Revelation 22:1-2 says, “And he showed me a riv-er of water of life, bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb in the middle of its street. And on this side and on that side of the river was the tree of life, producing twelve fruits, yielding its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.” Revelation 2:7 says, “…To him who overcomes, to him I will give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God.” It proves that the tree of life is planted in the paradise of God. Therefore, the New Jerusalem is the paradise of God.

In Genesis 2, God created man to typify Christ and the woman to typify the church. There, we see a man, a woman, and a garden. When we come to Revelation 21, that is, in the New Jerusalem, we see the Lamb and the wife of the Lamb, which is the Holy City. This city is the bride that is also the paradise. The woman and the paradise become one, inseparable.

There are four rivers in Genesis. Among them two were causing harm to the children of God. Babylon was built on the river of Euphrates and Nineveh was built upon Hiddekel. But in the New Jerusalem, there is only one river of the water of life. This river causes man to gain life and joy. In Psalms 46:4, “There is a river whose streams gladden the city of God. The holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High.” This river flows from the throne of God and of the Lamb. The throne here is singular. God and the Lamb sit on a throne. In eternity, the name of the Lord is the Lamb, it is the name for man to remember that once we had sinned, and that the Lord once came to the earth to be the Lamb of God.

Revelation 22:2 says, “And on this side and on that side of the river was the tree of life, producing twelve fruits, yielding its each fruit each month…” The tree of life is real. We are receiving the Lord as life in eternity. There would no longer be any oldness or backsliding. At present, we should pursue new experiences, learn to know the different aspects of the Lord and produce all kinds of fruits.

Revelation 22:2 says, “…And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.” The fruit represents life. The leaves are the garments of the tree representing the outward conduct. The nations of the new heaven and the new earth live on the earth. The holy city is in their midst. By then there is no more death, no more pain but there will still be weakness. The leaves of the Lord Jesus will heal their weakness that they may not become weary. We will gain the fruit of the tree of life and they will gain the leaves.

Here, there are the street, the river of water of life and the tree of life, which are all related to one another in the New Jerusalem. This is in accordance to the principle of God. The street is for our walk. If you want to walk or move, you must base it on the inner life, the result will be the flow of the river of water of life.

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In Matthew 23:8 the Lord said, “Do not be called Rabbi, for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers.” In verse 10 He said, “Neither be called instructors, because One is your Instructor, the Christ.” The word instructors in this verse may also be translated as “guides,” or “directors.” In the New Testament age we have only one unique Leader—the Lord Jesus (Acts 5:31). It is possible to learn this doctrine yet not see the reality that in the New Testament the headship and lordship of Christ are fully established.

In the Old Testament age the headship and lordship of Christ were not yet fully established. At that time Christ was only the Son of God with divinity; He was not yet the Son of Man with humanity. Christ was not anointed as the Messiah until He became a man (Matt. 3:16). Christ was and is eternally the Son of God, but before the New Testament time He did not possess the human nature. He was God but not yet man; He had divinity but was without humanity. To be the Messiah, Christ needed to be a man with the human nature. Thus, although Christ was the Son of God and even God Himself in the Old Testament age, His headship and lordship were not established, because He was not yet a man.

God needed a man in order to fulfill His eternal purpose, and God needed a man also to defeat Satan, His enemy. Satan was an angel created by God, but he rebelled. However, God would not lower His status as the Creator to deal with one of His creatures. Therefore, He needed another creature to deal with Satan. For this reason God created man. However, the first man failed God and fell. Eventually, the second man came (1 Cor. 15:47); He was born of a virgin and was called Jesus. As a man having blood and flesh, He went to the cross to accomplish God’s eternal purpose. By His redeeming death, He destroyed Satan. “Since therefore the children have shared in blood and flesh, He also Himself in like manner partook of the same, that through death He might destroy him who has the might of death, that is, the devil” (Heb. 2:14). After His accomplishments on the cross, Christ resurrected, and in resurrection He ascended to the heavens. In Christ’s ascension God inaugurated Him into the headship and the lordship. At that time God established Jesus Christ the Nazarene to be the Lord of all. In the heavens a man was made the Lord of all. Ephesians 1:22 says, “He subjected all things under His feet and gave Him to be Head over all things to the church.” In His ascension Christ was made the Head and the Lord.

We need to see that today there is only one Head and one Lord in the universe, that is, Christ. This is the reason that God did not ordain any organized system of human leadership in the New Testament. Any such leadership would be an insult to the headship of Christ. We need to learn this truth. When we are asked who the leader of our church is, we should answer that Christ, and not anyone else, is the Leader. Everyone, including the young sisters, needs to learn the truth. If we hear anyone say that someone other than Christ is the head or the leader of the church, we should immediately stand up and say, “No, the truth in the New Testament is that we have only one Head. In the universe and in God’s economy there is only one Head—Christ.”

It is crucial to know and practice the truth of Christ being the unique Head and Leader. Within the last few years a certain brother traveled to many places and told the saints that he is the future leader of the Lord’s recovery. Regrettably, many saints accepted this kind of speaking. Even in a meeting of elders from different localities, some promoted this brother, telling the other elders that he is God’s anointed and that they all need to submit to him. Because some brothers who know the truth were there, they should have stood up and spoken a word of the truth, saying, “Brothers, in the Lord’s recovery, there is no organization. Since there is no organization, there cannot be a leader. We should never form a hierarchy with an official leader, for this insults the headship of Christ.”

