Message Twelve

The New Jerusalem—
the Destination of the Flowing Triune God

Scripture Reading: Gen. 2:10-12; Psa. 36:8-9; 46:4;
John 4:14b; 2 Cor. 13:14; Rev. 22:1

1. The New Jerusalem is the destination of the flowing Triune God:
   1. “The water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water gushing up into eternal life”—John 4:14b:
      1. The Triune God flows in the Divine Trinity in three stages: The Father is the fountain, the Son is the spring, and the Spirit is the river.
      2. This flowing Triune God is “into eternal life”:
         1. The New Jerusalem is the totality of the eternal life; thus, into eternal life means “into the New Jerusalem. ”
         2. Into speaks of the destination; into means “issuing in, to be, or to become”; into the New Jerusalem means “to become the New Jerusalem.”
         3. The Father as the fountain, the Son as the spring, and the Spirit as the river flow into us and with us into the New Jerusalem to be the New Jerusalem.
         4. The Father as the fountain, the Son as the spring, and the Spirit as the river all take the New Jerusalem as Their eternal goal.
      3. In the beginning, in eternity past, was the Word, who was God; in eternity future, the Word becomes the New Jerusalem—John 1:1; 4:14b; Rev. 21:10.
      4. The triune, eternal God becomes the New Jerusalem incorporated with all of us by the divine speaking, divine spreading, divine dispensing, of Himself into us as the flowing Triune God for our enjoyment to be our eternal blessing for His eternal glory—Rev. 22:1-2, 17; cf. Num. 6:22-27; 2 Cor. 13:14.
   2. The New Jerusalem is the destination of the line of life throughout the Bible, and the lake of fire is the destination of the line of knowledge—Gen. 2:8-9:
      1. At the end of the Bible we have two results, two consummations—a city of living water (Rev. 22:1) and a lake of burning fire (20:10, 14-15; 21:8).
      2. The river of water for reviving and watering proceeds out of the throne of God and will flow all positive things into the New Jerusalem—22:1.
      3. The stream of fire for judging issues out of the throne of God and will sweep all negative things into the lake of fire—Dan. 7:9-10.
2. We need to exercise our spirit to enjoy the flowing Triune God within us, in the midst of an environment of heat and pressure, so that we may be transformed into precious materials for us to become the New Jerusalem—Gen. 2:10-12; 1 Cor. 3:12; Rev. 21:18-21; John 4:14b, 24:
   1. The river of water of life is the flowing out of the Triune God—the Spirit as the ultimate consummation of the processed Triune God reaching His redeemed people for their enjoyment—Rev. 22:1; Psa. 36:8-9; 46:4:
      1. God’s intention in His economy is to be the fountain, the source, of living waters to satisfy His chosen people for their enjoyment, with the goal of producing the Body of Christ, consummating in the New Jerusalem as God’s fullness for His expression—Jer. 2:13; Lam. 3:22-24.
      2. Our drinking of the one Spirit makes us members of the Body, builds us up as the Body, and prepares us to be the bride of Christ—1 Cor. 12:13; Rev. 22:17.
      3. By drinking the living water, we become the New Jerusalem, the totality of the eternal life, the destination of the flowing Triune God— John 4:14b.
   2. As believers in Christ, we need to drink and flow the water of life—John 4:10, 14; 7:37-39; cf. Prov. 11:25:
      1. To drink the water of life, there is the need of thirst—Exo. 17:3a; Psa. 42:1; John 7:37; Rev. 21:6.
      2. We need to come to the Lord and ask Him to give us the living water—John 7:37; Rev. 22:17; John 4:10.
      3. We need to contact God the Spirit in our human spirit and in truthfulness—John 4:23-24; cf. Jude 19-21.
      4. We need to joyously draw water from the springs of salvation by speaking to the Lord, by the Lord, for the Lord, in the Lord, and with the Lord— John 19:34; 1 Cor. 10:4; Exo. 17:6; Num. 20:8; Isa. 12:2-6:
         1. We need to practice speaking with the Lord constantly—Phil. 4:6-7, 12.
         2. We need to confess our sins—John 4:15-18; 1 John 1:9; Num. 21:16-18.
         3. We need to praise the Lord—Phil. 4:4; Heb. 13:15; Psa. 119:164.
         4. We need to thank the Lord—Eph. 5:18, 20.
         5. We need to call on the name of the Lord—Acts 2:21; 1 Cor. 12:13, 3; 1 Thes. 5:17; 1 Cor. 1:2; Judg. 15:18-19; Lam. 3:55-56.
         6. We need to sing to the Lord—Eph. 5:18b-19; 1 Kings 6:7; 1 Chron. 6:31-32; 2 Chron. 20:21-22.
         7. We need to preach the gospel, making known to others what Christ has accomplished—Rom. 1:16; John 4:32-34.
         8. We need to function in the meetings of the church—1 Cor. 14:4b, 26.
         9. We need to be identified with the smitten Christ—Exo. 17:6; John 7:38; S. S. 2:8-9, 14; Phil. 3:10; Heb. 12:2.
         10. We need to give the Lord the preeminence in our being—Rev. 22:1; Col. 1:18b.
         11. We need to do everything in the inner flow of the divine life, the fellowship of the divine life, according to the divine nature—1 John 1:3; Rev. 22:1; Ezek. 47:1; 2 Pet. 1:4.
3. We need to work with the Lord in the divine stream, the stream of the work of God, the fellowship, the flow, of the divine life for us to build the New Jerusalem—Rev. 22:1-2; John 7:37-39:
   1. To have fellowship with the Triune God in the apostles’ fellowship is to put aside our private interests and to join with the apostles and the Triune God for the carrying out of God’s purpose—1 John 1:3.
   2. The flowing of the divine life, which started on the day of Pentecost and has been flowing throughout all the generations to this day, is just one stream—cf. Acts 15:39-41.
   3. Wherever the stream of the divine life is, precious materials will be produced for God’s building—Gen. 2:10-12.