The Tree of Life

The Tree of Life, Chap 16, Section 2 of 2

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The flow of life with the tree of life as the supply transformed Peter into a precious stone. Originally, Peter was a man of clay, but now, in the New Jerusalem, Peter becomes a precious stone. How could Peter as a man of clay be changed into precious stone? The very God in the Lamb as the Redeemer was received by Peter. Then out of this Lamb the water of life flowed carrying the tree of life as the supply. Day by day Peter ate of the tree of life and drank of the water of life. Day by day he enjoyed the Triune God. By this enjoyment he was transformed into a precious stone for God’s building.

The Father is in the New Jerusalem as the source, the light. The Son is the lamp and the tree of life. Then the Spirit is the river of water of life (John 7:37-39). God the Father as the light is the source. In God the Son, He comes as the Lamb to redeem us. After we receive God the Son, the Lamb, as our Redeemer, the water of life, the Spirit, starts to move and flow within us. Within this flow of the Spirit, is the Son, Christ as the tree of life, for us to enjoy. First, the Son as the Lamb is for us to receive as our Redeemer. After we receive Him, the flow of the Spirit will move within us, and in this flow, Christ is the tree of life as the life supply. In this way we have the three of the Triune God for our enjoyment. Now the tree of life is no longer outside of us but within us. The Lamb has been received by us, and the Triune God has been wrought into us. In Genesis 2 the tree and the flow of the water are outside of man. But in Revelation 22 the tree of life and the water of life are both in the city. Now the tree of life with the water of life have both been wrought into man.

After the tree of life and the water of life have been wrought into [215] us, they become not only our nourishment but also the element to transform us. The more we enjoy the flow of living water within us, flowing with the tree of life as the supply, the more we will be transformed. Men of clay will be transformed into precious stones. Eventually, in the New Jerusalem, in the holy city, there will be no more clay. The entire city proper is a mountain of gold (21:18). The entire wall is jasper, a precious stone, and all the foundations of the wall are precious stones (vv. 18-20). Furthermore, all the gates are pearls (v. 21). There are only three materials in the New Jerusalem—gold, pearl, and precious stones. By this time, all have been transformed.

In the four Gospels is the story of Simon Peter. Many times he was shown that he was merely a man of clay. He often spoke nonsensically or acted foolishly. On the night when the Lord was betrayed, the Lord told the disciples that He would be smitten and that they would be scattered. Peter said, “If all will be stumbled because of You, I will never be stumbled” (Matt. 26:33). He spoke foolishly. Not long after that, the Lord was arrested and was brought to the court of the high priest. Peter followed the Lord afar off and also entered into the courtyard of the high priest. While he sat outside in the courtyard, a servant girl, not a big soldier, came to him and said, “You also were with Jesus the Galilean” (v. 69). Three times Peter denied the Lord, even with an oath. At that time Peter was certainly a mere man of clay.

However, in Acts 2—5 Peter was a transformed, shining, strong, and transparent precious stone. In these chapters he was not opaque but clear as crystal and transparent. He was precious and absolutely changed. He was not merely changed or sanctified in position but changed in disposition. He was changed in the metabolic way. A divine “chemical element” had been put into him which caused a chemical reaction. God in the Lamb had been received by Peter, and the Spirit as the living water started to flow into him. This flow supplied him with Christ, the all-inclusive One, as the tree of life. Day by day Peter feasted on this Christ, and day by day he drank of this living water. Some heavenly chemical element was flowing into him causing a metabolic change in his very being. He became changed not only in position or form but also in nature, disposition, and character. By this he became one of the twelve foundations of the [216] New Jerusalem. Mere teaching or gifts cannot transform us. Only the inner life, the Triune God Himself, can transform us.

The Father is the source as the light, and the Son is the Redeemer for us to receive. If we would confess all our sins and admit and recognize that He died on the cross for our sins, right away there would be a flow within us. This is the Spirit, and within this flow is the tree of life growing in us as the life supply for us to feed upon day by day. The river of life with the tree of life are within us for us to simply drink and eat. Day by day we can receive the heavenly nourishment, and all the spiritual “vitamins” can be brought into us. This will metabolically transform us. This transforming life is also a life of building. This life within not only supplies and not only transforms but also builds us together with others.

The New Jerusalem unveils the redeeming Lamb, the flow of life, the supply of life, the transformation of life, and the building up in life. This is a picture of today’s church life. The church life is composed of a group of people who realize that they are sinful and admit that God, as the source of life, loves them. In His Son He accomplished redemption, and the Son is presented to us, the sinners, as the Lamb. We confess all our sins to Him, and we admit and recognize that He is our Redeemer, the Lamb of God, who died for us to take away our sin. When we do this, right away the Spirit becomes the flow of life within us. With this flow of life, Christ is not only the Lamb but also the tree of life for us to enjoy. He is the water of life for us to drink and the tree of life for us to eat day by day. By our eating and drinking Him, the heavenly element, the divine essence and substance, is carried into us, and we are metabolically transformed to be built up with others in oneness. This building today in this age is the church and in eternity is the holy city, New Jerusalem.

This holy city is God’s tabernacle, God’s dwelling place. Revelation 7:15 says that we will serve God in the temple. The temple is a place not only for God to dwell in but also for those who serve God to dwell in. Revelation 21:22 says, “I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.” This means that we will serve God in God as the temple. All the redeemed ones are the tabernacle to God for God to dwell in, and God Himself is the temple to us for us to dwell in. Eventually, God will dwell in us, and we will dwell in God. This is a mutual dwelling, a mutual habitation. [217] While He is dwelling in us, we are dwelling in Him. This is the mingling of the Triune God with His chosen and redeemed people.

This mingling depends on the enjoyment of the Lord. We have to enjoy Him all day long by feasting on Him as the tree of life and drinking of Him as the water of life. If we are going to be transformed, built up, and mingled with the Triune God, we have to feed on Christ as the tree of life and drink of Him as the water of life day by day. May the Lord bring us into the enjoyment of Himself. May we realize that He is within us as the tree of life, supplying us all the time by the flowing of the Holy Spirit within us. We must learn how to feed on Him and how to drink of Him. Then all that He is, His element, His substance, and His essence, will be conveyed and transmitted into us. We will be transformed, built up, and mingled with the Triune God.

