When we come to the Lord to drink the water of life in resurrection, we receive and enjoy all that He is and has accomplished, and we are made the members of the Body and are prepared to be the bride of Christ.
Hallelujah, it is all accomplished by our drinking the living water!
We are currently in the crystallization-study of Jeremiah and Lamentations, and if we look at these books with our natural understanding and our personal opinions, we will never find out what God really speaks to us. It is so easy to read the Bible and not get what God is really speaking about.
But when we exercise our spirit, touch the Lord, and read the book of Jeremiah with the glasses of God’s economy on, that is, having the realization that this book was written for God’s economy and with God’s economy in view, we will clearly see what God wants from us.
God wants to be the fountain of living waters so that we may drink of Him; He is jealous whenever we drink from another source, when we take other things as the source of living water.
On one hand what we see in the book of Jeremiah is a lot of speaking concerning Israel’s sin, their idols, their departing from God, and even their opposing God and His prophet.
On the other hand, in Jeremiah we see God’s wrath, His chastisement, and His punishment of His people.
However, in all these matters what is revealed to us is God’s intention in His economy to be the fountain of living waters for His people (see Jer. 2:13).
This really shows us that God wants to dispense Himself into us, His chosen people, for our satisfaction and enjoyment; the issue of our enjoyment of God as the living water is the church as the Body of Christ and the bride of Christ to be the enlargement of Christ for His expression.
This is actually what the entire Bible speaks about; the Bible is not merely God’s letter of love to us revealing His way of salvation from eternal perdition and His promise to return for His people.
The Bible reveals that God desires to dispense Himself into a group of people who are open to Him, so He has provided a way for them to be redeemed and regenerated to be put in the right position to drink of God as the fountain of living waters. Hallelujah!
All genuine believers in Christ are positioned to drink of the Spirit as the water of life in resurrection, and by our drinking of the living water we are made members of the Body of Christ, we build up the Body, and we’re prepared as the bride of Christ.
In book after book, in chapter after chapter, from the first chapter of the Bible to the very last chapter, God is calling man to come to Him and drink.
He wants man not necessarily to do this or that for Him but that man would drink the living water, and this water of life will carry out God’s purpose in man and with man. How wonderful!
The Water of Life in Resurrection bring into us Christ’s Humanity, Divinity, Death, Resurrection, Ascension, and all of God’s riches!
In Exo. 17:6 Moses struck the rock and water flowed for all the people to drink; in John 19:34 from the Lord’s pierced side flowed blood and water; in Rev. 22:1 there’s a river of water of life flowing from the throne.
These are not three kinds of water or three flows but one unique flow of water of life, revealed in the Bible from the beginning to the end. This flowing water is nothing else but the water of life in resurrection.
The smitten rock with water flowing out of it, Christ on the cross with blood and water flowing from His pierced side, and the God on the throne out of which flows a river of water of life all refer to the same water of life in resurrection flowing throughout the ages for us to drink.
From eternity to eternity God is flowing; there’s a river of water of life flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb, showing us that the entire Triune God (the Father and the Son are on the throne, the Spirit is the flowing water) is a flowing God to reach man and quench man’s thirst for the accomplishing of God’s purpose.
This flowing water is the water of life in resurrection, that is, Christ had to die and resurrect for this water to flow for man to drink and be satisfied.
Resurrection speaks of something which has been put to death, passed through death, and came out of death full of life; it is life that overcomes death and lives again and again.
Resurrection also speaks of life which springs forth out of something that has passed through death.
The Lord Jesus passed through death and He became a life-giving Spirit in His resurrection (1 Cor. 15:45); now the life-giving Spirit as the water of life in resurrection flows to reach man at any time and in any place.
Since this flow of water of life is from the throne of God, when we drink the water of life in resurrection we are under the authority of God; when we call, O Lord Jesus! we drink the living water, we acknowledge Christ as Lord, and we are under His lordship.
When we drink the living water, we are subdued under the throne of God, and at the same time we receive the authority of God; in submission there’s real authority.
The living water flowing from God’s throne brings us the riches of the divine life, for the tree of life grows in the water of life (Rev. 22:2).
When we drink the water of life in resurrection, we receive the riches of the divine life, for the flow of the living water contains all the riches of the divine life supply.
Actually, this water of life in resurrection includes all the processes that Christ went through; in this water we have His incarnation, His human living, His humanity, His death, and His resurrection.
The way for us to enjoy Christ’s humanity and His death is by drinking the flow of the living water.
The more we come to the Lord to drink the living water, the more we enjoy and experience Christ’s humanity, His human living, and His death.
In the flow of the living water we have the resurrection of Christ with the power of His resurrection (Phil. 3:10), the ascension of Christ, His enthronement, His glorification, His lordship, and His headship.
All these are our enjoyment and experience by drinking the living water.
When we open to the Lord, call on His name, and drink of Him, we receive, enjoy, and experience all that Christ is, has, and has done and accomplished, and all these become part of our constitution.
