Then he brought me back to the door of the house; and behold, water was flowing from under the threshold of the house toward the east, for the house faced east. And the water was flowing down from under, from the right side of the house, from south of the altar.
— Ezekiel 47:1
The divine stream also is shown as flowing out from under the threshold. The threshold separates what is inside from what is outside. I remember as a small child in China having to step over the threshold as I entered or left our home. The threshold represents the dividing line that must be passed before something can go in or out of the building. In this picture, it stands for the standard of the dividing line that separates what is of the world from what is of Christ. The higher the threshold, the richer the flow that issues forth. That is, the higher the standard in the church life and the firmer our stand for Christ, the higher and richer will be the experience of the flow of life in our locality. If our standard in the church life is low, however, our enjoyment of Christ’s riches will likewise be limited.
For instance, if our church life mainly consists of people attending the Lord’s Day meeting, the flow of the divine life will not be that rich. If, on the contrary, the saints in a locality are consecrated to Christ and are pursuing Him together, the flow of Christ will be rich among them. If in the church life the high humanity of Christ is manifested, surely the flow of life will also be evident. If, however, the church life has little or no threshold, so that the world easily enters in among the saints, then little flow of life can be expected. The higher the standard in the church life, the higher and richer will be the stream of life that issues forth among the saints.
Adapted from The Reality of the Divine Stream, page 37.
Tomorrow: “True Consecration”