Vision of the Tree of Life, followed by a short commentary. The fruits of the Tree of Life bestow eternal life on man and is to be found in heaven where it is constantly in fruit (Rev.2:7; 22:2,14,19). Jesus Christ is also "the life" (Jn.11:25; 14:6, etc.) and he who partakes of Christ partakes of the Tree of Life. And as a man becomes progressively moresanctified in Christ, so he becomes transformed into a tree of life himself. However, being a mortal, this tree is not always in fruit, and man finds that he can only pluck it at certain times and seasons (Ecc.3:1). God has ordained times and seasons in our lives to do, give or receive various things, such as the day we were prepared to receive Jesus Christ as our personal Saviour. As we become older and more spiritual, time appears to speed up, preparing us for the comparitively timeless life of the next world and well as revealing to us the timeless nature of God's Paradise [Cranleigh, Surrey, England].

1. Just as I was awakening in the morning I saw before me a large tree heavily laden with white fruits.

2. There were so many fruits that there was not one single branch, or part thereof, that was not covered.

3. Moreover I could not see any leaves, so numerous were the fruits, though I was aware that the leaves were quite small and arranged in such a way that when light impinged upon the tree that there was not space between the leaves for it to pass through and so be wasted.

4. As I stood back to see the whole of the tree more clearly I noticed that the fruits were actually glowing, that light was radiating from them.

5. Moreover, the tree seemed to be alive in a way not visible in ordinary trees, for it was slowly pulsating, the brilliance of the light coming from the fruits, at first rising and then falling in a regular rhythm of about two to three seconds.

6. The vision then changed and I saw that the fruit had all gone leaving a bare tree.

7. Time seemed to pass very rapidly as I saw the various seasons go by -- sometimes the tree was leafless, sometimes in blossom, and sometimes just leaved, until it became impossible to tell what season I was in as all blurred into one.

8. I was reminded of J.B.Priestly's vision of the seagulls all merging together into one whole as one generation was born and died and was replaced by the next, and so on, until all movement ceased as though life had become suspended through stroboscopic action.

9. As we arise higher into the Lord so time contracts and that which was divided up or spaced out appears to come together as one, giving, as it were, a single picture or multi-dimensional hologram of our life, and of life in general.

10. We pass through the various parts of each cycle, season by season, each season bringing its own opportunities for death and rebirth (Eccl.3:1-8);

11. And when we miss one opportunity we must await for the next cycleuntil we break out of that cycle and are free.

12. The more we sin the more we descend into time and materialism.

13. As we arise into Christ time contracts, the cycles shorten until we are freed from the seasonal variations our souls pass through and can stand in the Eternal Now, the dimension where God lives.

14. To understand and move into the Firstborn the disciple of Jesus must stand at a distance and watch these cycles in action, comprehending their movements and qualities;

15. He must grasp their greater cosmic meaning and not get lost within their many turning wheels.

16. The world of the Holy Spirit is timeless1 and the Tree of Life is perpetu- ally laden with fruit for the son or daughter of God to pluck and eat.

17. The Tree is alive, pulsating with life, the life of the One who died at Calvary and was raised up into glory and immortality. Amen.