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Scripture Reading: John 14:6-11, 16-20; 16:13-15; 1 Cor. 15:45b; 6:17; 2 Cor. 3:6b, 17; 13:14; 2 Tim. 4:22; Rev. 22:1-2
In this book our burden can be expressed with these two words — life and the church. If we are going to have a proper church life, we must pay adequate attention to the matter of life. The church is not something produced by doctrine or organization. The church is an organism, which is entirely a matter of life. Without life there is no organism. The church is not only the house of God (1 Tim. 3:15) but also the Body of Christ (Eph. 1:22-23). For the church as the Body of Christ, we need life.
God’s intention seen throughout the Bible is that man would receive Him as life to become His expression in this universe. The first two chapters of the Bible and its last two chapters show us His intention in a particular way. These two sets of chapters are connected directly to each other.
In Genesis 1 and 2 we see God’s creation. God created the heavens and the earth and many things for man to exist in this universe. Then God created man to fulfill His purpose. Man was created in the image of God (1:26). The New Testament says that Christ is the image of the invisible God (Col. 1:15a). This means that man was created according to Christ. Just as a glove was made in the image of a hand in order to contain a hand, man was made in the image of Christ in order to contain Christ. God’s intention is to put Christ into man. A container is always made in the form, the style, and the image of its content. If a container is going to contain something round, it also must be round to match its content. A glove is made with five fingers because it contains a hand with five fingers. Likewise, man was made according to the image of Christ because God’s intention was to put Christ into man.
But at the time of creation in Genesis 1, man was an empty container, an empty vessel. In Genesis 2 this empty vessel was put in front of the tree of life (v. 9). This, of course, was with the intention that man would partake of the tree of life to be filled with God as his content. Genesis 2 also tells us that there was a river flowing out of Eden to water the garden, and this one river was parted into four heads — one to the south, one to the north, one to the east, and one to the west — to cover the four directions of the populated earth (v. 10). No doubt, this river was the water for all the people on this earth. Thus, in Genesis 2 we see a tree of life with a flowing river. Then at the flow of this river there are three categories of precious materials — gold, bdellium (a pearl-like substance), and onyx stone (vv. 11-12). In the Bible, gold, pearl, and precious stones are for God’s building.
In the last two chapters of the Bible, the tree of life appears again, and it appears in a river, the river of water of life (Rev. 22:1). This river is flowing in a city built of gold, pearls, and precious stones (21:18-21). The New Jerusalem is absolutely a city of gold. It has just one street, and the street of the city is also gold because it is a part of the city proper. The twelve gates are pearls, and the wall of the city is built with jasper stone. Twelve kinds of precious stones are the twelve layers of its foundation. Thus, the gold, pearl, and precious stones seen in Genesis 2 are for God’s building, which is consummated in Revelation 21 and 22.
We also need to see something more in Genesis 2. After the precious materials, there is a bride to be the increase of Adam. Adam was a bachelor, but after Eve came into being, Adam had a counterpart to match him. Adam is a type of Christ (Rom. 5:14), and Eve is a type of the church (Gen. 2:24; cf. Eph. 5:31-32). The church is the increase of Christ.
In order for Eve to come into being, God put Adam to sleep and took a bone, a rib, out of his side, with which He built a woman (Gen. 2:21-22). Sleep signifies death (1 Cor. 15:18; 1 Thes. 4:13-16; John 11:11-14). Christ was made to sleep, to die, on the cross, and His side was also opened up. Out of Christ’s side flowed blood and water (19:34). Blood is for redemption, to deal with sin (1:29; Heb. 9:22). Water is for imparting life to deal with death (John 12:24; 3:14-15). The flowing water out of the Lord’s side and the rib out of Adam’s side both signify the resurrection life by which the church comes into being. The church is built and constituted with Christ as the resurrection life.
In the first two chapters of the Bible are the tree of life, the river, three kinds of precious material, and the bride. In the last two chapters of the Bible are again the tree of life, the river, three kinds of precious material, and the bride, who is composed of all the precious materials as a building. The two ends of the Bible are united to each other.
Right after Genesis 2 we see the serpent in Genesis 3. This old serpent is seen throughout the entire Bible and will do his subtle work to damage and frustrate the Lord’s work until he is cast out in Revelation 20 (vv. 2-3, 10). The first two chapters of the Bible, before Satan came in, are continued by the last two chapters of the Bible, after Satan is cast out. Today we are in the experience of Revelation 12, where there is a struggling between the old serpent and the wife, the woman. I hope that not long from now we will enter into the day when Satan is cast out. Then we will enter into the last two chapters of the Bible.
My intention in sharing this is that we would have a full scope of the revelation in God’s writings. This full scope impresses into us that God’s intention is to have a bride. God’s intention is to have the Body, the church, as the counterpart of Christ. How can God accomplish His purpose? The first two chapters of the Bible show us how.
