创世记结晶读经(37): 生命树与知识树_3
创二 16~17『耶和华神吩咐那人说，园中各样树上的果子，你可以随意吃，只是善恶知识树上的果子，你不可吃，因为你吃的日子必定死。』
弗二 1『而你们原是死在过犯并罪之中。』
神给人的第一个命令是关乎人的吃，而不是关乎人的行为。吃对人非常重要，是生死攸关的事。人在神面前的结局和定命，完全根据於他所吃的。人若吃生命树，就接受神作生命而完成神的定旨；人若吃知识树，就接受撒但为死亡，而被撒但篡夺，达到他的目的。
神给人禁令作警告，指明 1. 神的伟大：他造人，赋与人自由意志，使人自愿而不是被迫拣选神；2. 神对人的爱；以及 3. 神渴望人吃生命树，接受神到他里面作生命（圣经恢复本，创二 17 注 1）。
创世记二章十七节告诉我们，神对人发出一个警告，并给人一个禁令。神要人只接触他，来接受生命，不要接触神之外的事物，以致接受死。神似乎告诉亚当和夏娃说，『不要接触知识树，只要接触生命树。你若吃生命树，你就接受我，而有我的生命。你若吃知识树，你就接受撒但，而有他的死。』这不只是一个命令，也是一个警告。我们必须看见，在整个宇宙中只有两个源头：一是生命的源头，另一是死亡的源头。要小心你是接触那一个源头。你若接触神，你就有生命的源头，而接受了生命。你若接触撒但，你就有死亡的源头，而接受了死亡（创世记生命读经，二二○页）。
创世记告诉我们，神创造人之后，就把人放在生命树跟前。神没有给人一张诫命的单子。那是在人堕落之后摩西的工作，而不是神照着他永远心意的工作。律是在出埃及二十章，不是在创世记二章。创世记二章给我们看见，神对待他所造之人的第一幅图画。在圣经里有一个头一次题到的基本原则。每当一件事头一次提到，就立下一个原则。第一次提到神对待人，乃是神将亚当摆在生命树跟前，吩咐他要在吃的事上留意（创二 16~17）。神在人身上的心意，不是要人作甚么的问题，乃是吃的问题。如果人吃得好、吃得对，他就没有问题。
这生命树乃是神在基督里作为那灵，成为我们的生命。这生命树就是三一神，父在子里面，子成为那灵。在我们接受主之前，我们可能从来没有想到神。但是当我们得救或得复兴之后，我们可能立刻决定要事奉主，要尽力行善，讨他喜悦，并且『上教堂作礼拜』敬拜他。这些照着我们天然观念的想法，都是错误的。神的心意不是要我们事奉他，行善讨他喜悦，或以宗教、仪文的方式敬拜他。神的心意乃是要我们吃他。我们必须吃他。神与人之关系的头一幅图画，不是一幅作甚么的图画，乃是一幅吃的图画。
我们首先必须看见，主没有意思要我们为他作甚么。主的心意是要将他自己给我们作每日的食物。在约翰福音里，主第一给我们看见他是生命（一 4），是生命的粮（六 35），是生命的水（四 14），也是生命的气息，生命的空气（二十 22）。他是生命、食粮、饮水和空气。这一切都不是为着使你成为一个作事的基督徒，乃是使你作一个享受的基督徒。你必须享受主作生命，作粮食，作饮水，作空气。你必须吸入他，并且吃他、喝他，好叫你凭他活着，并活在他里面（生命树，四至五、七页）。
参读：创世记生命读经，第十四篇；生命树，第一章。
Gen. 2:16-17 "And Jehovah God
commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden you may eat freely, but
of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, of it you shall not eat; for in
the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."
Eph. 2:1 "And you, though dead in
your offenses and sins."
God's first commandment to man concerned man's eating, not man's
conduct. Eating is critical to
man, a matter of life or death. Man's
outcome and destiny before God depends altogether on what he eats. If man eats
the tree of life, he will receive God as life and fulfill God's purpose; if he
eats the tree of knowledge, he will receive Satan as death and be usurped by
him for his purpose.
God's forbidding commandment given as a warning to man indicates (1)
God's greatness in creating man with a free will that man may choose God
willingly and not under coercion; (2) God's love for man; and (3) God's desire
that man would eat the tree of life to receive God into him as life. (Gen.
2:17, footnote 1)
Genesis 2:17 tells us that God issued man a warning and gave him a
prohibition. God wanted man only to touch Him to receive life, but not to touch
the things apart from God to receive death. God seemed to tell Adam and Eve,
“Don't touch the tree of knowledge─only touch the tree of life. If you eat the
tree of life, you will receive Me and have My life. If you eat the tree of
knowledge, you will take in Satan and have his death.” This was not merely a
commandment; it was a warning. We must realize that in the whole universe there
are two sources: one is the source of life, and the other is the source of
death. Be careful which source you touch. If you touch God, you have the source
of life and receive life. If you touch Satan, you have the source of death and
receive death. (Life-study of Genesis, p. 179)
Genesis tells us that after God created man, He put man in front of the
tree of life. God did not give man a list of commandments. That was the work of
Moses after the fall, not the work of God according to His eternal intention.
The law is in Exodus 20, not in Genesis 2. In Genesis 2 is the first picture
regarding God's dealing with His created man. There is such a basic principle of
the first mentioning in the Bible. Whenever you have the first mentioning, a
principle is always laid. The first mentioning of God's dealing with man is
that God put Adam in front of the tree of life, charging him to be careful
about his eating (vv. 16-17). God's intention for man is not a matter of doing
but a matter of eating. If man eats well and eats rightly, then he will be
right.
This tree of life is God in Christ as the Spirit to be life to us. It is
the Triune God, the Father in the Son, and the Son as the Spirit. Before we
received the Lord, we may not have thought anything about God. But when we got
saved or revived, we might have immediately made up our mind to serve the Lord,
to do our best to do good deeds to please Him, and to “go to church” to worship
Him. These thoughts, which are according to our natural concept, are wrong.
God's intention is not that we serve Him, do good to please Him, or that we
worship Him in a religious, ritualistic way. But God's intention is that we eat
Him. We have to eat Him. The first picture of God's dealing with man is not a
picture of doing but a picture of eating.
We all have to first realize that the Lord has no intention that we do
something for Him. The Lord's intention is to present Himself as food to us day
by day. In the Gospel of John the Lord is first seen as life (1:4), as the
bread of life (6:35), as the water of life (4:14), and as the breath of life,
the air (20:22). He is life, food, drink, and air. All this is not for you to
be a doing Christian but to be an enjoying Christian. You have to enjoy the
Lord as life, as food, as water, and as air. You have to breathe Him in, to
drink of Him, and to feed on Him in order to live by Him and in Him. (CWWL,
1965, vol. 2, “The Tree of Life,” pp. 83, 85)
Further Reading: Life-study of Genesis, msg. 14; CWWL, 1965, vol. 2,
“The Tree of Life,” ch. 1
- 未完待续