 

The Tree of Life, Chap 16, Section 1 of 2

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CHAPTER SIXTEEN

GOD’S ULTIMATE INTENTION REALIZED

Scripture Reading: Rev. 21:2-3a, 10-14, 18-23; 22:1-5; 2:7; 7:14-17; 21:6; 22:17

We have seen that God presented Himself to us as the tree of life for our enjoyment in the form of food that we may eat of Him. Throughout the whole Bible God’s unique intention is that we would take Him into us and enjoy Him within as our life and everything. Eventually, He will be mingled with us. The best way for something to be mingled with us is for us to eat that thing. Whatever we eat will be digested by us and will be mingled with us to be a part of us. This is the central thought of the Bible. My burden is to point out this central thought that we all might be impressed with it. This impression will revolutionize our whole Christian walk.

GOD’S INTENTION WITH THE TREE OF LIFE

In the beginning of the Bible, in Genesis 2 there is a picture showing us a tree, which is called the tree of life, and in front of the tree is a man of clay (vv. 8-9). Clay is the dust of the earth. With clay there is nothing precious. Beside the tree of life there is a river of water flowing and dividing into four branches, going to the four directions of the earth (v. 10). The issue of this flow is gold, bdellium, and onyx stone (v. 12). Onyx is a precious stone. Gold, bdellium, and onyx are three precious materials. There is no comparison between them and the clay.

We all must realize that God created a corporate man in Genesis 2, which included billions of persons. That man of clay was Adam, and we all are his descendants. Because we all came out of Adam, the Bible says that we are earthen vessels (2 Cor. 4:7), vessels of clay. In Genesis 2 this man of clay had nothing to do with the tree of life. He was not the gold, bdellium, or onyx. But God’s intention was that this man of clay would take in the tree of life, that is, that this man would eat the tree of life. The tree of life is something living. When [212] it gets into man, this living tree becomes a flow within, and this flow of life will transform this man of clay into precious materials (gold, bdellium, and onyx) for God’s building. This is God’s intention. The whole Bible of sixty-six books simply tells us this one thing—that we were made of clay but were intended by God to take Him as the tree of life. Then God who is so living will come into us as our life, and this living One who is God Himself as life to us will become a flow within us.

Right away after we were saved, after we received Christ as our life, we did have the sense that within us there was something flowing. This inner flow will carry away many things from within us and will bring many things into us. Within our body we have the circulation of blood. Negatively, this circulation of the blood as the flow within the body carries away all the negative things, and positively, this flow of blood carries into us all the necessary nourishment and vitamins. In our physical body we have a flow, and our physical body exists by this flow.

After we received the Lord, He Himself as our life became the flow within our spirit. Now we have another flow within us besides the one in our physical body. This flow is the spiritual flow of life in our spirit, which is Christ Himself. On the negative side, this flow will carry away our bad temper, our hatred, our impatience, and our pride. On the positive side, this flow will gradually day by day bring more and more of Christ into us to nourish us, and this flowing will do a transforming work to change us, not only in position but also in nature, in disposition.

GOD’S INTENTION IN THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

Before considering the final picture in the Bible in Revelation, we should see God’s intention with life in the Gospel of John. John 1:1 and 4 say, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” Verse 14 goes on to say, “And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us.” The Word was God, and in this One there was life. He became flesh, walking upon this earth. At the beginning of His ministry He was recommended as the Lamb of God (v. 29). Due to the fall of man the One who was life came as the Lamb of God. In Genesis 2 there was the tree of life, but afterward, [213] in Genesis 3 there was the fall of man. Immediately after the fall of man there was a lamb (v. 21).

God’s intention is that He Himself would be life to man, but because man became fallen, God had to change in form from the tree of life to the Lamb. God as life came in the form of the Lamb to take away the sin of the world. According to the record of the passover in Exodus 12, the lamb was not only good for redeeming but also good for nourishing. The blood of the lamb was for redeeming, and the meat of the lamb was for nourishing. Nourishing is something of life. Therefore, in John 1 there is the Lamb, but in chapter 6 there is the food, the bread of life (vv. 22-71).

Then in chapter 4 and chapter 7 is the living water, the water of life, to drink (4:14; 7:37-38). Eventually, in John 17 there is the oneness (vv. 11, 20-23). Oneness is the building. The Gospel of John starts with God Himself. God’s intention is that He would be life to us. But because we became fallen, He changed in form. He became the Lamb to us to redeem us and to be food for us to eat. He is also the living water that we may drink of Him. After we eat of Him and drink of Him, eventually there is the oneness, the building.

THE TREE OF LIFE AND THE RIVER OF LIFE 
IN REVELATION FOR THE TRANSFORMATION IN LIFE 
AND THE BUILDING IN LIFE

In the last picture of the Bible there is a city foursquare with three gates on every side (Rev. 21:16, 12-13). Each of the twelve gates is a pearl (v. 21), and upon them are the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. This gives us a picture, telling us that all these gates are persons. They are pearls, but they all have personal names. Verse 14 speaks of the twelve foundations. The twelve foundations are precious stones, and on them are the names of the twelve apostles. All the foundations are persons. Peter is a foundation, and John is a foundation. Furthermore, the wall of the city is built with precious stones (v. 18). We are not the foundations, but we are the precious stones.

In the midst of the city is a throne (22:1). Do not think that the city of New Jerusalem is flat. It is a mountain. The height of the wall is one hundred forty-four cubits, but the height of the city itself is twelve thousand stadia (21:16). The city itself is much higher than the wall. This proves that the city must be a mountain. At the foot of the mountain the wall is built, and on the top of the mountain there [214] is the throne of God and of the Lamb. There are not two thrones but one throne for God and the Lamb. Upon the throne is the Lamb, the Lamb is the lamp, and God is the light within the lamp (v. 23). One throne for both God and the Lamb signifies that God and the Lamb are one. The Lamb is the lamp, and God is the light within Him. From this throne flows out the river of water of life winding as a spiral down the mountain. Eventually, it passes through all the twelve gates. On either side of the river grows the tree of life (22:2). Genesis 2 tells us that the tree of life is good for food (v. 9), and Revelation 7:17; 21:6; and 22:17 tell us that the water of life is good for drink. Within the city are the water of life to drink and the tree of life to eat.

