Tree of Life

17 January 2016

Dear Phyllis,

Oh my goodness, did I have a good time with the Lord last week! Ezekiel 40 – 48 has been a great mystery to me for many years. There is quite a bit of discussion among scholars as to what that means. The Lord showed me incontroversially what it is. There is no question but what it is the New Jerusalem. Ezek. 40-48 is identical to Rev. 21 and parts of 22. The New Jerusalem is, of course, the Bride of Christ which is the Body of Christ or the Church. But the thing that stood out the most to me was the Tree of Life and the River of Life. The Lord showed me so much that I can't begin to discuss all here but I will try to mention a few points in passing.

Along with blazing scripture in Ezek. 47:12 and Rev. 22:2 two other passages that stood out to me were the Psalm 1:4 and Jer. 17:8. Those two passages are nearly identical and have a serious reflection on the Tree of Life. I feel it is farily safe to suggest that the River of Life is the Holy Spirit. There are several references in the Bible where water is used to express the Holy Spirit. One is Isa. 44:3 – “I will pour water upon him that is thirsty... I will pour My Spirit upon thy seed...”. And Jesus discussion with the woman at the well in John 4 and His cry at the Feast of the Tabernacles in John 7:37-39 - “If any man thirst let him come unto Me and drink...This spake He of the Spirit...” It is fairly safe to say the River is the Holy Spirit. And I believe that most conservative scholars would agree that Jesus is the Tree of Life.

We know that Jesus came to be more than just a model to show us how to live. He came primarily to give His life as a ransom for us. But it is also true that He certainly is our model and He lived the life that He expects us to live. One of the most difficult passages in the entire Bible is Jesus remark that unless we eat His flesh and drink His Blood we have no life in us (Jn. 6:53), but He did give us some light on that remark four verses later when He said, “As I live by the Father, even he that eateth Me shall live by Me”. How did Jesus live by the Father? May I suggest that, partially, the answer to that is in Ps. 1:4, Jer. 17:8, Ez. 47:12, and Rev. 22:2. In all four of these passages we see that the Tree is planted by the River. This speaks volumes.

In traveling across the Taklamakan desert in west China, you can travel for hours and see nothing but dry sand. And then suddenly there will be rich green vegetation and many trees. The answer to that is obvious – water. With no water there is no life. Where there is water there will be life. The best trees grow by rivers. Their life is not dependent upon rain. They get their life from the river.

When I was a boy my father and I planted an orchard of 28 fruit trees. It was unusually dry that summer and I was careful to water all the trees every day. Every cotton picken tree died. I was bewildered. I had watered them every day. When I went to college I learned the reason. Trees have a water sensor in the tip of their root that causes the root to seek out the source of water. If there is no water it will cause the root to grow deeper to find a source of water. What I had done was pour water on the surface of the ground. That caused all the roots of the trees to go up to seek that surface water. When they did they got baked by the sun. Had I watered them so that the roots would go down deeper into the soil to seek water they would have lived. This is why the trees planted by rivers are health and their leaf never withers. They are not dependent on surface moisture. Their life is found deep in the soil. This is how Jesus lived. He is the Tree of Life and He lived by the River. He got His life from deep in the ground of His hidden life with His Father. This is the secret that He wants to communicate to us. All the life of the tree is hidden. It is in the deep soil. This is vital to any Christian. If our life is not sustained by the hidden life of our walk with God we cannot survive.

What is the hidden life underground? Basically it is a realistic, sustained, devotional life of meeting with the Lord, preferably early every morning. Mothers with babies are excepted. They have to meet with the Lord when they can. It is feeding much on the written Word everyday. Jesus is the Living Word. When we feed on the written Word it must become the Living Word inside us. If it is not the Living Word inside us it is simply words on paper and ink outside.  It is a life spent in a great deal of time on your knees in the closet.Tozer said that no pastor is worth his salt if he doesn't pray at least two hours a day. I doubt there there is one in a hundred that does. The hidden life is hours spent alone with God. If this is not maintained the tree has no source of life.

Activity is lethal. By definition activity is life above the surface. If we are living off from surface rain our roots will be shallow and our leaf will wither in times of drought. Entertainment, pleasurable things, good food, nice computers, TV, social activity are all surface life. I fear 95% of American Christianity is surface activity. The three deadly F s are Food, Fun, and Fellowship. But without that most churches in America would cease to exist. When it takes, entertainment, lively music, interesting messages, and a lot of church projects to keep a church going you know that the roots of nearly all believers are dependent on this and there is very little depth of a real relationship with Jesus.

My friend Paul tells me there is great emphasis on prayer at Chiang Mai Community Church. They have passed out sheets telling people the different types of prayer, how to pray, and the benefit of prayer. There is great discussion about prayer. BUT THEY DON'T DO IT. Talking about prayer is no substitute for actually doing it. That is like talking about dieting but never losing weight.

Samuel Rutherford had a fruitful ministry in Anwoth but then was consigned to nine years of silent exile in Arberdeen. But he wrote, “In six months in Aberdeen I have prospered more than I did in nine years in Anwoth”. In Anwoth he had a tremendous amount of acticvity in a busy schedule as pastor of his church. But in Arberdeen he was reduced to silence and being alone with Jesus. It was there that he enjoyed such love feasts with Jesus that he was unable to describe. Watchman spent the last 18 years of his life in prison, but the last note that he was able to send out read, “I have learned how to maintain my joy”. AW Tozer was sharing a Bible conference with Joe Carroll at Fort Wayne Bible College. They asked Tozer to preach two times a day and counsel in the afternoon. He said he couldn't do it because he didn't have time enough to pray. So Joe did the counseling. Joe said the students were lined up down the hall coming in for counseling terrified. I asked, “What was Tozer preaching on?” Joe replied, “God”. But Tozer knew the Lord like few men ever did.

The point is this, the Tree of Life is planted beside the River of Life and derives Its life from there. And so should we.

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