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Scripture Reading: Gen. 2:9b-10a; 3:24; Dan. 7:9-10; Luke 12:49-51; John 7:38-39; 1 Cor. 10:4; Rev. 4:5; 22:1-2
Concerning the matter of life, there are two aspects related to our practical need. One is our need for the experience of life, and the other is our need for the revelation of the truth in the Scriptures. If we lack either of these two aspects, it will be difficult for us to have the knowledge of life and the growth in life.
Most Christians who read the Bible confess that the Bible is consistent from beginning to end and has a unique subject. However, although they acknowledge this fact, they often do not agree on what the unique subject and the consistent line are. For this reason we have to see the central thought of the Bible from the Word of God. The first mention of man in the Bible is concerning man being created in God’s image (Gen. 1:26). This implies that the purpose of God in man is to make man exactly the same as He. At the end of the Bible, at the end of Revelation, we see the completion of God’s work in man, in which man is exactly the same as God.
The twenty-two chapters of the book of Revelation can be divided into two main sections. The first three chapters are one section, and the remaining nineteen chapters are another section. The first three chapters speak of Christ being in the church, and chapters 4 through 22 speak of God being in the universe. The first section shows us that Christ is in the midst of the lampstands, and the second section shows us that God is in the universe. At the beginning of the second section, God and the throne of God are mentioned. God Himself is like a jasper stone (4:3), and there are seven lamps of fire burning before the throne. The seven lamps are the seven Spirits of God (v. 5). This picture depicts the work of God in the universe. This work comes from the One who is like a jasper stone in appearance and from the throne where the fire comes forth. This work begins from chapter 4 and continues through chapter 21 and produces a city that surrounds the throne. The wall of the city is also made of jasper (21:18), having the same color as God in appearance.
The purpose of God in the universe is to produce a group of people who will be exactly the same as He. In terms of image, they will be the same as He. He is jasper, and they will also be jasper. In terms of radiance and color, they will also be the same as He. Whatever kind of glory He has, they will also have. In other words, the condition of these people will be the same as that of God.
In Revelation 4 the One who is sitting on the throne, having the appearance of a jasper stone, is the same as the jasper wall of the city in chapter 21. At the beginning of the universe God was sitting on the throne, and only He had the appearance of a jasper stone, but at the end of God’s work in the universe, a jasper wall is produced. The jasper wall surrounds the One on the throne who is like a jasper stone, indicating that God will eventually gain or produce a group of people who are exactly the same as He. Once this issue comes forth, the new heavens and new earth will come, and the eternal rest will begin, because God will have accomplished and fulfilled His eternal purpose. This is the unique subject of the Bible.
The unique purpose of God in the universe is to make man exactly the same as He. This is the unique subject of the Bible. According to this unique subject, the Bible has a consistent line, which is the line of life. The Bible speaks of this matter from beginning to end. For example, Romans 8:30 says, “Those whom He predestinated, these He also called; and those whom He called, these He also justified; and those whom He justified, these He also glorified.” Those whom God predestinated were called by God at a certain time. Why did God predestinate them? God predestinated them so that they would be conformed to the image of the Son of God (v. 29). God chose us, predestinated us, and called us for the purpose that we would be conformed to the image of His Son. God wants us to be conformed to the image of His Son. His Son is the mold of the image. No one has ever seen God, but the Son of God has declared Him (John 1:18). Colossians 1:15 says that the Son of His love is “the image of the invisible God.” The Son of God is the image of God, and the image of God is the Son of God. Hence, God wants to make us exactly the same as His Son.
Second Corinthians 3:18 says, “We all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit.” After we are saved, the Holy Spirit works in us so that we may be transformed into the image of the Lord. This transformation is of the Lord Spirit and is the work of the Holy Spirit in us. The Holy Spirit will continuously work in us until we are completely transformed and even our body is redeemed and conformed to the Lord’s body of glory. First John 3:2 says, “If He is manifested, we will be like Him.” Hence, at the end of Revelation we see that all of God’s redeemed people are like jasper stone, being exactly the same as the image of God. This is the unique subject in the Bible. From beginning to end God works in us to fulfill this unique purpose—to make every one of us the same as He.
When the Bible mentions that the Lord Jesus is the Son of God, there are two points of significance. First, He is the image of God. Colossians 1:15 says that the Lord Jesus is the image of the invisible God, and Hebrews 1:3 tells us that He is the impress of God’s substance. The second point of significance is that the life of God is in Jesus, His Son.
