The Life-Giving Tree: The Revelation of Jesus Christ

By Clifford Reid

The Life Giving Tree book is written in three parts. The first part deals with the unique privileges as sons of God. Christ has reconciled and recreated us, in His flesh Colossians 1:21-22, He has made us one in Him Ephesians 2:16 we are now flesh of His flesh and bone of His bones Ephesians 5:30. When He appears we shall be like Him! 1John 3:2 wow this is exciting! Second part deals with the book of Revelation. It unfolds the drama of the end of the ages and reveals the spiritual wars that is yet to be fought before the ushering of the kingdom of God. Third part deals with some prophetic utterances that was revealed while spending much time in prayer.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Oct 12, 2021
• ISBN: 9781664232402

Clifford Reid

Pastor Clifford Reid gave his life to the Lord at the age of five. He have been serving the Lord ardently for the past sixty years and continues too. In his younger years he have been instrumental in strengthening and establishing church growth in different churches. He attended the New Testament Bible School where he obtained a Diploma and was the valedictorian. He also attended two other schools of biblical learning. As a police officer of the Trinidad and Tobago police service. He shared the gospel with his colleagues and prisoners during his tenure of service. He is the senior Pastor of Christian World Outreach Mission in Trinidad and Tobago. During his countless hours of prayer and devotion to God’s word. God have given him a clearer insight into the privileges that we have as sons of God and a deeper insight into the book of Revelation. Reading this book exposes you to some divine truth that have never been taught. His hope is that this book would strengthen believers and better prepare them for the soon coming of Christ.

Book preview

Copyright © 2021 Pastor and Prophet Clifford Reid.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by

any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying,

recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system

without the written permission of the author except in the case of

brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author

and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of

the information contained in this book and in some cases, names

of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

844-714-3454

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or

links contained in this book may have changed since publication and

may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those

of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher,

and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are

models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

ISBN: 978-1-6642-3241-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-3240-2 (e)

WestBow Press rev. date: 02/24/2022

The Author’s Style of Writing

The author in his writings has covered many scripture verses with an intent to establish doctrines rightly dividing the Word of Truth. This is done in his teachings so that there will be no gainsay after the topics that he deals with in The Life-Giving Tree are discussed. He tries to build scripture upon scripture, like precept upon precept, to fortify doctrinal truths of the Word of God. He intentionally leaves out much of human brilliance so that your faith will be established not on human excellence but on the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever! This may appear to be a human weakness in his writings, but it really is the strength upon which the fundamental truths that he projects is established. When Jesus was tempted by the devil, he used the written Word of God to defeat him. He said, It is written. The writer also considers that the book is largely based on happenings of the last days, figuring that the Word of God eventually will be taken away from us. He hopes that when this happens, one will strategically have a rich source of reference in the Word of God in The Life-Giving Tree.

I am the vine, ye are the branches, he that abideth in me,

and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit.

—John 15:5

CONTENTS

Preface

Part 1:   The Unfolding of Jesus Christ

Chapter 1:     The Revelation

Chapter 2:     The Significance of His Sonship in Relation to the Redeemed

Part 2:   The Book of Revelation

Chapter 3:     A Close Reading of Revelation

Part 3:   The Prophetic Page

Chapter 4:     The Prophecy

PREFACE

The information in The Life-Giving Tree is revealing and quite explosive. Anyone who has gotten hold of The Life-Giving Tree can consider themselves privileged and fortunate. Many books have been written on some of the subjects that will be addressed herein, but none of them do so in quite a revealing, dynamic, strategic, and accurately prophetic way as this one. The writer goes beyond surface truth and gets to the depths of revelations to cause the reader to highly appreciate who Jesus is, his mission, and his divine agenda. God’s plan and program is unfolding in the dynamics of biblical eschatology. The simplicity with which the truth is presented is to ensure that the most salient points are well embraced and understood, which will embolden your faith when tried and tested and will better prepare you for what is shortly ahead.

PART ONE

The Unfolding

of Jesus Christ

CHAPTER ONE

The Revelation

25863.png

In Matthew 16:13, Jesus was on Mount Philippi when he asked his disciples a burning question. This question did not come about because of a lack of knowledge on his part, but it was to establish his divine sonship beyond a shadow of a doubt in the hearts of his disciples. Whom do men say that I the son of man am? The term son of man is not exclusively used to describe Jesus; there are many other Old Testament prophets who were addressed as son of man. In Jesus’s case, however, God was trying to go beyond the veil of the flesh and get to the divine essence of his being, to unfold the uniqueness of his manhood as a Son of man to which no other sons of men could attest.

