CRYSTALLIZATION-STUDY
OF THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

MESSAGE TWELVE

THE KINGDOM OF GOD
AND
THE BLOOD AND WATER

OUTLINE

1. The kingdom of God—John 3:3, 5:
1. The kingdom of God is the reign of God.
2. This divine reign is a realm, not only of the divine dominion but also of the divine species, in which are all the divine things.
3. God became flesh to enter into the human species, and man becomes God in His life and nature, but not in His divine Godhead, to enter into His divine species. Here in John 3 the kingdom of God refers more to the species of God than to the reign of God.
4. To enter into this divine realm, the realm of the divine species, we need to be born of God to have the divine nature and life.
5. That man was created in the image of God and after His likeness indicates that man was created in God's kind, in God's species.
6. The believers, who are born of God by regeneration to be His children in His life and nature but not in His Godhead (John 1:12-13), are more in God's kind than Adam was. It is logical to say that all the children of God are in the divine realm of the divine species.
7. Thus, in regeneration God begets gods; if they are not gods, what are they? We all who are born of God are gods. But for utterance, due to the theological misunderstanding, it is better to say that we are God-men in the divine species, that is, in the kingdom of God.
8. These God-men, who are children born of God, not only constitute the house of God (1 Tim. 3:15; 1 Pet. 4:17; John 14:2) but also are the constituents with which the Body of Christ is built up, and the Body of Christ will consummate the New Jerusalem as the eternal kingdom of God and of Christ (1 Cor. 6:9; Eph. 5:5; 2 Pet. 1:11; Rev. 11:15).
2. The blood and water:
1. We sinners became fallen and were then against God's righteousness and estranged from God's life—Gen. 3:24; Eph. 4:18.
2. As sinners, we need to be redeemed judicially from God's condemnation according to the righteous requirement of His law (Gal. 3:13) and to be saved organically by His life from the death brought in by sin—2 Tim. 1:10; Rom. 5:10, 12, 17, 21.
3. God's full salvation for us is judicial according to His righteousness and organic through His life.
4. Christ, as the Redeemer and Savior of fallen man, redeems and saves us through His death and resurrection.
5. In His crucifixion, after He was pierced by a soldier, blood and water, two elements which are critical to human life, came out of Him—John 19:34:
1. Blood is for God's judicial redemption:
1. Redeeming the believers—Eph. 1:7; 1 Pet. 1:18-19.
2. Forgiving the believers' sins—Heb. 9:22.
3. Washing away the believers' sins—Heb. 1:3.
4. For God to justify the believers—Rom. 3:24; 5:9.
5. Sanctifying the believers positionally—Heb. 13:12; 10:29.
6. Speaking something better for the New Testament believers before God—Heb. 12:24.
7. Overcoming Satan, the accuser of the believers—Rev. 12:11.
8. Thus, it is the precious blood of Christ—1 Pet. 1:19.
9. It is also considered God's own blood, which is very dear to God and with which God has purchased and obtained the church as His flock—Acts 20:28.
2. Water, signifying the divine life (see Message Three), is for God's organic salvation:
1. The Lord promises to give the sinners the water of life—John 4:10, 14; Rev. 21:6.
2. The Lord calls the sinners to come and drink His water of life—Rev. 22:17; John 7:37-38:
1. 1) The believers were regenerated by God with His divine life—1 Pet. 1:3.
2. 2) This divine life saves the believers—Rom. 5:10b.
3. 3) It dispositionally sanctifies (Rom. 6:19, 22), renews (Rom. 12:2b; Titus 3:5), transforms (Rom. 12:2; 2 Cor. 3:18), conforms (Rom. 8:29), and glorifies (Rom. 8:30) the believers.
4. 4) The believers reign in it—Rom. 5:17.
5. 5) The believers grow with it for the building up of the Body of Christ—Eph. 4:15-16.
6. 6) Consummating the New Jerusalem, which is wholly supplied with the river of water of life and with the tree of life—Rev. 21:2; 22:1-2.