The image and the life of God are in His Son; thus, God, who wants us to also be His sons, requires the same of us. On the one hand, He works in us so that we may have His image, and on the other hand, He causes us to have His life. Only those who have God’s life and image can be exactly the same as He. This is the reason that God gave us His eternal life. The purpose is so that we may be like Him. In other words, the unique purpose of God’s being in us is to work in us to the extent that we would be the same as He is in life, nature, image, and radiance.
Perhaps some people are not able to take this word, thinking that, regardless of how much we have been saved, man is still man, and God is still God, and man cannot be saved to the degree that he will be the same as God. However, Revelation clearly unveils this matter to us. The One sitting on the throne is like a jasper stone, and the wall of the city is also jasper stone. Both the wall of the city and the One who is sitting on the throne are like jasper stone. This means that we saved ones will one day be exactly the same as God. Not only will we see God’s glory, but God’s glory will become our glory, and we will be the same as God in life, nature, appearance, radiance, and even outward expression.
The beginning of Revelation mentions the “jasper God,” and the end mentions the “jasper city.” The jasper God becomes the center of the jasper city, and the jasper city becomes the perimeter of the jasper God. The jasper God is in the center, the jasper city is the perimeter, and the glory of God shines forth through the city. God and the city are completely one. The appearance, radiance, and nature of the city are absolutely the same as that of God. God and man are mingled together. God is in man, and man is in God. God is the content of man, and man is the expression of God. God is the center, and man is the perimeter.
Many of the visions and stories in the Bible are related to this. When we touch this matter, the whole Bible is linked together, and all the spiritual experiences are also linked together. The incarnation of the Lord Jesus was for this. His death on the cross and the shedding of His blood to bear man’s sins were for this. His resurrection, ascension, and becoming the life-giving Spirit were for this. He is saving sinners, edifying the saints, giving us grace, gifts, life, power, light, and vision for this. This matter is the center of the entire Bible. All the truths of the Bible hang securely on this because this matter is the center of God. The unique purpose of God in the universe is to make man the same as He. This is the unique subject of the Bible.
The consistent line in the Bible is life. Apart from life, there is no other way for God to accomplish this goal of making man the same as He. Only through the way of life can God’s life be wrought into man in order to operate, transform, and cause a metabolic reaction in man so that man may be transformed and become the same as God.
In Genesis 1 when man is mentioned, the image of God is also mentioned (v. 26). Then in chapter 2 when man is mentioned again, immediately life is mentioned (v. 7). Only when God’s life enters into man can man have the genuine image of God. Only when God’s life enters into man can man be the same as God in nature, appearance, radiance, and color. Thus, Genesis 1 and 2 mention the image of God on the one hand and the life of God on the other. In chapter 2 after God created man, He put man in front of the tree of life. This indicates that God wanted man to be the same as He by means of this life. For man to be the same as God in nature, appearance, radiance, and color, he must allow God’s life to enter into him.
The city of the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21 is composed of jasper and precious stones, signifying that we redeemed ones are jasper and precious stones. In Genesis 2, however, the Adam who was created by God and who was in the garden of Eden was a man of clay, a muddy man. Many people, after being saved, admire the condition of Adam in the garden of Eden, but they do not realize that the Adam who was in the garden of Eden did not have the life of God. In other words, he was merely clay, not gold or precious stone.
There is no comparison between us, who are also men of clay, and Adam who was in the garden of Eden, because even though he was a man of clay, he was not ruined or filthy like us. If we made a doll out of clay, at first it would be pretty and complete. But then if some children hug it, kiss it, and touch it with their hands, it will very quickly lose its shape. Its nose may drop off, and its ears may fall down. The “clay doll” in the garden of Eden was a complete doll, but we “clay dolls” who are outside of the garden of Eden were born filthy and crippled. Thus, we cannot be compared with Adam. However, we now have the gold, pearl, and precious stone in us. Although the “clay Adam” in the garden of Eden was good, the gold, bdellium (which corresponds to the pearl), and precious stones were outside of him and were not in him.
God put Adam in front of the tree of life because He wanted Adam to eat of the tree of life and receive it into him. Once the tree of life enters into man, it becomes a river of living water that waters and transforms man and eventually brings forth the gold, pearl and precious stones. This is the story in Genesis 2. Although the gold and precious stones were the issue of the flow of life, they did not flow into Adam. Because God’s life had not entered into Adam, the gold, pearl, and precious stones were outside of Adam.