If we do not have the truth, we are in darkness. It is erroneous to say that a certain brother is God’s unique anointed leader. The truth is that every member of Christ is anointed. If anyone says that we should submit to a certain brother because he is God’s anointed, we should say, “We all are anointed.” Ephesians 5:21 says, “Being subject to one another.” Because we all are anointed, we all need to submit to one another. Only Christ is the unique Head.

In the Old Testament times God ordained that there be one king among His people. However, in the New Testament there were always several apostles and several elders in each local church. The plurality of the apostleship and of the eldership indicates that today God has ordained only one Head. In God’s economy there is only one Head and one Lord. Christ alone is the King, the Lord, and the Head.

We often try to understand spiritual matters according to our human mentality. We may think that although we are not the head, we are a “subhead.” According to our natural concept, our body has a head and many subheads. This is wrong. There is only one head in the body; no other members are heads or subheads. The notion of subheads in the Body is a human invention inspired by the devil.

The head gives orders directly to every part of our body. The head gives orders directly to the fingers, just as it gives orders directly to the shoulders. The head does not send a message to one member and depend on that member to pass on the message to another member. There is no difference in how the head gives orders to different members. In the whole body there is only one unique head.

The matter of Christ being the unique Head and the unique Leader is not merely a doctrine but a truth. Our one Head and Leader is the Son of God, the man of Nazareth, Jesus Christ. If we see this truth, no hierarchy will be built up among us. A small local church was told recently that they should submit to a larger nearby church. This is organization, which leads to hierarchy and insults the headship of Christ. This is a crucial matter. To think that one church should submit to another church is altogether in darkness. If we hear this kind of speaking, we should immediately rise up and declare that this is an insult to our Head, Christ.

Question and Answer

Question: Although Christ is the unique Head, we do have leading brothers and elders in the churches. What exactly is their relationship to the rest of the Body?

Answer: In the Bible every truth has different aspects. In order to understand a truth, we must understand all its aspects. We also need to consider the context in which the truth is mentioned in the Bible. When we consider the elders according to the natural concept, we think that the elders are higher than the other members. However, we should not understand any truth in the Bible according to our natural mentality.

In Matthew 20:21 the mother of James and John, who was a sister of the mother of Jesus, requested of the Lord, “Say that these two sons of mine will sit, one on Your right and one on Your left, in Your kingdom.” In verse 23 the Lord said to James and John, “My cup you shall indeed drink, but to sit on My right and on My left, this is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by My Father.” Verse 24 continues, “And when the ten heard this, they were indignant concerning the two brothers.” This indicates that all twelve disciples were ambitious. Verses 25 through 27 say, “Jesus called them to Him and said, You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and the great exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you; but whoever wants to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you shall be your slave.” A basic principle among the people of God today is that whoever wants to be great must be a serving one, even a slave.

First Peter 5:3, a word to the elders, says, “Nor as lording it over your allotments but by becoming patterns of the flock.” The elders are not lords who give orders; they are examples. If there is a need for someone to clean the restroom in the meeting hall, the elders should take the lead. The elders need to be the example in all areas of service, and the rest of the saints should follow them. This is unlike worldly society, in which the leading ones sit on “thrones” as lords, giving orders for others to do things.

First Corinthians 12:28 says, “God has placed some in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers; then works of power, then gifts of healing, helps, administrations, various kinds of tongues.” Helps must refer to the services of the deacons, and administrations must refer to the functions of the elders. According to our human concept, the elders are higher than the deacons, but here the apostle Paul lists the services of the deacons before the functions of the elders. Paul surely does this purposefully in order to indicate there should be no concept among the Lord’s children of who is higher and who is lower. The positions in the Body do not indicate who is higher and who is lower; rather, the members are simply positioned according to their functions.

Because the worldly mentality and the natural human mind cannot understand the divine concept of matters such as the position and function of the elders and leading ones in the church, we should not bring the worldly mentality or the natural human mind into the church life. The elders are not higher than others. Nevertheless, Hebrews 13:17 says, “Obey the ones leading you and submit to them.” The ones leading us are the elders. On the one hand, the elders are slaves, but on the other hand, the saints in the church should obey their leading ones. We need to have this balance.

Another matter concerning the elders in the churches is that the Lord never allows there to be only one elder in a church. The New Testament reveals that the elders or overseers should always be plural in number. This plurality annuls any headship among the leaders. The elders in a church should not choose from among themselves one brother to be the top elder over the elders. This is hierarchy, and it is darkness, for it is not according to the truth. Some may think that Peter was first among all the apostles and elders, but Peter was not the leader officially or permanently but according to his spiritual capacity. On the day of Pentecost he had the top spiritual capacity. However, in Acts 15 he lost the capacity, and James took the lead. In the four Gospels and the Acts, whenever the apostles’ names are listed, Peter’s name is first, but Galatians 2:9 lists James first and Peter second. Peter became second because he became spiritually weak. He lost some of his capacity. By this we can see that the leadership among the apostles and elders is not official, permanent, or organizational.

The case of Paul and Barnabas also proves that the leadership in the New Testament age depends upon the present spiritual capacity. When Paul and Barnabas were called in Acts 13:2, Barnabas was mentioned first. On their journey, however, Paul came to the forefront, because by that time he had a higher spiritual capacity (v. 9). This indicates that there is no official, permanent, or organizational leadership among God’s people today.

(The Healthy Word, chap. 2, pp. 22-25, 27-29)

This portion of the ministry was pursued in the Advanced English class of the 44th term of the FTTM.