Exodus refers to the flowing of the living water, and John’s writings also speak of the flowing of the living water, but there is a difference. There is something more in John’s writings than in Exodus. In Exodus we cannot see the seven burning lamps of fire, but in the record in Revelation there are seven lamps of fire burning before the throne. Actually, they are a great fire burning to execute God’s judgment and carry out God’s work. This is the burning of the seven lamps of fire before the throne, which are the seven Spirits. However, at the end of Revelation, these seven lamps of fire become a river of water of life. At the beginning of Revelation are the seven burning lamps of fire, but at the end of Revelation the lamps of fire are no more; instead, there is a flowing river of water.
When we first came into the church, we sensed that there was light here, and we sensed the shining of the light. However, after being in the church for a period of time, we sense that the shining light becomes a burning fire. If we continue to remain in the church and allow this light to shine on us and this fire to burn us, after such constant shining and burning, the fire turns into the water of life flowing in us. It is possible that within one morning watch we may experience all three aspects. When we first begin our morning watch, we may sense that the light is very bright, as a bright lamp shining. Then after ten minutes, we may have a strong feeling that the bright lamp has become a great fire. First there is the shining, and then there is burning. During the remainder of the morning watch, we may be burned continually, perhaps for forty minutes. All our sins are searched out and burned completely. After the burning, we may sense that the smoke, the flames, and the glow of the fire are gone. All that is left is the shining light of the lamp, and immediately we have the feeling that the flame has become the water of life flowing within us. Then during the last ten minutes of that morning watch, the water of life flows, and we are drinking of it.
I believe we all have had this kind of experience. Sometimes within half an hour we can have all three experiences: first the shining, then the burning, and eventually the flowing of the living water of life. The shining exposes our true condition. When we were without the shining, we felt that we were not bad and that no one was as perfect as we were, but after we came into the church and entered into the light, right away our true condition was completely exposed. During times of shining, we discover that we are not all right, we feel that we are not as good as others, and we feel that we are too pitiful. After five minutes of this kind of shining by the light, the shining becomes a burning. Hence, we abhor ourselves; sometimes we beat our breast and hate ourselves, thinking that we are the most wicked persons on earth. Five minutes before, we were the best persons on earth; now we are the worst ones. We confess and weep, and the fire continues to burn for twenty more minutes until there is nothing more to burn. At this time the burning fire becomes the flowing water. The living water flows within us; first it washes us, then it waters us, quenches our thirst, and supplies life to us. After passing through this experience for half an hour, we neither say that we are the best or that we are the worst. Whether we are good or bad no longer matters; we are in another realm where there is the flow of living water. Even one who has not been saved very long has had this experience in the church. Perhaps some are not very clear and cannot put their experience into words, but in this message I am telling them their own story. This is not according to my imagination, because I have the same story that they do. I have been saved for fifty-two years. For many years I have been enlightened and burned, and I have enjoyed the flowing of life. This is not something we experience once for all. Rather, it is something from which we never graduate.
We cannot graduate from breathing, drinking, or eating. Once we graduate from these things, we are finished. Likewise, we cannot graduate from spiritual experiences. We may illustrate our experience in this way: In the morning, a young brother may have the shining, burning, and flowing for half an hour, and he feels wonderful and shouts, “Hallelujah!” However, this “hallelujah” lasts at most until noon. At lunch time, for some unexplainable reason, he becomes offended with someone at the table. Due to this, the water no longer flows within him, and there is no more shining or burning; everything is dark again. While others are shouting hallelujah, he cannot say anything. Even if he tries to say amen, it comes out unnaturally, and he feels sick. However, after another two days, he attends morning watch again—thank the Lord for the blessed morning watch, a place of blessing. In the first two minutes of the morning watch, while others are saying, “Hallelujah, Amen,” he feels awkward, but morning watch is a place to be enlightened. Soon the light comes, and he begins to blame himself again. He feels that he should not have blamed this one or that one. It is not that the cook did not cook properly or that the one at lunch was wrong. Rather, he was offended because he was wrong, peculiar, unwilling to get into the flow, and reluctant to submit to others. He even feels that he is detestable. He beats his breast and abhors himself. After five minutes he is burning again, and after a few more minutes, everything is burned away. Now there is a real hallelujah within him. After this burning, everything within him is clear, refreshing, and wonderful. His thirst is quenched, and he is satisfied and watered.
This experience may last from morning to evening. In the evening, however, when the young brother comes into the meeting, an usher who is unaware that he is a newborn babe compels him to sit in the balcony away from the center. This causes the brother to suffer a “relapse” of his “ailment.” He begins to murmur, “What kind of an usher is this? What kind of arrangement is this? Why do I have to be forced to sit in a certain place? I will complain to the elders!” Because of this, he cannot receive anything in the meeting, and after he goes home, he is so angry that he cannot sleep the whole night. He is even angry the next day, but thank the Lord, a person who is saved by grace eventually enjoys grace. After another period of being disturbed, he goes to morning watch again, even though he is still unhappy. While sitting there, he does not open his heart or his mouth, but after five minutes, he is enlightened, and says to himself, “Oh, I am so wicked! Why couldn’t I be regulated by the usher? If everyone here were like me, there would be no way to have a meeting.” After this enlightening, he is burned again. This time the burning is so fierce that he bursts out crying, “O Lord, no one is as wicked as I am. I do not deserve to be here!” Finally, after weeping, he begins to rejoice. He has the living water; he is watered, his thirst is quenched, and he has peace. This time his experience may last for over three days. In those three days he shouts hallelujahs as if he has soared into heaven. He is so happy that he testifies wherever he goes, “The church life is really wonderful. You all have to come to the church!” After a few days, however, his wife observes that he is not doing anything except rejoicing, and she begins to rebuke him. At first he does not mind, but after more nagging, the “thorn bush” in him is ignited again, he becomes angry, and he says to his wife, “What is the matter with you? Are you not happy that I have been blessed so much? What are you complaining about?” Thus, he suffers another relapse.
Even if you allowed me, I could not finish this story; it goes on and on. Some may ask where I learned all these things. Actually, I am not talking about someone else; I am talking about myself. Again and again I have had this kind of experience. The best part, however, is that the enlightening, burning, and flowing lasts only a few hours the first time, but the second time it increases to half a day, and the third time it lasts over three days. Soon it will last for two weeks and then two months. It will last longer and longer until there is no time left for a “relapse.” I am a frequent traveler, and I need to get an immunization against smallpox every time I travel. The earliest shot I had for smallpox was when I was a child, but when I was going to travel at the age of thirty or forty, I needed to be inoculated again. Since it had been thirty years since my first inoculation, I broke out with a great red swelling on my arm. After another period of time, when I received another shot, the size of the swelling was smaller. When I was inoculated recently before coming to Taipei, there was no swelling at all. After more than seventy years, there is no more outbreak. It is exactly the same in spiritual things. Today if you bother me, it is not so easy for me to lose my temper. In the past, every time after I lost my temper there was the shining of light; after the shining, there was the burning; and after the burning, there was the washing and watering. After many repeated experiences over the years, today there is no more “outbreak.” This is the situation of some of the brothers and sisters among us who have been experiencing the Lord for many years. They can be “inoculated” without any swelling. When their spouse rebukes them, their temper is not stirred up. They still say hallelujah regardless of how others treat them.