In John 6 the Lord Jesus told people that He was the bread of life for people to eat (vv. 48, 57). Many of the Jews could not understand this. They said that this word was hard (6:60). Then the Lord Jesus went on to tell the disciples, "It is the Spirit who gives life" (John 6:63). It is not the flesh that gives life, but the Spirit that gives life. This is like saying it is not the big cow that gives us the cow life, but the milk of the cow that does. For a little child to eat a big cow is impossible. For a little baby to enjoy a big cow he needs to drink the milk of the cow. The cow flows milk, and this milk nourishes the baby. The flesh profits nothing; it is the Spirit that gives life. Jesus is the embodiment of God, and the Spirit is the flow of God. Along with the tree is the river, and along with Jesus is the Spirit.

In John 7 the Lord Jesus said that those who were thirsty should come to Him and drink. If we drink of Him, rivers of living water will flow out from within us. Verse 39 tells us that He said this "concerning the Spirit." The Spirit will flow out of Jesus for His believers to drink of. When we drink of this Spirit, we enjoy the river, and rivers of living water will flow out of our innermost being. In Exodus is the cleft rock out of which came the living water (17:6). Then Psalm 46:4 tells us that there is a river that makes glad the city of God. The city of God in the Psalms signifies the church. There is a river that makes the church glad. What makes us happy in the church is the river. The river is Jesus flowing just like the milk is the cow flowing. We all are like the newborn babes drinking of the river of milk (1 Pet. 2:2). This river makes us all glad. Praise the Lord that there is a river that makes the city of God happy. Psalm 65:9a indicates that this river is the river of God. The river in Genesis 2 is the river of God.

In a positive sense, God is like a great cow. He is the source of life, and the heavenly milk comes out of this great cow to become a river of milk. This is the river of the cow. In the same way, the river of our God is full of the water of life to satisfy us, quench our thirst, and make us glad. When we drink of this river sometimes we get beside ourselves with enjoyment. Psalm 36:8 says that we drink of the river of God's pleasures. In Ezekiel 47 waters issued out of the temple of God (v. 1), which eventually became a deep river (v. 5). Wherever the river came, everything lived (v. 9). The flow of this river made everything living. When this river comes to a certain country, it makes that country living; it makes city after city in that country living. Praise the Lord for this river that brings life wherever it goes!

In the Gospel of John the Lord Jesus told the Samaritan woman that "whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall by no means thirst forever; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a spring of water welling up into eternal life" (4:14). Then the Lord Jesus told us that whoever drinks of Him will have rivers of living water flowing out of his innermost being (7:38). "Rivers of living water" are the many flows of the different aspects of life (cf. Rom. 15:30; 1 Thes. 1:6; 2 Thes. 2:13; Gal. 5:22-23) of the one unique "river of water of life" (Rev. 22:1), which is God's "Spirit of life" (Rom. 8:2).

At the end of the New Testament it is revealed that in the New Jerusalem there is a river of water of life (Rev. 22:1). That river is the consummation of all the rivers in the Bible. The river began in Genesis 2 and consummates in Revelation 22. This river is the river of God that flows the divine life. This river is the Spirit. The fountain of life is God the Father, the spring is the Son who is the embodiment of life, the embodiment of the fountain, and the Spirit is the flow of life as the river that reaches us. This is God dispensing Himself into us. When we drink of the divine river, we receive the flow, the spring, and the fountain, the Triune God. In this way the Triune God dispenses Himself as life into our being.

We are drinking of the river that flows out of the spring, and this spring is the very embodiment of the fountain. God the Father is embodied in the Son, the Son is flowing by the Spirit, and the Spirit reaches us as the living water for our enjoyment. This is God dispensing Himself into our being to make us the same as He is. The divine Father has many divine children in one divine family. This is the church life, which is the issue of the Triune God's dispensing of Himself as life into our being in His divine economy. Praise the Lord for such a divine economy! Praise the Lord for the tree of life! And praise the Lord for the river flowing!