Water of Life

Water of Life

All blessings are to be found in Christ. God tells us very definitely in Ephesians that He has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ. In Romans we have the great promise that "He who spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also with him freely give us all things?" (Rom. 8:32).

Christ realized this very distinctly. He also knew that the world's entire need could be met only through Him; in fact, any portion of the world's need would go unmet if He were not the source of supply. This realization appears not only in His great declaration, "Without me ye can do nothing," but also in His general attitude toward the men and women with whom He had contact. We think of Him beside the well, talking to the Samaritan woman and telling her that her great need of the water of life could be met only in Him. In the most simple manner possible, He makes the startling announcement that He is the Messiah.

This announcement is made more majestically in the Gospel of John, when Jesus went up to the Feast of Tabernacles. We find in the seventh chapter that "About the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and taught," and in verse 37 we read, "In the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, 'If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.' "These words are most significant when we realize the details of the observance of the Feast of Tabernacles. The feast was commemorative of the wilderness march of the children of Israel and of their final entrance into the Promised Land. The feast lasted eight days. During the first seven days, water was drawn from the pool of Siloam, brought up to the temple area, and poured out. This was symbolic of the fact that Israel had drawn water from wells during the wilderness wanderings. On the eight day the water was brought, clear as crystal, from one of the springs of the city. This spring water was symbolic of the fact that after the wilderness march Israel had come into the Promised Land, drinking from springs that would never run dry as long as the people were faithful to God's covenant.

How significant then, that on the last day of the feast, when the source of water had been changed and wells had given way to springs, that Christ should have stood and cried so boldly before all Jerusalem, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, from the innermost being shall flow rivers of living waters."

We must also record the results of this declaration of our Lord, "There was a division among the people because of him." Strange but true. The presence of Christ reveals the true heart of man. Happy are those who learn to come to Him and drink.

1. If Christ is the sole provision for all things, what can we do to provide for ourselves? Are things we need that Christ cant provide for?
2. How can these passages help us be better stewards of the blessings Christ has given to us?