God put His created man in front of the tree of life. Actually, God is putting all of humanity in front of the tree of life. The tree of life is the Triune God, the incarnated God realized as the Spirit. God’s intention is for men to open up their mouths to call on the Lord (Rom. 10:12-13). Then the tree of life will get into them. When you receive the Lord Jesus, you receive the tree of life. After the tree of life gets into you, there is a living river flowing within you and a fountain of water within you springing up all the time (John 4:14).
By this flowing of the living river, the precious materials will be produced. This means that by the tree of life with the flowing river, we men of clay, of dust, will be transformed into gold, pearls, and precious stones. We are the worthless dust, the clay, but we have some amount of gold within us. Praise the Lord that the gold within us is being increased all the time and the dust is being reduced. Regardless of how dusty we are, we all will eventually become gold, pearls, and precious stones.
These precious materials are not individualistic pieces. All of them are built up together into a corporate entity. At the end of Genesis 2, the rib is built into one bride. In Revelation 21 and 22 the gold, pearls, and precious stones are built together as one city, one bride, the consummation of the church. I hope we can see this picture from the Bible concerning how the church comes into being.
Many Christian leaders and teachers have a wrong concept. They think that the more doctrines they give people, the more the church will be built up, but this is not true. Actually, the more doctrines you give people, the more divisions and sects you will create. Doctrines divide. If you insist on your doctrine, and I insist on mine, we will be divided into two groups with two opinions. The church does not come into being by doctrines. The church comes out of life. It is a life entity. May the Lord have mercy on us. We must be brought into the full realization of life. The church can come into being only by life.
Life is God Himself flowing out in Christ as the Spirit. He flows Himself into us as our life. Life is God Himself in His Divine Trinity dispensing Himself into us in the person of the Father as the source, in the person of the Son as the course, and in the person of the Spirit as the flow. This is the way that He imparts and distributes Himself into us. To believe in the Lord Jesus is not just to be redeemed and forgiven. To believe in the Lord Jesus is to receive the Lord Jesus into you. He can come into you because today He is the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b).
All that the Father is and has is in the Son. The Lord Jesus said, “All that the Father has is Mine” (John 16:15a). He is the embodiment of the Father. God the Son put on human nature and was identified with us in incarnation. He was then crucified and resurrected to become the life-giving Spirit. In His ascension He obtained all the authority in heaven and on earth. He also obtained the highest name, the kingdom, the lordship, the kingship, and the headship over all things. He attained to the highest peak of the whole universe. He is far above all as the transcendent One above everything. All that the Father has is in Him, and in Him everything has been accomplished, obtained, and attained. Now all of this is in the all-inclusive Spirit.
Christ today is the life-giving Spirit. Second Corinthians 3:6 says that the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Verse 17 says that the Lord is the Spirit. In J. N. Darby’s translation of the New Testament, he puts verses 7 through 16 of 2 Corinthians 3 in parentheses. This means that verse 17 is actually a direct continuation of verse 6. Therefore, Christ the Lord is the Spirit who gives life.
It is impossible for us to fully define the mystery of the Divine Trinity. John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” It seems that the Word and God are two because the Word was with God, but the Word was God. Are They two or one? The first half of 2 Corinthians 3:17 says that the Lord is the Spirit, but the second half speaks of the Spirit of the Lord. Are They two or one? This is a mystery. We cannot fully understand the mystery of the Triune God, but we can receive Him and enjoy Him. Day by day we eat many things that we do not understand. But we can still receive them and enjoy them. The Father in the Son as the Spirit flows into us as life for us to enjoy.
In John 14:6 the Lord said that He is the life and that no one can come to the Father except through Him. A number of Christians can quote this verse, but they do not pay adequate attention to the following verses. Verses 7 through 9 say, “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and henceforth you know Him and have seen Him. Philip said to Him, Lord, show us the Father and it is sufficient for us. Jesus said to him, Have I been so long a time with you, and you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how is it that you say, Show us the Father?”
Philip asked the Lord to show him the Father and then he would be satisfied. Then the Lord showed him that He was one with the Father and even was the Father, because when you saw Him, you saw the Father. The Lord went on to say, “Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak from Myself, but the Father who abides in Me does His works” (v. 10). When the Lord spoke, the Father was working. Isaiah 9:6 says that a Son is given to us, but His name is called Eternal Father. All of this means that the Lord Jesus is not only the Son of God but also the Father.
In the following portion of John 14, the Lord went on to say that another Comforter would come to abide within the disciples. This chapter reveals that the second One, the Son, is one with the first One, the Father, and the third One, the Spirit, is one with the second One, the Son. In verse 17 the Lord said to the disciples that “He [the Spirit of reality] abides with you and shall be in you.” Then in the next verse He said, “I will not leave you as orphans; I am coming to you.” He and I are interchangeably used here. This means that “He” is “I” and “I” is “He.” In other words, the third One, the Spirit, is the second One, Christ. Christ who was in the flesh went through death and resurrection to become the life-giving Spirit.
