In eternity future the believers will enjoy God who is the light of life in the lamp shining through the holy city. Revelation 21:23 says, “The city has no need of the sun or of the moon that they should shine in it, for the glory of God illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb.” In the millennium the light of the sun and the moon will be intensified (Isa. 30:26). But in the New Jerusalem, in the new heaven and the new earth, there will be no need of the light of a lamp and of the light of the sun, for the Lord God, the divine light, will shine much more brightly there (Rev. 22:5). The Lamb as the lamp will shine with God as the light to illumine the city with the glory of God, the expression of the divine light. Since such a divine light will illumine the holy city, it will have no need of any other light, whether created by God or made by man.
In Revelation 21:23 God is the light and Christ is the lamp. The light is in the lamp, and the Lamb as the lamp shines with God as the light. This indicates that God and the Lamb are actually one, just as the light and the lamp are one. God is the content, and the Lamb, Christ, is the light-bearer, the expression. The glory of God, with God as the substance, essence, and element, will be the light of the New Jerusalem shining in the Lamb as the lamp. This means that God as the light will shine in Christ as the lamp throughout the city. This also indicates that the throne of God and of the Lamb spoken of in 22:1 refers to the fact that God is in the Lamb sitting on the throne. The light of life in the lamp is a matter of the divine dispensing, for shining is a dispensing. The shining of the divine light is actually the dispensing of the processed Triune God into the believers. For eternity we will enjoy the redeeming God—God in the Lamb shining as the light of life—in the dispensing of the Divine Trinity.
In eternity future the believers will enjoy the redeeming God as the spring of the water of life in the dispensing of the Divine Trinity (21:6). In the New Jerusalem we will have both the light of life and the spring of the water of life. The water flows out of this spring to saturate the believers, and this saturation, which involves God’s dispensing, is our eternal portion.
In eternity future in the New Jerusalem the believers will enjoy not only the spring of the water of life but also the river of water of life, a river bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb (22:1). The spring is the source, and the river is the flow; both the source and the flow are of the water of life. Here we see the flowing Triune God—the Father as the source, the Son as the course, and the Spirit as the flow. This is a picture of the Triune God dispensing Himself into His believers. He is flowing Himself out of Himself into His redeemed ones to be their life and life supply. The flowing of the Triune God is typified by the water that came out of the smitten rock in Exodus 17:6 (see also Num. 20:11) and is symbolized by the water that flowed out of the pierced side of the Lord Jesus (John 19:34). In the New Jerusalem 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, the New Jerusalem is filled with the divine life to express God in His glory of life. This dispensing comes out of God’s administrating throne.
The river of water of life flows in the middle of the street of pure gold (Rev. 21:21; 22:1) in the New Jerusalem, signifying that the divine life flows in the divine nature as the unique way for the daily life of God’s redeemed people. This is the holy way by which God’s redeemed people walk. The divine life and the divine nature as the holy way always go together. Where the divine life flows, there is the divine nature as the holy way; and where the holy way of the divine nature is, there the divine life is flowing. Thus, the river of water of life is available along this divine way, and we enjoy it by walking in the divine way.
In eternity future the believers will enjoy Christ as the tree of life for their life supply in the New Jerusalem. Verse 2 says, “On this side and on that side of the river was the tree of life, producing twelve fruits, yielding its fruit each month.” The tree of life grows on the two sides of the river of water of life and produces twelve fruits, yielding its fruit each month. Hence, the tree of life is a vine that grows in the river of water of life and spreads and proceeds along the flow of the water of life to every part of the holy city for God’s redeemed people to receive and enjoy. In this way every part of the holy city receives the life supply. Since the tree of life grows in the river of water of life, the supply of life is in the flow of life. This is a picture of God’s dispensing. Christ as the tree of life is the life supply available in the flow of the Spirit as the water of life. Where the Spirit flows, there the life supply of Christ is found. The entire city of the New Jerusalem, which will be constituted of all the redeemed people of God, will be watered by the river of water of life and nourished by the tree of life. This is the dispensing of the Triune God in full for eternity.
In the ultimate consummation of the dispensing of the Divine Trinity, we will enjoy the light of life, the spring of the water of life, the river of water of life, and the tree of life. These four things are for the divine dispensing. The light of life shines. The spring of the water of life and the river of water of life are for the flow of the divine life. The tree of life is for nourishing God’s redeemed. The shining, the flowing, and the nourishing are three aspects of the divine dispensing. This is the triune dispensing of the Divine Trinity to be our supply. In eternity we will enjoy this supply and thereby have the fullest enjoyment of the divine life.