Tag Archives: Rivers of living water

JOHN’S GOSPEL…LIVING WATER- 13a

Bible Study, ,

“On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.”

‭‭John‬ ‭7‬:‭37‬-‭39‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Another beautiful symbol of the Holy Spirit in Scripture… a river. No one and nothing on earth can survive without water. Just as “bread” is a symbol of that which sustains life…”bread is the staff of life”, so water completes the picture of what is utterly necessary for every living thing. 

The greatest tragedy of Adam’s disobedience was the loss of the life-giving Spirit. He could no longer indwell a heart polluted with sin. When the Holy Spirit left Adam, He left behind an empty shell. Adam was physically alive but spiritually dead, and he passed on this condition to the whole human race. 

What did God’s people think when John the Baptiser made this announcement? Did they even recognise the significance and implication of this promise?

“Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’”

‭‭John‬ ‭1‬:‭32‬-‭33‬ ‭NIV‬‬

The entire history of Israel was one of failure…no Spirit, no power to obey. Only rebellion! Failure brought judgment, punishment, exile, suffering, and eventually, occupation by the hated Romans. They were slaves of sin and had no hope of deliverance outside of God’s intervention…

…Then came John…with a promise! The Holy Spirit is coming back…not just on special people for special tasks, like on Samson, or on Gideon! On everyone! Not just a trickle but a river! A perennial flow of the life-giving Spirit…now, through Jesus, if we believe in Him. 

At the conclusion of the Feast of Tabernacles, the high priest performed a ritual that ironically pictured a system that could never slake anyone’s thirst for real life. He poured water onto the dry ground, to be swallowed up in the dust, producing nothing…By contrast, Jesus offered water that would satisfy and keep flowing from within forever. 

“Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” 

The people of Israel understood the imagery. God had often spoken of Himself as a “fountain of living water.” Israel was cursed because they had chosen to drink water from a polluted fountain. 

“Lord, you are the hope of Israel; all who forsake you will be put to shame. Those who turn away from you will be written in the dust because they have forsaken the Lord, the spring of living water.”

‭‭Jeremiah 17‬:‭13‬ ‭NIV‬‬

God’s people today have been robbed by a terrible lie that teaches that we need a special and separate “baptism” in the Holy Spirit to enjoy the benefits of the Spirit’s presence in us. This teaching contradicts Paul’s words…

“Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.”

‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭12‬:‭12‬-‭13‬ ‭NIV‬‬

What can be clearer than this? “All”, meaning “all”, used three times, emphasises that everyone who believes enjoys the fulness of the Holy Spirit, not only those who have a “special anointing” or a separate “baptism”.  The Holy Spirit is not divided into a little bit and later, ”fulness” after a separate “baptism”. 

Joel’s prophecy, quoted by Peter on the day of Pentecost, to explain the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, is an all-inclusive promise. 

“These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! “No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:” ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.”

‭‭Acts‬ ‭2‬:‭15‬-‭18‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Fellow believers, don’t be carried away by any “second blessing” deception. Jesus promised the fullness of the Holy Spirit to all who believe in Him. His presence and His power is for all who obey Him.  We need only drink and keep drinking from His fountain of truth. 

“Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭5‬:‭18‬-‭20‬ ‭NIV‬‬

This fountain keeps flowing as we keep praising Him and living for Him.  

“With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. In that day you will say: “Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted. Sing to the Lord, for he has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world. Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel among you.””

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭12‬:‭3‬-‭6‬ ‭NIV‬‬

To be continued…

FROM Ist JANUARY TO 31st DECEMBER 2020

Christian Life, ,

FROM Ist JANUARY TO 31st DECEMBER 2020

Covid 19 has come and gone, leaving behind for many, the memories of loved ones snatched away by the disease and for others a distant past of restrictions and inconveniences which finally came to an end. Covid is still around, knocking one down here and another there, but it’s not unseen the ogre that stalked the land for two years. So, we ask ourselves, what was that all about?