Then in chapter 3 the evil one came and caused Adam to contact the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Before the tree of life could enter into Adam, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil came into him. In this way the river of water of life disappeared, and what emerged was the sword of fire (3:24). Originally, in front of the tree of life was a river of living water (2:10), but due to Adam’s fall something of Satan entered into man, and the river of water of life became a flame.
Revelation 4 mentions the throne of God and the seven lamps of fire before the throne. Then chapter 22 mentions the throne of God again, saying that there is a river of water of life proceeding out of the throne of God. There are two main sections in Revelation. At the beginning Revelation says that there is fire coming from the throne of God (4:5), and at the end it says that there is water proceeding out of the throne of God (22:1). In Daniel 7 the vision that Daniel saw was the same as what John saw at the beginning of Revelation—a stream of fire issuing forth and coming out from the throne of God (vv. 9-10). However, at the end of Revelation what comes forth from the throne is not fire but water.
After God created Adam, He put him before the tree of life. From the tree of life flowed a river that had four branches flowing in four directions—east, west, north, and south. The flowing of these four branches produced gold, pearl, and precious stones. The description of the New Jerusalem at the end of Revelation also mentions the tree of life and the river of water of life flowing through the four corners of the holy city. Furthermore, the materials of the city are pure gold, pearl, and precious stones, which are the same materials in the river in Genesis. In Genesis 2 the gold, pearl, and precious stones had not yet entered into Adam, the man of clay, but in Revelation 21 the man of clay is no longer there but has been completely transformed into pure gold, pearl, and precious stones.
In Genesis 2 if man had come to the tree of life, he would have touched the river. But in chapter 3, after man’s fall, if man wanted to contact the tree of life, he would have touched the flaming sword that turned in every direction (v. 24). What is the flaming sword? The flaming sword does one thing—a killing work. It is both a flame and a sword, a sword and a flame. Its nature is a flame, and its function is to kill. In other words, if man had touched the tree of life in Genesis 2, he surely would have touched the river of life. But if man wanted to touch the tree of life in chapter 3, he would have touched the flame that burns and kills man. Thus, there was a flaming sword. Ever since that time this river sometimes appears as a flame and sometimes as water. Its condition varies greatly. Hence, from the throne of God proceeds a river that is sometimes the water of life that gives life and sometimes a flame that burns and kills.
In John 7 the Lord came in order to give man the living water. He said, “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” (vv. 37b-38). The Lord has given His life to man as living water. In chapter 4 the Lord also answered the Samaritan woman by presenting Himself as the eternal life. He said, “Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall by no means thirst forever; but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into eternal life” (v. 14). What the Lord meant was that the eternal life is the living water.
However, in Luke 12 the Lord said, “I have come to cast fire on the earth, and how I wish that it were already kindled!” (v. 49). Then He continued, saying, “Do you think that I have come to give peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division” (v. 51). This means that the Lord as fire burns in man to give rise to division. Sometimes the husband opposes the wife, or the wife opposes the husband. Sometimes the parents oppose the children, or the children oppose the parents. When this fire is cast into man, it burns in man and gives rise to conflicts among the believing and unbelieving relatives. This is the Lord’s life. The condition of some Christians, however, is like a bag filled with water—they can neither be kindled nor burned because they know the Lord’s life only as water but not as fire. Those who do know the Lord’s life as fire that has been kindled and is burning within them often have emotional conflicts with their unbelieving relatives. Therefore, the fire in Luke 12 is the Lord’s life. John says that the Lord’s life is water, and Luke says that the Lord’s life is fire. Are these two lives? No, they are one life, but sometimes this life is water and other times it is fire.
This life is water, this life is fire, and this life is also the Holy Spirit. God is Spirit, and when He is touched by man, He is life. John 7 says that the river of living water is the Holy Spirit (vv. 38-39). On the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit was poured out. The Bible speaks of the Holy Spirit being “poured out” upon all flesh (Acts 2:17). This indicates that the Holy Spirit is like pouring rain. However, on the day that the Holy Spirit was poured out in the house where the disciples were gathered, what the disciples saw was not water but fire. “There appeared to them tongues as of fire, which were distributed; and it sat on each one of them; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit” (vv. 3-4). The fire is the living water.
