POSITIONED TO DRINK
First Corinthians 12:13 says, "For in one Spirit were we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and were all made to drink of one Spirit" (Gk.). Because we all have been baptized into one Body, we all have been made, or positioned, to drink of one Spirit. Not many Christians fully realize that we have been positioned to drink of the Spirit. We all have been positioned in the living, eternal fountain to drink of the one Spirit. Thus, we are the drinking people.
BACK TO DRINKING
Although you may be familiar with all these verses, my burden is that you daily and hourly experience drinking of the Lord. The Lord’s recovery is to bring you back to the drinking of God. Every day and all day we must drink of God. God, who is Spirit, is our drink. We should not worship Him in a religious way, but drink of Him in a living way. The genuine worship we render to God is our drinking of Him. The more we drink of Him, the more worship He receives from us. Whenever we come together, we should say, "Let us drink!" God is Spirit for us to drink.
BAPTIZED INTO THE NAME
OF THE TRIUNE GOD
Matthew 28:19 says, "Go therefore and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." This verse does not refer to a ritual; rather, it speaks of baptizing the believers into a name, which is the name of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. A name always denotes a person. For example, if I call a certain brother by name, the person himself responds. Thus, to be baptized into the name means to be baptized into the person, for the name is the person. According to this verse, the Person into whom we are baptized is the Person of the Triune God. The name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is the name of the Triune God. It is not merely the Father or the Son or the Spirit, but the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.
There is no human language adequate to describe the Triune God in full. The Father denotes the source, the Son denotes the course, and the Spirit denotes the flow. The flow is with the course, and the course is with the source. These three, the source, the course, and the flow, are one reality. The source is in the course, and the course is the flow, the Spirit. The Father is in the Son, and the Son is the Spirit. Thus, we have the source, the course, and the flow of the reality. To baptize the believers into the name of the Triune God means to baptize them into the Person of the divine source, the divine course, and the divine flow. In other words, to baptize believers into the name of the Triune God is to place them into the flow of the Triune God.
Before someone believes in the Lord, he has nothing to do with the Triune God; he has nothing to do with the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. But after a person believes in the Lord, we must exercise our faith to place him into the very reality of the Triune God. Today the reality of the Triune God is the flow of the Spirit with the course of the Son and the source of the Father. We baptize the believers into such a reality. This reality is a Person, and this Person is triune: the Father as the source, the Son as the course, and the Spirit as the flow. Proper baptism is to place the believers into the flow of the Triune God. When anyone is baptized into such a Person, he is both satisfied and excited. Now he is in the flow, and he is even carried away by the flow.
When we were saved and baptized, most of us did not hear such a rich gospel or have such a proper baptism. I expect that from now on the churches in the Lord’s recovery will preach a rich gospel and practice the proper baptism of placing people into the Person, the reality, of the Triune God, baptizing them into the Father as the source, the Son as the course, and the Spirit as the flow. In this way we put all the new converts into the flow of the Triune God. Are you in this flow? If you are, you should be able to say a strong, "Amen!" Because I am in this flow, I am sometimes beside myself with joy. I am in the flow of the Spirit with the course of the Son and the source of the Father. When I am in the Spirit, I have the Son; and when I have the Son, I have the Father. How wonderful! When we believe in the Son, we have the Father; and when we call, "O Lord Jesus," the Spirit comes, just as when we call a certain brother by name, the brother himself comes. Jesus is the name, and the Spirit is the Person. Therefore, when we call on the name of Jesus, the Spirit comes. Therefore, we have all three of the Triune God: the Father, the source; the Son, the course; and the Spirit, the flow. We are people in the flow of the Triune God. We should not understand this merely in a doctrinal way, but in the way of experience.
(The Spirit and the Body, Chapter 2, by Witness Lee)
