Fall
1993
Finding the True Fountain
of Life
Seeley Kinne
Contact the Lord and you will become like Him. The closer
the contact, the more you partake of His nature. He is such
a fountain of life that He imparts life to all who approach
Him. This imparting power is in Jesus Christ.
"Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you"
James 4:8a.
"When He shall appear (draw nigh), we shall be like
Him;
for we shall see Him as He is" I John 3:2b.
There are varying degrees of fellowship and experience with
God, as is taught by many Scriptural illustrations, such as
the Outer Court, the Holy Place, and the Holy of Holies in
the Tabernacle; the High Priest, the Priests, and the Levities
in Israel; the three within the twelve disciples; the thirty-sixty-hundred
fold.
"But in a great house there are not only vessels of
gold
and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some
to honour, and some to dishonour" II Tim 2:20.
The Kingdom of God is indeed a great house, in which are
many vessels varying in quality, capacity, rank, and order.
Our placement in His Kingdom requires of us an extensive and
particular course of preparation. A part of this is the development
within us of a quality prophetic capacity.
Prophecy is the utterance of one who has developed this prophetic
quality; one who partakes of God, of His Divine nature; eats
the flesh and drinks the blood of Christ, the true bread of
God.
True prophecy is God speaking by the mouth of man, yet it
is more than that.
"The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit,
and they
are life" John 6:63.
The prophetic word is spirit words which are brought down
to the human level to become words of life to the hearer.
"For the Kingdom of God is not in word, but in power"
I Cor 4:20.
"And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing
words
of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of
power" I Cor 2:4.
To merely speak the words of Divine truth apart from an experiential
knowledge of them is to be as a Pharisee, of whom Jesus said,
"They say and do not." The Words of the Almighty
are full of life and power. Christ has nothing in common with
Pharisees.
For the Son of God to become the Saviour of men, He first
became the man Jesus Christ: a babe in a manger, a boy in
the temple, a man from Nazareth who was a carpenter, baptized
of John. He received witness of His Father from Heaven through
a voice saying, "This is My beloved Son in whom I am
well pleased, "with the Holy Spirit, in the form of a
dove, descended upon Him. One would suppose that His ministry
would begin at once, but instead, "Jesus was led by the
Spirit into the wilderness, being forty days tempted of the
devil."
Jesus must know the vicissitudes and sufferings of man with
the various attacks, insinuations, and temptations of Satan,
so malicious and painful.
"For we have not an High Priest which cannot be touched
with
the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted
like as we are, yet without sin" Heb 4:15.
Not only did Christ personally meet and vanquish Satan, but
He dwelt among the people. He met and shared their temptations,
trials, problems, and sufferings. He ate with the publicans
and sinners. He was too familiar with the common people to
suit the religious leaders of that time. They had theories
to promulgate, but He had spirit, life, and power to impart.
And He came to know, not by observation, but by experience,
our afflictions and heartaches, that He might become a merciful
and faithful High Priest.
When Jesus spoke, it was the anointed prophetic word, gracious,
full of spirit, life, and power. The dead came to life, lepers
were cleansed, the lame leaped, the blind saw, and life sprang
up wherever His Word came. For He not only spoke the Word,
He had compassion. He felt, He knew, He experienced and lived
in the life of the articulated Word. This is the mystery -
That Jesus not only spoke the Word, He was the Word. John
1:1-5.
Jesus said, "I proceeded forth and came from God"
John 8:42. He proceeded as the living Word from the Father,
and came forth into the world as a Messenger sent by the Father.
This procession of the Word, from the Father through the
Son, is a most profound mystery; and can be rightly understood
only as God reveals it. That same infinite power that is in
God the Almighty Father, and in Christ the Almighty Son, is
in their spoken proceeding Word. Nothing of it can fail. "Forever,
O Lord, Thy Word is settled in Heaven" Psalms 119:89.
And so of Jesus, the God-man, not only does the fullness
of the Godhead dwell bodily in Him, but the fullness of man
also. Jesus not only knew us by our creation; by observation
and discernment, but He participated in our thoughts and feelings,
partook of our human (un-fallen) nature, and became a sharer
in our joys and sorrows, our pleasures and pains, and all
our vicissitudes: a merciful and faithful High Priest, in
all points tempted and tried, yet without sin.
We then are to become His ministers and share the eternal
Word in its speaking forth. This procession, or coming forth
of the Word does not end with the Son; but the "Word
of God was preached of Paul," the early Church, and onward
through us. Acts 17:13, 19:20.
He who proclaims the Word of God must first partake thereof
himself; he must eat the book. "The husbandman must first
be partaker of the fruit." He cannot speak the Word mechanically
as a mere machine, like Balaam's dumb ass. He first shall
enter into its fellowship, and experience its meaning and
life. This is a living essential truth which lies at the foundation
of the prophetic Word of God. It cannot be evaded without
our becoming pharisaical.
"Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all
wisdom" Col 3:16a.
"In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus
stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him
come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me,
as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall
flow rivers of living water" John 7:37-38.
To become a co-worker with the Lord in dispensing the quickened,
anointed Word of God is a most exalted ministry. But it requires
being a partaker of the Word before one can become a dispenser
thereof.
Natural water carries in solution the elements of food. The
water-of-life is the Spirit of Christ carrying the Word of
God, His words and gifts. One who is prophetic becomes a dispenser
of this living Word, and its miracle effects.