PARENTHOOD
a divine stewardship

The human life and the divine life may be considered as lives that are similar in kind. When two plants are to be grafted together, they must be similar in kind. A peach tree and an apple tree are similar in kind to one another, but a banana tree is different in kind from a peach or apple tree. Therefore, a branch from a banana tree cannot be grafted into a peach tree. Man and God are of the same kind. Man bears the image of God (1:26-27). We are men, but we look like God. Because man is after God's kind, man and God can be grafted together. The product of the mingling of these two lives is a human-divine life. The unbelievers have only the human life, but we as believers have the human-divine life. Christ is the God-man, God mingled with man; we are men mingled with God.

The Created Lives Working Together for the Expression of the Divine Life

The plant life is for the existence of the animal life, the animal life is for the existence of the human life, and the human life is for the expression of the divine life. Eventually, these three lives all work together for the expression of God.

Although the plant life is food for the animal life, the plant life itself is mainly for beauty and decoration. Whenever I go sightseeing, I like to go to the mountains or to the riverside because in these places there are many kinds of trees and flowers. The beauty of the earth is in its flowers. A garden without flowers is not a garden. In God's eyes the earth is His garden, and it is His zoo as well. The plants are for beauty, and the animals are for living, for activities. The earth is full of animals, such as lions, tigers, wolves, and dogs. There are also large, tall trees, such as the pine tree, and vines full of clusters of grapes. The plants are beautiful, the animals are full of activity, and man is full of wisdom to administer everything. According to God's ordination, the whole earth is under man's direction. Man is the head, the administrator, of all creation. The earth is in a beautiful, lively, and orderly situation. The plant life lives for the animal life, the animal life exists for the human life, and the human life lives for the expression of the divine life.

SATAN'S TEMPTING OF MAN TO TAKE THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE INDICATING THAT SATAN WANTS TO KEEP MAN AWAY FROM TAKING GOD AS HIS LIFE

In Genesis 3 Satan came in the form of a serpent to tempt man (vv. 1-6). Satan's tempting of man to take the tree of knowledge indicates that Satan wants to keep man away from taking God as his life. God prepared everything for man with the intention that man would partake of the tree of life. But before man could take of the tree of life, Satan came in to induce him to take of the tree of knowledge (vv. 1-6).

In Genesis 2 the tree of life is used to signify God as life. This is very meaningful. The tree of life indicates that we need life. Verse 9 says that the trees were "pleasant to the sight, and good for food." The tree of life was beautiful, and its beauty was a matter mainly of its leaves. It was also good for food. Its being good for food was a matter of its fruit. As the tree of life is pleasant to the sight, God also is pleasant to the sight. But this is not God's main purpose. Primarily, He is good for food. In Genesis 2 the emphasis concerning the tree of life is on its leaves for beauty; but at the end of the Bible, in the book of Revelation, the fruit of the tree of life is stressed (Rev. 22:2). In eternity the tree of life will produce twelve fruits, yielding its fruit each month. This fruit will be for food.

God Mingling with Man by Man's Eating

God mingles Himself with the human life by man's eating of Him. Food is mingled with our physical being by our eating, digesting, and assimilating. Before we eat it, the food is in front of us, but after we eat it, the food disappears within us. The food is gone, but we remain. Eventually, we become mingled with the food that we have taken in. Hence, our eating is a matter of mingling. In order for any element to nourish us, it must be mingled with our being. Every day through our eating we are mingled with our food.

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