Outline
３
Enjoying eternal life in eternity:
ａ
"The water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into eternal life"—John 4:14.
ｂ
"I will give to him who thirsts from the spring of the water of life freely"—Rev. 21:6.
ｃ
"They may have right to the tree of life"—22:14.
B
The life of God with the divine nature:
１
As those who have received equally precious faith, we, the believers in Christ, should be partakers of the divine nature—2 Pet. 1:4:
ａ
The divine nature refers to what God is, that is, the riches, the elements, and the constituents of God's being—John 4:24; 1 John 1:5; 4:8, 16.
ｂ
The divine life and the divine nature are inseparable; the divine nature is the substance of the divine life and is within the divine life—1:1-2; 5:11-13.
２
We need to experience the development of the divine life and the divine nature contained in the divine seed that has been sown into us that we may have a rich entrance into the eternal kingdom—2 Pet. 1:1, 4-11.
３
As children of God, we are God-men, born of God, possessing the life and nature of God, and belonging to the species of God—John 1:12-13.
４
At our regeneration, another nature was imparted into us; this is the nature of God, the divine nature—2 Pet. 1:4.
５
A partaker of the divine nature is one who enjoys the divine nature and participates in the divine nature—v. 4.
６
If we enjoy God and partake of the riches of His being, we will be constituted with the divine nature, becoming the same as God in life and nature but not in the Godhead and expressing Him in all that we are and do—v. 3.
Morning Nourishment
John 4:14 …The water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into eternal life.Rev. 21:6 …I will give to him who thirsts from the spring of the water of life freely.
As soon as we believe and obtain the Lord’s life, our names are written in the book of life [Rev. 3:5]. The Lord’s life is the eternal life, so if we obtain the Lord’s eternal life, we will never perish (John 10:28)…Obtaining eternal life by faith and not perishing in eternity have no requirements related to overcoming. But the Lord’s promise to not erase our names from the book of life has the requirement of overcoming. Therefore, Revelation 3:5 is related to the matter of reward, not to the gift of grace. A gift is given freely, but a reward has requirements. Since this is a reward, it is related to the millennial kingdom. With respect to eternal salvation, no saved person can perish; with respect to the reward of the millennial kingdom, only overcoming believers will enjoy the blessing of having their names in the book of life during the millennial kingdom…The gift is free; the reward is earned. (CWWL, 1932-1949, vol. 3, “Crucial Truths in the Holy Scriptures, Volume 1,” pp. 226-227)
Today’s Reading
The enjoyment of eternal life in eternity in the new heaven and new earth is the full enjoyment of God’s salvation, which all the saved ones will share in eternity. The water the Lord gives is His life. This life will become a fountain of water in us, springing up and flowing us into eternal life [John 4:14]. Thus, we will enjoy the blessing of eternal life in eternity. The full blessing of God’s salvation is the coming New Jerusalem, which is given to all the saved ones for their enjoyment in eternity. All those who have the Lord’s eternal life and whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life will participate in this blessing [Rev. 21:27].All the saved ones will enjoy the blessings of eternal life in the New Jerusalem, and one of these blessings will be the water of life [v. 6; 22:1]… All the saved ones will eternally drink of this water of life and eternally enjoy God’s ever-living life. All the saved ones will enjoy the blessings of the New Jerusalem, including another blessing—the tree of life [v. 14]… In eternity future we will enjoy God’s ever-living life, causing us to never hunger or thirst.
In this age we obtain eternal life as soon as we believe. After obtaining eternal life, we can enjoy it and live by it. If we live for the Lord today by the power of this eternal life, we will be overcomers. Then during the coming kingdom age, we will reign in life together with the Lord, we will enjoy the glory of life, and we will have a foretaste of the blessings of eternity. Finally, when eternity arrives, we, who have received eternal life through salvation, will enjoy the blessings of eternal life in the New Jerusalem for eternity. (CWWL, 1932-1949, vol. 3, “Crucial Truths in the Holy Scriptures, Volume 1,” pp. 227-228)
Second Peter 1:4 speaks of the “partakers of the divine nature.”…As those who have received equally precious faith, we, the believers in Christ, should be partakers of the divine nature. The divine nature refers to what God is, that is, the riches, the elements, and the constituents of God’s being (John 4:24; 1 John 1:5; 4:8, 16). The divine nature, which mainly refers to the constitution of the divine life, the constitution of God, is constituted with Spirit, love, and light. The divine life and the divine nature are inseparable; the divine nature is the substance of the divine life and is within the divine life (1:1-2; 5:11-13). As the children of God, we are God-men, born of God, possessing the life and nature of God, and belonging to the species of God (3:1; John 1:12-13)…Because the divine nature is in the divine life, the divine life with which we were born again has the divine nature within it (3:3, 5-6, 15). Whoever believes into the Son of God is born of God and has the right to become a child of God; thus, a believer has the right to partake of, to enjoy, the nature of God (1:12-13). (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 3932-3933)
Further Reading: The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 389