2019年 夏季训练
GENERAL SUBJECT: Crystallization-Study of Number (2)
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
Scripture Reading: Exo. 17:6; Num. 20:8; 21:16-18; 1 Cor. 12:13; John 4:10, 14; 7:37-39; 19:34; 1 Cor. 10:4; Rev. 22:1-2
Ⅰ The striking of the rock is a clear, complete, and full picture of Christ’s crucifixion—Exo. 17:6:
Ａ In this type, Moses signifies the law, and the staff represents the power and authority of the law.
Ｂ Hence, the striking of the rock by Moses’ staff signifies that Christ was put to death on the cross by the authority of God’s law—cf. Gal. 2:19-20a; 3:13.
Ｃ Christ as the living, spiritual rock was smitten by the authority of God’s law so that the water of life in resurrection could flow out of Him and into His redeemed people for them to drink—Exo. 17:6; 1 Cor. 10:4:
１ Christ is our begetting rock and the rock who is our salvation, strength, refuge, hiding place, protection, covering, and safeguard—Deut. 32:18; 2 Sam. 22:47; Psa. 95:1; 62:7; 94:22; Isa. 32:2.
２ Blood and water flowed out of the Lord’s pierced side on the cross; the blood for our judicial redemption saves us from the guilt of sin, and the water of life in resurrection for our organic salvation saves us from the power of sin—Gen. 2:21-22; John 19:34; Zech. 13:1; Psa. 36:8-9; Rev. 21:6; Hymns, #1058, stanza 1.
Ｄ The water that came out of the rock is the water of life in resurrection:
１ Resurrection denotes something that has been put to death and is alive again; it also denotes life that springs forth out of something that has passed through death.
２ The water that flowed out of the smitten rock sprang forth only after the major steps of incarnation, human living, and crucifixion had been accomplished; hence, Exodus 17:6 is a profound verse, implying Christ’s incarnation, human living, and death.
３ The Spirit as the living water for us to drink and flow out could be received only after the Lord Jesus had been glorified, that is, only after Christ had entered into resurrection—John 7:37-39; Luke 24:26.
４ Actually, the water of life, the flowing water, is resurrection; resurrection is the Triune God—the Father as the source, the Son as the course, and the Spirit as the flow—John 5:26; 11:25.
Ｅ The source of the water of life is the throne of God and of the Lamb—the redeeming God; hence, the water of life is the Triune God flowing out to be our life—Rev. 22:1:
１ The flow of the living water began from the throne in eternity, continued through the incarnation, human living, and crucifixion of Christ (John 4:10, 14; 19:34), and now flows on in resurrection to supply God’s people with all the riches of the divine life (Rev. 22:1-2).
２ The flowing of the water of life in resurrection is for the building up of the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:13) and the preparation of the bride of Christ (Rev. 19:7), both of which will consummate in the New Jerusalem (21:9-10; cf. Eph. 5:23, 28-30).
Ｆ 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.
Ｇ 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.
Ｈ 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.
Ⅱ To receive the living water from the crucified Christ, we need only to “take the rod” and “speak to the rock”—Num. 20:8:
Ａ 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.
Ｂ To take the rod is to identify with Christ in His death and apply the death of Christ to ourselves and to our situation.
Ｃ 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.
Ｄ 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.
Ｅ 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.
Ｆ 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.
Ⅲ Whereas the rock in Numbers 20:8 typifies Christ on the cross, smitten by God so that the living water, the Spirit of life, may flow out into us, the well in Numbers 21:16-18 typifies Christ within us—John 4:11-12, 14:
Ａ The digging of the well (Num. 21:18) signifies the digging away of the “dirt,” the barriers in our heart—our conscience, our mind, our will, and our emotion—so that the Spirit as the living water may spring up within us and flow freely.
Ｂ We need to go to the Lord to be “dug out” for the free flow of the living water within us; there is much “dirt” within us that needs to be dug out:
１ We must dig away the many things condemned by the Lord in our heart; not many brothers and sisters have a pure heart in seeking only the Lord Himself—Matt. 5:8:
ａ On the one hand, many are seeking the Lord and His way, but on the other hand, they are still seeking things other than the Lord Himself.
ｂ Our loving and seeking the Lord may be with a complicated heart; the aim and goal of our heart are not so pure; we do not know how many goals are within our heart, such as our family, our job, our degree, and our concerns about our future.
２ If we would experience a free, inward flow of the Spirit, our conscience must be dealt with and purified—Heb. 9:14; 10:22; 1 Tim. 1:5, 19; 1 Pet. 3:16, 21; 1 John 1:7:
ａ When we refuse to do what the Lord commands, this becomes an accusation in our conscience; these accusations are the dirt that needs to be dug away.
ｂ We need to go to the Lord again and again in our spirit and be dug in His presence; by the help of the Holy Spirit we must dig away all the dirt.
ｃ A conscience void of offense means to be free from any kind of offense or accusation—Acts 24:16.
３ We must dig away the dirt in our mind; the Lord wants to transform us by the renewing of our mind—Rom. 12:2; Eph. 4:23; Rom. 8:6; 2 Cor. 10:4-5:
ａ Many who are regenerated are just like the people of the world in their thinking about fashion; they dress in conformity to the modern age.
ｂ Many who are regenerated continue to use their money in the same way as those in the world; not until they love the Lord more and give the Lord more ground to work within them will they be transformed in their way of spending money.
ｃ Many young people studying in the colleges have the same thoughts about their studies and degrees as other worldly young people; if their minds were being renewed, they would not give up their studies, but they would have the Lord’s point of view in which to evaluate their studies.
ｄ Our mind has been blinded by the many imaginations that we have day by day; the heaps of dirt are simply the many thoughts, imaginations, and dreams, which must be dug away before the living water can freely flow.
４ We must dig away the dirt in our will; there are not many who are absolutely and utterly obedient to the Lord:
ａ Many times we do not submit ourselves to the Lord’s sovereign arrangement in our environment—cf. Phil. 4:11-13.
ｂ Sometimes we think that we are quite submissive to the Lord, but when He puts us into certain circumstances, we are exposed.
ｃ Many experiences and circumstances under His sovereignty simply expose us to the light so that we may know how stubborn our will is.
ｄ The will must be wholly submissive, and not only submissive but in harmony with the will of God; then every decision that we make will be an expression of Christ—Luke 22:42; James 4:7; Phil. 2:13.
５ After digging away the dirt from the will, we need to deal with our emotion:
ａ When we are emotional, we are occupied with ourselves; we are under the bondage and control of our emotion.
ｂ The regulating of our love must be under the control of the Lord, and we must always be ready to exercise our emotion according to the Lord’s pleasure—Matt. 10:37-39; Phil. 1:8.
ｃ We all must learn to deal with our emotion according to the pleasure and joy of the Lord; we must learn that whatever we hate or love, whatever we like or dislike, must be done under the permission of the Lord with His joy.
ｄ If our emotion is kept under the rule of the Lord with His pleasure and joy, it will be saturated with the spirit and transformed.
６ We must forget about our needs, our jobs, our future, and our circumstances; we must seek only the Lord’s presence and ask Him to bring us into His light; then we can follow His light to dig away the dirt in our heart, conscience, mind, will, and emotion—Isa. 2:5; Luke 11:34-36; 1 John 1:5, 7, 9.
７ This digging is accomplished only by prayer in our private time with the Lord; we have to spend more time with the Lord and pray according to His inner leading.
８ The more we dig away the dirt, the more living, strengthened, and victorious we will be as the living water flows freely within us to cause us to grow in life for the building up of the Body of Christ—we need to sing and pray over Hymns, #250.