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Scripture Reading: John 7:37-39; 14:10, 17, 20; 1 Cor. 12:13b; Rev. 22:17; Gal. 2:20a
We have seen something in Matthew, and now we must see something in John. Matthew is the start, and John is the end. We know that in the universe there is such a universal principle. There are always two ends. It is really difficult for anything to exist with only one end. There is the front, and there is the rear. There is the right and the left. There is the inside and the outside. There are males and females. There is heaven and earth. There is day and night. And there is the beginning and the ending.
The four Gospels begin with Matthew and end with John. If we only have Matthew without John, we have the beginning without the ending. And if we have John without Matthew, we have only the ending without the beginning. We have seen that Matthew is not a storybook or a book of doctrine. It is a book of Emmanuel, who is the Triune God, into whom we have been baptized. Our God first became Emmanuel, God with us. Then eventually He was made the life-giving Spirit, embodying the Triune God, into whom we have been baptized. So today we are one Body enjoying the Triune God. This is Matthew. A virgin shall conceive and bring forth a son. His name shall be called Emmanuel. Then at the last of the book we are to go and disciple the nations, baptizing them into the Triune God, who is with us until the consummation of the age. This is really wonderful!
However, this is just the start. We have been put into Him, but what about Him being put into us? In Matthew we do not have this. Surely the beginning could not have the ending. With our head, there are no feet. The head is the head, and the feet are the feet. So we must go on to see the ending in the Gospel of John. John does not tell us so much that we are in Him but that He is in us.
First Corinthians 12:13 shows us these two aspects in one verse. “In one Spirit we were all baptized into one Body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and were all given to drink one Spirit.” To be baptized is to be put into something, but to drink is to get something into us. When we are baptized in water, that means we have been put into the water. But when we drink the water, that means the water gets into us. In Matthew we all have been baptized into the Triune God. We were all baptized in one Spirit. Now in John we all have been given to drink one Spirit.
In Matthew 28 we are baptized into the Triune God. In John 14 the Triune God is also clearly revealed. First of all, the Lord Jesus told the disciples that He and the Father are one. “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? 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” (vv. 9-10). This corresponds with Isaiah 9:6, which tells us that the Son who is given to us is called the eternal Father. By these verses we clearly see that the Father and the Son are one.
Then from verse 16 of John 14, the Lord began to reveal that He would become the Spirit of reality: “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, that He may be with you forever, even the Spirit of reality, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him; but you know Him, because He abides with you and shall be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I am coming to you” (vv. 16-18). When the Spirit of reality comes, He will not only be with us but also in us. This is simply Jesus in us. The Spirit of reality is Jesus. The pronoun He in verse 17 becomes I in verse 18. “He” is “I,” and “I” is “He.” He said that He was going to die but that He was not departing. His going was His coming. After a little while, which was only three days, He came back in the form of the life-giving Spirit. This is just like a flower seed being sown into the earth and growing up as a flower.
We see that both John 14 and Matthew 28 speak of the Triune God — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. The reason for this is that both of these books tell us that God is going to dispense Himself into us. The so-called Trinity is not a doctrine; it is for dispensing. The purpose of the Trinity is to dispense the Triune God into us. To do this, there was the need of a process. God the Father was in the Son, and the Son became the life-giving Spirit. This is a process in order that God could be dispensed into us.
In both Matthew and John, the principle is the same. Matthew starts with a little child being born of a virgin. John starts from the beginning. Of course, the beginning in John was a beginning without any beginning. That was eternity past. “In the beginning was the Word” (1:1). John starts with the eternal God. Matthew starts with a child born of a virgin. But both of these books tell us that He was the Triune God, whether He was God in eternity past or a child born of a virgin. The very God in eternity past was the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Even that little child born of a virgin was also the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. It is really wonderful! Both are for the purpose of dispensing God into us. In Matthew we are put into Him, and in John He comes into us. We were put into Him, and we were given to drink of Him. So Matthew speaks of the baptism, but John speaks of the drinking.
In John 7:37-39 the Lord spoke about drinking. “On the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes into Me, as the Scripture said, out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water. But this He said concerning the Spirit, whom those who believed into Him were about to receive; for the Spirit was not yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified.”
