The Everlasting Covenant

Eden here Below

Mark that expression, “Thou shalt make them drink of the river of Thy pleasures.” The Hebrew word rendered “pleasure” is Eden. Eden means pleasure, or delight. The garden of Eden is the garden of delight. So the text really says that those who dwell in the secret place of God, abiding under the shadow of the Almighty, shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of His house, and shall drink of the river of Eden, which is the river of the life of God. EVCO 279.1

This is the portion of believers even now; and we may know it as surely as the Israelites drank water from the rock, or we live day by day from the bounties of His hand. Even now by faith we may refresh our souls by drinking from the river of the water of life, and eating of “the hidden manna.” We may eat and drink righteousness by eating and drinking the flesh and blood of the Son of God. EVCO 279.2

“River of God, I greet thee,
Not now afar, but near;
My soul to thy still waters EVCO 279.3

Hastes in its thirstings here; Holy River, Let me ever Drink of only thee” Multiplying the Stream of Life. EVCO 279.4

But God blesses men only that they may in turn be a blessing to others. To Abraham God said, “I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing;” and even so it is to be with all his seed. So we read again the words of Christ, which may be fulfilled to us to-day, and every day if we but believe them:— EVCO 279.5

“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. But this He spake of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive.” ¹ EVCO 280.1

As Christ was the temple of God, and His heart God’s throne, so we are the temples of God, that He should dwell in us. But God cannot be confined. The Holy Spirit cannot be hermetically sealed up in the heart. If He is there His glory will shine forth. If the water of life is in the soul it will flow out to others. As God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, so He takes up His abode in His true believers, putting into them the word of reconciliation, making them His representatives in Christ’s stead to reconcile men to Himself. To His adopted sons is the wonderful privilege given of sharing the work of His only begotten Son. Like Him they may also become ministers of the Spirit; not merely ministers sent forth by the Spirit, but those who shall minister the Spirit. Thus as we become the dwelling-places of God, to reproduce Christ again before the world, and living streams flow from us to refresh the faint and weary, heaven is revealed on earth. EVCO 280.2

This is the lesson that God wished the Israelites to learn at the waters of Meribah, and it is what He is still patiently endeavoring to teach us, even though we like them have murmured and rebelled. Shall we not learn it now? “Happy is the people that is in such a case; yea, happy is the people whose God is the Lord.” EVCO 280.3