How we thank and praise the Lord for being smitten for us on the cross and flowing out the water of life in resurrection for us to drink and be formed into the Body of Christ and prepared as the bride of Christ consummating in the New Jerusalem! Hallelujah!
As we are considering the deeper implications of the fact that Christ has been smitten on the cross just as the rock was smitten by the staff of Moses in the wilderness, we need to realise that the result of Christ’s death was not just that His blood was shed but that His life was released.
On the cross the Lord Jesus was pierced by one of the Roman soldiers, and out came out blood and water; this is a type of the issue of Christ’s death, which released the blood of Christ for our redemption and the life of Christ for our regeneration.
Hallelujah, there’s a double cure for both the stain of sin and the power of sin by just coming to the Lord, repenting, and enjoying Him!
The Lord’s blood flowed out to save us from the guilt and stain of sin, and His life was released and is now flowing so that we may receive the divine life in resurrection for our regeneration and supply.
The history of the children of Israel as they were journeying through the wilderness shows us how the Lord cares for us in our Christian journey today.
Many times we complain, murmur, and come before Him with bitterness, for we are thirsty; God, however, is not upset with us but rather, He causes living water to flow.
God Himself became a man in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, and this One went through a process to become the rock – the rock of our salvation, the rock of refuge, the rock as our protection and covering and hiding place.
As such a rock, He follows us wherever we go in our Christian life so that He may give us water. Christ is our begetting rock and the rock of our salvation; when we run to Him, we are covered from the tempest, we are hidden from problems, and we are supplied with the water of life in resurrection.
We simply need to ask Him to give us living water, and He will give us to drink. Hallelujah!
Through faith we can exercise our spirit and receive the cleansing of the Lord’s blood shed on the cross so that we may be qualified to drink the living water in resurrection.
In His death there was a fountain opened for sin and impurity, a fountain of blood; then, in His resurrection, there’s a river of water of life flowing for all those who are thirsty to come and drink. Praise the Lord!
Drinking the Water of Life in Resurrection and Flowing out the Living Water to others
The water that came out of the rock when it was smitten (see Exo. 17:6) shows us that the water of life that we drink today is in resurrection.
Resurrection denotes something that has been put to death and which is alive again; it denotes life springing forth out of something that has passed through death.
The fact that living water springs forth from the Lord Jesus as the reality of the smitten rock shows that He has passed through a process of incarnation, human living, and crucifixion so that living water may flow out.
The rock that was smitten speaks of God’s redemption and of Christ’s incarnation, His humanity, His human living, and His death.
After Christ passed through the process of incarnation, human living, and death, He was opened up for the water of life in resurrection to flow out.
How can Christ – who is God – become a rock out of which living water flows? It is by being incarnated and passing through a process, ending with being smitten by the authority of the law of God on the cross.
The Lord Jesus spoke of this flowing water in John 7:38-39 where He said that, if anyone thirsts, let him come to Him and drink, and he who drinks, this water will become in him a spring of water flowing into eternal life.
This He said concerning the Spirit, who was not yet, for Christ had not yet been glorified.
The Lord Jesus knew that He came as the reality of the rock spoken of in Exo. 17:6; He knew that on the cross He will be smitten, and living water will flow out.
So He called out to all those who outwardly had a long feast but inwardly were still thirsty, that they would come to Him and drink.
In His resurrection, Christ entered into His glory (Luke 24:26); when He was resurrected, He was glorified, and now in resurrection the living water flows. Hallelujah!
Now everyone who believes into the Lord Jesus is both washed and cleansed by the blood which flowed from Him, and at the same time he drinks the water of life in resurrection!
The Spirit as the rivers of living water can be experienced now by the believers, since Christ had passed through incarnation, human living, and death, and He is now in resurrection!
Because the water of life is in resurrection, it is victorious and triumphant over death and everything negative. When we drink the water of life in resurrection, the negative things in us are being put to death, and resurrection is imparted into our being.
When we drink the water of life in resurrection by exercising our spirit to call on the name of the Lord, ask Him to give us to drink, sing, pray, and pray over the word of God, we drink resurrection as living water, and we are constituted with God!
The water of life in resurrection is actually resurrection itself; the Spirit, the flowing water, is resurrection, and when we drink Him, we drink resurrection.
Wow, we can exercise our spirit and come to the Lord to drink “liquid resurrection”, the Spirit of life flowing out!
This Spirit as the living water for us to drink and flow could be received only after the Lord Jesus had been glorified, that is, only after He had entered into resurrection (John 7:37-39; Luke 24:26).
Actually, the water of life – the flowing water of life in resurrection – is resurrection; resurrection is the Triune God – the Father as the source, the Son as the course, and the Spirit as the flow – reaching us to quench our thirst and to flow in and out of us.
