God in Christ as the Spirit is the living water in resurrection for us to drink and flow (see John 7:37-39). Christ has been smitten by God on the cross and out of His side flowed living water for man to drink and enjoy. Christ as the living rock has been cleft through His crucifixion, and today we simply need to speak to the rock,
Lord, give me water to drink! Come in as living water and flow into every part of my inner being!
The way to drink the living water is to “take the rod” and “speak to the rock”. The rock has no more need of being smitten: we simply need to identify with Christ in His death and apply His death to ourselves and our situation, and we need to speak to the rock by asking the Lord to give us living water to drink!
In our Christian experience sometimes we may be up on the mountain and other times we may be down in the valleys, and it is here that the Spirit as the living water flows into us. It is in our different environments, in our experience of the cross of Christ and of Christ’s resurrection, that the water of life flows forth and waters us, fills us, and quenches our thirst.
Hallelujah for all the experiences of Christ in our daily life, where we can drink the living water and ask the Lord to give us to drink!
Drinking and Flowing the Water of Life in Resurrection
The water of life we take in is not a “common water” – it is a living water which comes is, flows into all the parts of our inner being, waters us inwardly, and then flows out of us.
You could say that, doctrinally speaking, you first need to drink the water of life and then you will have something to flow out (see John 4:14), but in our experience many times the water of life is within us and simply waits for an opportunity to flow out! The Lord is so close to us and so available, ready to give us water to drink!
The way we flow out the living water is by being one with the smitten Christ, by experiencing His death (see Exo. 17:6; John 7:38). When our natural life is smitten and put to death by the cross of Christ as we are identified with the smitten Christ, Christ’s divine life will flow out of us as rivers of living waters.
If no death, no life; if no cross, no flow of life. But when we are one with the smitten Christ and experience His death, we will both drink of Him as the living water and flow Him out to others.
If we drink and flow the water of life in resurrection, we will be a brook with refreshing water to the Lord Jesus in the day of His warfare (see Psa. 110:7). Christ today is fighting for God’s economy, and He needs to drink: He is a thirsty Savior and Warrior, and we are a thirsty mankind.
As we drink of Him and flow Him out, we become His overcomers to quench the Lord’s thirst and refresh Him. We need to do some serious drinking! We need to drink deep until we are full of Christ Himself, and we will be the brook to the Lord to quench His thirst in the day of His warfare.
“Take the Rod” and “Speak to the Rock” to Drink the Living Water!
In Exo. 17 Christ as the rock has been smitten (through His death on the cross), and so God commanded Moses in Num. 20:8 to take the rod and speak to the rock, and it will yield forth water for everyone to drink.
There’s no more need for the rock to be smitten, since Christ has already been crucified! All we need to do today is to “take the rod” and “speak to the rock” and we will receive the living water! To take the rod means to be identified with Christ in His death and apply Christ’s death to ourselves and to our situation.
To speak to the rock is to speak to Christ as the smitten rock, not by begging Him to give us water but by asking Him to give us the Spirit of life as living water (see John 4:10). If we speak to the rock, it will give us water! Christ as the living rock is following us wherever we go, and we simply need to speak to the rock and He will water us!
In a sense, we believers in Christ are a bunch of crazy people: we “speak to the rock”! But this is what the Bible says and our experience confirms: we speak to Christ as the rock and He gives us water! Are you thirsty? Speak to the Rock!
Lord Jesus, You are the rock! Rock of Ages, cleft for me, I need You! I drink You! I open my mouth and my being wide to You! I’m here not begging but drinking of You! Thank You for Your availability!
The All-Inclusive Christ is a Land of Waterbrooks, of Springs, and of Mountains
In Deut. 8:7 we see the good land which was given to the people of Israel, which land is a type of Christ. This good land is a land of waterbrooks, of springs, and of fountains. The first aspect of the good land is water – there’s water flowing from the mountains, in the valleys, and in the hills!
There are fountains of water (as the source), there are springs of water, and there’s brooks of water, flowing in valleys and in mountains. In all our up-and-down situations, Christ as the living water flows in many ways to quench our thirst and satisfy us. Without a difference in elevation, the rivers cannot flow.
Wherever there’s a valley in our experience, there’s always a mountain. Our Christian life is full of valleys and mountains, and in our up-and-down experiences, we experience Christ as the living water flowing to reach us and fill us.
The secret is not to look at the valley and despair or look at the mountain and never want to leave – the secret is to drink the water of life and flow the river in all our experiences!
We need to learn this secret, as the Apostle Paul did, to drink of Christ as the living water whether we are in glory or dishonour, whether there’s a good or an evil report, whether others consider us deceivers yet true, whether we feel like dying yet we live, whether we are disciplined yet not put to death, etc. Hallelujah, in all our different environments with the mountains and the valleys we can experience Christ and drink Him as the living water in the good land!
Dear Lord Jesus, the cleft Rock, we come to You to drink! Give us the living water! Whether up or down, whether on the mountain or in the valley, whether happy or sad, keep us drinking of You as the living water! Lord, give us to drink! Keep us speaking to the rock to get the living water! We don’t ask for more experiences of death and crucifixion – You are faithful to bring them in our life. Lord, keep our eyes fixed on You, coming to You in everything to drink the living water!
References and Further Reading
- Inspiration: bro. Minoru Chen’s sharing in the message and portions in, Life-study of Exodus (msgs. 43-45), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on the Crystallization Study of Genesis (1), week/msg 7, The River of Water of Life.
- Further reading: The All-Inclusive Christ (ch. 4), by Witness Lee.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Jesus, the all-inclusive land, / Is everything to me: / A Christ of brooks, of depths and streams, / And fountains bubbling free. / Springing from valleys and from hills, / Flowing till every part He fills, / He waters us—how glorious— / By His life!
# Speak to the Rock, / Bid the waters flow, / Doubt not the Spirit, / Given long ago; / Take what He waiteth, / Freely to bestow, / Drink till its fulness / All Thy being know.
# There’s no need again that / Christ, the Rock, be riven, / But unto the digging / That I should be given. / What I need most deeply / Is the Spirit’s filling, / That the living water / From my heart be welling.