The Lord said, “I am coming to you.” This coming was fulfilled on the day of His resurrection. After His resurrection the Lord came back to His disciples to be with them forever, thus not leaving them as orphans. John 20 tells us how He came back to His disciples. The disciples were in a room with all the doors shut because they were afraid of the Jews. Suddenly Jesus appeared and stood in their midst (v. 19). He breathed into His disciples and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (v. 22). Then He disappeared from their physical sight, but He had entered into their spirit. The resurrected Jesus as the Spirit who gives life was in the spirit of all the disciples.
Thus, regardless of where the disciples went, He was with them. When Peter told the disciples that he was going fishing, going back to his old occupation, they followed him (21:3). The Lord also was with them because He had entered into their spirit. Today, of course, it is the same with us. If we go to the meeting, the Lord comes with us with joy. But if we go to the movies, He goes with us in sorrow. You can never get away from Jesus within you. Once He gets in you, you may want to divorce Him, but He will never divorce you. The Triune God has dispensed Himself as life into our spirit, and our spirit is now His dwelling place (Eph. 2:22).
In 2 Corinthians 13:14 Paul expressed his desire for the love of God, the grace of Christ, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit to be with us all. These are three aspects of one thing. Love is the source, grace is the course, and fellowship is the flow. God the Father is in Christ the Son, Christ the Son is realized as God the Spirit, and God the Spirit is within us. Today this wonderful Triune God, who is ultimately and consummately the life-giving Spirit, is in our spirit. The Lord is within our spirit (2 Tim. 4:22).
At the conclusion of the Bible, we see that out of the throne of God and of the Lamb, the Lamb-God, the redeeming God, flows a river of water of life (Rev. 22:1). God the Father is within God the Son as the Lamb, and out of the throne of this Lamb-God flows God the Spirit as the river of water of life. This is a full picture of the Triune God flowing out and flowing into us as our life. By this flowing we are being transformed and built up. At the conclusion of the entire Bible, the river of water of life flows out of the Lamb-God throughout the entire city composed of all the Old Testament redeemed saints and all the New Testament believers. The twelve names of the twelve tribes on the twelve gates represent the Old Testament saints (21:12), and the twelve names of the twelve apostles on the twelve foundations represent the New Testament believers (v. 14). Thus, the city is a composition of all the redeemed ones throughout all the generations. They are composed together as gold, pearls, and precious stones by the flowing of the living water.
Many of you have been faithful to the church life and are sincere to practice the church life. This is why I have the burden to share with you that the proper way to practice the church life is not by doctrines, forms, or gifts. It is by the flowing of the Triune God within us. The more He flows within us and through us, the more we will be transformed in our nature, our disposition, our very being, and the more we will be built up. This is the way to have the church life. Do not trust in doctrines or gifts. The Corinthian believers practiced the gifts, but the apostle Paul told them that they were fleshy. They spoke in tongues, but they were infants in Christ (1 Cor. 3:1). They were fleshy and soulish, so there were divisions among them (11:18-19). They did not have the building.
This shows that what we need is the flowing of the Triune God, the flowing of life. This is our burden. We should care only for the flowing of the inner life. This inner life is the Triune God as the Father who planned and purposed everything; as the Son who has accomplished everything, obtained everything, and attained to the highest place; and as the Spirit who is transmitting all that the Son is and has with the Father into us. It is a wrong concept to think that if we are properly instructed, corrected, and adjusted, we will be able to have the church life. This will not work. The only thing you and I need is the flowing of the inner life, the flowing of the Triune God.
This flowing of the living water within us is in our spirit. It is not in our mind, our opinions, our ideas, or our concepts. It is not in our emotion or will. It is absolutely, entirely, wholly, and fully in our spirit. The subtle enemy knows that this is the key point. This is why he tries to cover this matter and keep it hidden from the eyes of Christians. The human spirit, regenerated and indwelt by the Holy Spirit, is mentioned repeatedly throughout the Bible, but there is very little said about it today. Today the need is not for us to be taught, instructed, and corrected. The need today is for us to realize that the Triune God who planned and purposed in the Father and who accomplished what He purposed in the Son is now transmitting Himself into us as the Spirit to be our life. Now this wonderful One in three persons is indwelling the deepest part of our being, that is, our human spirit.
By His flowing within our spirit, the church life comes into being. By His flowing within us, we are transformed day by day. We are not for outward instruction and correction. The inner flow of the Triune God takes care of everything. If you could be successful in adjusting yourself, you would become so proud. But it is not like this in the Christian life. Everything is carried out by the flow of the inner life. We should not be concerned so much about the saints’ outward appearance or even their bad attitudes. Christ is the anointed One of God who is working within them to transform them. Instead of adjusting or correcting people, we need to bring them into the inner flowing of the Triune God.
The more the Triune God as the inner life flows within us, the more our whole being will be saturated with Him. By this life saturation little by little, day by day, and hour by hour, our mind is transformed, our will is subdued, and our emotions are purified. We are transformed by the inner flowing of the Triune God. How good it is to have the inner flowing!
