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John 4:14b reveals a flowing Triune God—the Father is the fountain, the Son is the spring, and the Spirit is the flowing river, issuing in the totality of the eternal life, the New Jerusalem.
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The entire Triune God was involved in the water flowing out of the smitten rock for the people to drink—God [the Father] was standing upon the rock, the rock was Christ [the Son], and the living water coming out of the rock signifies the drinkable and outflowing Spirit as the ultimate issue of the Triune God—Exo. 17:6; 1 Cor. 10:4; John 7:37-39.
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Our drinking of the one Spirit in resurrection makes us members of the Body, builds us up as the Body, and prepares us to be the bride of Christ—1 Cor. 12:13; Rev. 22:17.
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To receive the living water from the crucified Christ, we need only to”take the rod” and”speak to the rock”—Num. 20:8:
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Since Christ has been crucified and the Spirit has been given, there is no need for Christ to be crucified again, that is, no need to strike the rock again, that the living water may flow; in God's economy Christ should be crucified only once—Heb. 7:27; 9:26-28a.
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To take the rod is to identify with Christ in His death and apply the death of Christ to ourselves and to our situation.
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When we identify ourselves with the smitten Christ, that is, when we are one with Him as the smitten Christ, the divine life as the living water flows out of us—Exo. 17:6; John 7:38; cf. S. S. 2:8-9, 14; Phil. 3:10.
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To speak to the rock is to speak a direct word to Christ as the smitten rock, asking Him to give us the Spirit of life based on the fact that the Spirit has already been given—cf. John 4:10; Hymns, #248.
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If we apply the death of Christ to ourselves and ask Christ in faith to give us the Spirit, we will receive the living Spirit as the bountiful supply of life—Phil. 1:19.
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Moses should have simply spoken to the rock, telling it to flow forth with water (Num. 20:8); if we deal with the contending of God's people in this way today, the church life will be glorious.
Morning Nourishment
John 4:14 But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall by no means thirst forever; but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into eternal life.Num. 20:8 Take the rod, and gather the assembly, you and Aaron your brother, and speak to the rock before their eyes, so that it yields its water…
The Triune God flows in the Divine Trinity in three stages. [In John 4:14b] when the fountain springs up, that is the fountain emerging. Then a river flows. The Father is the fountain, the Son is the spring, and the Spirit is the river.
This flowing Triune God is”into eternal life.” The Greek preposition translated as”into” is rich in meaning. Here it speaks of the destination. The eternal life is the destination of the flowing Triune God. A fountain is in us springing up as a river into a destination. This destination is the eternal life. The New Jerusalem is the totality of the divine, eternal life. The eternal life eventually will be the New Jerusalem. Thus, into eternal life means into the New Jerusalem. We must have something flowing into that divine New Jerusalem in order for us to arrive there.
We have [these three] within us at the same time. The fountain emerges, the spring gushes, and the gushing is the flowing as a river into the New Jerusalem. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 4,”Crystallization-study of the Gospel of John,” pp. 455, 458)
Today's Reading
Moses took the rod from before Jehovah, and he and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock (Num. 20:9-10a). Then Moses said to the people,”Listen now, you rebels: Shall we bring forth water for you out of this rock?” (v. 10b). Having said this,”Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his rod twice; and abundant water came forth, and the assembly and their livestock drank” (v. 11). Moses was wrong both in word and in deed. No doubt, he was angry with the children of Israel, and he even might have lost his temper. Whenever we are angry and do not control ourselves, it is easy for us to make mistakes. At such times we, like Moses, may speak wrongly or act wrongly.When the children of Israel caused God trouble concerning necessities, He was not offended, but when they lusted, He was offended. In Numbers 20 the people contended because they did not have water. Because water was a necessity, God was not angry with them. Actually, it was His responsibility to supply them with water. Moses failed to sanctify God in being angry with the people of Israel and in wrongly striking the rock twice. In being angry, he did not represent God rightly in His holy nature toward His people. In striking the rock twice, he represented God wrongly in God's action. Hence, he and his brother were punished by God by not being allowed to enter into the good land (20:12-13, 24; 27:12-14).
We must not give people the wrong impression concerning the God whom we serve….All that we say and do concerning God's people must be absolutely according to His holy nature. Otherwise, in our words and deeds we will rebel against Him and offend Him. Moses offended both God's holy nature and divine economy. He represented God wrongly, and he broke the principles of God's economy. Because of this, even though he was intimate with God and may be considered a friend of God, he lost the right to enter into the good land.
Through our study of chapter 20 of Numbers, we may learn how to behave when others contend with us in the church life…. After the people had contended with Moses…, he should have gone to the Lord and said,”Lord, what should I do concerning the need of Your beloved people?”…Moses …should have simply spoken to the rock, telling it to flow forth with water. If we deal with the contending of God's people in this way today, the church life will be glorious. (Life-study of Numbers, pp. 210-212, 215-217)
Further Reading: CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 4,”Crystallization-study of the Gospel of John,” msg. 14; Life-study of Numbers, msgs. 29-30; CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5,”A Word of Love to the Co-workers, Elders, Lovers, and Seekers of the Lord,” ch. 2