Hallelujah, whoever drinks of this living water will not thirst again, but this water will become in him a fountain springing up into eternal life!
When we drink the water of life in resurrection, we will flow out the living waters to others, and the consummation of such a flow is the New Jerusalem, the totality of the flowing divine life!
Thank You Lord Jesus for becoming the living water flowing in resurrection for us to drink, quench our thirst, and flow out to others! Hallelujah, Christ was smitten on the cross by the authority of God’s law and out of Him flowed blood for our redemption and water for our regeneration and life supply. Lord, we come to You to be cleansed by Your blood and supplied by the flowing water of life in resurrection! Amen, Lord, we open our mouth wide, we turn our heart to You, we exercise our spirit, and we drink You as the water of life in resurrection! Hallelujah, we can drink God in Christ as the Spirit and we can have a well of living water springing up into eternal life!
Drinking and Flowing the Water of Life in Resurrection to become the Body and Bride of Christ
In this universe there is a flowing Triune God; God the Father is the source, the hidden, eternal, unseen well, and God the Son is the springing up of the Father, while God the Spirit is the flowing out of God the Father with God the Son.
The source of the water of life is the throne of God and of the Lamb – as seen in Rev. 22:1; the water of life is the Triune God flowing out to be our life.
Our God is life, has life, and gives life, and He flows out in His Divine Trinity into man to supply man with the divine life wherever man is.
The living water which flows out is simply the Triune God Himself flowing out from eternity – from His throne, and proceeding through all the ages, consummating in the New Jerusalem.
This flowing of the Triune God from age to age, from eternity to eternity, is the water of life in resurrection – and we are here in time in this age being open to Him to drink Him and flow Him out!
The flow of the living water began from the throne in eternity, continued through the incarnation, human living, and crucifixion of Christ (see John 4:10, 14; 19:34), and now flows on in resurrection to supply us as God’s people with all the riches of the divine life.
Hallelujah, our God is still flowing today in resurrection, and He has reached us! The flowing of the water of life in resurrection is for the building up of the Body of Christ; in one Spirit we were all baptized into one Body, and we were all given to drink of the one Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13).
The flowing of the water of life in resurrection is for the formation of the Body of Christ. When we all drink of the same one Spirit in resurrection, this makes us members of the Body and builds us up as the Body of Christ.
How can we be built up in the Body? How can we participate in the fellowship of the Body and have the flow in the Body flowing through us? It is through drinking the living water in resurrection.
Amen, when we drink of the Lord as the Spirit through the exercise of our spirit, we are built up in the Body and we enjoy the flow of life in the Body.
The flowing of the living water in resurrection is also for the preparation of the bride of Christ. According to Rev. 22:17, the Spirit and the bride call all those who are thirsty to come and drink the water of life.
The water that the bride drinks is the Spirit; by drinking the Spirit, the bride becomes one with the Spirit. As we drink the Spirit, we are being prepared to be the bride of Christ, for we are made one with Christ as the Spirit to both drink and flow the water of life.
Lord, we come to You to drink the water of life in resurrection and be made the Body of Christ and be prepared as the bride of Christ. Hallelujah, God in Christ as the Spirit is flowing in resurrection, and we can drink the water of life in resurrection to become the Body of Christ and be prepared as the bride of Christ. Lord, we exercise our spirit to drink! We come to You as the rock that follows us: give us to drink! Amen, Lord, we drink! We drink and become the Body and the bride! Praise the Lord!
This article can also be read in the Romanian language / Citiți acest articol în limba română vizitând următorul link, Să bem și să facem să curgă apa vieții în înviere pentru a deveni Trupul și Mireasa.
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Minoru Chen for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Exodus, msgs. 42-45 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Numbers (2), week 4, Speaking to the Rock to Drink of the Spirit as the Water of Life and Digging the Well to Allow the Spirit as the Water of Life to Flow Freely within Us.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Thou art the smitten rock, / Whence living waters burst; / At all times I may drink, / And fully quench my thirst. / Now, hungry and athirst, / I come, dear Lord, to Thee; / Feed me Thy very self, / Life water flow to me. (Song on, Lord, Thou art manna true)
# Christ is the spiritual rock, / Smitten and cleft by our God. / Water of life flowed forth. / Now quenching all of our thirst. / Drink Him. / He is the fount of life. / Taste Him. / Oh sweet well of life. / Praise Him! / Never you’ll thirst again. / Jesus! / The all-inclusive Christ. (Song on, Manna from Heaven)
# The Spirit of life is within us today, / Who’s likened to water our thirst to allay; / Of Him we may drink and be filled thus with Him, / Until as a river He flows from within. (Hymns #278)
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