The Tree of Life, Chap 15, Section 2 of 2

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On the one hand, it is easy to be disappointed when you look at the situation among the Lord’s children. Many Christians’ hearts are indifferent toward the Lord, and the Lord has gained very little ground within them. On the other hand, I am still joyful because the Lord is so gracious, patient, and merciful. The Lord is continually waiting for chances to mingle Himself with us. Whenever we call on His name, He takes the opportunity to mingle Himself with us a little bit. I have the assurance that sooner or later we will be transformed. If we are not transformed in this age, we will eventually be in the next age. The Lord is sovereign, and no one can stop Him from accomplishing His eternal purpose. His enemy may be able to frustrate Him a little bit, but this frustration gives Him an opportunity to display His multifarious wisdom (Eph. 3:10). The Lord will accomplish His purpose. He has chosen us, and we cannot retreat. He has called us, justified us, saved us, regenerated us, and indwelt us. Even if we wanted to divorce Him, He would not sign the divorce papers.

Sooner or later you will be subdued, convinced, taken over, occupied, and transformed by the Lord. Regardless of how much you love the world today, how much you are indifferent to the Lord, how cold your emotion is, and how stiff-necked your will is, I know that one day you will be absolutely gained by the Lord. He is merciful, and He is waiting. He has been waiting for two thousand years. We may feel that two thousand years are too long, but to Him one thousand years are just one day. One day He will purify us and clear us up. Today the Lord is within our spirit, and He is always waiting for opportunities to dispense Himself into us, to occupy our heart little by little. The all-inclusive, rich Christ is within us as the living Spirit. He is the heavenly ink waiting to inscribe Himself on the tablets of [207] our hearts of flesh. Whenever we turn to Him, the living Spirit will write something of Christ upon our mind, emotion, and will.

The Lord’s main concern is not for what we do outwardly but for what we are. He wants to dispense Himself, inscribe Himself, into our mind, emotion, and will all the time. One brother may be very good in his natural disposition. He may be nice, humble, and very stable. Since he got saved, he is so nice and humble all the time, and everyone likes him. He even comes to the church meetings on a regular basis. But it may be that this brother is always closed to the Lord. The Lord is within his spirit as a prisoner. Outwardly he is such a nice brother, and he is really stable. But the Lord has no way to write on his heart because he is not open to the Lord.

There may be another brother who is not good in his natural disposition. Right after he got saved, he may have backslidden. Then he came back to the Lord and confessed his sins, opening his heart to the Lord. This gave the Lord a chance to write on his being. Maybe a little later, this brother had a fight with some other brothers. Then he repented and realized that he was wrong. He confessed to the Lord and opened his heart again, so the Lord dispensed more of Himself into this brother. We have to consider where these brothers will be after fifteen years with the Lord. The one brother is so nice, humble, and stable, but always closed to the Lord. The other brother is not good according to his natural disposition, but gradually more and more of Christ has been wrought into him. The Christ who has been wrought into him will gradually swallow up his bad disposition, and there will be a real transformation with this brother. This shows us that the Christian life is not a life of outward doing, of outward working, but a life of inward transforming.

We need to be encouraged that no matter what kind of person we are, the Lord will work out His purpose of transformation in us. He is merciful, and little by little He will change us. He will transform us. I do not care for what you are outwardly or what you do outwardly, but I know there is One working within you inwardly. Praise Him for His inward working within us. He is taking every opportunity to write something of Christ within us little by little. I can testify that from observing many of the saints, more of Christ has been written into them year by year in a specific way. We need to be patient with one another in the church life because more and more of Christ is gradually being wrought into us. This is the Lord’s [208] transforming work. One person may be slow, and another person may be quick in his disposition. But before the Lord there is no difference. To be fast or to be slow does not mean anything. What means something is the Lord writing Himself into our being all the time to transform us. In the age of eternity all of us will become the complete letters of Christ. At that time the entire composition of Christ will be inscribed into our whole being. Christ alone will become the very content of our mind, emotion, and will.

MIRRORS BEHOLDING AND REFLECTING 
THE GLORY OF THE LORD

The second illustration in 2 Corinthians 3 is that we are mirrors beholding and reflecting the glory of the Lord. We are mirrors beholding Christ and reflecting Him, but the problem is that sometimes our heart is turned away from the Lord. Thus, we have to turn our heart to Him. Whenever our heart turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away (v. 16). The Lord is waiting for us to turn our heart to Him. He is indwelling our spirit, and our spirit is the hidden man of our heart. Our heart must be turned inwardly to the indwelling Christ. Then we will behold Him and reflect Him. We have to turn our heart to Him all the time, morning and evening, day and night. Even while we are working or driving our car, we must turn our heart to Him. The more that we turn to Him and behold Him, the more we will reflect Him and be transformed into His image.

When we open ourselves to behold Him, He as the living Spirit imparts Himself into us. Whenever we behold the Lord, we return ourselves to the spirit. We need to look away from everything unto Jesus, who is the living Spirit in our spirit. When we behold Him, He has the ground and the opportunity to impart Himself into us. This imparting of Himself into us will transform us.

When tea is added to plain water, the tea becomes mingled with the water, and the tea transforms the water in color, in expression, and in flavor. The water is in the tea, and the tea is in the water. In the same way Christ is in us, and we are in Christ. Just as the tea and the water are mingled together, we and Christ are mingled together. The Lord is doing a mingling and transforming work within us. The Lord’s work is not a matter of outward adjustment, outward correction, or outward improvement, but a matter of Him imparting Himself into our being from within us. The more He imparts [209] Himself into us, the more He mingles Himself with us and the more He will transform us.

We are transformed by the living Spirit. Second Corinthians 3:18 tells us that we are transformed into the same image from glory to glory even as from the Lord Spirit. He is the living Spirit within us, so we have to pay our attention to the Spirit all the time. We have to learn to open to Him. If we open ourselves to Him, He will have a way to purify us, to purge us, to saturate us, to permeate us, to fill us, to mingle Himself with us, and to transform us. Transformation takes place by this living One imparting Himself more and more into us. He imparts Himself into us by our drinking Him, eating Him, and breathing Him in. To eat Him, drink Him, and breathe Him in is to allow Him to write Himself into us, to inscribe Himself into us, by our beholding Him. He is the living Spirit waiting within us, so we need to learn to turn ourselves to the Spirit and open to Him. Then He will saturate us, and we will be transformed.

