The eternal purpose of God is to mingle Himself with humanity. He is working toward this one thing today. This oneness is not simply a joining or a uniting together; it is far more than this. It is a mingling together, a blending together, which is much deeper. It is a mingling of the divine nature with the human nature until they become one. The entire Scripture is concerned with this one basic and central matter, that of God mingling Himself with us.
We must now ask, How will God accomplish this? It is clearly revealed in the Word that in order for God to do this, He must come into us. When God becomes our life, He will automatically be mingled with us.
How can God come into us as our life? This is divine and quite mysterious. Not only with the divine life, but also with human life there is an element of mystery. If asked, What is life? one would find it difficult to define. In the Scripture God uses a figure to describe how He could be life to us. This figure is a stream of water. He comes into us to be our life just as a stream of water flowing out and flowing in, flowing out from heaven and flowing into us. I think it is easy to understand how this flowing stream can come into us. We simply drink of it. God Himself is the stream of the water of life. God flows out of heaven onto this earth, and flows into you and me.
Is there a stream of God flowing within you today? There is a stream within me which is always flowing. Sometimes when I wish to sleep, this stream stirs me. I say, "Lord, I would like to rest; I’m tired"; but this stream flowing within does not agree. It gives me the impression: "You are tired, but I am not tired. I am still flowing, and My flowing will strengthen you." There is a stream continually flowing. Oh, brothers and sisters, do you have the flowing?
We have seen that after man was created he was put before a tree called the "tree of life." By the side of the tree of life there was a river, and by the flowing of this river there were some precious materials: gold, pearl, and onyx stone. What is the meaning of these items? They are most significant. Remember that this is in the second chapter of the whole of Scripture. At the end of Scripture, we find the same things again in the last two chapters. There we see a city made of gold, pearls, and precious stones, the same kind of materials listed in Genesis chapter two. There we also see a river flowing, and in its midst grows the tree of life. Here you have the river and the tree of life once more.
How many times throughout the Scriptures God is spoken of as a flowing stream of water! "Thou wilt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures. For with thee is the fountain of life..." (Psa. 36:8-9). The Lord Jesus tells us that the water that He gives will become a fountain of living water springing up unto eternal life (John 4:14). He says again that whoever is thirsty may come to Him and drink, and whoever believes on Him will have rivers of living water flowing from within him (John 7:37-38). All these words relate to one thing—that God has flowed out and is still flowing on this earth into humanity as the life. We may ask, In what form has God flowed out? He has flowed out first in His Son, in Christ; and then He has flowed out as the Spirit. God is the spring, the very source; Christ the Son is the fountain, the reservoir, of this divine water; and the Holy Spirit is the living stream, flowing all the time.
(The Divine Stream, Chapter 1, by Witness Lee)