This life is water, this life is fire, and this life is also the Holy Spirit. God is Spirit, and when He is touched by man, He is life. John 7 tells us that the river of living water is the Holy Spirit (vv. 38-39). On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was poured out. The Bible speaks of the Holy Spirit being “poured out” upon all flesh (Acts 2:17). This indicates that the Holy Spirit is like pouring rain. However, on the day that the Holy Spirit was poured out in the house where the disciples were gathered, what the disciples saw was not water but fire. “And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which were distributed; and it sat on each one of them; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit” (vv. 3-4). The fire is the living water.
Revelation 4:5 mentions that there are seven lamps of fire before the throne and that the seven lamps are the seven Spirits of God. Seven denotes that the function is complete. We all know that the Spirit of God is not seven but one. The fire in the seven lamps of fire is also not seven but one. The seven lamps of fire come out from the throne. Chapter four verse 5 clearly says that the seven lamps of fire are the seven Spirits of God. The fire is the Spirit, and this fire is the seven Spirits. Both chapters four and five say that this fire is the Spirit of God. Then chapter twenty-two again speaks of the throne and the river of water of life, bright as crystal, which proceeds out of the throne. Are there two rivers coming out of the throne, or is there only one river? According to the consistent line of the Scriptures, there should not be two rivers but one. This river is sometimes fire and sometimes water. The water and the fire are one. They are the Spirit of God.
Chapters four and five mention the One who is sitting on the throne, the Lamb, and the seven eyes. The seven eyes are the seven Spirits of God. Then at the beginning of chapters twenty-one and twenty-two, God and the Lamb are mentioned but not the Spirit. Where is the Spirit? The Spirit is the river that proceeds out of the throne of God. Hence, what flows into us is the Spirit. When the Spirit enters into us, He is life. God has flowed out. When He flows to man, He is the Spirit, and when He flows into man and is received and touched by man, He is life.
When this river, which is the Spirit of God or the life of God, flows out, it is sometimes water and sometimes fire. When is it water, and when is it fire? In the first two chapters of Genesis, before Satan came into the scene, this river was a river of water. Then at the end of Revelation, in chapters twenty-one and twenty-two, after Satan is terminated, this river is also a river of water. Then when does this flow become fire? Apparently, wherever Satan is, this flow of life is fire, and wherever Satan is not, this flow of life is water. Where Satan is, this life is fire, and where Satan is not, this life is water.
Before Genesis 3 this flow was water, and in Revelation 21 and 22, this flow is also water. From Genesis 3 to Revelation 20 this flow is both fire and water. Fire was mentioned in Genesis 3 for the first time. After Revelation 21:8 there is no further mention of fire because Satan, death, and Hades have already been cast into the lake of fire.
Water refers to God’s life watering us and transforming us inwardly, and fire refers to God’s life burning, purging, and eliminating everything of Satan in us. These are the two aspects of the function of God’s life in us. On the one hand, the water of life enters into us and flows God’s nature and content into us. This water supplies us and waters us, flowing God’s riches and content into us. The gold, pearl, and precious stones in Genesis 2 are the issue of the flow of life. Wherever the water flows, there is gold, pearl, and precious stones. These are the contents of God’s life.
It is through the flow of the water of life that the content, color, radiance, appearance, and nature of God’s life can enter into man. When this life flows into us, it flows God’s content into us to supply us. The more God’s life passes through us and the stronger the flow, the more gold, pearl, and precious stones there are, and the more God’s nature, color, radiance, and appearance increase in us. This is the watering, supplying, and transforming aspect of the flowing of life in us.
On the other hand, when this flow of life enters into us, it has another function—the function of fire. Hence, this flow is also fire. What is the function of fire? Fire burns, consumes, and eliminates things. Why is there a need for burning? It is because Satan has come in. Due to man’s fall, Satan brought in the world, sin, the flesh, and many things that belong to him and that oppose God. Consequently, man has become impure and complicated. He is full of Satan, the world, sin, and the flesh. On the one hand, God’s life flows His nature, appearance, radiance, and color into us to supply us and transform us from men of clay to men of gold. On the other hand, because the world, sin, the flesh, and everything of Satan have entered into us, when the life flows into us, it is like fire burning in us.
Why does Luke 12 say that when the Lord’s fire is kindled in us, we will experience emotional conflict with our relatives? This happens because in many cases, they love the world, but we do not, and they love the pleasures of sin, but we do not. As a result, our relatives may rise up to oppose us, creating a conflict with us. The fire burns away the world, sin, and the flesh in us, which are of Satan, and eventually, there is dissension, disharmony, and discord between us and our relatives. Our relatives will have a negative feeling toward us because we do not love the world or enjoy the pleasures of sin with them. In this way we will lose the peace with them.
On the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit was poured out like a hard rain, but the disciples described it as fire. When Peter and the eleven apostles spoke to the men of Judea and those who were dwelling in Jerusalem, those who listened were pricked in their heart and confessed their sins. Thus, the Holy Spirit comes for the burning of man’s sins.