The Crystal-Clear Stream

“And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.” Rev. 22:1-2.

This is the effect the word of God has on those who long for salvation. It continuously bears fruit and brings life and spiritual healing. The sharp, clear word that is preached enables us to see ourselves, and thereby leads us from darkness into light. The word brings need and poverty and leads us into working on our salvation. We can clearly sense this crystal-clear stream flowing through our gatherings and meetings. I thank God for that with all my heart. It is this sharp preaching that divides and separates and discerns the thoughts and intents of the heart. My own human thoughts are brought to light and judged, and God’s thoughts stream like sunlight into our hearts and minds. This in turn leads to a deepening of a noble, genuine, and warm brotherhood, and we are bound ever more closely together by eternal, unbreakable bonds. “’Twill make you free, and happy you will be.” WotL 365.

We sense this clear stream flowing through the center of our fellowship, right where we find the heartbeat of the church. That is why it must be a matter of life and death that we stay as close to this clear stream as possible. Our relationship with this noble brotherhood must be sincere, warm, intimate, and trusting. There we encounter the fire of humility, which consumes my own grandiose, conceited thoughts, my soulish thoughts, my own opinions, my stubbornness, my religious ideas, and so on. It is these thoughts that lead me away from God and onto the way of wickedness.

David, that humble, sincere, and God-fearing man, was also aware of the potential within his flesh and soul to go astray. In Ps. 139:23-24, he writes: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

His greatest need was to be kept from the wicked way, which lies much closer than we think. It was his great sincerity and anguish of heart that led to the prayer we read about in Psalm 16. “Preserve me, O God, for in You I put my trust. O my soul, you have said to the Lord, ‘You are my Lord, my goodness is nothing apart from You.’ As for the saints who are on the earth, ‘They are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight.’”

May it be this way for all of us, that it is a matter of life and death for us to keep close to the saints who are on the earth, and that we truly regard them as the excellent ones, in whom is all our delight. Then we will be preserved on the way everlasting. It is in this noble brotherhood that the Lord has commanded the blessing and life forevermore. That is where I want to remain forever.