The throne in New Jerusalem is on top of the golden mountain. The one street in this city eventually leads to the throne. The Lord Jesus came down to earth from His throne that He might bring God into man. This is the Triune God coming out of Himself to reach mankind. When we received Him into us, we were baptized into Him. Baptism is the real entrance into the Triune God (Matt. 28:19, Gk.), and the entrance into the Triune God is the initial entrance into New Jerusalem. Immediately after we pass through the pearl gates, we find ourselves on the golden street that leads us upward to the throne of God.
The throne of God in the center of New Jerusalem is the unique source of the life supply. It is by His administration that God dispenses Himself into us as life, as the life supply, and as the eternal, absolute, all-inclusive grace. His dispensing of Himself into us depends upon His administration. For this reason, in the church life today there is divine authority and church government. There is a divine government in the church life today, and this government comes from the throne of God. The divine authority in the church is for God to dispense Himself into us as life, as the life supply, and as the all-sufficient grace. Only by submitting ourselves to God’s authority, God’s government, can we share in His all-sufficient grace.
The throne of God and of the Lamb in the center of New Jerusalem symbolizes the divine authority of God’s headship in Christ. The life supply flows out of this authority, and the enjoyment of the life supply brings us under this authority. The flow of the water of life not only affords us the life supply, but also brings to us the divine authority. In the flow of the water of life there are the life supply and the divine authority with the fellowship in life. When we participate in the life supply, we are brought under God’s authority in the fellowship of life.
I am sorry that some Christians utilize Brother Nee’s book, Spiritual Authority, to make themselves an authority over others. This kind of authority is self-assumed. Genuine authority comes from the throne of God’s administration in the center of New Jerusalem, through the enjoyment of the life supply in the fellowship of life with God.
Now we must consider how the redeeming God sitting on the throne dispenses Himself into all His redeemed. God dispenses Himself into us by means of the river proceeding out of the throne. According to verse 1, this river is called “a river of water of life.” The river, as typified by the rivers in Genesis 2:10-14, Psalm 46:4, and Ezekiel 47:5-9, signifies the abundance of life in its flow. It is one river, flowing through the four directions of the holy city like the four heads of the one river in Genesis 2:10-14. This one river with its riches becomes many rivers in our experience, as indicated in John 7:38.
The water of life is a symbol of God in Christ as the Spirit flowing Himself into His redeemed people to be their life and life supply. It is typified by the water that came out of the riven rock (Exo. 17:6; Num. 20:11) and is symbolized by the water that flowed out of the pierced side of the Lord Jesus (John 19:34). Here, this water of life becomes a river, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb to supply and saturate the entire New Jerusalem. Thus, it is filled with the divine life to express God in His glory of life.
We need to see this river in more detail. Genesis 2:10 says, “And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.” According to this verse, the one river eventually became four heads reaching the four directions of the earth. There are many other references to this river in the Old Testament. Psalm 46:4 says, “There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God.” In Ezekiel 47 the water that issues out from under the threshold of the house becomes “waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over” (v. 5). Verse 9 of the same chapter says that “every thing shall live whither the river cometh.”
This river is also mentioned in the New Testament. Speaking of the children of Israel and their wandering in the wilderness, 1 Corinthians 10:4 says, “And all drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank of a spiritual rock which followed them, and the rock was Christ.” When the children of Israel murmured because of their thirst, God told Moses to smite the rock and that water would come out of it for the people to drink (Exo. 17:1-6). Moses did so and the Lord “brought streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers” (Psa. 78:16). The water that came out of the smitten rock was a type of the life-giving Spirit. The Lord Jesus spoke of this Spirit in the Gospel of John. In John 4:10 the Lord indicated to the Samaritan woman that He was the giver of living water, and in verse 14 He said, “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.” Moreover, in John 7:37 and 38 the Lord Jesus said, “If anyone thirst, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.” Here we see that the one river becomes many rivers. The rivers of living water are the many flows of the different aspects of life of the unique river of water of life, which is God’s Spirit of life (see Rom. 15:30; 1 Thes. 1:6; 2 Thes. 2:13; Gal. 5:22-23; Rom. 8:2). Thus, if we would understand the meaning of the river of water of life mentioned in 22:1, we must trace the origin and development of this matter of the river throughout the Scriptures.