In the last chapter we saw five occasions related to the water for drinking recorded in the Old Testament. In Exodus 15 is the tree put into the bitter waters to make them sweet. In Exodus 17 is the smitten, cleft rock flowing out the water of life for the people to drink. Numbers 20 shows us that now that the rock has been cleft, we need to speak to the rock to enjoy its living water. In Numbers 21 is the well within us, requiring that we dig away all the dirt in our being so that the well has a free way to flow out. In Judges 15 Samson called on the Lord (v. 18) because he was dying of thirst, so God provided him with water to drink and he was revived. Calling on the name of the Lord is the way to drink the living water and be revived. These five cases show us that the living water quenches our thirst and solves our problems. These instances constitute the first part of the children of Israel’s drinking before the building up of the house of God and the city. In this chapter we want to see the second part of the children of Israel’s drinking after the building of the house and the city.
The verses cited in the Scripture reading show us that the water for drinking is always related to either God’s house or God’s city. Psalm 36:8 says, “They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures.” In this verse God’s house is mentioned. Psalm 46:4 says, “There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God.” In this verse the river is in the city. The river that makes the city glad has streams like the river in the garden of Eden that was one river parted into four heads or streams (Gen. 2:10). These two verses in the Psalms show us that the river is in the house within the city. Because the house is in the city, the river in the house is also in the city.
Joel 3:18 tells us that a fountain shall come forth out of the house of the Lord. Zechariah 14:8 tells us that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem, “half of them toward the eastern sea, and half of them toward the western sea” (ASV). The river flows, on the one hand, toward the Dead Sea to the east and on the other hand, toward the Mediterranean to the west. In Joel and Zechariah we see again that the river is related to the house and the city. Ezekiel 47 tells us that waters issue out from under the threshold of the house (v. 1). Finally, Isaiah 55 shows us that there is a call in the preaching of the gospel for everyone that thirsts to come to the waters.
We have to be impressed that the house of God comes out of the flow of life. Genesis 2 shows us that the materials for the building up of the bride come out of the flow of the water of life. The issue, the produce, of the flow of life is precious materials for the building of God’s house. After the house is built, the water comes out of the house. The one hundred and twenty disciples in Acts 1 were individuals who had drunk of the Lord Jesus (v. 15). The living water flowed into them, and by the flow of this living water, they were transformed into precious materials for God’s building. The church was built up with them as the materials. From that time, the sweet living water was in the church.
The Lord Jesus as the fountain, the source, the spring, of living water is in the church, the house of God. Before the building up of the house, the source, the fountain, was Christ. After the building up of the house, the source, the fountain, is still Christ. The only difference is that now Christ as the fountain, the source, of living water is within the building. The water is flowing from within the house because the fountain is in the house. The water now flows within and out of the house of God.
At the beginning of our salvation we had the sense that something within us was flowing, but after a certain period of time we had the sense that this flow stopped. It stopped because we had not entered into the practical church life, the house of God. At the beginning of our salvation, for a certain period of time the Lord may grant us the flow of the living water, but this flow cannot be maintained unless we enter into the church life. Once we get into the local church, the house, we have the deep sense that the flow within us, which had been lost, is now recovered. The inner flow of the divine life is recovered in the local church.
At the beginning of our salvation there was a flow, and that flow was for the church. But we may not have realized this. We may have thought that Christ alone was sufficient. We had the wonderful Christ flowing within us, and we thought the flow within us would not stop. But the flow did stop because we did not enter into the church, the house. One day, however, the Lord in His mercy brought us into the practical church life, the house. Those of us who are in the practical church life can testify that we have the sense of a deeper, wider, and richer flow. Just as there are two parts to the history of the children of Israel’s drinking in the Old Testament, there are also two parts with those of us who are in the practical church life. Part of our history of drinking was before the church life, and another part is after the church life. The part before the church life was initial and temporary.
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