The Lord Jesus told John that He is the living One. He is not only the ancient One, but also the living One. He has passed through death. He was dead, but now He is living forevermore! He is shining, and He is also living. To be living not only requires life, but also the life supply. If I did not eat anything in the last seven days, I would not be so living. But since I have been eating three good meals a day I am quite living and energetic. My energy comes from my eating. In the seven epistles, the concept of religion is doctrine and teaching. But the concept of the living One is eating and feasting. It is not doctrine, but the tree of life and the hidden manna. The tree of life is in the paradise of God. This is just God’s dwelling place. Today, on the earth, God’s dwelling place is the church. The tree of life is in the church, and it is Christ as our food and life supply.
Where then is the hidden manna? In typology, the hidden manna was in the Holy of Holies. The Holy of Holies is also the church. In the church life Christ is our hidden manna. He is really hidden. All those outside the church simply do not know what we are doing week after week. They also do not know where we get our energy to have meetings almost every night, as well as many mornings. Our energy comes from the hidden Christ. When we come into the church, we enjoy something hidden, the hidden manna. Christ today is the hidden manna, not for teaching, but for eating.
Jesus said that to him that overcometh He will give to eat of the tree of life. Nearly all Christians have misinterpreted the meaning of the word, “overcometh.” Most think that this means we must overcome our temper, our family problems, our self, our flesh, our weak points, our sin, the world, and even Satan. But according to the context, to overcome is not to overcome all these things. Here it means that we must overcome the degraded situation of Christianity. In the church at Ephesus, the first love was lost. Therefore, we must overcome the losing of our first love. We must pray, “O Lord Jesus, I love You. I love You first, and I love You the best. My first love belongs to You. O Lord Jesus, I give the priority of my love to You.” When we look at today’s Christianity, we do not see such a love. Hence, we must overcome this kind of degradation. Then we will obtain the reward, which will be to enjoy Christ as the tree of life. To him that overcomes the situation of the church at Ephesus, Christ will give to eat of the tree of life. The first love will bring us to the tree of life. There is a kind of exchange. When we give our first love to the Lord Jesus, He will give us to eat of the tree of life. Our love is His enjoyment, and the tree of life is ours.
To overcome the degraded situation in the church in Pergamos is to overcome all kinds of doctrines. In this church there was this kind of doctrine and that kind of doctrine. This is something we all must overcome. Almost all those in the church life must overcome doctrines. Even now I am concerned that some of the dear ones among us still hold on to some kind of doctrines. Of course some will say that we should not hold on to the wrong doctrines, such as the doctrine of Balaam and the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. These are certainly wrong, devilish doctrines. However, they continue to say that we must hold on to the right doctrines. But how do we know that the doctrines which we hold are right or wrong? No person will hold on to a doctrine that he knows is wrong. If I have a false twenty dollar bill, surely I will not keep it. If I do, it means that I think it is genuine, though it is false. Sometimes the counterfeit money looks better than the genuine. Only the experts can discern that it is false. How can you discern whether the doctrine you hold is right or not? It is really difficult. Therefore, we must forget the paper money and take the gold. This is the divine wisdom. As long as we hold the gold, we can never be cheated.