Genesis, Message 7: The River of Water of Life

My Great Delight in God's Word

Crystallization-Study of Genesis, Message 7

The River of Water of Life

There are 4 items that appear in both Genesis 1-2 and Revelation 21-22. They consist of the tree of life, the river of life, the precious materials and a couple. In the last message, we learned about the tree of life, which represents Christ as the only source of life. Here we are going to explore a little about the river of life with some spiritual implications which may benefit our spiritual walk.

¹⁰ Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became four riverheads.
¹¹ The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one which skirts the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.
¹² And the gold of that land is good. Bdellium and the onyx stone are there.
¹³ The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one which goes around the whole land of Cush.
¹⁴ The name of the third river is Hiddekel; it is the one which goes toward the east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates. (Genesis 2:10-14 NKJV)

This 4-verse passage contains many specific names that tempt us to just read through it very quickly or just skip over it. It is reasonable, as the names sound strange and we cannot see any benefit from reading through them. Some of them do not exist anymore on Google Maps. Don't worry. I'm not going to talk about geography here. I'm really bad at it. But I think I have learned something about life from this passage.
Given that God's re-creation in Genesis 1-2 is all about life, this river is also about life making. Throughout the bible, we see that river is closely connected to life. Without river, the trees cannot grow and living creatures therefore cannot survive. We can live for many days or even weeks without food. But we will die much sooner without water. And of course, our spiritual life will immediately die without life supply from the river of the water of life.

1. God is the only source of life.

The bible indicates that there is only one river coming out of Eden to water the garden. There is no any other river from there. This indicates that there is only one source of life supply. Other parts of the bible indicate that this river closely associates with our Triune God. God the Father is the fountain. God the Son is the spring. And God the Spirit is the flow.

For My people have committed two evils:
They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters,
And hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water. (Jeremiah 2:13 NKJV)
Jesus answered and said to her, "...but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life." (John 4:13-14 NKJV)
On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." (John 7:37-38 NKJV)

All we need to do is come to the Father, the only source of life, and receive God the Son by joyfully drinking Him. At first, we are just the drinker or receiver of the water of life. But as soon as we drink it, the water of life will become the fountain within us. Not only does this fountain bring us into eternal life, out of our innermost being will flow out the rivers of living water. We are going to be the vessel though which the rivers of living water flow to others. We are going to be the dispenser or minister of life, bringing life to others and bringing them to the very source of life.

2. The river becomes four riverheads.

Even though there is only one river come out of Eden, it divides into four riverheads, which go forth to 4 lands. This means that it is the desire of God's heart to reach man in every direction. Only one is not enough. God needs to surround and cover every area of our life and every corner of our heart. God needs our whole being to be filled with His life!
Is there any area in your life that you keep from God's loving care? Be open to Him and allow Him to take care of your whole life. God comes to us in every direction to provide us the abundant life supply that we can never resist.

3. The river issues precious materials.

Genesis 2:11-12 says that wherever the river goes, there will be the issue of precious materials, consisting of the gold, the bdellium and the onyx. This implies that whenever the river flows into our life, God is gradually transforming us to become like Him, represented by the precious stones. We are becoming the precious building blocks of God's precious building, the Church, which will be consummated in the New Jerusalem.

4. All the rivers flow to the same place.

One river comes out of Eden and divides into 4 riverheads. Just as all the rivers from different places run into the same pool of water, the sea or the ocean, all the 4 rivers are also flowing to the same place, the New Jerusalem, in which Christ and all believers dwell together forever.
There are many ministries and many Christian groups all around the world. But if they are really in the flow of God, they are included in the same ministry, the ministry of life. They are moving in the same direction towards the same goal - to build up the Body of Christ by ministering life to people.

5. The meanings of the four rivers tell us some characteristics of the water of life.

I'm sure that the names of the rivers are not just indicated for historical or geographical study. Like many other names in the Old Testament, their meanings are likely to teach us something.
The first river's name is Pishon, meaning "increase" or "full flowing." It teaches us that God does not supply us only a few drops of the water, or only fill us until we are nearly full. He is flowing into us with Himself until we are completely full of His life. The life that He gives is so abundant.