The Tree of Life, Chap 15, Section 1 of 2

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CHAPTER FIFTEEN

LIVING LETTERS OF CHRIST BY 
BEHOLDING AND REFLECTING HIS GLORY

Scripture Reading: 2 Cor. 3:3, 6, 17-18

GOD’S INTENTION TO MINGLE HIMSELF WITH US

In the Scriptures a wonderful, mysterious, and glorious fact is revealed; that is, God’s intention is to mingle Himself with us human beings. This glorious, mysterious, and wonderful fact is the very central thought revealed in the Scriptures. The first illustration of God’s intention in the Scriptures is the tree of life, which is to be taken as food into our being. The tree of life typifies the Triune God with the Father as the source, the Son as the course, and the Spirit as the flow that we may partake of Him as our food. He is presented to us in the form of food that we may take Him in. Then He will be mingled with us. The best way to have something mingled with us is to eat that thing. In order to have a chicken mingled with our being, we have to eat the chicken. When we eat chicken, it becomes a part of our being, our very constituent. When we eat the Lord as the tree of life, He will be one with us, and He will be mingled with us.

Another illustration in the Holy Scriptures is the lamb (Exo. 12:3-4; John 1:29). Most Bible students know that the lamb is for redeeming. During the passover, the children of Israel slew the lamb, and the blood of the lamb was shed for their redemption. Under the covering of the sprinkled blood of the lamb, the children of Israel enjoyed the lamb by eating it. They feasted on the meat of the lamb. After a short time the entire lamb got into the children of Israel, who had been feasting on the lamb. On the evening of the passover, every home had a lamb, but within a short time all these lambs disappeared. They became one with the children of Israel. This illustrates that the lamb was mingled with the children of Israel.

There are two illustrations in 2 Corinthians 3 that also illustrate [204] God’s heart’s desire to mingle Himself with us. Verse 3 of this chapter says, “Being manifested that you are a letter of Christ ministered by us, inscribed not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tablets of stone but in tablets of hearts of flesh.” The first illustration is that we are the letters of Christ inscribed with the Spirit of the living God on our hearts. Second Corinthians 3:18 says, “We all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit.” The second illustration in 2 Corinthians 3 is that we are mirrors beholding and reflecting the glory of the Lord. These two illustrations show that God wants to mingle Himself with us.

LIVING LETTERS OF CHRIST

When ink is applied to paper, it is mingled with the paper. Christ Himself desires to be inscribed into our being so that we can become living letters of Christ. A letter of Christ is one composed of Christ as the content to convey and express Christ. All believers of Christ should be such a living letter of Christ, that others may read and know Christ in their being. Our heart, as the composition of our conscience (the leading part of our spirit), mind, emotion, and will, is the tablet upon which the living letters of Christ are written with the living Spirit of God. This implies that Christ is written into every part of our inner being with the Spirit of the living God to make us His living letters that He may be expressed and read by others in us.

Christ desires to be written into every part of our inner being, our heart, but we may be preoccupied by many other things. How can Christ be written into us and written on our heart when our heart is preoccupied with other things? Our heart may be preoccupied with our family, our material possessions, our education, our job, or our future expectations. There are many things that can usurp the place of Christ in our heart. How many preoccupations are in our heart, giving no room for Christ to write Himself into us? Furthermore, our heart may be closed to Christ. The preoccupations of our heart and the closing of our heart have to be dealt with. The filthiness, the uncleanness, of our heart also needs to be dealt with. Is our mind pure? Is our emotion clean? Is our will right? We all have to confess that to one degree or another there is dirt in our [205] mind, emotion, and will. Although we may come to the church meetings, we need to ask ourselves how much of Christ has been written into us. There may be no possibility, no ground, no opportunity, for the Lord to come in to write Himself into us because our heart is preoccupied with other things, closed to the Lord, and dirty, impure.

By the Lord’s mercy we need to open our being to Him. When we open our heart to Him, He gets in. He is waiting for us to open to Him so that He can write Himself into our inner being. We need to ask ourselves what our situation, condition, and relationship are with the Lord.

We have seen that the spirit is the very inmost part of our being, the hidden man of the heart (1 Pet. 3:4). Christ as the life-giving Spirit has come into our spirit to make us alive, to regenerate us, to indwell us. Christ lives in our spirit (2 Tim. 4:22). Ezekiel 36:26 shows us that the heart and the spirit are two things. God gives us a new heart and a new spirit. The heart is composed of the mind, the will, the emotion, and the conscience. The Lord wants to inscribe Himself as the Spirit into our heart, “in tablets of hearts of flesh” (2 Cor. 3:3). As the letters of Christ we are to express Christ. The letter is an expression. Thus, this letter is not written on our spirit but on our heart that Christ might be expressed and be read by others. A person expresses himself by his mind, emotion, and will. If Christ is written only on our spirit, He will be hidden; He will not be seen, read, or expressed. Christ as the living Spirit must be written on our heart, which includes our mind, emotion, and will, so that He can be expressed and be seen by others.

Christ is in our spirit as the life-giving Spirit, and as the Spirit He is the heavenly ink to be inscribed, to be written, on our heart, which includes the mind, the emotion, and the will. This means that Christ will be mingled with our mind, emotion, and will. Then in our mind there will be the description of Christ, in our emotion there will be the definition, the explanation, of Christ, and in our will there will be the expression of Christ. Then when people look at our mind, emotion, and will, they will see Christ. A wife’s love for her husband should be full of Christ. Her emotion should be describing Christ, expressing Christ.

We are the letters of Christ written by the living Spirit of the living God on our heart. People should be able to read Christ in our [206] being, in what we are. When we think, love, and make decisions, there should be the expression of Christ. When people notice our thoughts, our desires, our love, our hatred, the decisions that we make, and what we choose, they should be able to read something of Christ. For Christ as the Spirit of the living God to be inscribed into our being is for Him to mingle Himself with us. Christ is within us, but how much of Christ has been written into our mind, emotion, and will? It may be that our heart is preoccupied. We may listen to the ministry of the word and get nothing because we are preoccupied.

 

The Tree of Life, Chap 14, Section 3 of 3

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I hope that we can bring this fellowship to the Lord in prayer so that this truth will be so living within us. Our need is to take Christ as our food, drink, air, and abode. Our need is to enjoy Him so that we may be transformed day by day and be built up together with others. Then God’s image will be expressed among us and through us, and His authority will be exercised among us over the enemy. Thus, God’s intention will be fulfilled.

