We have seen that the Triune God has been processed to flow as the fountain, the spring, and the river. Every process through which the Triune God passed was a "tunnel." The first process our Triune God went through was of nine months in a virgin's womb. Matthew 1:20 says that what was born in Mary was of the Holy Spirit. The divine God, the Divine Trinity, was born into a human virgin's womb and remained there for nine months. The second process was His human living, a long tunnel of thirty-three and a half years. The third process, His death by crucifixion, lasted six hours, from nine o'clock in the morning to three o'clock in the afternoon. For the first three hours He was persecuted by human rebels, and for the last three hours He was judged by God.
The next process was the resurrection, which was not as quick as most people think. By reading 1 Peter 3:18 with Romans 1:4, we can see that the resurrection was a designating process. Christ was originally the only begotten Son of God becoming a man. How could the only begotten Son of God be God's Firstborn? There was the need of a process. The only begotten Son of God was processed to be the firstborn Son of God. In this process He regenerated all the chosen people of God. First Peter 1:3 says that by His mercy, we believers in Christ all were regenerated through His resurrection. First Peter 3:18 says that when Christ died on the cross, on the one hand, He was crucified in His flesh, but on the other hand, He was made alive in the Spirit. God was acting to transfigure the man Jesus into the divine sonship. Acts 13:33 reveals that on the day of resurrection God the Father said, "You are My Son; today I have begotten You." This begetting was not a quick delivery. It was through the process of resurrection.
Many today do not see that God has been processed, because they are covered by their traditional veil. This is why Paul said we have to look unto Christ with an unveiled face (2 Cor. 3:18). The entire New Testament unveils to us that God went through the process of incarnation, the process of human living, the process of an all-inclusive death, and the process of a life-dispensing resurrection. What a mercy that the Lord has shown us all these wonderful truths! These are not the initial truths, but the consummated truths. The processed Triune God is a flowing God. His Trinity is for flowing. The Father as love is the fountain, the Son as grace is the spring, and the Spirit as the fellowship is the flowing river (2 Cor. 13:14). The Triune God is flowing as love, grace, and fellowship into us, His elect. God's elect are the destination of His flowing.
The composition of the Gospel of John and the constitution of the spiritual things recorded in this Gospel are based upon not only the Triune God but also the processed Triune God. There is a big difference between the Triune God and the processed Triune God. For God to enter into a human womb and remain there for nine months to be born as a man was not a small thing. He passed through human living for thirty-three and a half years and suffered the death of the cross. Then in resurrection the man Jesus Christ was designated into the divine sonship, became the life-giving Spirit, and regenerated His millions of believers. According to God's view, we were regenerated about two thousand years ago in the resurrection of Christ. In other words, we were regenerated before we were born. We believers were all born of God in one great delivery, which brought forth millions of regenerated people. The processes of the Triune God were a long procedure, even for the Almighty God.