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Amen amen amen
Hallelujah hallelujah
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.
The Father is in the Son, so God is in the Lamb. And the Lamb is the lamp containing God as the light. This is the Lamb-God, the redeeming God. Out of this redeeming God flows the river, signifying the Spirit. In the flow of the river of water of life, the Lamb becomes the tree of life. The Lamb is for redeeming, and the tree is for nourishing. The life-dispensing river circles the entire city as it flows downward from the throne of the Lamb-God in a spiral flowing. This flowing is the dispensing of the Triune God into His chosen people as life and the life supply in fullness for eternity.
The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity
CWWL, 1983, vol. 2 Chapter 10
Glory be to the Lord our God.
THE RIVER OF WATER OF LIFE PROCEEDING OUT OF THE THRONE OF GOD AND OF THE LAMB
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The sixth item we need to consider concerning the New Jerusalem is the river of water of life proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb (22:1). When we have God as light in the redemption of the redeeming One, Christ, and when we are under the authority and recognize the headship and Lordship of Christ, and when we experience the divine nature among us, there is always a flow of life, a living stream, flowing among us. This flowing of the living water is the fellowship of the entire city, and it is the source, the fountain, the well, of the supply for the entire city. Where the flow of the river reaches, there the supply is ministered. This flow of the living stream comes out of the Lordship and the headship realized by us in the redemption of Christ with the light of God. If we give up the headship of the Lord in the church and do not recognize the divine authority, there is no possibility for us to have the living stream flowing among us all the time. Suppose that we as a group of believers come together to realize the oneness of the Body of Christ and try to have the church life, yet whenever we come together, everyone quarrels with one another. If so, do you believe that there is the possibility of having the living stream flowing among us? There is no possibility. As long as the throne of God is gone, the source of the living water is also gone, because the living water comes out of the throne of God. As long as you do not have the headship, the Lordship, of Christ realized in the divine order, you have lost the source of the living water. If we realize the Lordship, the headship, of Christ in the divine authority in the redemption of the redeeming One and in the light of God, the river of living water constantly flows to bring the life supply to us.
What is this river of living water? No doubt, it is a symbol of the Holy Spirit. John 7:37-39 confirms this. In verse 38 the Lord told us that he who believes into Him, as the Scripture said, out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water. Then verse 39 says, “This He said concerning the Spirit. ” The Holy Spirit whom the Lord ministers to us is a flowing river of water of life within us. Hence, in the picture of the New Jerusalem there is God the Father as the light, God the Son as the redeeming One, and God the Spirit as the flowing One. Light is with God the Father, redemption is with God the Son, and life is with God the Spirit. Therefore, He is called the Spirit of life (Rom. 8:2). God as life to us is always flowing. First, He flows out in the Son, and then He flows out as the Spirit. He is the light, He accomplished redemption in the Son, and He flows out as the Spirit to be the life supply. Here is the light, the lamp, and the river, and here is the Triune God. The light is the Father, the lamp is the Son, and the river is the Spirit. In the church life, if we realize the headship of Christ in the light by His redemption, we have the Spirit flowing all the time within us and among us as the life supply. This is a requirement for the church life. If we do not have this, we will be thirsty and dried up.
The second aspect of the triune enjoyment is the river of water of life (22:1). This river refers to the Spirit as the consummation of the Triune God. John 7:38-39 indicates that the rivers of living water refer to the Spirit. In Revelation 22:1 there is the throne of God (the Father) and of the Lamb (the Son), out of which flows the river of water of life (the Spirit). God, the Lamb, and the water of life refer to the Trinity. The river is the flowing of the Triune God and the consummate coming out of God. When God flows out, He becomes the river of water of life. When the Triune God reaches us, He is the living water. (See footnotes 1 2 —1 5 in Revelation 22 , Recovery Version. )
This flowing river is the ultimate consummation of the Triune God reaching us. God on the throne in the Lamb reaches the entire city as the flowing river. Today God reaches us by being the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). God the Father made an eternal plan (Eph. 3:11), He sent the Son, and the Son came with Him (John 8:29) to accomplish His plan on the cross. While He was accomplishing God’s plan on the cross, blood and water issued out of His side (19:34). This is typified in the Old Testament by the cleft rock flowing out the living water (Exo. 17:6). The water signifies the ultimate consummation of the Triune God reaching His redeemed people. In Revelation 22 God in the Lamb flows as the living water to reach His redeemed people.
Man has spirit as the vessel to receive God. So we need to learn to receive Him with our spirit. Then we also need to learn that God in Christ is the tree of life, to be our supply. When we enjoy Him as our real food, in our being we experience the river flowing. And through this flowing, we are transformed from earth into precious materials for God's building. Praise Him!
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.
The tree the glorious Christ does show
As living food to man supplied,
That he God’s riches may enjoy,
Thus to be satisfied.
True satisfaction comes from eating the word. We must emphasize eating. This is spiritual. We must eat the fruit of the tree of life. That is Christ and all his riches. Eating is about faith. It comes by the Spirit. There are so many places in the Bible that refer to eating. Bethlehem means the house of bread. Even the manger is a place for food. Christ was the bread that came down from heaven. Remember the important word “ If you eat me, you’ll live by me”. And very importantly, by eating, we are made one. If we don’t eat the Lord, we have no life in us. We must eat Jesus every day! As we grow our mind is renewed to really understand spiritual things.
We would all want to be filled with Christ as our life. But the filling is contingent on our eating and drinking [taking Christ in the word by faith] In Eden we see Gods way to be one with man is by eating and drinking. This was the outstanding feature of the garden. Now we have the Spirit as a river flowing into us and out of us. As we take Christ as food, believing in the Word, we are nourished and strengthened to live by this tree and river. God, Christ is the source of this life. So now the outstanding feature of or whole Christian life and relationship with God is in our spirit taking in His Spirit. This is the way to experience Him and be filled with Him. We must constantly be filled to express Him and make His glory known.
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.
Filled with His life l will be
Amen
1. The flowing river of life and the edible tree of life should be the outstanding features of our Christian life and church life for the enjoyment of God as our real Eden, our pleasure, entertainment, and joy—Hymns, #509; Gen. 2:8-10; Psa. 36:8-9; 43:4a; Neh. 8:10.
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.