I wrote this musing at the end of the first year of the pandemic.

This is the last day of a very significant year in the history of the nations and in the church of the Lord Jesus at this time. I say this in faith because the biggest thing that has happened in this year is the global pandemic of Covid-19 which has affected every nation on earth. What has it meant for the church?

According to Paul, despite the way things appear…

“… God raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms. Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else—not only in this world but also in the world to come. God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made him head over all things for the benefit of the church.”

Ephesians 1:19-22 NLT

So, I believe that even this global catastrophe is part of the ALL THINGS over which Jesus is head and in control for the sake of the church.

The first day of 2020 began for me with the Holy Spirit giving me this cryptic message without any explanation… “Something big is going to happen this year.” I was left to wonder what the “something big” would be.

As the months went by, I began to understand what the big thing is, a global disease over which humans have no control, that has affected every person in every nation on earth.

However, although it has affected every person on earth in some way, God is using this disease in some way for the church, and eternity alone will reveal what its significance is for the church right now.

Where the first day of 2020 began with a message of gloom and warning, the last day began with the unfolding of a beautiful truth which not only explains my past but will also carry me to the end of my days.

I was looking for a picture which would vividly illustrate the final Scripture of my “Bible in a year” reading.

“Then the angel showed me a river with the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. It flowed down the center of the main street.”

Revelation 22:1 NLT

What a beautiful vision… the water of life flowing from the throne of God!

My thoughts turned to Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman who came to draw water at the well. What did Jesus see in this woman? Someone who was filthy with sexual lust? An adulteress who just couldn’t stop sinning? Did He accuse and condemn her for her sinful lifestyle?

No. He saw a thirsty woman who kept drinking water from the wrong fountain. She went from husband to husband, lover to lover, desperately longing to be truly loved, only to find that so-called human “love” failed to satisfy her thirst.

Jesus saw her, not as a sinner who had offended God but as a thirsty woman desperate to be loved. Her sin was the result of the quest for love that took her to the wrong fountain.

Let’s put it another way. When someone is sick, the disease or malfunction produces symptoms which are not the real problem. They are signs of the problem in one’s body. The doctor does not treat the symptoms. He looks for the problem that causes the symptoms which will go away when the problem is solved.

Likewise, sinful behaviour is not our real problem. What is it that results in sinful behaviour? We drink water from the wrong source!

Jeremiah penned God’s diagnosis when he wrote,

“For my people have done two evil things: They have abandoned me— the fountain of living water. And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all!”

Jeremiah 2:13 NLT

Now I understand why I have gone astray so many times in my life, producing guilt and shame but no solution to my thirst for love.

Jesus gave a life-changing promise to those who believe that He is the source of true, unfailing and eternal love…

“On the last day, the climax of the festival, Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds, “Anyone who is thirsty may come to me!  Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’”

John 7:37-38 NLT

Jesus is the only fountain of living water that satisfies. His love is freely given to those who come to Him and drink.

“I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love.”

John 15:9 NLT

When we fail to seek Him in every circumstance of our lives, forgetting that He is our source, we will try other fountains, only to discover that there is nothing outside of His love that can truly quench our thirst.

Our attitudes and behaviour will always reveal the fountain from which we are drinking.

So, at the beginning of 2021, let’s remind ourselves that Jesus is the fountain of living water. To navigate this year in peace and contentment, let’s keep ourselves in His love in every circumstance and let’s stay away from polluted fountains because they will never satisfy our thirst.

But you, dear friends, must build each other up in your most holy faith, pray in the power of the Holy Spirit, and await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will bring you eternal life. In this way, you will keep yourselves safe in God’s love.

Jude 1:20-21 NLT”

Despite Covid and all the unpleasantness and pain it caused, we who are forever joined by faith to Jesus, have this source of eternal love from which we can never be separated.

38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39