The water of life is the Triune God flowing out to be our life. To say that the water of life is the Triune God may shock those who are systematic and dogmatic in their theology. They may regard such a statement as heretical. The fact that the water of life flows out of the throne of God and of the Lamb indicates that God the Father is the source, that God the Son is the course, and that God the Spirit is the flow. Second Corinthians 13:14 confirms this. In this verse Paul says, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” Here we have the love of the Father, the grace of the Son, and the fellowship, or the flow, of the Spirit. This is the Triune God as the living water. Today the very water of life we are drinking is the Triune God flowing out to be our life.
When they read such statements, some may argue that the water of life is not God Himself flowing, but the flowing of God’s life. What, then, is the life of God? We have no way to answer this question fully or to explain adequately what the life of God is. However, from our experience we know that the living water is the very Triune God Himself.
Do not try to understand the Trinity in a doctrinal way. Instead, seek to know the Triune God in an experiential way. Day by day we may experience the flowing of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. I can testify that daily I have a good enjoyment of the flowing Triune God. Apart from this flowing, I would not be able to bear all the hardships and difficulties that I face time after time. Praise the Lord for the experience of the flowing of the Triune God as our water of life!
In order to flow into us, God has been embodied in Christ to reach humanity (John 1:14). This means that God was incarnated to live among men. The Lord Jesus lived on earth for thirty-three and a half years. When the man Jesus lived on earth, God lived in Him. This is a fact of history.
When I was a child, I felt sorry that the Lord Jesus was put on the cross. My understanding of Christ’s crucifixion was according to my natural concept. Without crucifixion, there would not have been any way for the God embodied in Christ to be released. Through the incarnation God became confined and limited in the Lord Jesus. But by crucifixion He was released from this confinement and limitation. The Lord Jesus was once a single grain of wheat. If He had not fallen into the earth and died, He would have remained alone (John 12:24), and what was within Him would not have been released. But because He fell into the earth and died, He was released. The one grain has brought forth many grains. The divine life, the divine nature, and all the divine riches have been released by the crucifixion of Christ.
After passing through incarnation and crucifixion, Christ was resurrected to become the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45). Again and again I am burdened to point out that Christ today is the life-giving Spirit.
From beginning to end, the Bible is a revelation of the Triune God. In Genesis 1:26 God refers to Himself as “us.” This is a reference to the triune nature of the Godhead. Although the Bible speaks of many things, the focal point is that the Triune God has been processed through incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection to become the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit. I never grow weary of declaring this marvelous fact. The flowing of the Triune God is inexhaustible. If we read the Bible from a divine viewpoint, we shall see that the central point of its revelation concerns the Triune God and the process through which He has passed to become the life-giving Spirit.