The Tree of Life, Chap 14, Section 2 of 3

Posted on in Corporate Reading, The Tree of Life

Other Christians believe that sanctification is the eradication of our sinful nature. There was a preacher in Shanghai many years ago who taught strongly the concept of eradication. He told people that they could not sin after they were saved. One day this preacher and several young men who were under his teaching went to the city park in Shanghai. That park required the proof of a ticket in order to be admitted. This man bought three or four tickets to be used by a total of five persons. How did he do this? First, some of them entered the park with the tickets. Then one of them came out with the tickets and gave a ticket to one of the others. This continued until all five men had entered the park. In this sinful way that preacher brought his four young disciples through the gate of the park. As a result of this, one of the young men began to doubt the teaching of eradication. He said within himself, “What are you doing? You say that sin has been eradicated from you. What is this?” Eventually, the young man went to the preacher and said, “Was that not a sin?” The preacher replied, “No, that was not a sin. That was just a little weakness.” The leader of this group who proclaimed that his sinful nature had been eradicated was wrong. We should never accept a teaching that says that we have become so spiritual and holy that it is impossible for us to sin. If we accept such a doctrine, we will be deceived, and the result will be misery.

Now that we have received Christ into us, we have to enjoy Him in the spirit day by day. We have to eat Him, drink Him, and breathe Him in. This living Christ within us will transform us and sanctify [199] us in our disposition through our enjoyment of Him. For us to merely stand on the fact that we have been positionally sanctified and then endeavor to do something to stand against the sinful nature within us does not work. We need to realize that the living, life-giving Spirit, Christ as life, is within us. Now we need to open ourselves to Him day by day and even hour by hour. We need to eat Him, drink Him, breathe Him, and abide in Him to enjoy Him. Then He will transform us. This transformation is not an outward correction or adjustment. By enjoying Christ as life and by being filled with Him as life, His life swallows up all the negative things in our being. His life will swallow up our bad temper. His life will transform the clay vessels into gold, pearl, and precious stones.

Do not try to overcome your temper by your own effort. Your temper is too big for you to overcome by yourself. Do not deal with your temper but deal with Christ. Eat of Him as the tree of life. Rest under His shadow and enjoy His fruit. The life of Christ is living and powerful and can swallow up all the death and negative things within us. He will not only correct us, adjust us, deliver us, and save us, but He will transform us. We need to forget about our temper, our weaknesses, our problems, and our troubles. We need to take our eyes away from all these things and look to Christ. Look away from everything unto Jesus (Heb. 12:2), and set your mind upon Him (Rom. 8:6). Feast on Him, drink Him, breathe Him in, abide in Him, praise Him, adore Him, and behold Him. We need to be like a mirror beholding and reflecting the glory of the Lord (2 Cor. 3:18). When we behold the Lord in this way, He infuses us with the elements of what He is and what He has done. Thus, we are being metabolically transformed into His image, and all the negative things within our being are swallowed up.

To enjoy the Lord is the way of salvation, sanctification, and transformation. The more we are sanctified, the more we will be transformed and the more holy we will become. Our holiness will not just be a change in position but a change in our very nature. When we are being transformed, we are in resurrection and ascension. We are in a transcendent condition, and all things are under our feet. Teaching people to correct themselves, to adjust themselves, or to improve themselves is not the right way, the heavenly way, or the divine way. The divine way is not self-correction, self-adjustment, or self-improvement. God’s way is to put Christ into us [200] for us to enjoy Him by eating Him, drinking Him, breathing Him in, abiding in Him, and letting Him be everything to us. He is living and powerful, and He will transform us. Transformation is much better than outward correction, adjustment, or improvement. Transformation is a heavenly, spiritual, divine metabolic change in our being. The Lord is transforming us from one degree of glory to another degree of glory. We are being changed from clay to gold, pearl, and precious stones. The way of transformation is to enjoy the Lord, to feast on Him. Transformation is a feast, an enjoyment.

All of us are like Mephibosheth, the grandson of King Saul (2 Sam. 4:4). Mephibosheth was lame; he was unable to walk. King David preserved his life, restored to him all his inheritance, and invited him to feast with him at the same table (9:1-13). After Mephibosheth received grace from David, he only looked at the riches on David’s table; he did not look at his two lame legs underneath the table. Whenever we look at ourselves, we discover that we are lame, and we become discouraged. After we have been saved, we should forget about our two lame legs and sit at the table of our King, Jesus Christ, to enjoy Him with all His unsearchable riches. We should only look at the riches on the Lord’s table and enjoy them. By our enjoyment of the unsearchably rich Christ, He will transform us.

GOD’S ULTIMATE INTENTION  FULFILLED
BY THE ENJOYMENT OF THE TRIUNE GOD 
AS THE TREE OF LIFE

The precious materials at the flow of the river in Genesis 2 are for God’s building. At the end of the divine revelation there are the tree of life, the river of water of life, and the precious materials built up as a holy city, the New Jerusalem (Rev. 22:1-2; 21:18-21). This city is the counterpart of Christ and the dwelling place of God for God to rest in. As the counterpart of Christ, the holy city satisfies Christ, and as the dwelling place of God, the holy city satisfies God.

The beginning of the Scriptures shows us the tree of life with a flowing river issuing in precious materials. At the end of the Scriptures there is a universal city built up with these precious materials with the tree of life growing in it and the river of life flowing in it. This shows that God’s eternal purpose, His ultimate intention, is to have a divine building built by the tree of life with the flow of the river of water of life to produce the precious materials. According to [201] God’s ultimate and eternal intention, we have to be transformed and built up. Transformation is for God’s building. How spiritual we are depends on how much we have been transformed and how much we have been built up.

The book of Romans provides a sketch of the Christian life. This book begins with justification by faith (3:21—5:11) and continues with sanctification (5:12—8:13), transformation (12:1—15:13), conformation, and glorification (8:14-39) for the Body life (12:1-21). Through the Lord’s redemption we are justified and brought back to Him. Now a transforming work is going on within us in the spirit. We have to be sanctified, transformed, and conformed to the image of the Son of God. This is all for the Body of Christ, which is the building. Justification is for sanctification, sanctification is for transformation, and transformation is for God’s building. We are transformed and thus conformed into the very image of Christ that we may be materials good for God’s building.

God’s building is the expression of God Himself. The New Jerusalem has the appearance of jasper (Rev. 21:11), and jasper is also the appearance of God (4:3). The city’s wall and the first foundation of the city are built with jasper (21:18-19). This means that with the New Jerusalem there is the image of God. Furthermore, within the holy city is the throne of God and of the Lamb (22:1), which means that God’s authority is exercised there. Thus, God’s purpose and intention are fulfilled by the enjoyment of the Triune God as the tree of life.