In Genesis 3:15 God said that the seed of the woman would bruise the head of the serpent and the serpent would bruise his heel. The seed of the woman speaks prophetically of the birth of the Son of God. First John 3:8 states, For this purpose the son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

In Luke 1:30–35, Mary encounters the angel Gabriel. The scripture reads as follows:

And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favor with God. And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shall call his name Jesus. He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Highest and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David. And he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered and said unto her, the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall over shadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

Indeed the seed of the woman is Christ Jesus. The bruising or crushing of the head of the serpent deals with the deadly blow Jesus inflicted on Satan when Jesus died and gave his life as ransom for many. Hebrews 2:14–15 states, For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil. And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. The bruising of Jesus’s heel speaks of the price he had to pay and the suffering he had to endure to bring about our salvation.

The battle was heel versus head, the heel of Jesus crushing the head of the serpent. This also shows the supremacy of Jesus over Satan. Isaiah 52:14 states, As many were astonished at thee; his visage was so marred more than the sons of men. Isaiah 53:5 goes on to say, But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

Jesus masterminded the devil’s plans and objectives. First Corinthians 2:8 states, For had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

Colossians 2:9–15 reads as follows:

For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the God head bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power. In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath be quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses. Blotting out the hand writing of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross. And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.

Praise the Lord. He went all the way to redeem us! Following are two questions Jesus asked his disciples at Caesarea Philippi: (1) Whom do men say that I the son of man am? (2) But whom say ye that I am? People today are still wrestling with these two questions. The first question is based on humankind’s opinion of Jesus Christ. Humankind’s opinion is not always right. In this case, the suggestions given, though noble in equating him with Jeremiah or Elias or as describing him as one of the great prophets, is not nearly close enough to declare who Jesus is. To say he was a good man is not good enough. To say he is a great prophet is not revealing enough! Remember that when John was placed in prison, he sent two of his disciples to Jesus to inquire who he was. Jesus addressed John the Baptist, two disciples, and the multitude in the manner we read about in Matthew 11:4–11, as follows:

Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see: the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me. And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, what went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind? But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings houses. But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet. For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

I will deal with the latter portion of this verse as we go along. For now, let us focus on the statement made by Jesus concerning John, namely that John was the greatest human being ever to have come forth from a woman’s womb. Let’s now look at John the Baptist’s comments to the people about Jesus in Matthew 3:11–12: I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear; he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: whose fan is in his hands, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. Now if Jesus declared John the Baptist as the greatest born from a woman, and if John, in his description of Jesus, said that he was not worthy to unloose Jesus’s shoes, who then is Christ?

The second question was directed to Jesus’s disciples. I would like to direct the same question to you: Who do you say that I the son of man am? Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. If Jesus had not provided an answer to this question, then we would have to give credit to Peter as being an extraordinarily brilliant man. But the glory goes to God. Jesus’s reply to Peter was, Blessed art thou Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my father which is in heaven. The revelation as to who Jesus is was not made by human ingenuity but by divine revelation. And today this statement is just as true as it was then. The Spirit of God / the Holy Ghost needs to reveal to us the true personhood of Jesus. In other words, we need to make room in our hearts to allow the Holy Spirit to unfold for us the revelation of Jesus Christ. Many times we use our human minds to understand the vastness of this majestic being called the Son of God, but we fail miserably with our finite minds to understand his infinite nature.

The apostle Paul was such a man sold out for God. In Philippians 3:5–6 he states, Circumcised the eight day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee. Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. At that time, he knew neither the plan of God nor who Jesus was. In Galatians 1:13–16 he stated, For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jewish religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it: And profited in the Jews’ religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers. But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace, to reveal his son in me, that I might preach him among the heathens; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood.

He also stated the following in Galatians 1:8–12:

But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. But I certify you, brethren that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.

SAUL’S CONVERSION

We read of this event in Acts 9:1–6, as follows:

And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, and desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.

In Acts 26:12–16 Paul testified before King Agrippa and said the