One of Many Lessons from Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Jesus Christ: The Tree of Life - 7

The recent death of Alexander Solzhenitsyn on August 3, made a lot of people who lived through the times when he wrote his powerful books that changed an empire - reflective.

There's one thing I want to mention, because it has to do with our recent theme of Jesus as the tree of life.

I want to focus on what he talked about in reference to good and evil some time ago. Here's what one writer says about it:

"For Solzhenitsyn, right and wrong, good and evil, undoubtedly do exist. However, as he first expressed it in a poem written in his head in the camps nearly 60 years ago, the dividing line between good and evil passes not between warring parties, ideologies, armies, but runs through the heart of each individual and flickers ceaselessly to and fro."

This is an extraordinary understanding of the source of what becomes outward actions and deeds: it comes from the heart.

Eating of the tree of life was meant to take in the life of Christ interally, and willingly allow Him to live out that live in creation. That's the very purpose of creation, that it would bear the testimony of the invisible Christ. It's still the ultimate end of the eternal purpose of God. This is the purpose of the church, to be a letter written from God within, that then expresses itself outwardly.

Solzhenitsyn understood that everything was connected to the heart, and if that changed, the rest would follow.

That's why the scriptures teach that Christ has written His laws in our hearts. He is the king and ruler, and His kingdom is an inner one. Once we learn to eat of the tree of life, the outer starts to take care of itself as the living Christ expands who he is within us. Eventually the two will become one, as heaven and earth become a visible testimony to who Christ is.

This is why we are to embrace the kingdom coming and the will of God being done on earth as it is in heaven, because the two are one in Christ. Now He is looking for people who are willing to endure the cross so that can become a reality. The ultimate work of the cross is to eliminate who we are so He can live fully within us.

The secret is we retain our soul while He becomes everything. He never forces us, but woos us to Himself within. That puts the responsibility upon us to keep our hearts open and pliable to Him while we go through the myriad tough times those embracing the cross will always go through.

It all has to do with internalizing and eating of the tree of life.

By the way, if you want to understand a portion of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Solzhenitsyn expresses the fruit of it accurately, it "runs through the heart of each individual and flickers ceaselessly to and fro."

The tree of life on the other hand, does the opposite.

Jesus Christ: The Tree of Life Series

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7

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