Day: July 24, 2022

In the New Jerusalem there is still the Lamb (Rev. 22:1). The Lamb is the center of the city and its temple (21:22). In the new heaven and new earth the temple of God will be enlarged into a city. Again we see the Lamb and the temple. The Lamb is the lamp, and within Him is God as the light. The Lamb as the lamp shines with God as the light to illumine the city with the glory of God, the expression of the divine light. God as light in Christ shines as life to flow out as the living water, the Spirit. On both sides of the water of life, there is the tree of life (22:2), which is the nourishment, the supply of life, to all the redeemed ones. The Father is the very source as the light (1 John 1:5; Rev. 22:5), the One who dwells in unapproachable light (1 Tim. 6:16). The Holy Spirit is signified by the flow of the living water, the water of life (John 7:38-39). Along the flow of the living water is the tree of life which signifies Christ the Son (1:4; 15:1). Thus, the Triune God is the very content of this universal building and is enjoyed by His redeemed ones in the fullest way. The book of Genesis shows us the source of the tree of life, and the book of Revelation gives us the consummation. In between these two ends is the Gospel of John. The major items mentioned in the two ends of the Bible, such as the Lamb, the temple, and the tree of life, are also mentioned in the Gospel of John (1:29; 2:19, 21; 15:1).

THE WAY TO ENJOY CHRIST

The vital point is that we need to enjoy this wonderful One as so many items. God the Father is in the Son (14:10-11), and God the Son is the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17; 1 Cor. 15:45b). We must realize that not only is God Himself Spirit (John 4:24), but all of what God is, what He has attained, and what He has accomplished has been wrought into the Spirit. After the resurrection and ascension of Christ, many things were accomplished by God; thus, God has many attainments. [120] He has accomplished creation, incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. All of what He is and has, all of what He has attained and accomplished, has been put into this one Spirit.

Now He is this wonderful and profound Spirit, who is likened to breath (20:22). In John 20 everything concerning the promise of the Holy Spirit as the Comforter was accomplished, so the Lord Jesus came to the disciples, breathed into them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (v. 22). The all-inclusive, profound Holy Spirit is like the breath. All of what God is, all of what God has accomplished, and all of what God has attained is in this Spirit, this breath. The Spirit is like the air, so applicable, available, near, and dear. Because He is the air, Romans 10:13 says, “Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Therefore, the unbelievers who are going to receive Christ do not need to ascend into heaven to bring Christ down (v. 6) or descend into the abyss to bring Christ up (v. 7). The reason is that Christ, the living Word, is near them, in their mouth and even in their heart (v. 8). If they would exercise their mouth to call, “Lord Jesus,” Christ as the all-inclusive breath would come into them.

According to the Gospel of John, this wonderful divine Spirit came into our human spirit (3:6) at the time we received Him. Thus, 1 Corinthians 6:17 says, “He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit,” and Romans 8:16 says, “The Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit.” Since God is Spirit (John 4:24) and He is now in our spirit (2 Tim. 4:22), we must worship Him in spirit and truthfulness.

Christ is in us as so many items! The first item is the Lamb, the One who redeems us. The last item is the building, the temple, which is enlarged to be a city. However, the key to our experience of Christ is that He is the Spirit in us. John 4 tells us that the fountain of water is in the one who drinks the water given by the Lord. John 7 tells us that rivers of living water will flow out of the innermost being of the person who believes in the Lord Jesus (vv. 38-39). Many rivers of living water will flow out from within our spirit, our innermost being. I once thought that the Lord would flow water into me, but the Lord springs up within us and flows out of us because He is in us already. There is little need for Him to come in, but there is much need for Him to come out, to flow out. However, why can He not flow out? You and I are the problem. Therefore, there is the need for us to open ourselves to the Lord. [121]

The divine Spirit is within us energizing, empowering, strengthening, and even disturbing us. Through Christ’s redemption, by His blood, we have been cleansed and purged to fit His purpose of indwelling us. He is now dwelling within our spirit. All that the Triune God is and all that He has attained and accomplished is within our spirit. Now we must learn to open ourselves to Him, realizing that He is everything within us. We can never exhaust what He is within us. He is the great I Am (8:24, 28, 58). Whatever we need, He is.

