The Water that Flowed from Christ, the Rock, is the Water of Life in Resurrection!

In the book of Exodus we clearly see how God wants to change His people’s diet to the heavenly food and the living water coming out of the smitten rock. It is interesting in particular to see how both at the beginning and at the end of their journey through the wilderness the people of Israel were thirsty, and God didn’t rebuke them for murmuring concerning this but provided them with water springing out of a rock.

Paul in Corinthians tells us that this rock followed them; God provides us with water out of Christ (the real rock which follows us); Christ became the life-giving Spirit for us to drink in Christ’s resurrection. Our drinking of this one Spirit makes us the members of the Body of Christ, builds us up as the Body of Christ, and prepares us to be the Bride of Christ, even making us one with the Spirit calling others to come and drink of the Spirit if they are thirsty (see 1 Cor. 12:13; Rev. 22:17).

When the Lord Jesus was on the cross, He as the rock was smitten by God and out of Him blood and water flowed; blood flowed for our redemption and water for our regeneration and life-impartation. The authority of God’s law smote Jesus on the cross, and out of Him came the life-giving Spirit in His resurrection for anyone who is thirsty to drink, be filled with, become a member of the Body, and build up the Body of Christ.

Hallelujah, after Christ’s resurrection the Spirit who gives life has come, and now we can all drink of Him as the living water! When we believe into the Lord, we apply the blood of Christ for our judicial redemption to be washed from our sins and we drink of the Spirit for our organic salvation to be saved from the power of sin.

We can never exhaust what has come out of the Lord’s pierced side: His blood was shed for our redemption, and water came out for our organic salvation. Today we can apply the blood of Christ and we can drink of Him as the Spirit to be both washed from our sins and saved from the power of sin.

This water which we drink from Him is in resurrection: it is resurrection water, bringing our whole being in resurrection, one with the Lord!

Christ, the Rock, has been Stricken on the Cross so that Living Water may Flow!

The striking of the rock in Exo. 17:6 is a clear picture of Christ’s crucifixion. The people of Israel were thirsty, and God wanted to give them water to drink; He could have just made water gush out of the earth or something, but He commanded Moses to strike the rock, and water flowed out of the rock.

Moses typifies the law, and the staff represents the power and the authority of the law; the striking of the rock by Moses with his staff signifies that Christ was put to death by the cross by the authority of God’s law (see Gal. 2:19-20; 3:13). We thought that God judged Him (as Isaiah said), but He was smitten by God for us (Isa. 53:4); God struck Christ, the Messiah, on the cross, with the righteous requirements of His law.

But out of this smitten rock in Exodus came out water for all the people to drink; out of the smitten Christ on the cross came out living water for all men to drink! The water flowing from the smitten rock typifies the Spirit (see John 7:37-39). Christ came as the rock through incarnation, and on the cross He was smitten by the authority of God’s righteous law to accomplish God’s redemption.

As He died on the cross under God’s judgement, out of Christ’s pierced side came out blood and water (John 19:34). This living water is the water of life in resurrection, which is the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit as the ultimate issue of the Triune God for us all to drink, receive, and enjoy (see 1 Cor. 15:45; John 7:39 and footnote; Exo. 17:6 and footnotes in Recovery Version Bible).

Now that Christ has been smitten, there’s no need for Him to be smitten again; we simply need to come to Him and ask Him to give us living water, and we will receive the living water in resurrection in abundance! We don’t have to go through God’s judgement: we simply need to take Christ as our replacement, apply His blood, and go on and drink from the open fountain of water flowing from His side!

Lord Jesus, thank You for becoming the rock through incarnation and being stricken by God on the cross to release the living water for us all to drink. Lord, we apply Your blood by faith right now, and we come to You to drink the living water in resurrection. Praise You, Lord, we are no longer under God’s judgement and condemnation: we have been washed in Your blood and we are now positioned to drink the Spirit, the living water flowing from Your pierced side!

The Water that Flowed from Christ, the Rock, is the Water of Life in Resurrection!

God became a man in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ to be the living, spiritual rock; on the cross, Christ as the living rock was smitten by the authority of God’s law so that the water of life in resurrection would flow out of Him and into all those who are redeemed by Him for them to drink of God (see Exo. 17:6; 1 Cor. 10:4).

If we read the Bible carefully we realize that Christ is the rock: He is our begetting rock and the rock who is our salvation, our strength, our refuge, our hiding place, our protection, our covering, and our safeguard. In the Old Testament especially we see that the name of Jehovah is the Rock, and He is the rock of our salvation, the rock who begot us (Deut. 32:3-5, 18).

Christ is the rock of our salvation (2 Sam. 22:47; Psa. 95:1); He is the rock of our strength (Psa 62:7), the rock of our protection (Psa. 31:2), the rock of our refuge (Psa. 94:2). Christ as a Man is like a refuge from the wind and a covering from the tempest, and He is the shadow of a massive rock in a wasted land (Isa. 32:2); He is the rock of our stronghold (Isa. 17:10), the eternal rock (Isa. 26:4).

