Drink! A river pure and clear that’s flowing from the throne

This dispensing began with Abel and has been increasing throughout the ages until it eventually will reach the economy of the fullness of times. We are getting close to this fullness. If we realize this, we will be beside ourselves with joy. Not even the apostle Paul was as close to the ultimate dispensing as we are. Hallelujah, we all will share in the consummate dispensing! In the Lord's recovery we have in the church life a miniature of that coming dispensation. How wonderful! This is why we enjoy singing these lines from Hymns, #1151:

Drink! A river pure and clear that's flowing from the throne;

Eat! The tree of life with fruits abundant, richly grown;

Look! No need of lamp nor sun nor moon to keep it bright, for

Here there is no night!

Oh, in the church life we drink the water of life and eat of the tree of life! By eating and drinking, we become saturated with God's very life through His dispensing. The more life that is dispensed into us, the higher we rise up. This is the heading up in Christ.

Although the practice of speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs is clearly revealed in the New Testament (cf. Col. 3:16), most Christians have never seen it or tried it. Most know only the traditional "Sunday morning service." Even in our meetings, this practice is rare. Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs are good not only for singing but also for speaking. Hymns, #1151 says, "Drink! A river pure and clear that's flowing from the throne; / Eat! The tree of life... / Do come, oh, do come, / Says Spirit and the Bride." Such hymns are good for speaking to one another.

The believers' growth in life has a source, and the source is the eternal Word—God in eternity (John 1:1-2; 1 John 1:1) in whom is life (John 1:4a; 1 John 1:2). Singing to the Lord can help us to grow in life by contacting God as the source of life. If we would sing a hymn such as #1151 in Hymns three times every morning for one week, we would be different persons. Instead of being dead and dying, we would be those who are living and growing in the divine life.

...God, as the second crystal in the writings of John, is unveiled as the fountain (source) of life. I am burdened to present a living, vivid picture of what God is and of how God is to us. In this message I want to stress that God our Father is a fountain. The fountain is the real source, this fountain emerges as a spring, and the spring gushes out a river. In 1977 I went with some other brothers to see the Holy Land. We went to the foothills of Lebanon where there was a fountain and a spring gushing out a river, the river Jordan. This is a good picture of our God.

Very rarely is God presented to people in this way. From now on we should present our God to others in this way in our gospel preaching, not by big congregations but by our speaking to individuals in our functioning as prophets and as sons of God. We should say to people, "Have you ever got to know that God is a fountain, Christ is a spring, and the Spirit is a river?" Many people would open up to us when we preach the gospel in this way. Because they have never heard such a thing, they will want to know more.

Hymns, #1151 speaks of our experience of God the Spirit as a river...