The Tree of Life, Chap 14, Section 1 of 3

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CHAPTER FOURTEEN

GOD’S INTENTION 
FULFILLED IN TRANSFORMATION

Scripture Reading: Gen. 2:8-12; 1 Cor. 3:9, 12; John 1:42; Heb. 12:2; 2 Cor. 3:18; Rev. 22:1-2; 21:18-21

As we have seen, the tree of life is the central subject, the central thought, of the entire Scriptures. In the beginning God created the universe, and He created man as a vessel to contain Him. Man was made as a container in order to have God as his contents. Thus, after God created man, He put man in front of the tree of life, which signifies the Triune God to be our life, our enjoyment, and our everything. God presented Himself to man as man’s enjoyment that man may take Him in. By man’s eating of the tree of life, the very Triune God could come into man and mingle Himself with man to make Himself one with man. First Corinthians 6:17 tells us that we human beings can be joined to the Lord as one spirit. We can be one spirit with the Creator, with God Himself!

God presented Himself as enjoyment to man, but man fell. Thus, God changed His form from the tree of life to a redeeming Lamb. In the redeeming Lamb, God presented Himself to fallen man as life and everything. Through the redeeming Lamb, fallen man could be brought back to enjoy God as his life. Our second birth, the birth in our spirit (John 3:6), brought God Himself into us as our very life. After our birth we continue to enjoy Christ, the embodiment of the Triune God, as our food, our drink, our air, and even as our abode, our dwelling place, day by day. Thus, Christ becomes everything to us.

ENJOYING THE LORD AS 
THE TREE OF LIFE AND THE FLOW OF LIFE
TO BE TRANSFORMED INTO THE IMAGE OF CHRIST

The tree of life signifies God in the Son as the Spirit to be our life and everything. Genesis 2 records that God placed man in front of [196] the tree of life and that this man was a vessel of clay (vv. 8-9). A river went out of Eden to water the garden, and this river was divided into four heads (v. 10). The issue of the flow of this river was gold, bdellium (a kind of pearl), and onyx stone (v. 12). We need to look to the Lord that He would give us a heavenly, spiritual view of this picture presented to us in Genesis 2. We all need to be transformed from men of clay, vessels of clay, into precious materials for God’s building—gold, bdellium, and precious stones. If we are going to be transformed from clay into precious material for God’s building, we have to eat the fruit of the tree of life. If we eat the fruit of the tree of life, this life becomes the pure, heavenly, living, and spiritual water flowing within us. This flow of life will transform the clay into gold, pearl, and precious stones. All these precious materials are for God’s building. The conclusion of the divine revelation shows us a city built of gold, pearls, and precious stones (Rev. 21:19-21). When we enjoy the Lord as the tree of life, this life flows within us and transforms us into the image of Christ.

GROWING IN LIFE FOR GOD’S BUILDING

The apostle Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 3 that we are God’s cultivated land, God’s building (v. 9). The building of God’s temple, God’s dwelling place, is only possible by the growth in life. This is why the cultivated land is mentioned first and then the building. The growth of life makes the building possible. Paul tells us that the apostles are God’s fellow workers, God’s co-workers, who labor on God’s cultivated land to plant and to water. On the one hand, the apostles are the farmers, the husbandmen, and on the other hand, they are the builders. The planting and the watering are so that we may grow in the divine life. Out of this growth we become the proper materials for the building up of the church, which are gold, silver, and precious stones (v. 12). In Genesis the second material is bdellium, pearl, and in 1 Corinthians it is silver. The apostle Paul mentions silver instead of pearl because in Genesis 2 sin had not entered yet, and there was no need of redemption. Silver signifies the redeeming Christ with all the virtues and attributes of His person and work. When Paul wrote 1 Corinthians 3 there was the real need of silver, the redeeming Christ. [197]

HOW WE CAN BE TRANSFORMED 
INTO PRECIOUS MATERIALS FOR GOD’S BUILDING

Now we need to go on to see how human beings of clay can be transformed into gold, silver, and precious stones for God’s building. Peter was originally a man of clay named Simon. When he was brought to the Lord for the first time, the Lord changed his name to Peter, which means “a stone” (John 1:42). Genesis 2 indicates that man was made from the dust of the ground, but the Lord called Simon a stone. The Lord changed Simon’s name to Peter because when Peter began to know the Lord as the Son of God, as the living Christ, Peter had received the Lord into him. At that time a metabolic change took place within Peter. When Christ as the divine life is added into us, some spiritual chemistry takes place, and there is a metabolic change in our being. The clay is changed into a stone. Eventually, this stone will be transformed into precious stone, transparent and shining.

In the church we can have the heavenly and spiritual gold, silver, and precious stones by Christ as life transforming us. The more that we enjoy Christ, the more that we take Him in by eating Him, drinking Him, and breathing Him in, the more His life will transform us. The Christian life is not a matter of outward correction or adjustment but a matter of transformation, of a metabolic change in our inward being.

When I was a young Christian, I received a number of teachings concerning holiness and sanctification. The Brethren teaching tells us that sanctification is something positional. They point out the Lord Jesus’ word in Matthew 23 to the Pharisees that it is the temple which sanctifies the gold (v. 17) and the altar which sanctifies the gift (v. 19). This makes the gold holy positionally by changing its position from a common place to a holy place. They also point out that the common food that we buy becomes sanctified through the word of God and our prayer (1 Tim. 4:5). This sanctification is positional. Another school stresses holiness as an eradication of the sinful nature. We must realize that the real holiness, the real sanctification, is not something merely positional, nor is it an eradication of our sinful nature. Sanctification is not only a matter of position but also a matter of disposition, that is, a matter of being transformed from the natural disposition into a spiritual one. Sanctification is to work God’s holiness into us by having God’s divine nature imparted [198] into our being. In this sanctification Christ, as the life-giving Spirit, is saturating all the inward parts of our being with God’s divine nature for our transformation in life.

There may be a certain sister in the Lord who loves the Lord very much, yet in her character, her disposition, there is the problem of a bad temper. She may be helped to realize that she has been positionally sanctified, that her position has changed in Christ. Formerly she was in Adam, and now she is in Christ. She exercises to take this standing with the realization that she has been transferred out of Adam and into Christ. Because she is in Christ, she must be holy. But eventually this dear sister will discover that it does not work just to have the realization that she is positionally sanctified. Even though she realizes that she is in Christ, this does not stop her from losing her temper.

