In this message we will consider the four remaining aspects of the New Jerusalem as the holy city: the river, the water of life, the tree of life, and the kings and priests within the city.
Revelation 22:1 says, “He showed me a river of water of life, bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb in the middle of its street.” This river, as typified by the rivers in Genesis 2:10-14, Psalm 46:4, and Ezekiel 47:5-9, signifies the abundance of life in its flow. It is one river, flowing through the four directions of the holy city like the four heads of the one river in Genesis 2:10-14. This one river with its riches becomes many rivers in our experience, as indicated in John 7:38.
The river in the New Jerusalem flows from the throne of the redeeming God, from the redeeming God in His administration. Hence, the flowing of the river of water of life has much to do with God’s administration.
This flowing from the throne is a matter of the dispensing of the processed Triune God into us. God is flowing out of Himself into His redeemed ones. This dispensing of the processed Triune God issues from God’s administrating throne. Therefore, God’s dispensing depends on His administration. The dispensing of the life supply and of God’s all-sufficient grace issues from the throne of God’s administration. In the New Jerusalem this dispensing will reach every part of the city, and the entire city will be filled, saturated, and permeated with the processed Triune God for His expression.
The river in the New Jerusalem as the holy city is the flowing of the Triune God as the water of life. In 22:1 we see the Triune God-God, the Lamb, and the river, which signifies the Spirit. God, the Father, is the source; the Lamb, the Son, is the course; and the river is the Spirit, the flow. Hence, we have the Father as the source, the Son as the course, and the Spirit as the flow. This is the flowing of the Triune God as the water of life.
In 22:1 we are told that the river flows in the middle of the street of the New Jerusalem. The street of the holy city is gold, which signifies the divine nature. The river of water of life proceeding in the middle of the golden street indicates that the divine life flows in the divine nature as the unique way for the daily life of God’s redeemed people. Where the divine life flows, there is the divine nature as the holy way by which God’s people walk; and where the holy way of the divine nature is, there the divine life is flowing. The divine life and the divine nature as the holy way always go together. The river of life is available along the divine way, and we enjoy it by walking in the divine way.
As those who have been baptized into the Triune God, we are on the unique street. If we do not walk on this street, we will not sense the divine flow. But if we walk on this street, caring for the divine nature, we will sense the flow of the Triune God within us. In order to experience the flow of the Triune God, we must take the divine nature as our way.
Home | First | Prev | Next