Ⅶ
We need to see and arrive at the goal of reigning in life; when we are reigning in life, living under the ruling of the divine life, the issue is the real and practical Body life expressed in the church life—Rom. 12:1-4, 9-12, 15-18; 14:1-9; 15:1-13:
A
As those who have believed into Christ, we have been transferred into the kingdom of the Son of God’s love, and in the church life, love prevails (Col. 1:12-13); the Body builds itself up in love (1 Cor. 8:1; Eph. 1:4; 3:17; 4:2, 15-16; 5:2), and love is the most excellent way for us to be anything and do anything for the building up of the church as the organic Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:31b; 13:4-8a).
B
If we do not have Christ as love, all our speaking is like “sounding brass” and a “clanging cymbal,” which give sounds without life—v. 1.
C
The church life is not a police station or a law court but a loving home to raise up spiritual children, a hospital to heal and recover the sick ones, and a school to teach others in love—Matt. 9:12; 2 Cor. 11:29a; John 8:7, 10-11; 1 Cor. 9:22; Luke 15:1-7.
Ⅷ
When we are reigning in life, we are allowing the indwelling Christ as grace to reign within us “unto eternal life”; this is the consummation of reigning in life—Heb. 4:16; Rom. 5:17, 21:
A
John 4:14b says, “The water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into eternal life.”
B
Into (unto in Romans 5:21) speaks of destination; the eternal life is the destination of the flowing Triune God; into also means “to become” or “to be.”
C
By enjoying the flowing Triune God—the Father as the fountain of life, the Son as the spring of life, and the Spirit as the river of life—we are receiving the abundance of grace to become the New Jerusalem as the totality of the life of God, the city of life; thus, the issue and consummation of our reigning in life should be uniquely and ultimately the goal of God’s eternal economy—the New Jerusalem.
Morning Nourishment
Eph. 4:16 Out from whom all the Body, being joined together and being knit together through every joint of the rich supply and through the operation in the measure of each one part, causes the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love.John 4:14 ...The water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into eternal life.
When we are all reigning in life, living under the ruling of the divine life, the issue is the real and practical Body life. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “Crystallization-study of the Complete Salvation of God in Romans,” p. 445)
The Body of Christ builds itself up in love (Eph. 4:16). The phrase in love is used repeatedly in the book of Ephesians (1:4; 3:17; 4:2, 15-16; 5:2). God predestinated us unto sonship before the foundation of the world in love, and the Body of Christ builds itself up in love. The growth in life is in love. In the last few years we have appreciated the Lord’s showing us the high peak of the divine revelation. My concern is that although we may talk about the truths of the high peak, love is absent among us. If this is the case, we are puffed up, not built up. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “The Vital Groups,” p. 124)
Today’s Reading
When the fountain springs up, that is the fountain emerging [John 4:14b]. 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” [v. 14b]. 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... The New Jerusalem is the totality of the divine, eternal life... 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. The entire Bible is needed to interpret John 4:14. The Father is the fountain as the source, the Son is the spring, the Spirit is the flowing river, and this flowing issues in the eternal life, which is the New Jerusalem... The New Jerusalem is the totality of God joined with man and man mingled with God.
Eventually, the Triune God becomes the living water, which the Lord Jesus presented to the Samaritan woman in John 4. Jacob’s well in John 4 is physical, but Jacob’s dream is divine and mystical. In this divine, mystical realm there is a real fountain. This fountain is the Father. When this fountain emerges, or springs up, that is the Son. When the spring flows into a river, that is the Spirit. This is into, or for, the New Jerusalem. The first four chapters of John present the Triune God as the flowing water. In chapters 6 and 7 there are two feasts. These two feasts are the issue of the flowing. We fallen men become hungry and thirsty. At the feast we have something to eat to satisfy our hunger and something to drink to quench our thirst. The food is Christ, and the water is also Christ.
We need to see that the Triune God is flowing through the Father, the Son, and the Spirit into us. When we drink of this water, it becomes a fountain in us... This fountain emerges as a spring, and the spring flows out as a river for the New Jerusalem. This is the key to open up the entire Gospel of John. This is the divine speaking, divine spreading, divine dispensing, of the Divine Trinity. The Father as the fountain, the Son as the spring, and the Spirit as the river flow into us. When He flows into us, He flows with us. He will flow us into the New Jerusalem to be the New Jerusalem. The preposition into also means “to become.” Into the New Jerusalem means “to become the New Jerusalem.”... We have to be the New Jerusalem; then we can be in the New Jerusalem. This is the intrinsic significance of the Gospel of John and Revelation. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 4, “Crystallization-study of the Gospel of John,” pp. 455-457)
Further Reading: CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “The Vital Groups,” ch. 8; CWWL, 1953, vol. 3, “The Experience of Life,” ch. 17