 

The Tree of Life, Chap 13, Section 4 of 4

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We all need to look to the Lord that we would learn the lesson of dealing with all these negative things in our being. We need to ask the Lord to grant us a pure heart with a mind that always turns to Him and that is set upon Him. We need to ask the Lord to grant us a conscience that is always exercised to confess our failures and our sins before Him. Then the Lord will have the way to make our emotion so fervent and zealous for Him with a will that is submissive, pliable, and strong. May we also deal with the Lord to be poor in spirit. We need to be hungry and thirsty for more fresh, new, and up-to-date experiences of the Lord. We should not be settled or fixed but be emptied in our spirit all the time. Then we will experience [193] and enjoy Christ, and He will have the opportunity, the capacity, and the space to grow within us. May the Lord grant us a proper heart and a proper spirit for us to experience and enjoy Him as the tree of life.

The Tree of Life, Chap 13, Section 3 of 4

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OPENING OUR HEART TO THE LORD 
BY REPENTING AND CONFESSING

We have seen that the Lord’s intention is to sow Himself as the seed of life into us. We are the living earth, the living soil, the living ground. The spirit is enclosed by the heart, so if the Lord is going to come into us, our heart has to be opened. We can open our heart to the Lord by repenting and confessing. The word repent in the Greek language means to have a change of mind or a turn of mind. Our mind was originally not toward the Lord but toward something else, and our mind was fixed. Now we have to repent, which means that we have to have a change of mind, and we have to turn our mind. This means that the mind is open to the Lord. Following our repentance, we will always confess. We need to confess all our failures, sins, and shortcomings to the Lord. Confession is the exercise of the conscience. When we repent by turning our mind, we will immediately confess by exercising our conscience. Then there is an opening [190] of the heart. When we mean business to repent to the Lord and confess all our failures before God, our emotion will immediately be moved and touched. We will tell the Lord, “Lord Jesus, I love You.” When our emotion is moved, our will makes a decision for the Lord. We will say, “Lord, from today I want nothing besides You. I want You to be my aim, my goal, and my one desire. I only want to seek after You.” The mind of the heart turns, the conscience of the heart is opened, and the emotion and will of the heart follow. Thus, the whole heart is open to the Lord, and the Lord has a way to come into our heart. It is by repenting and confessing that we open our heart to the Lord. This is revealed in the Scriptures and proven by our experience.

The sad thing is that with many of us, soon after the Lord came into us, we became closed to Him. Then the Lord was imprisoned in our spirit and had no way to make His home in our heart. After we got saved, it may have been that gradually our emotion became closed to Him, our will became closed to Him, our mind became closed to Him, and our conscience became closed to Him. Thus, the Lord was imprisoned in our spirit. This is why both in the Old and New Testaments the Lord always calls us to repent. In the seven epistles to the churches in Revelation 2 and 3 the Lord tells the saints again and again to repent. Day by day and morning and evening we have to repent. To repent means to turn our mind to the Lord, to open our mind. Following this, our conscience will be exercised in a thorough confession of our sins. Then our emotion will follow to love the Lord, and our will will follow to choose the Lord. The result will be that our heart will be fully opened to the Lord, and the Lord will have a way to fill us with Himself. This is the way to deal with our heart to make it the good ground for the Lord as the seed of life to grow in.

If we deal with the Lord in this way, all our preoccupations will be rid from our being. The rocks and the thorns in our heart will be dealt with. Then our heart will be good and pure. The enemy is always looking for opportunities to make our heart the wayside. Many times we allow things to tread on the soil of our heart which make our heart hardened. We may be preoccupied by our wife, our children, or our parents. Sometimes we may be in a meeting listening to the word of God, but God’s word cannot penetrate us. This is because our heart is preoccupied. Our heart can be preoccupied [191] with earthly things, with things other than Christ Himself. We may feel that a brother or sister is really for the Lord, but we may not realize that their heart contains some hidden rocks, thus making it impossible for the seed of life to take root within them. Also, the thorns, which are the anxieties of the age, the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts for other things, can grow together with the seed and choke the growth. The Lord is ready and available, but our heart is not so available. Our heart is not pure. This is why we have to deal with our heart. The heart has to be purified.

Hebrews 10:22 tells us that our hearts need to be sprinkled from an evil conscience. We must have a conscience without any accusation or offense. Our conscience has to be cleansed and purged. Then our heart will be released from every preoccupying thing to be the good soil for the Lord Himself. All four parts of our heart have to be dealt with. The mind must be always turned to the Lord. The emotion must be always loving the Lord and fervent, zealous, for the Lord. The will must be submissive and pliable yet strong. Finally, the conscience must be purged and must be without any offense. Then we will have a proper heart. We must try to learn these lessons in life and help the children of God learn all these lessons. These are the necessary lessons for us to enjoy the Lord.

DEALING WITH THE LORD TO BE POOR IN SPIRIT

Besides dealing with the Lord to be pure in heart, we need to go on even deeper to be those who are poor in spirit. It may be that our spirit is not empty for something more of the Lord to be deposited into us. According to Matthew 5 we have to deal with our spirit first. The first condition for the nine blessings in Matthew 5 is to be poor in spirit. We need to pray, “O Lord, empty me. Evacuate and empty my spirit of anything other than Yourself. Even empty my spirit of the old experiences of Yourself.” We should not be filled up with our old experiences of Christ. Our old experiences of Christ can hinder us from experiencing Christ in a new, fresh, and up-to-date way. Our spirit has to be emptied. This is the real humility. It is possible for a person to be humble outwardly yet still be so proud in his spirit. The real humility is a matter in the spirit. This is why Peter tells us that there is the need for a meek and quiet spirit. The real meekness is in the spirit. A person may be quiet outwardly but may be full of opinions inwardly. [192]

Day by day we have to learn the lesson to deal with the Lord to be poor in spirit by emptying our spirit of many old things such as old knowledge and old experience. If our heart is not open, the Lord has no possibility to dispense Himself into us. If our spirit is full, the Lord also has no way to impart something fresh of Himself into our being. We have to be poor in spirit and pure in heart. We need to ask the Lord to empty our spirit and clear up our heart. Then the Lord will have the free way in us and the adequate room in our being to fill us.