There is no need for a husband to ask, “Lord, help me to deal with my dear wife. I do not know how to deal with her.” Just learn to open yourself to Him, saying, “Lord, I just open myself to You. Once again, here is a chance for me to open myself to You.” Sometimes it is difficult for the Lord to get you to open from the depths of your being. Therefore, the Lord gives you the right wife to help you to open yourself to the Lord. He is the great I Am. He is the answer. He will meet your need. If you open to Him, you will know how to deal with your wife, not in the way of mere mental knowledge but according to the life within. From within, you will know how to deal with your wife in a proper way, in a divine way, in a heavenly way, in a way that will bring growth in the Lord to you.

Because the Lord is within, you must learn to open yourself to Him. Whenever you open yourself to Him, He will flow out. We have frustrated and even imprisoned the Lord within us so much. We pay attention to things other than the Lord Himself. You may pray, “Lord, correct my dear wife, change her attitude, and tell her that she is wrong.” This is the wrong way to pray. In the Lord’s sovereignty, a man’s wife can help him to open himself to the Lord. When you open yourself to the Lord, the rivers of living water, such as the river of life, the river of love, the river of wisdom, the river of humility, the river of mercy, and the river of patience, will flow from within you to water you and others. This is the issue of the enjoyment of the tree of life.

In Genesis 2 there is the tree of life with the flow of a river (vv. 9-10). When we really enjoy the Lord as the tree of life, there will be an issue. Something will flow out of us to minister something of the Lord Himself to others. This flow will quench others’ thirst, feed others, enlighten others, or strengthen others. This is the proper way for us to live on this earth as the testimony of Jesus. This [122] is what the Lord needs today. He does not need a religion with various kinds of teachings, practices, and gifts; rather, He needs this flow of life from within us. We need to realize what He is and where He is. He is such a wonderful, rich, all-inclusive Spirit, and He is in our spirit. He is waiting for us to open ourselves to Him. Do not trust in yourself, and do not endeavor to do anything by your own effort. There is only one lesson for us to learn: to open ourselves to the Lord. Then He will come out; He will spring up from within us. As a result, we will have rivers of living water flowing out of us all the time. This is the issue, the result, of the enjoyment of God as the all-inclusive tree of life.

In John 6 there is Christ as the bread of life. Included in the bread of life is the Lamb with the blood to shed and the meat for eating (v. 35; 1:29; 6:51 and footnote 51², Recovery Version). In chapter 7 the Spirit is the rivers of living water (vv. 38-39 and footnote 38², Recovery Version). In chapter 8 there is Christ as the great I Am. This title, I Am, is mentioned at least three times in this chapter: (1) “Unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins” (v. 24); (2) “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am” (v. 28); and (3) “Before Abraham came into being, I am” (v. 58). I Am indicates that Christ is all-inclusive. He is whatever we need. He is like a blank, endorsed check. As the I Am, He is whatever you need. If you need healing, I Am is healing. If you need life, I Am is life. If you need power, I Am is power. If you need light, I Am is light. What you need, He is. He is I AM WHO I AM, the great I Am (Exo. 3:14). How rich is the Gospel of John!

In chapter 9 Christ is the light of the world (v. 5). Chapter 10 reveals that Christ is the Shepherd (v. 11; Psa. 23:1) and the door (John 10:2, 9). This door in chapter 10 is not only for God’s elect to enter but also for His people to come out. It is not a door for entering heaven; it is a door to come out of the bondage of the law. We all must come out of the fold. Who is the door for us to come out? Christ is the door. Christ is the door not only for God’s elect to enter into the custody of the law, as did Moses, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and others, in the Old Testament time before Christ came; but also for God’s chosen people, such as Peter, John, James, Paul, and others to come out of the fold of the law after Christ came. Thus, the Lord indicates here that He is the door not only for God’s chosen people to go in but also for God’s chosen people to go out.

Christ is not only the door but also the pasture (v. 9). Pasture signifies Christ as the feeding place for the sheep. When the pasture is not available in the wintertime or in the night, the sheep must be kept in the fold. When the pasture is ready, there is no further need for the sheep to remain in the fold. To be kept in the fold is [117] transitory and temporary. To be in the pasture to enjoy its riches is final and permanent. Before Christ came, the law was a ward, and to be under the law was transitory. Now, since Christ has come, all of God’s people must come out of the law and come into Him to enjoy Him as their pasture (Gal. 3:23-25; 4:3-5). This should be final and permanent. Christ is our Shepherd, the door for us to leave the fold of the law, and the pasture, the feeding place, after we leave the fold. Ultimately, in John 10 He said that He is one with the Father (v. 30), so He is the Father (14:9; Isa. 9:6).