The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. (John 10:10 NKJV)

The second river's name is Gihon, meaning "bursting forth" or "gushing." God does not stop filling us when we are full. He continues to infuse us with Himself until the water is springing us up to the eternal life and overflowing us.

On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." (John 7:37-38 NKJV)

The third river's name is Hiddekel, meaning "swift" or "darting." Like a dart that is thrown towards a particular target, this water of life is flowing us to a particular goal. Our life will be precisely determined. The water of life will transform us be the man God created us to be. We are determined to be the man who glorifies Him and enjoys Him forever.
The last river's name is Euphrates, meaning "sweet" or "fruitful." This water is so sweet that we will not want to stop drinking it. It also nourishes us and makes our life more fruitful. The more we drink of this water, the more we will bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit, which consists of love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23), and the more we will glorify Him.

Further reading

• The Holy Word for Morning Revival: Crystallization-Study of Genesis, week 7.

• http://www.tonycooke.org/free_resources/articles-tony-cooke/rivers-of-eden.html

Thirayost Nimmanon (Tony)

Genesis, Message 6: The Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil

My Great Delight in God's Word

Crystallization-Study of Genesis, Message 6

The Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil

One of my favourite activities is eating. I really love eating. I eat when I feel stressed, frustrated or tired, and I will feel better after I'm fed. And I'm sure many of you have had the same experience.
Today, we are going to learn about the delightful commandment of God to the first couple, which is about "EATING!" Do you believe me? And this will also lead to some implications from the things He commanded them to eat and not to eat.

The tree of life typifying Christ

God commanded man to eat the tree of life.

When it comes to talking about God's commandments in the Old Testament, most people think about the Ten Commandments, which appear in Exodus 20, and some may regard them as the most important commandments from God. Even most non-believers believe they are good for society. A Gallop poll showed that as high as 85% of Americans believed the Ten Commandments are still binding today, even though only 15% of them could name up to 5 of the Commandments. Shockingly, less than 50% of the churchgoing people could name up to 4 of the Commandments. (See more at: http://claimthevictory.org/sermons/2013/01/20/god-speaks-his-will-is-made-known/#sthash.6QZe6UPB.dpuf)
However, Ten Commandments were given to men after the Fall. They were not based on the original purpose of God for man when He first created him. What then is the commandment that God gave to man before the Fall?
After He created the first man from the dust of the ground, He put him in the garden of Eden, in which He had already planted the trees. All the trees were pleasant to the sight and good for food. In the midst of the garden, there were 2 most important trees created: the tree of life, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God then gave man the very first verbal commandment to man.

¹⁶ And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat;
¹⁷ but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." (Genesis 2:16-17 NKJV)

God did not say directly that man should eat from the tree of life. However, with love, He kindly warned him that he should not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Given that the tree of life was the only other tree that had been given a name, the commandment implied that man should eat from the tree of life. Man needed to be careful with eating, and the best food for him was from the tree of life, which typified Christ, the only true source of life.

I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. (John 15:1 NKJV)
The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. (John 10:10 NKJV)
Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you." (John 6:53 NKJV)

The means whereby man nourished the life he received from God was to come to the tree of life and eat from it daily. Likewise, the only means whereby we nourish our spiritual (zoe) life, which we received from God, is to come to Christ and eat Him daily!
To have a healthy physical life, we are to carefully select what to eat. If we eat healthy food, we will get healthy life. This is general principle about eating. Likewise, to have a healthy spiritual life, we are to carefully select which tree we are eating from. And this is God's amazing grace. He has provided Christ as the best and only food for us.
Brothers and sisters, do not look for any other sources of life. Nothing else can ever satisfy our soul. The best One has already been given to us. It is always available to us. We can eat Him as much and as frequently as we want. Whether we eat it or not absolutely is our choice. Let's come to Him and eat Him today!

Additionally, we can see that the very first commandment was not about working at all. God had already planted all the trees for them. It was about eating. All they needed to do was come to eat! It was about coming to Christ, and enjoying Him forever!
Our life in this world is so hard. We face so many troubles each day. But whenever we are troubled, don't forget that we can always enjoy Him. Instead of cooking and eating some food, let's come to Christ, and enjoy eating Him!

