We should be those living with the Father as the source of life (John 1:13; Eph. 4:18; John 5:26) on the throne. The first striking point of the New Jerusalem is that God is sitting on the throne. This God is the Lamb-God, the redeeming God, God the Redeemer. Genesis 1:1 does not tell us that in the beginning God and the Lamb created the heavens and the earth. The first verse of the book of Genesis tells us that God only created. In Revelation 22:1, however, we see God and the Lamb which signifies that God is now the redeeming God, no longer merely the creating God. In Genesis 1:1 He was the creating God, but in Revelation 22:1 we see the redeeming God.
Revelation 22:1 tells us that the throne is the throne of God and the Lamb. Here it indicates that two are sitting on one throne. How can two sit on one throne? Actually, God and the Lamb are not two, but they are coinhering. The Father is in the Son and the Son is in the Father (John 14:10-11). For eternity they are the redeeming God. The “green,” jasper God is within the “red,” sardius Lamb (Rev. 4:3). This redeeming God is the source of life. We all need to look at this marvelous picture. Here is a golden mountain twelve thousand stadia or approximately thirteen hundred and sixty-four miles high. On the top of this high mountain is a throne and One is sitting on this throne who is both God and man, the redeeming God. He is the source from which flows the river of water of life.
In 1977 a few of us brothers went to see the Holy Land. One day we drove to the north, to Caesarea Philippi. At the foot of Mt. Hermon, there is a fountain which is one of the three sources of the Jordan River. There is a big spring that comes out of this fountain and the Jordan River flows out from this spring. The flow of the Jordan River comes from the spring, and the spring comes from the fountain. This is a picture of the Triune God flowing Himself into His redeemed people. The redeeming God is sitting on the throne with His sovereign authority as the very source of life. God the Father is the source, God the Son is the redeeming element, and the throne of God is the element of the divine authority. From this source flows the Spirit as the living water throughout the entire city. Today we should have a living with the Father as the source of life on the throne. We must take the Godhead as our very source and as our very authority. We have already seen that we cannot “throw the throne away” and still enjoy the flow of life. We must take the throne and be under the throne in order to have the enjoyment of the flowing life. Today we must see that we need to take God as our source with His redeeming element and with the element of His divine authority. When we do this, we have the flow of life.
We must have a living with the Father as the source of life. What is the source of our daily living, of our marriage life, of our home life, and of our church life? We should be able to tell ourselves, “Amen, Lord. The source of my family life, marriage life, business life, and church life is God the Father with His redeeming element and with the element of His divine authority.” We also live with the Father as love (1 John 4:8, 16), the nature of God’s essence, and as light (1 John 1:5), the nature of God’s expression. In the very divine life which flows from the divine source is love and light.
The only way that we could have such a living, taking God as the source of life, as love, the nature of His essence, and as light, the nature of His expression, is in the fellowship of His divine life (1 John 1:2-3). We must remain and keep ourselves in the fellowship of the divine life. In order to do this, we must have a definite, set aside time every day to stay with the Father in fellowship. This time should be at least five minutes long. The longer your time is for this fellowship, though, the better. During this time, do not care for anything and lay aside every other burden. Just have a time absolutely for you to contact the source of the divine life to remain in the divine fellowship.
In order to have such a time, you first have to practice to get everything done. Then gradually, you have to learn that you can still have this time of fellowship with many things undone. At first, if you have anything undone, your heart is always there. During your time of fellowship, your mind may wander to think about the things you have to do or bear. You have to improve yourself in this practice of remaining in the fellowship, however, until you advance into a state where you can be so free to remain with the Father for a set time with many things still undone. Even though there are many things around me that I see undone and that I feel compelled to do, I still set aside some time to enjoy the fellowship of the Father’s divine life.
You must also learn during this set aside time to keep yourself in the fellowship of the divine life. After three or four minutes of having a time with the Lord, the telephone may ring. Let it ring. You do not need to answer it. Learn to free yourself from outside disturbances to keep yourself in the fellowship of the divine life. Finally, you must learn to stop anything that you sense interrupts your fellowship. Always try your best to keep yourself in the divine fellowship. Then you will enjoy God the Father as the source of life, as love, the nature of His essence, and as light, the nature of His expression.