Lord Jesus, we come to You to drink the water of life in resurrection; give us to drink, Lord, and fill us with the living water! We open our whole being to You and we call on Your name to drink of the Spirit as the living water flowing from the throne of God! Hallelujah, in this living water we enjoy Christ’s incarnation, His human living, His death with its effectiveness, His resurrection with its power, His ascension, His enthronement, and His glorification! Praise the Lord for this water of life in resurrection flowing into us to quench our thirst, fill our being, accomplish God’s purpose in us, and make us the Body of Christ and the bride of Christ!
Drinking the Water of Life in Resurrection builds us up as the Body and Prepares us as the Bride
Drinking the Spirit as the water of life in resurrection is not merely for our enjoyment; the goal is the building up of the Body and the preparation of the bride of Christ.
Our drinking of the one Spirit in resurrection makes us members of the Body, it builds us up as the Body, and it prepares us to be the bride of Christ (1 Cor. 12:13; Rev. 22:17).
We need to drink this living water to have our thirst quenched and be satisfied and sustained; more importantly, we drink this water of life in resurrection to be built up as the Body of Christ and be prepared to be the bride of Christ.
It is only by drinking this water, this Spirit, in a perpetual way that we can built up as the one Body of Christ. It is only by drinking the water of life that we can be prepared to be the bride of Christ.
Our unique need as believers in Christ is to drink the water of life; this water will renew us, sanctify us, transform us, and build us up as the Body of Christ, even preparing us to be the bride of Christ.
As we drink the same Spirit, we are the one Body of Christ; in one Body we have been baptized in one Spirit, and we were all given to drink of the one Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13).
Drinking the water of life in resurrection makes us members of the Body and builds us up as the Body of Christ.
Furthermore, as seen in Eph. 5, we are sanctified by the washing of the water in the word to become the bride of Christ, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing.
The Lord is sanctifying us by cleansing us, washing us, and reconstituting us in the word of God, and this flowing water in the word is nothing else but the Spirit!
The flesh profits nothing – it is the Spirit who gives life; the words which the Lord speaks to us are spirit and are life (John 6:63).
When we drink the Spirit in the word of God, we are being sanctified, we’re being washed, and we’re being prepared to be the bride of Christ to be presentable to Him without spot or wrinkle or any such thing.
May we give ourselves to the Lord to drink of the water of life in resurrection in the church life.
May we be drinking people in the church life, for the more we drink, the more the church is built up and the more the bride is prepared.
Even at the end of the Bible, in Rev. 22:17, the Spirit and the bride are one in saying, Let him who is thirsty come and drink, take the water of life freely!
The Spirit and the bride make this call as one, as husband and wife, as a married unit; they preach the ultimate gospel – come and drink the water of life!
Our drinking has much to do with that marriage, with the ultimate consummated Triune God marrying the ultimate redeemed, transformed, and glorified elect of God – the Spirit and the bride.
The bride is prepared by drinking; the water which the bride drinks is the Spirit, and this Spirit is the water of life in resurrection.
Amen, if we drink of the living water day by day, the Body of Christ will be built up and the bride of Christ will be prepared!
May we give up our efforts, put away our struggles, and cease from our trying to please God or do things for God, and may we just open to the Lord to drink the living water!
When we drink the living water, when we are washed by the water in the word, the Spirit is added to our being, fills our being, and it is the Spirit in us who lives the Christian life, builds up the church, and prepares the bride of Christ.
It is not our self-effort, our improving or striving, that will fulfil God’s purpose or make us the bride of Christ; it is Christ Himself as the Spirit who is constantly taken in by us to be the living water washing us, cleansing us, filling us, nourishing us, that regenerates us, renews us, transforms us, conforms us to His image, builds us up to be the Body, and prepares us to be the bride of Christ. Hallelujah!
Lord Jesus, we come to drink the one Spirit in resurrection for the building up of the Body and the preparation of the bride of Christ! We stop our struggling and striving to please God – we simply come open to drink the water of life in resurrection so that the church may be built up and the bride may be prepared. We open to drink the one Spirit into whom we were baptised and of whom we were given to drink for the building up of the Body! Amen, Lord, we come to be washed by the Spirit as the living water in the word so that all our oldness, wrinkles, spots, and such things may be removed. Hallelujah, the Spirit and the bride say, Come! Let him who hears say, Come! Let him who is thirsty, let him take the water of life freely!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Minoru Chen for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Exodus, msg. 42 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization Study of Jeremiah and Lamentations, week 3, The Two Evils of God’s People and God’s Faithfulness in Fulfilling His Economy.
- Hymns on this topic:
– 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! / Do come, oh, do come, / Says Spirit and the Bride: / Do come, oh, do come, / Let him that heareth, cry. / Do come, oh, do come, / Let him who thirsts and will / Take freely the water of life! (Hymns #1151)
– “Come and drink the living water,” / Say the Spirit and the Bride— / Church and Spirit speak together, / Utterly identified. / Just according to the Spirit / Must be our reality; / Just the Spirit in the churches / Is the Lord’s recovery. (Hymns #1123)
– The Spirit of life is within us today, / Who’s likened to water our thirst to allay; / Of Him we may drink and be filled thus with Him, / Until as a river He flows from within. (Hymns #278)
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