The Spirit in John 7 is special, because it says that the Spirit was not yet. The King James Version inserts the word given, but it is not in the original. The original says that at that time the Spirit was not yet, because Jesus had not been glorified. This means that before Jesus was resurrected, there was not such a life-giving Spirit. The life-giving Spirit was not yet, because Jesus was not resurrected yet. Jesus was glorified when He was resurrected. It is the same with a little seed when it is sown into the earth. When it is grown up and blossoms, it is glorified. When it is glorified, it becomes something else. It is no more a seed but a flower.
The Jesus in John 7 was still a seed. He had not yet become the life-giving Spirit for us to drink. We all know that when Jesus was speaking in John 7, the Spirit of God was there. We could not say that the Spirit of God was not yet. There was the Spirit of God, but the life-giving Spirit was not yet. This is because Jesus had not gone through death and resurrection. When He was resurrected, He was glorified. Then He became the life-giving Spirit, so available for us to drink. Hallelujah!
The baptism is in Matthew, and the drinking is in John. For this reason 1 Corinthians 12:13 tells us that we have all been baptized in one Spirit, and we have been given to drink one Spirit. Then following chapter 12, 1 Corinthians 15:45 says, “The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.” So in 1 Corinthians we have these two verses telling us of two spirits. Chapter 12 tells us to drink one Spirit, and chapter 15 tells us that the Lord became the life-giving Spirit. These two chapters refer to the same Spirit. The life-giving Spirit in chapter 15 is the one Spirit in chapter 12. So to drink one Spirit is to drink Jesus as the life-giving Spirit.
It is so important that we see these two aspects of baptism and drinking. We start with baptism, and we continue with drinking. However, baptism is once and for all, but drinking is continuous. We should never stop drinking. By baptism we were put into Christ, and by drinking we get Christ into us. To be put into Christ is once and for all. But to get Christ into every part of our being takes a lifetime. It is even a matter of eternity. In the New Jerusalem we will still be drinking the Spirit. When we get into eternity, baptism will cease, but drinking will continue. We will drink for eternity. It is so clear that the river of life in Revelation 22 is not for baptism but for drinking: “The Spirit and the bride say, Come! And let him who hears say, Come! And let him who is thirsty come; let him who wills take the water of life freely” (v. 17).
Nothing in today’s Christianity is so confusing as the matter of baptism. There are many who think that the baptism is everything. They want the baptism, but they do not want the drinking. They even speak about 1 Corinthians 12:13, but they never mention the last part of the verse concerning drinking. This is the problem today. The real need is not the baptism but the drinking.
We must realize that the baptism has been already accomplished. Even before we were born, we were baptized. “In one Spirit we were all baptized.” Many times people have asked me, “Have you been baptized in the Holy Spirit?” I tell them that I was baptized in the house of Cornelius before I was born. We all know that our sins were taken away on the cross before we were born. It is the same with the baptism. It is once and for all.
But drinking is not once for all. We do need to take care of our drinking. We have to drink. Drinking solves all problems. The whole Bible ends with a promise and a call. The promise is in Revelation 22:14: “Blessed are those who wash their robes that they may have right to the tree of life and may enter by the gates into the city.” The call is in Revelation 22:17: “Let him who wills take the water of life freely.” The Bible closes with these two things. The promise is for eating, and the call is for drinking. We must eat Jesus as the tree of life and drink Him as the river of life. If all the Christians would forget their doctrines, opinions, and concepts and only take care of the eating and drinking of Jesus, the whole world would be overturned.
For example, how can a young couple be one? I can guarantee that if they do not eat Jesus and drink of the Spirit, they could not go three days without disputing. If they would simply drink of the Spirit, there would be no problem. It is so simple, and it is altogether not something of religion. If this young couple would drink of Jesus as the life-giving Spirit, they would be one. If they do not drink of Jesus, regardless of how much they talk about oneness, they could never be one.
Our God became a man, and then He became the life-giving Spirit. Today for our application, appropriation, and enjoyment, God is the life-giving Spirit. We may believe that He became man to die on the cross as our Redeemer, and yet we may still fight with our wife. It is wonderful that He is our Savior, but we need to apply Him as our life. The only way is to drink of the water of life. Drinking of the living water not only quenches our thirst, but also dispels all the problems. In John 7 such a Spirit was not yet, but today we can say that such a Spirit is here. Our Triune God is not a doctrine, neither is He a religion, a form, or a ritual. He is the life-giving Spirit, so available for us to drink.