Revelation 4:5 mentions that there are seven lamps of fire before the throne and that the seven lamps are the seven Spirits of God. Seven denotes that the function is complete. We all know that the Spirit of God is not seven but one. The fire in the seven lamps of fire is also not seven but one. The seven lamps of fire come out from the throne. In chapter 4, verse 5 clearly says that the seven lamps of fire are the seven Spirits of God. The fire is the Spirit, and this fire is the seven Spirits. Both chapters 4 and 5 say that this fire is the Spirit of God. Then chapter 22 again speaks of the throne and the river of water of life, bright as crystal, which proceeds out of the throne. Are there two rivers coming out of the throne, or is there only one river? According to the consistent line of the Scriptures, there should not be two rivers but one. This river is sometimes fire and sometimes water. The water and the fire are one. They are the Spirit of God.
Chapters 4 and 5 mention the One who is sitting on the throne, the Lamb, and the seven eyes. The seven eyes are the seven Spirits of God. Then at the beginning of chapters 21 and 22, God and the Lamb are mentioned but not the Spirit. Where is the Spirit? The Spirit is the river that proceeds out of the throne of God. Hence, what flows into us is the Spirit. When the Spirit enters into us, He is life. God has flowed out. When He flows to man, He is the Spirit, and when He flows into man and is received and touched by man, He is life.
When this river, which is the Spirit of God or the life of God, flows out, it is sometimes water and sometimes fire. When is it water, and when is it fire? In the first two chapters of Genesis, before Satan came into the scene, this river was a river of water. Then at the end of Revelation, in chapters 21 and 22, after Satan is terminated, this river is also a river of water. Then when does this flow become fire? Apparently, wherever Satan is, this flow of life is fire, and wherever Satan is not, this flow of life is water. Where Satan is, this life is fire, and where Satan is not, this life is water.
Before Genesis 3 this flow was water, and in Revelation 21 and 22, this flow is also water. From Genesis 3 to Revelation 20 this flow is both fire and water. Fire was mentioned in Genesis 3 for the first time. After Revelation 21:8 there is no further mention of fire because Satan, death, and Hades have already been cast into the lake of fire.
Water refers to God’s life watering us and transforming us inwardly, and fire refers to God’s life burning, purging, and eliminating everything of Satan in us. These are the two aspects of the function of God’s life in us. On the one hand, the water of life enters into us and flows God’s nature and content into us. This water supplies us and waters us, flowing God’s riches and content into us. The gold, pearl, and precious stones in Genesis 2 are the issue of the flow of life. Wherever the water flows, there is gold, pearl, and precious stones. These are the contents of God’s life.
It is through the flow of the water of life that the content, color, radiance, appearance, and nature of God’s life can enter into man. When this life flows into us, it flows God’s content into us to supply us. The more God’s life passes through us and the stronger the flow, the more gold, pearl, and precious stones there are, and the more God’s nature, color, radiance, and appearance increase in us. This is the watering, supplying, and transforming aspect of the flowing of life in us.
On the other hand, when this flow of life enters into us, it has another function—the function of fire. Hence, this flow is also fire. What is the function of fire? Fire burns, consumes, and eliminates things. Why is there a need for burning? It is because Satan has come in. Due to man’s fall Satan brought in the world, sin, the flesh, and many things that belong to him and that oppose God. Consequently, man has become impure and complicated. He is full of Satan, the world, sin, and the flesh. On the one hand, God’s life flows His nature, appearance, radiance, and color into us to supply us and transform us from men of clay to men of gold. On the other hand, because the world, sin, the flesh, and everything of Satan have entered into us, when the life flows into us, it is like fire burning in us.
Why does Luke 12 say that when the Lord’s fire is kindled in us, we will experience emotional conflict with our relatives? This happens because in many cases, they love the world, but we do not, and they love the pleasures of sin, but we do not. As a result, our relatives may rise up to oppose us, creating a conflict with us. The fire burns away the world, sin, and the flesh in us, which are of Satan, and eventually, there is dissension, disharmony, and discord between us and our relatives. Our relatives will have a negative feeling toward us because we do not love the world or enjoy the pleasures of sin with them. In this way we will lose the peace with them.
On the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit was poured out like a hard rain, but the disciples described it as fire. When Peter and the eleven apostles spoke to the men of Judea and those who were dwelling in Jerusalem, those who listened were pricked in their heart and confessed their sins. Thus, the Holy Spirit comes for the burning of man’s sins.
