A flowing river and a tree

1
A flowing river and a tree,
Eden’s outstanding features are,
Man to supply with food and drink
  That he may live fore’er.
  God is in Christ to be my supply,
God as the Spirit nourisheth me;
If upon Christ in spirit I feed,
    Filled with His life I’ll be.
2
The tree the glorious Christ does show
As living food to man supplied,
That he God’s riches may enjoy,
  Thus to be satisfied.
3
The river does the Spirit show,
Coming man’s spirit to supply,
That with God’s riches he be filled,
  Holy to be thereby.
4
The Christ of glory is my life,
He as the Spirit lives in mine,
That I with God be fully blent
  And in His image shine.
5
I would exalt this glorious Christ,
Ever the Spirit I’d obey,
Making His glory fully known,
  Filled with His grace for aye.

Copyright Living Stream Ministry. Used by permission.

38
BROTHER MATJELO D

JOHANNESBURG, Gauteng, South Africa

What a Glorious HYMN. WHAT A RICH HYMN

FULL OF THE UNSEARCHEABLE RICHES OF THE TRIUNE GOD, OH WHAT A LIFE!!!


Estelita Prestza

Vancouver, Bc, Canada

Hallelujah! Christ is the Tree of life and the river of life. We're no longer in hunger nor thirst. All we need to do is to enjoy, enjoy this Christ. Amen!


Rachelle Carver

Atlanta/Albuquerque, GA/NM, United States

The writer of this song experience torture from a foreign invader resulting in life long lung problems. He was left by some life long friends. He knew that the tree and river were the beginning pictures and the ending pictures of the Bible. When you know the deepest part of your spirit, if you call on the person of the Lord Jesus, You will get the WHOLE ENCHILADA...the resurrected and completely victorious God Who has experienced everything we ever go through and has already kicked the enemies hide. After having won, we stand, said Paul, who was also left by His closest ones leaving him with Timothy and a few others. So...STANDING is the key like in 1 Chronicles 1:20. When I think of the River and the Tree, I survive.


JANE

LAGOS, LA, Nigeria

I love this hymn because God is in Christ to be my supply/God as the Spirit nourisheth me/If upon Christ in spirit I ..../Filled with His life I'll be.

Hallelujah!!! Christ is our nourishment. He nourishes us and cherishes us in every aspect as we open our being to Him. Oh! Lord Jesus, I love You and I take You as food. Amen!


Divine Grace Romaguera

Butuan City, Agusan Del Norte, Philippines

Praise the Lord..!!! When Christ came into our spirit He is the Tree of life and the River of water of life, supplying us with food and drink that we may live Him forever..that's why I like this song. Amen.


Rosie Garcia

Houston, Tx, Usa

i like this song becuse its uplifting just like Chirst uplifted his people and makes you feel rejoiceful in our hearts, body and soul.


Seru

Suva, Fiji

i really enjoy this song


Jovan Heron

London, England

I like this song because it shows to us God's intention and the marvalous process that the Triune God has gone through and consummated to be 'the Spirit' for us to enjoy, partake and assimilate into our entire tripartite being to be transformed by Him everyday and to be comformed to the image of the firstborn Son of God that the we may become His full expression. PRAISE THE LORD!!!!!!!!!

The content of the Gospel of John can be considered as an amplified explanation of Genesis 2:8-10. In these verses God put man in the garden of Eden. In the middle of the garden there were the tree of life and the river of water of life for man to enjoy. The tree of life denotes Christ, and the river denotes the Spirit. The Gospel of John also speaks of God as a tree and as a river in order to be man's life and enjoyment. The Lord is a vine tree (15:1), and the Spirit is a river (7:38-39). Therefore, the Gospel of John is concerning God in Christ as the Spirit to be our life and life supply. The chorus of Hymns, #509 says, "God is in Christ to be my supply, / God as the Spirit nourisheth me; / If upon Christ in spirit I feed, / Filled with His life I'll be."

I hope that we can distinguish between behavior and the Christian life. Religion tells people to improve and cultivate their character. Christianity tells people that Jesus can change them. The proper Christian faith teaches people that Jesus Christ is their life, their food, and their living water. Hence, they need to receive Him by eating, drinking, and enjoying Him so that He will fill them, and they will live out His divine life. The chorus of Hymns, #509 says, "God is in Christ to be my supply, / God as the Spirit nourisheth me; / If upon Christ in spirit I feed, / Filled with His life I'll be." When God lives in us, fills us, and occupies us, He will be expressed through us. This is glorious. The proper Christian faith involves eating and drinking Christ. This is the Christian life. It is a life of enjoying Christ.

The Bible repeatedly speaks of the wonderful tree of life and the river of water of life. The tree signifies the Lord Jesus, and the river signifies the Spirit. Everything related to our experiencing and enjoying God is included in this tree and this river. There is a hymn that says, "The tree the glorious Christ does show... / The river does the Spirit show" (Hymns, #509). The tree supplies man with food, and the river quenches man's thirst so that he may fully enjoy God. This is the story of God being enjoyed by man.

Whatever we eat, digest, and assimilate is mingled with us and even becomes us. This is why dieticians say that we are what we eat. A little boy becomes big and strong by being mingled with what he eats. What we eat is assimilated into us and eventually becomes our very fiber and tissue. In John 6:57 the Lord said that he who eats Him would live because of Him. God in Christ is good for food. His being food is for the dispensing of Himself into our being.

The dispensing of the Son is also seen in Ephesians 3:8, which reveals that the unsearchable riches of Christ [the Son] are for the New Testament ministry in the divine dispensing. Many people claim that they have a ministry, which is a service, but what is the content of their service? Do we minister Christ as the food supply to His believers? If we do not, we do not have a real, genuine, adequate ministry. The real, genuine, adequate ministry in the New Testament is the divine stewardship which ministers the Triune God in Christ to people as their life and life supply. In all the messages I have given throughout the years, my unique burden has been to minister Christ to God's people as their life and life supply. This truth is expressed in Hymns, #509, the chorus of which says:

...

Stanza 3 of Hymns, #509 says, "The river does the Spirit show, / Coming man's spirit to supply, / That with God's riches he be filled, / Holy to be thereby." The enjoyment of God's riches makes us holy. After we eat food, we assimilate it, and whatever we assimilate saturates us and changes us. Likewise, when we take God as food into us, we assimilate Him as our nourishment, and His substance and element become our "ingredients." It is in this way that we are made holy, that is, sanctified by God and with God as holiness. The way to be sanctified is by taking the Lord as our nourishment. When we feed on Him and drink of Him, we assimilate Him and are sanctified.

Piano Hymns