Fifth, wherever the river flows and waters, it produces pure gold, bdellium, and precious stone. This is also a picture. Because we all have a certain amount of spiritual experience, it should not be difficult for us to understand what is implied in this picture. When we receive the Lord as the bread of life and as the living water, His life enters into us to flow and to water us, with the result that we have pure gold within. Most readers of the Bible agree that in typology pure gold denotes the nature of God. God’s life, God’s nature, and God’s substance are the pure gold in the universe. When the Lord comes into us, He comes into us as our life to satisfy our hunger, to quench our thirst, and to flow in us, but at the same time He also brings the nature and substance of God into us. Thus, we gain the treasure of the universe.
Therefore, we truly must praise the Lord. Although we are made of clay and are earthen vessels, today we have pure gold within us. We should all jump up and shout, “We have pure gold within us! We have pure gold within us!” Pure gold is our inner substance and our inner nature. We should never consider ourselves too lowly.
Sometimes we may meet a very uncultured brother who may not have much education, may speak in an unclear way, and may do things awkwardly. However, when we fellowship with him and pray with him, we discover that there is gold within him and that, as Paul said, there is a treasure in the earthen vessel. Who is this treasure? This treasure is the God who is gold. We have nothing to boast about in ourselves as earthen vessels, but we should always praise God for the gold within.
This is where our worth is. A Christian’s worth is that he has Christ within him, that he has God within him. This God who is in Christ is our treasure. He is our pure gold. Outwardly, we Christians are no different from the people on the street. They are earthen vessels, and we also are earthen vessels. However, inwardly, there is a great difference between them and us. We have gold within us, but they do not. They are altogether earthen, without and within. We, however, are earthen on the outside, but we are not earthen on the inside. Outwardly we are earthen vessels, but within there is gold.
I will never forget the day in 1939 when I was in Tientsin and saw this vision. I hit the table and shouted, “Hallelujah, God is in me!” Then I ran downstairs and went out to the street. I almost wanted to shout to the people on the street, saying, “Do not touch me! If you touch me, you touch God! I am truly great! I have God in me!” That day I was like a crazy person because I had seen the vision that I had God within me and that this God was the pure gold within me.
The flowing of God’s life in man issues not only in gold but also in bdellium. In the Old Testament, bdellium is mentioned only twice. The first mention is in the second chapter of Genesis, and the other mention is in Numbers 11:7. Some Jewish rabbis and authorities of the Hebrew language suggest that the word for bdellium in Hebrew denotes a kind of coagulation of the sap that flows out of a resinous tree, its brightness and solidity resembling that of a pearl. Others say that this word denotes a pearl. Whether the word bdellium denotes resin or pearl, the principle is the same. A pearl is produced when an oyster in the sea is wounded by a grain of sand. The oyster then secretes a kind of life juice to cover the grain of sand, and after a long time, this grain of sand becomes a pearl. Resin is produced when a tree is wounded and exudes something from within that solidifies. Therefore, these two materials both typify the Lord. This wounded One can be said to be of the plant kingdom or of the animal kingdom, because some places in the Scriptures use plants to typify the Lord, while other places use animals to typify the Lord. Our Lord was wounded, His body was pierced, and the life fluid flowed out from Him and flowed to us. Now, we humans as grains of sand are being transformed into bright pearls of worth. Once we receive the Lord into us as our life, we are regenerated and have the transforming life. Once we receive God as our gold, His life and our life mingle together, causing us to be transformed into pearl. This is the beginning. Therefore, in the New Jerusalem the pearl is an entrance, a gate, as a beginning.
After the pearl, there is the precious stone. The onyx stone in Genesis 2 is a kind of mineral, like diamonds, precious gems, and jade. These stones were not originally created as precious stones. Rather, they were things that were originally created but that passed through high pressure and intense heat and were transformed into precious materials. Therefore, this indicates that from the moment we receive God’s life, gain the gold, and receive the transformation of the pearl through regeneration, the Holy Spirit starts to do the work of pressing and burning upon us, within us, and in our circumstances, thereby transforming us so that we show forth the glory of God.
Due to the moving of the Holy Spirit in us and His discipline through the environment, that is, the coordination of the inward and outward working to press us and burn us, there is hardly any true, God-loving child of God who does not have problems. A Christian often has many difficulties. Sometimes they are like an intense fire burning him, and sometimes they are like heavy weights pressing down on him. Although he may pray much about them, it often seems as if God does not hear him. The reason can only be that God wants to put this earthen vessel in the furnace to purify it. Without passing through this process of burning and pressing, this one who is like wood, clay, and sand could not be transformed into precious stone. The precious stone is produced little by little, and it increases little by little. In the New Jerusalem the wall is built with precious stones. When the wall is built up, then the city is completed. Similarly, when every one of us, in God’s hand and in the Holy Spirit, has been transformed under high pressure and intense heat into precious stones, then we must believe that the building of God is about to be completed. Formerly we were earthen Adams, vessels of clay. However, when we receive God in Christ into us as our life and as we allow this life to flow in us and allow the Holy Spirit to do the burning, pressing, and transforming work on us, we as earthen vessels will not only have gold, but we will also be transformed into pearls and precious stones. In this way we will become precious materials.