the holy city. Furthermore, the materials of the city are pure gold, pearl, and precious stones, which are the same materials in the river in Genesis. In Genesis 2 the gold, pearl, and precious stones had not yet entered into Adam, the man of clay, but in Revelation 21 the man of clay is no longer there but has been completely transformed into pure gold, pearl, and precious stones.
In Genesis 2, if man had come to the tree of life, he would have touched the river. But in chapter three, after man’s fall, if man wanted to contact the tree of life, he would have touched the flaming sword that turned in every direction (v. 24). What is the flaming sword? The flaming sword does one thing—a killing work. It is both a flame and a sword, a sword and a flame. Its nature is a flame, and its function is to kill. In other words, if man had touched the tree of life in Genesis 2, he surely would have touched the river of life. But if man wanted to touch the tree of life in chapter three, he would have touched the flame that burns and kills man. Thus, there was a flaming sword. Ever since that time, this river sometimes appears as a flame and sometimes as water. Its condition varies greatly. Hence, from the throne of God proceeds a river that is sometimes the water of life that gives life and sometimes a flame that burns and kills.
In John 7 the Lord came in order to give man the living water. He said, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes into Me, as the Scripture said, out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water” (vv. 37b-38). The Lord has given His life to man as living water. In chapter four the Lord also answered the Samaritan woman with the eternal life. He said, “Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall by no means thirst forever; but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water gushing up into eternal life” (v. 14). What the Lord meant was that the eternal life is the living water.
However, in Luke 12 the Lord said, “I have come to cast fire on the earth, and how I wish that it were already kindled!” (v. 49). Then He continued, saying, “Do you think that I have come to give peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division” (v. 51). This means that the Lord as fire burns in man to give rise to division. Sometimes the husband opposes the wife, or the wife opposes the husband. Sometimes the parents oppose the children, or the children oppose the parents. When this fire is cast into man, it burns in man and gives rise to conflicts among the believing and unbelieving relatives. This is the Lord’s life. The condition of some Christians, however, is like a bag filled with water—they can neither be kindled nor burned because they know the Lord’s life only as water but not as fire. Those who do know the Lord’s life as fire that has been kindled and is burning within them often have emotional conflicts with their unbelieving relatives. Therefore, the fire in Luke 12 is the Lord’s life. John said that the Lord’s life is water, and Luke said that the Lord’s life is fire. Are these two lives? No, they are one life, but sometimes this life is water and other times it is fire.