Teaching will never work. I knew some good Christian teachers that really knew the Bible. One among them was called the living concordance of the Bible. But after he had taught for an hour and a half, he would have to smoke. When I was young, I appreciated his teaching, but I was really bothered by his smoking. He knew the Bible so well, yet he could not give up his smoking. This was because he had the Bible knowledge, but he did not have the drinking. All the Bible knowledge in the world cannot overcome our bad habits. But to drink of Jesus as the life-giving Spirit solves all our problems.
I knew some other people who were considered to be very spiritual. One among them was thought to be a very spiritual person. But I put a big question mark on that kind of spirituality. After many years there is hardly anything left. So I came to a conclusion: no teaching avails, and nothing is spiritual. It is not a matter of declaring that we are for spirituality, and then we are spiritual. That will never work. Only one thing counts. Day by day, hour by hour, we must drink of the one Spirit.
Regardless of how much we know the Bible, if we do not drink for seven days, we will need a funeral. I do not care how spiritual you are. Those who do not drink will die. I saw these so-called spiritual ones dying. They claimed to be spiritual, yet they were so dead. Only one thing avails. We must all learn to drink of the one Spirit. The dispensing God today is the very Spirit for us to drink. He is so available and so drinkable.
Suppose you have a problem in your family. If I come to teach you, I will only damage you. But if I come to help you drink, I do believe your problem will be solved. It is so simple. By this drinking day by day, we get more of Christ into us. This is the indwelling. The indwelling comes out of our drinking of the one Spirit. The Lord Jesus today is the one Spirit, who is good for drinking. This one Spirit is the life-giving Spirit who has passed through a process. He is our God, our Creator, our Redeemer, our Savior, our Father, our Lord, our Master, and eventually our life-giving Spirit. We must be drinking of Him all the time. I do know what I am talking about. I have tried all the Christian ways, and nothing works but drinking.
Some people say that we must deny ourselves. I would ask you to try. Try to deny yourself. Eventually, you will have a stronger self. I know that the Bible tells us to deny ourself, but it is not in the letter. It must be in the Spirit. We must drink of the Spirit in order to deny ourselves. The whole context of the Bible indicates that we must walk in the Spirit and drink of the Spirit. The Bible does not end with the words, “Deny yourself.” It ends by saying, “Let him who wills take the water of life freely.”
In any kind of writing, the final word is the main thing. Matthew starts, but John closes. He gives the final word in the Gospels, the Epistles, the New Testament, and the whole Bible. Matthew starts with putting us into Christ, and John closes with the drinking of Christ. This drinking is for the indwelling. We all must drink of Jesus as the life-giving Spirit. Even after reading this chapter, if we do not practice drinking, the reading avails nothing. We all must learn how to drink of the one Spirit all the time.
How do we drink of the Spirit? Praise the Lord that He has shown us the way. It is by calling on His name. “O Lord Jesus, O Lord Jesus.” John 7 speaks about drinking, and Paul in 1 Corinthians 12 also talks about drinking. He tells us that we all have been given to drink one Spirit. At the beginning of this book, he tells us how to drink: “To the church of God which is in Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, the called saints, with all those who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, who is theirs and ours” (1:2). To call is not simply to pray. The calling in chapter 1 is the drinking in chapter 12, and the drinkable Spirit in chapter 12 is the life-giving Spirit in chapter 15. The life-giving Spirit is the drinkable Spirit, and the way to drink is to call on the name of the Lord Jesus. Whenever we call, “O Lord Jesus,” we are drinking of the one Spirit.
Many times when we try to pray, it is difficult to get through. We pray about this, and we pray about that, but we are thirsty within. This is not the kind of prayer that quenches our thirst. We must learn to say, “O Lord Jesus, O Lord Jesus, You know the situation. I need You, Lord. O Lord Jesus.” Whether our prayer will be answered or not is secondary. The primary thing is that we are drinking of the Spirit. I can testify that only this one thing avails. We must learn to call deeply from within, “O Lord Jesus, O Lord Jesus, O Lord Jesus.” This is the way to be filled with the indwelling Christ. John closes the whole Bible with drinking, and this drinking continues for eternity. Hallelujah!