A PROPER HEART AND A PROPER SPIRIT 
TO EXPERIENCE AND ENJOY CHRIST AS THE TREE OF LIFE

The heart acts in cooperation with the spirit, but the spirit is the organ for us to directly receive and contact the Lord. If we are going to contact the Lord, we must exercise our spirit. If we are going to serve the Lord, we must exercise our spirit. If we are going to receive the Lord, to take the Lord in, we must exercise our spirit. But the exercise of our spirit depends on the condition of the heart. If the condition of our heart is wrong, it is hard for us to exercise our spirit. One thing we should never do with the saints in the church is to play politics. We should not have two faces, pretending to be one way to a brother’s face but undermining him behind his back. Our heart must be honest and sincere for us to experience the Lord. We have to be faithful, honest, and frank. If we feel that something needs to be said, we should say it faithfully, honestly, and properly. We are the children of God, the children in light. Our heart must be honest and pure. Our conscience must be purged. If our heart is condemning us, how can we pray in a proper way?

The Tree of Life, Chap 13, Section 2 of 4

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Verse 20 says, “These are the ones sown on the good earth: those who hear the word and receive it and bear fruit, one thirtyfold, and one sixtyfold, and one a hundredfold.” The good ground, the good heart, is a heart that is not hardened by worldly traffic, without hidden sins, without the anxieties of the age and the deceitfulness of riches, and without the lusts for other things. Such a heart is pure, good, and right.

The Triune God, who is the tree of life, has imparted Himself into us to be our enjoyment. He is the seed of life sown into our heart. Our heart is like the soil, the earth. If the soil of our heart is the wayside, trodden by the world and preoccupied by many things, it becomes hardened. Our heart must be released from any preoccupation for the seed of life to be sown in it. Our heart may not be preoccupied, but there may be hidden rocks in our heart. The rocks are hidden sins, personal desires, self-seeking, and self-pity, which frustrate the seed from gaining root in the depth of the earth. We may seemingly be a good brother or a good sister, and yet we are superficial with the Lord because of the rocks in our heart. Thus, it is impossible for the Lord as the seed of life to grow within us deeply. It is also possible for our heart to be full of thorns, which are the anxieties of the age, the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts for other things. Some people have their heart set on a better car. Even [187] this desire can hinder and choke the word from becoming fruitful. The thorns frustrate and choke the growth of the seed.

If we are going to have the Lord as the seed of life grow within us to be our full enjoyment, we have to deal with our heart. We have to ask the Lord to be merciful to us. By His mercy we have to deal with all these negative things in our heart. We have to deal with the things preoccupying us, with the hidden rocks, with the anxieties of the age, the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts for other things. Then our heart will be good, right, proper, released, and prepared for Christ as the seed of life to grow within us.

TURNING OUR HEART TO THE LORD

Second Corinthians 3:16-18 says, “Whenever their heart turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. And the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. But we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit.” We may talk about the Lord as the life-giving Spirit, but our enjoying and experiencing the Lord as such a living Spirit depends upon our heart being turned to Him. When our heart turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Actually, our turned-away heart is the veil. To turn our heart to the Lord is to take away the veil. Our heart is the crucial factor in our enjoyment of the Lord as the life-giving Spirit and in our being transformed into the Lord’s image. If we are going to enjoy the Lord as the living Spirit and be transformed by Him, we have to deal with our heart. Our heart has to be turned to the Lord.

THE PARTS OF MAN

First Thessalonians 5:23 strongly indicates that man is of three parts: spirit, soul, and body. There are many other passages in the Scriptures showing us that man is a tripartite being (see The Parts of Man published by Living Stream Ministry). The three parts of the soul are the mind, the knowing part (Psa. 13:2; 139:14); the emotion, the loving part (1 Sam. 18:1; S.S. 1:7); and the will, the deciding part (Job 7:15; 6:7). The mind is for us to think, to know, and to consider; the emotion is for us to love, to hate, to be happy, or to be sorrowful; and the will is for us to decide or to choose. The soul is the very person of a man. [188]

The spirit also has three parts. These are the conscience (Rom. 9:1; cf. 8:16), fellowship (John 4:24; Rom. 1:9), and intuition (1 Cor. 2:11). The conscience is for us to discern right from wrong and either justifies or condemns us. The fellowship is for us to contact God and to commune with God. The intuition means to have a direct sense or feeling in our spirit, regardless of reason or circumstance. The intuition can directly sense the mind, the will, the heart of God. Many times this direct sense is against the knowledge of the mind and the emotion or the feeling in the soul.

The heart is a composition of all the parts of the soul plus one part of the spirit, the conscience. Thus, the heart is made up of the mind, the will, the emotion, and the conscience. Hebrews 4:12 talks about the thoughts and intentions of the heart. The thoughts are in the mind, and the intentions relate to the will. Hebrews 10:22 tells us that our hearts need to be sprinkled from an evil conscience, and we have seen that we need to love the Lord from our whole heart. The shaded area in the following diagram illustrates the parts composing the heart.

chart

The above diagram shows us that the spirit is enclosed in the heart as the hidden man of the heart. Proverbs 4:23 tells us, “Keep your heart with all vigilance, / For from it are the issues of life.” The heart is the gateway, the entrance and the exit, of the spirit. When the heart is closed, the spirit is imprisoned. When the heart is open, the spirit will be released.

Jeremiah 31:33 says, “This is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares Jehovah: I will put [189] My law in their inward parts and write it upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they will be My people.” We need to compare this verse with Hebrews 8:10. Hebrews 8:10 says, “I will impart My laws into their mind.” In Jeremiah 31:33 inward parts is used for mind. This proves that the mind is one of the inward parts. It is also an interpretation of the term inward parts. The inward parts include not only the mind but also the emotion and will, which are the composition of the heart. In Jeremiah 31:33 the Lord said that He will put His law in our inward parts. But in Hebrews 8:10 the word laws is used. Eventually, the one law becomes many laws. By imparting His divine life into us, God puts the law of life into our spirit, from whence it spreads into our inward parts, such as our mind, emotion, and will, and becomes several laws. The law of life becomes a law of the mind, a law of the emotion, and a law of the will.

Psalm 51:6 says, “Behold, You delight in truth in the inward parts; / And in the hidden part You would make known wisdom to me.” Again, the inward parts are the mind, the emotion, and the will. Truth is something in the inward parts, and wisdom is something in the hidden part. Wisdom is deeper than truth. God desires that we would have truth in our mind, emotion, and will. In our spirit, which is the hidden part, the hidden man of the heart, He makes wisdom known to us.