Spiritual Eating on our Path to New Jerusalem

The real life is Christ Himself and He is “our life” (Col. 3:4) and He is in us (Col. 1:27). The previous two posts are on growth in this life unto maturity and the spiritual nutrition to supply this growth. The goal of this growth is New Jerusalem.

The Old Testament has several pictures of our real spiritual eating. The first is in the garden of Eden, “the tree of life in the middle of the garden” (Gen. 2:9). In Revelation 22:1 we see the river of water of life proceeding out of the throne of God and the Lamb, and in 22:2 “on this side and on that side of the river was the tree of life, producing twelve fruits, yielding its fruit each month.”

The tree of life grows along the two sides of the river of water of life, indicating that it is a vine. Since Christ is a vine tree (John 15:1) and is also life [John 14:6], He is the tree of life.

God’s placing man in front of the tree of life indicates that God wanted man to receive Him as man’s life by eating Him organically and assimilating Him metabolically, that God might become the very constituent of man’s being…This
life — the divine, eternal, uncreated life of God — is Christ (John 14:6; Col. 3:4a).*

Thus, Genesis 2 portrays that we should take Christ as our life and as our daily life supply. From Genesis 3, due to sin, man was shut out of the garden, unable to take of the tree of life, but as New Testament believers we can take of the tree of life based on Christ’s redemption. This is our daily nourishment on our path to New Jerusalem.
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* Part of footnote 2 on Genesis 2:9, in The Holy Bible, Recovery Version, published and © by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim CA, 2003.

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Posted by Don on March 2, 2026

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2026/03/02/spiritual-eating-on-our-path-to-new-jerusalem/