The Spirit is one, and this life also is one, but in the matter of supplying, this life is sometimes like water and sometimes like fire. When this life waters and supplies us inwardly, it enables us to touch the presence of God and transforms us so that our mind, emotion, and will are like God’s. At the same time, this life also burns in us, burning away our flesh, self, and corruption.
In our actual experience, many times we feel that this life in us is like water that quenches our thirst. When we are thirsty, He is there watering us, and when we are weak, He is there empowering us. In this way we experience the presence of God so that what we think, what we love, what we incline to, and what we desire match the condition of God. Then our inner being is comfortable, satisfied, living, fresh, bright, strong, and powerful. This is the issue of the supply of the water of life and the condition of our being filled with the water.
Sometimes, however, the Spirit as the fire burns in us, making us sorrowful and uncomfortable so that we grieve and abhor ourselves on the one hand and desperately want to do something for the Lord on the other. More than twenty years ago, for several months I went to pray on a hill every morning. At that time the fire was especially burning within me, and I would pray and weep at the same time. On the one hand, I was willing to live for the Lord and preach the gospel for the Lord, but on the other hand, I abhorred myself, feeling that I was so corrupted and that every bad thing or matter in the world was in me. This was the taste of the fire burning in me. In this way I had a genuine repentance and confession.
If we confess merely because we have heard the doctrine about confession, our confession is something taught, something that is the result of persuasion. It is not the issue of the burning of the Holy Spirit in us. When the Holy Spirit burns in us, we do not need people to tell us that we are sinful. Instead, we will confess that we are sinful, filthy, and evil and that our sins far exceed the sins of others. This kind of humble confession is real only in Spirit. Not only so, this fire also burns away our flesh and our disposition.
Before Satan came into man, it was sufficient for this life to be merely water. At that time man had not been mutated and did not have the evil element in him. Second Corinthians 4:7 says, “We have this treasure in earthen vessels.” Earthen vessels denotes vessels made of clay, which indicates that we are made of clay. In the garden of Eden before he sinned, Adam was also a vessel of clay, an earthen vessel. But after Satan entered into Adam, this vessel of clay became a corrupted vessel.
In Genesis 4 we see the murder of Abel, showing that something of Satan had come in (v. 8). Hence, from Genesis 3 to Revelation 20, Satan walks with man and follows man. Man and Satan are linked together. When God’s life comes into man, this life is water to God and fire to Satan. Water brings in the supply of God’s life, and fire burns away everything of Satan. Thus, after Satan entered into man in Genesis 3, the flow of fire came in. Then after Satan is cast out from man in Revelation 20, the flow of fire disappears. Instead, a river of water of life proceeds out of the throne of God. What flows out is the Spirit, and what flows into us is life. This life in us is sometimes like water and sometimes like fire. When our inner being is pure, and we reject evil and do not mind the flesh, the water flows through us to water and supply us in order that we would be fresh, bright, strong, at peace, and satisfied. However, when the things of Satan—the world, sins, and the flesh—hang on us, the life in us is like fire burning in us. This is our experience.
Today we have not yet arrived at Revelation 21; we have still not come to chapter 20. We still have sins, the flesh, the world, and many things of Satan in us. Hence, this life is always burning in us as fire. After the burning, the water comes. Our experience is always like this—the more burning there is, the more our inner being is living, fresh, and bright, and the more peace, satisfaction, and comfort we have.
Hence, after the burning of the fire, the water comes. The water and the fire are not two rivers but one. One day there will no longer be fire. Everything of Satan will be terminated in us. This will be our transfiguration, in which we will be delivered from our flesh and the old creation. When everything of Satan is put off in us, there will no longer be fire; instead there will be water proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. When this water flows out, it is the Spirit, and when it flows into us, it is life.
Today eternity has not yet arrived, but we can have a foretaste of the eternal power. May the Lord have mercy on us that while we are still living on the earth, we would be living in spiritual reality and in a spiritual condition, being able to see one thing—whether it be fire or water—coming out of God and passing through the Lamb. That which comes from God and the Lamb is the Spirit, and the Spirit enters into us as life, the life of God. This life is sometimes like fire that burns us and sometimes like water that waters us. When we are pure inwardly, He is the water of supply, but when there is mixture in us, He is the burning fire. May we all see these two aspects of life—the watering of the water and the burning of the fire.
