Dear People Who Keep Company With God,
One of the most profound visions I have experienced occurred on a Sunday morning during worship several years ago. I saw Christ on the cross dead. He was truly as Isaiah said, “His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness” (Is. 52:14).
I then saw the Roman spear appear and stab Him in the side. His blood and water flowed freely from the wound (John 19:34). I heard a voice declare, “The headwaters of the River of Life was released into the earth that day.” The Scriptures testify of this, “And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb.” (Rev. 22:1)
A couple of years later the River of Life tangibly manifested in our church! It was transforming. It was the single most fruitful thing that has ever happened to our church body. I am thankful The Lord gave me the vision before the River showed up. I may have been offended by it as some were, but by the grace of God I jumped head first into the River and my way of thinking has been coming into alignment with the will of God since that time. God is in the midst of the River (Psalm 46:5). The River is the Holy Spirit (John 7:37-39).
The River of Life has never stopped impacting me. Sure the manifestation is different now as it well should be. Today, instead of looking for the River in a particular place or way, I have learned to become a carrier of the River and am learning to release it. Now, all these years later I sense the Holy Spirit drawing me back to the headwaters of the River, His side. I hear Him saying, “For those who are willing to come away with Me I will draw you to My side and from My side, from this place of closeness, I will surely reveal Myself to you. There are many mysteries concerning Me and My ways that are yet to be revealed.”
God is going to further unveil the mystery of Christ (Eph. 3:4). For way too long there has been an exhalation of doctrine, theology or enlightenment above the Person of Christ. Don’t get me wrong I highly value all three of those and I especially love spiritual enlightenment or revelation, but if it does not lead me to Him then I don’t want anything to do with it. All spirituality outside of Christ is nothing more than another religious dogma on its best days. Doctrine, theology and revelation are not an end in them self, rather, they are to serve us by leading us to Christ.
Another mystery God is going to unveil is Christ and the church (Eph. 5:32). First, let me say the church has issues and some really terrible and serious ones, but it is God’s plan for the earth from the beginning. It was from His side that God the Father created the church, as he created Eve from the side of Adam. Moses gives a picture of this when he tells the story of the creation of man and Adam proclaims, “Bone from my bones and flesh from my flesh!” (Gen. 2:23)
As God took a rib from Adam’s side to create a woman, so Christ has given us blood and water from his side to create the church. God took the rib when Adam was in a deep sleep, and in the same way Christ gave us the blood and the water while He was in a deep sleep, His own death.
These revelations of Christ both as the Lamb who came to take away sin and as the Bridegroom who came that He might have the bride (John 1:29; 3:29) will radically transform the church.
Many Blessings, BW