Eating from a tree in the midst...

There are two trees in our midst (just as the kingdom is within) and what we think may not be the truth as it relates to where we are perceiving/eating from...

Jesus said love your neighbour as yourself...

James 4:10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you.
11 Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the Law and judges it. And if you judge the Law, you are not a practitioner of the Law, but a judge of it.
12 There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?…

How do you know which tree you are eating from?

jesus316 said:

I prefer to interpret the Bible literally. There are not two trees near me nor inside me.

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The tree of life or the tree of knowledge of good and evil....we eat from one or the other spiritually speaking.

jesus316 said:

I prefer to interpret the Bible literally. There are not two trees near me nor inside me.

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Are you literally washing your robe in the water of the Word? Are you literally eating His flesh and blood? The wisdom of God is a tree of life...the wisdom of man a tree of knowledge...

Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. Rev 22:14

She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her; those who hold her fast are called blessed. Proverbs 3:18

jesus316 said:

The soul in the spiritual realm literally does these things.

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As it is with the Tree of Life and or the Tree of knowledge...a spiritual truth literal to the soul...which is within us.

jesus316 said:

It seems to me John saw this stuff; but in the spiritual realm. If it were a mere figure of speech then it's merely fiction.

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Interesting perspective you have. The very first sentence of Revelation 1 " The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him..." Down in verse 3 "Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand."

God's kingdom is the spiritual realm and can found within us...when we seek to find it. Jesus said, "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life."

Revelation 22:18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:

19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

Jesus promised to open the eyes (and ears) of the spiritually blind so they might 'see' and 'hear'...but first we must believe it as possible. You "see" it as fiction?

jesus316 said:

"The tree of life" appears in two places in the Bible:

(Genesis 2:9) A literal tree having literal fruit. This tree is long gone.

(Revelation 22:2) A literal tree in the new heavens and new earth.​

I'm not sure where in the Bible you find "the tree of life" which is within us.

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Genesis 2:9 you say a literal tree having literal fruit...long gone.
Would that not be the same as saying the bread and wine (flesh and blood of Christ) is long gone, too??

The spirit of Christ alive within us is the tree of life...

Proverbs 13:12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.
Proverbs 15:4 A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.
Genesis 3:24 He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.
(Which is what we are finding our way back to through and IN Christ (The Door) spiritually speaking.)
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

This allegorically speaks to us as trees...
Ezekiel 17:24 And all the trees of the field shall know that I am the Lord; I bring low the high tree, and make high the low tree, dry up the green tree, and make the dry tree flourish. I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it.”

Our tree of life...
1 Peter 2:24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

Isaiah 11:1 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.


John 15:1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.

2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.

4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.

5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.

7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.

9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.

jesus316 said:

I was referring to the tree of life, not a tree of life.

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Is there a difference?

A friend shared a picture this morning showing a person sitting on a rock and an apparition of Christ behind the person. She has a wonderful profession of believing in Christ, The Father, God and the Holy Spirit as so many do...and she says He lives within her, yet pictures Him as something separate and outside of what scripture says we are "temple not made with human hands"..."Dwelling place of God"...

Saying something with our mouth, thinking we truly believe He lives inside (just as the kingdom is within, the garden, a tree in the midst) yet still 'seeing' Him as something outside of us is a contradiction to what scripture tells us...and He can only reveal what we can 'see' as possible. It has everything to do with perception/perceiving for there is a duality within (Galatians 5) that is promised to be brought to an end and then we are promised 'single of eye'...things that cannot be perceived by the hearing of the ear...but that single eye...made ONE.

When we are not able to 'see' this beautiful Truth, we form an image that fits within our human thinking...that it is some far off, physical event to come in the sky (the kingdom does not come by observation...for it is within). Though it is all God's doing, not something we can do...for only HE can reveal Truth and we are called to worship Him in Spirit and in Truth. Building an image in our mind confines us to walk in our own truth that is really a lie...

Duality within cannot see ONE, but still two...When we know God is our Father, we are every bit a son as Christ...For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren,

John 14:20 "In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.

John 17:23 I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.

Galatians 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me..."

Revelation 3:20 'Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.