“The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, And he who wins souls is wise …” (Prov. 11:30, NKJV)
We walked long, interesting roads to get to this point. Let us just first spend a moment more on Rev. 2:7: “To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.” Although not one Scripture explicitly refers to Jesus as the Tree of Life, various people with revelatory knowledge have made this comparison without any outside argument arising, theologians as far removed from one another as, for instance, Charles Spurgeon and Rick Joyner. If we accept it as such, it is important that the “overcomers” of the third dimension understand exactly what it implies.
What do those who “overcome” eat from, exactly? They do not eat the tree; but rather the fruit of the tree (the leaves are offered to the nations that are not saved, as healing agents).
Throughout the Old Testament the first fruits play a very important role with regards to the sacrifices that had to be made at the time of feasts. In Jer. 2:3 this concept is metaphorised and likened to the covenant people of Israel. Earlier we extensively explained how the people of Israel then lost this position, and that the Son now refers to His Bride as the “first fruits”. It can then be understood that the typology of the Feast of Tabernacles, the Third Day, is closely linked to the first fruit of the harvest (Ex. 23:16; 34:22).
In 1 Cor. 15:20 Paul explains that Jesus, through his death and resurrection, became the New Testament first fruit of those who had died. But, states verses 22-23, every person who dies and is resurrected “in Christ”, are also called “first fruits” – “But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming.” This confirms James 1:18: “Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.” The Bride IS not only the first fruit of the 1444000 (Rev. 14:4), they also CARRY this fruit: “having the first-fruit of the Spirit” (ALTNT).
To what are these first fruits attached? To the Tree of Life, of course. Everyone who “overcomes”, says Rev. 2:17, has the right to enter the third dimension and to eat of the fruit of the Tree of life. They thus eat of the fruit of Jesus’ Godly nature, which we also refer to as the “fruit of the Spirit” (Gal. 5:22; Eph. 5:9), BUT they also eat of the fruit of the Christ, in other words they eat each other’s Christ-rhema-identity! And if this happens they become trees in their own right, as Prov. 11:30 beautifully spells out: “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life …”
Please notice the typological parallel with John 6’s establishing of the new concept that Jesus wanted to explain to his followers – the wonderful mystery of the rhema-word, and Jesus’ statement that one cannot live from bread alone, but rather from each rhema-word that comes from the mouth of God (Matt. 4:4). The only sign that the world will be given after Jesus, is the glorified resurrection body of the sons of God. Ezek. 47:12 had prophesied of them: “Along the bank of the river, on this side and that, will grow all kinds of trees used for food; their leaves will not wither, and their fruit will not fail …”
- Selah: Are you a first fruit? And a tree of life?
- Read: 12-18.
- Memorise: 14:4 (note the synchronicity!)