Christ as a rock was struck, and living water flowed out; God split the rock (Psa. 78:15), struck the rock, and opened the rock so that water would gush forth (Psa. 105:41). God caused water to flow from the rock, and He split the rock and water gushed out (Isa. 48:21).

When the Lord Jesus died on the cross, one of the Roman soldier pierced His side and blood and water flowed out: the blood flowed for our judicial redemption to save us from the guilt of sin, and the water of life in resurrection for our organic salvation saves us from the power of sin (see Gen. 2:21-22; John 19:34; Zech. 13:1; Psa. 36:8-9; Rev. 21:6).

We can never exhaust what Christ accomplished on His cross! Now we can enjoy the water that flowed out of Christ as the smitten rock, and this water is the water of life in resurrection! Today we drink resurrection water; the living water flowing from Christ as the Spirit is an amazing beverage, compounded with Christ’s incarnation, human living, death, and resurrection. We simply need to take a drink!

Resurrection denotes something that has been put to death and is alive again; the Lord as life was put to death, and He sprang forth out of death, passing through death and overcoming death in resurrection! Hallelujah! After the Lord Jesus went through incarnation, human living, and crucifixion, in resurrection the water flowed out of Him as the smitten rock to be the life-giving Spirit for all God’s redeemed ones!

The Spirit as the living water today for us to drink and flow out was not yet before Christ’s resurrection, that is, before He was glorified (see John 7:37-39; Luke 24:26). The water of life came out in the Lord’s resurrection and actually this living flowing water is resurrection itself!

The water of life is the Triune God – the Father as the source, the Son as the course, and the Spirit as the flow – flowing into the redeemed believers today. When we’re weak, tired, dry, under trials, in fiery ordeals, or in temptations, we need to realize that the rock was smitten, and living water is flowing!

Lord Jesus, thank You for all that You have accomplished for us in Your death and resurrection. Thank You for becoming a man to be the rock that was smitten for us on the cross so that living water may flow out in resurrection. Lord, we open to You to drink deep the water of life in resurrection! We exercise our spirit, apply the blood of Christ, and receive the liquid resurrection flowing into us as the Spirit! Hallelujah!

The Water of Life flows from the Throne of the Redeeming God to be our Life today

What is the source of this water of life flowing so freely today? In Exodus 17 the source is the smitten rock, in John 19 the source is the pierced body of Jesus, and in Rev. 22 the source is the throne of God and of the Lamb (the Redeeming God). The source of the water of life is the throne of God and of the Lamb, the redeeming God; before time and for eternity, the water of life flows from the throne of God to water all His people.

In time, this water of life flowed through the Lord Jesus in His incarnation, human living, and crucifixion (see John 4:10, 14; 19:34), and now this living water flows on in Christ’s resurrection to supply us all as God’s people with all the riches of the divine life.

We need to realize that this is God’s original intention: before sin came in and long after sin and Satan are dealt with, God is a flowing God, and He wants to flow as water of life into man to obtain a corporate expression of Himself. Today we need to identify ourselves with the smitten Christ, and we will enjoy the living water flowing in us and out of us (see Exo. 17:6; John 7:38; cf. S.S. 2:8-9, 14; Phil. 3:10).

We don’t need to have long nights and days of prayers for the Spirit to be outpoured; the Spirit has been given, and now we can simply exercise our spirit to be one with the Lord and drink the Spirit! We were all baptized into one Body in one Spirit, and we all were given to drink one Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13); this means that the flowing of the water of life in resurrection is for the building up of the Body of Christ!

As we drink the water of life in resurrection by exercising our spirit, we are built up as the Body of Christ. The more we drink of the water of life in resurrection, the more we are prepared as the Bride of Christ. Hallelujah, the water of life is the Triune God flowing into us to be our life and flowing out of us to water others and bring them into the one unique flow of the divine life!

From the throne of God and of the Lamb flows a river of water of life reaching us, flowing in us, and flowing out of us to flow us and all the saints in the Body all the way into the eternal life, the New Jerusalem!

Lord Jesus, we enthrone You in our being right now; cause the flow to increase as we set up Your throne in the center of our being. Lord, thank You for being processed and consummated to become the living water for us to drink. Hallelujah, the Father is the source, the Son is the course, and the Spirit is the flow of water of life reaching us, flowing into us, and flowing out of us and with us unto the New Jerusalem!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Andrew Yu’s sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Exodus, msgs. 40-43 (days 2-4 in the HWMR), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Exodus (1),  week 10 / msg 10, Drinking and Flowing the Water of Life in Resurrection.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # Rock of Ages, cleft for me, / Let me hide myself in Thee; / Let the water and the blood, / From Thy riven side which flowed, / Be of sin the double cure, / Save me from its guilt and power. (Hymns #1058)
  # Life out of death—blest mission to be ever / Bearing the living water brimming o’er. / With life abundant from the clear, pure river, / Telling that thirsty souls need thirst no more. (Hymns #640)
  # The love of God and the grace of Christ / And fellowship of the Holy Spirit / Be with you, be with you all, / Be with you all, be with you all. / From the throne of our God and the Lamb / Flows a river of water of life, / Bright as crystal, reaching man. (Song on the Flow of Life)