In John 11 Christ is resurrection (v. 25). He is not only life but resurrection. Resurrection is life which has been tested even with death. The strongest thing in the whole universe besides God is death, yet even death cannot hold the resurrection life. Christ is the resurrection and the life.

In chapter 12 Christ is the grain of wheat (v. 24). If a grain of wheat is sown into the earth, it dies and then grows up to become many grains. His death released the divine life concealed within Him (1:4). In chapter 13 is the significance of the Lord washing the disciples’ feet (v. 5). This is like the laver in the outer court of the tabernacle (Exo. 30:18-21), which washed the priests from earthly defilement. The washing of feet in John 13 indicates that until this chapter, the things are still only in the outer court and not yet in the Holy Place or in the Holy of Holies. It is not until chapter 14, following the experience of the laver, that we enter into the Holy Place.

In chapter 14 Christ is the Father (vv. 9-11) and the Spirit (vv. 16-18). The Lord Jesus is the embodiment and expression of the Father, and as the Spirit, the Son is revealed and realized. The Father is His fullness, and all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Him bodily (Col. 2:9). The Father as the fullness and the reality dwells in the Son, and the Son is now the Spirit. The Spirit is the transmission of the Triune God, as revealed in 2 Corinthians 13:14, which says, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” The fellowship of the Spirit is the Spirit Himself as the transmission of the grace of the Lord with the love of God for our participation.

In John 15 Christ is the great, universal vine. In chapter 16 are the Spirit (vv. 7, 13-15) and the newborn child (v. 21). Christ is this newborn child. He is the Firstborn from the dead (Col. 1:18), the [118] Firstborn of the newborn ones. He is the firstborn Son of God brought forth in resurrection (Acts 13:33; Heb. 1:5; Rom. 1:4).

The prayer of the Lord concerning the divine oneness in John 17 is fully answered and realized in the New Jerusalem. Verse 23 says, “I in them, and You in Me, that they may be perfected into one.” The believers are to be perfected into one in the Triune God that they might be perfect. The universal building, the mingling of the Triune God with all the believers, is the New Jerusalem, which is the answer to the prayer of John 17. In the New Jerusalem all the believers will be perfected into one in the Triune God. In chapter 18 Christ is the real Lamb who was judged, the One who bore the universal judgment. He was the real Passover lamb examined for four days before He was put to death (See Mark 12:37 and footnote 1, Recovery Version; Exo. 12:3-6).

In John 19 is the cross with the blood and the water (vv. 17, 34), and in chapter 20 is the breath of life. The Lord Jesus breathed into the disciples and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (v. 22). In chapter 21 there are fish and lambs. With the fish there is also bread for eating (vv. 9, 13). There is no need for us to fish; the Lord has the fish already (vv. 5, 9 and footnote 9¹, Recovery Version). After our satisfaction we have to take care of the little lambs (vv. 15-17). These are the items of Christ as God’s embodiment in the Gospel of John for us to enjoy.

THE ULTIMATE CONSUMMATION
OF OUR ENJOYMENT OF GOD

The whole Scripture reveals nothing but God, the Triune God, the Father in the Son as the Spirit. Such a wonderful Triune God offered Himself to us as our enjoyment in many items. This enjoyment starts with the Lamb and consummates in its fullest way with the temple. Eventually, the temple is enlarged into a city, the New Jerusalem, where God Himself is the temple (Rev. 21:22). In 1 Samuel (1:9; 3:3) the tabernacle in Shiloh was called the temple before the temple was built by Solomon. Thus, the tabernacle is the temple. The New Jerusalem is called the tabernacle of God (Rev. 21:3). We are God’s tabernacle for God to dwell in, and He is our temple for us to dwell in. This city is a mutual abode for God and His chosen and redeemed people. The New Jerusalem is the climax of our enjoyment of the Triune God, where we will enjoy God in the fullest way. [119]

We have to see the heavenly vision that God is the tree of life for us to enjoy. All of the items of what Christ is in John are the outcome, the outflowing, of the tree of life. If we read the Scriptures again to find out what are the aspects, the items, of God being our enjoyment, the Bible will become a new book to us. It will become a book of life instead of a book of knowledge. Many take the Bible as a book of knowledge, but we have to change our realization of this book. The Bible is a book of life. This wonderful Triune God is our enjoyment in many aspects revealed in the Scriptures.