As we have seen, the promise to the overcomers in the church in Ephesus was to eat of the tree of life. The tree of life is in the paradise of God. If we know the Bible, we shall realize that the paradise of God in 2:7 is not the garden of Eden but the coming New Jerusalem. The paradise in Luke 23:43 is the pleasant and restful place where Abraham and all the dead saints are (Luke 16:23-26). But, as we have pointed out, “the paradise of God” in this verse is the New Jerusalem (3:12; 21:2, 10; 22:1-2, 14, 19) of which the church is a foretaste today, Adam was in the garden of Eden, and Abraham and all the dead saints are in paradise. We are waiting to enter into another paradise, the paradise of God in the New Jerusalem. As we are waiting for this, we have a miniature of the New Jerusalem today—the church life. In the church we enjoy the Lord Jesus as the tree of life. We are enjoying the crucified and resurrected Christ as the tree of life, the food supply in our spirit, as a foretaste today in the church. This enjoyment of the foretaste will usher us into the full taste of the crucified and resurrected Christ as the tree of life, our nourishment of life in the New Jerusalem for eternity. The promise of eating the tree of life given to the overcomers in Ephesus indicates that they shall eat Christ in the church life today and eat Him as the tree of life in the New Jerusalem for eternity. Our experience confirms this.
Strictly speaking, “to eat of the tree of life...in the paradise of God” in this verse refers to the particular enjoyment of Christ as our life supply in the New Jerusalem in the coming millennial kingdom, because this is a promise of reward made by the Lord to His overcomers. The enjoyment of Christ as the tree of life in the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth will be the common portion of all God’s redeemed people, whereas the particular enjoyment of Him as the tree of life in the New Jerusalem in the coming millennial kingdom is a reward only to the overcoming believers. If we overcome all distractions in the church’s degradation to enjoy Christ as the tree of life in the church today, we shall be thus rewarded. Otherwise, we shall miss this particular enjoyment in the coming kingdom, though we still shall enjoy Him as the tree of life in the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and the new earth for eternity. All the Lord’s promises concerning the reward and all His predictions concerning the loss at the end of each of the seven epistles refer to His dealing with His believers in the coming millennial kingdom. These promises have nothing to do with eternal destiny—eternal salvation or eternal perdition.
This matter of eating the tree of life brings us back to the beginning (Gen. 2:9, 16) because at the beginning there was the tree of life. The tree of life always brings us back to the beginning where there is nothing but God Himself. There is no work, labor, endurance, or anything else—only God Himself. In the church life, again and again we need to be brought back to the beginning, forgetting all other things and enjoying God Himself as the tree of life.
When we are back to the beginning with the tree of life, we enjoy Christ as the life supply. Eating the tree of life, that is, enjoying Christ as our life supply, should be the primary matter in the church life. The content of the church life depends upon the enjoyment of Christ. The more we enjoy Him, the richer the content will be. But to enjoy Christ requires us to love Him with the first love. If we leave our first love toward the Lord, we shall miss the enjoyment of Christ and lose the testimony of Jesus; hence, the lampstand will be removed from us. Loving the Lord, enjoying the Lord, and being the testimony of the Lord go together.
If we would be brought back to the beginning, we should forget everything and simply enjoy Christ as the life supply. For this, we must love Him above all things, above our work for Him and whatever we have for Him. By simply loving Him, we shall be brought back to the beginning where we care for nothing except God Himself as our life supply in the tree of life. This is the proper way to maintain the church life and to be kept in the church life. Here we have the best love, the tree of life as our life supply, and the lampstand with the shining light. How marvelous! The more we love Him, the more we have the right to eat of Him and to enjoy Him as the tree of life. Then, as a result of this, the light of His testimony will shine brightly.
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