We are called to eat Christ MORE each day.

Overnutrition is a major problem affecting millions of people around the world and contributing to many major cardiovascular diseases. Most people are likely to eat too much. Therefore we should control ourselves not to eat too much.
However, concerning the spiritual food, we can never eat too much. There is no spiritual overnutrition. Therefore we do not have to worry that we are going to eat Christ too much. We are to feel hungry all the time, so that we will come to Him and eat Him all the time. And the more we eat, the more blessed and satisfied we will be.

For He satisfies the longing soul, And fills the hungry soul with goodness. (Psalm 107:9 NKJV)

This is the key to receive more blessings from God. We must be hungry!
I was not sure what the sound of British cows' cry was. I searched for the answer, and it was likely that they cried "Moo." Thai cows cry a bit differently. They cry "MORE." Let's be like Thai cows! Let's cry "MORE" to the Lord. More Christ. More life. More joy. More blessings. (I got this idea from Reverend Kajorn, a Thai preacher who came to preach at the camp of the Network of Thai Christians in UK in the year 2013. The idea is applied here without permission.)
It is noteworthy that being dissatisfied and being hungry are not the same. The former does not always cause people to come to God, while the latter always motivates them to come to Him and be filled with His goodness.
Brother Watchman Nee writes about Miss Barber, his spiritual mentor, as a good example.

Miss Barber [this writer's spiritual mentor] used to tell others that from her youth through her old age she had an eternal hunger for God. She told others that whenever her eyes were not set on the Lord, she would not feel hungry. But whenever her eyes were set on the Lord, she would be continually hungry before the Lord. She was hungry continually, and the Lord filled her continually.

Let's be like Miss Barber who continually hungered before the Lord, and continually filled by Him!

Principle of life

The two trees in the garden of Eden also tell us how to live. God commanded the man not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If he did so, he would die. Did God not want man to have knowledge? Was the knowledge of good and evil not good? By no means! Knowledge is good. But life is the best! And God does not want us to choose the good thing. He wants us to get the best one!
The two trees suggest the 2 principles of Christian living: principle of life, and principle of knowledge of right and wrong.
Many Christians are living according to the principle of knowledge of right and wrong. They classify things as either right or wrong. They judge everything according to the law. They try to be good Christians by doing only the good things and avoiding doing the bad things. Is this a good way to live? Of course, it is not bad. It makes people become good, according to the world's standard. But is it the way God wants us to live? No!
Christianity is not a religion. It is not about what to do and what not to do. The bible does not mainly teach us whether something is right or wrong. On the contrary, Christianity is all about our relationship with God, the only source of life. It is all about life! It is about our inward life, which has been given by God. God's sanctifying works in us are from the inside out, not the outside in!
What is the difference between the two principles?
To walk according to the principle of the knowledge of right and wrong, we exercise our soul, which consists of mind, will and emotion. We use our brain to judge everything. It can never give us true peace and joy. Outwardly, we may be happy that we are doing the right thing. But inwardly, we may sense that something is wrong.
In contrast, to walk according to the principle of life, we exercise our spirit, the organ we use to contact God. This makes us different from those who do not know God. When it comes to making a decision what to do, the question is no more whether the thing is right or wrong based on human criticism and opinion. The only question we are going to ask is whether this decision comes from our inward life or from our rationalisation!
Of course, we should not do bad things, should we? It is not difficult to discern between the good and the bad. But it is often hard to discern between the good and the best. Not all good things are the things God wants us to do. God wants us to do only the best things. And we can know what the best is only by having an intimate relationship with God, by which our inner life will be strengthened.

Further reading

• The Holy Word for Morning Revival: Crystallization-Study of Genesis, week 6.

• Emanna for 09/27/2013: http://steward.emanna.com/todaysemanna.cfm?readingdate=09/27/2013.

• Basic Elements of the Christian Life volume 3, Witness Lee & Watchman Nee, chapter 1: "Two Principles of Living - The Principle of Life or The Principle of Right and Wrong".

Thirayost Nimmanon (Tony)