Message Eight

Drawing Water with Rejoicing
from the Springs of Salvation

Scripture Reading: Isa. 12:1-6
Jer. 2:13; Exo. 17:6; Num. 20:8; John 4:10, 14b

Isa. 12:1-6 And you will say in that day, / I will praise You, O Jehovah. You were angry with me, / But Your anger has turned and You have consoled me. ²God is now my salvation; / I will trust and not dread; / For Jah Jehovah is my strength and song, / And He has become my salvation. ³Therefore you will draw water with rejoicing / From the springs of salvation, ⁴And you will say in that day, / Give thanks to Jehovah; call upon His name! / Make His deeds known among the peoples; / Remind them that His name is exalted. ⁵Sing psalms to Jehovah, for He has done something majestic! / Let it be made known in all the earth! ⁶Cry out and give a ringing shout, O inhabitant of Zion, / For great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.

Jer. 2:13 For My people have committed two evils: / They have forsaken Me, / The fountain of living waters, / To hew out for themselves cisterns, / Broken cisterns, / Which hold no water.

Exo. 17:6 I will be standing before you there upon the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it so that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.

Num. 20:8 Take the rod, and gather the assembly, you and Aaron your brother, and speak to the rock before their eyes, so that it yields its water. Thus you shall bring forth water for them out of the rock and give the assembly and their livestock something to drink.

John 4:10 Jesus answered and said to her, If you knew the gift of God and who it is who says to you, Give Me a drink, you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.

John 4:14b the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into eternal life.

I. God’s intention in His economy is to be the fountain, the source, of living waters to dispense Himself into His chosen people for their satisfaction and enjoyment—Jer. 2:13; Psa. 36:8-9: Isa. 12:1-6:

Jer. 2:13 For My people have committed two evils: / They have forsaken Me, / The fountain of living waters, / To hew out for themselves cisterns, / Broken cisterns, / Which hold no water.

Psa. 36:8 They are saturated with the fatness of Your house, / And You cause them to drink of the river of Your pleasures.

Psa. 36:9 For with You is the fountain of life; / In Your light we see light.

A. The goal of this enjoyment is to produce the church, God’s counterpart, as God’s increase, God’s enlargement, to be God’s fullness for His expression (John 3:29-30; Eph. 3:16-19, 21); this is the heart’s desire, the good pleasure, of God in His economy (1:5, 9; 3:9-11).

John 3:29-30 He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices with joy because of the bridegroom’s voice. This joy of mine therefore is made full. ³⁰He must increase, but I must decrease.

Eph. 3:16-19 That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit into the inner man, ¹⁷That Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, ¹⁸May be full of strength to apprehend with all the saints what the breadth and length and height and depth are ¹⁹And to know the knowledge-surpassing love of Christ, that you may be filled unto all the fullness of God.

Eph. 3:21 To Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus unto all the generations forever and ever. Amen.

Eph. 1:5 Predestinating us unto sonship through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,

Eph. 1:9 Making known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Himself,

Eph. 3:9-11 And to enlighten all that they may see what the economy of the mystery is, which throughout the ages has been hidden in God, who created all things, ¹⁰In order that now to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenlies the multifarious wisdom of God might be made known through the church, ¹¹According to the eternal purpose which He made in Christ Jesus our Lord,

B. John 4:14b reveals a flowing Triune God—the Father is the fountain, the Son is the spring, and the Spirit is the flowing river, issuing in the totality of the eternal life, the New Jerusalem as the goal of God’s eternal economy.

John 4:14b the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into eternal life.

II. We need to realize that whenever God’s people are short of the Spirit of life as the water of life, they will have problems; when God’s people have an abundance of the saving Spirit as the living water, their problems among themselves and with God are solved—Exo. 17:1-7; Num. 20:2-13:

Exo. 17:1-7 And all the assembly of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin by their stages according to the command of Jehovah and encamped in Rephidim, and there was no water for the people to drink. ²Therefore the people contended with Moses and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said to them, Why are you contending with me? Why do you test Jehovah? ³So the people thirsted there for water, and the people murmured against Moses and said, For what reason did you bring us up out of Egypt; to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst? ⁴So Moses cried out to Jehovah, saying, What shall I do with this people? A little more, and they will stone me. ⁵And Jehovah said to Moses, Pass on before the people, and take with you some of the elders of Israel; and take in your hand your staff with which you struck the River, and go. ⁶I will be standing before you there upon the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it so that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. ⁷And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the contention of the children of Israel and because they tested Jehovah, saying, Is Jehovah among us or not?

Num. 20:2-13 And there was no water for the assembly, and they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. ³And the people contended with Moses and spoke, saying, If only we had expired when our brothers expired before Jehovah! ⁴Why then have you brought the congregation of Jehovah into this wilderness for us and our livestock to die there? ⁵Why then did you bring us up out of Egypt, to bring us to this wretched place? It is not a place of grain or figs or vines or pomegranates, and there is not even water to drink. ⁶And Moses and Aaron went from before the congregation to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting and fell upon their faces, and the glory of Jehovah appeared to them. ⁷Then Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ⁸Take the rod, and gather the assembly, you and Aaron your brother, and speak to the rock before their eyes, so that it yields its water. Thus you shall bring forth water for them out of the rock and give the assembly and their livestock something to drink. ⁹And Moses took the rod from before Jehovah, as He had commanded him. ¹⁰And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said to them, Listen now, you rebels: Shall we bring forth water for you out of this rock? ¹¹Then Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his rod twice; and abundant water came forth, and the assembly and their livestock drank. ¹²And Jehovah said to Moses and Aaron, Because you did not believe in Me, to sanctify Me in the sight of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them. ¹³These are the waters of Meribah, where the children of Israel contended with Jehovah, and He was sanctified among them.

A. Through incarnation Christ came to earth as the rock; on the cross He was smitten by the authority of God’s righteous law to accomplish God’s redemption, and out of His pierced side flowed blood and water—Exo. 17:6; 1 Cor. 10:4; John 19:34:

Exo. 17:6 I will be standing before you there upon the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it so that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.

1 Cor. 10:4 And all drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank of a spiritual rock which followed them, and the rock was Christ.

John 19:34 But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately there came out blood and water.

1. The blood for our judicial redemption saves us from the guilt of sin, and the water of life in resurrection for our organic salvation saves us from the power of sin—Gen. 2:21-22; Zech. 13:1; Psa. 36:8-9; Rev. 21:6; Hymns, #1058, stanza 1.

Gen. 2:21-22 And Jehovah God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh in its place. ²²And Jehovah God built the rib, which He had taken from the man, into a woman and brought her to the man.

Zech. 13:1 In that day there will be an opened fountain for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for impurity.

Psa. 36:8-9 They are saturated with the fatness of Your house, / And You cause them to drink of the river of Your pleasures. ⁹For with You is the fountain of life; / In Your light we see light.

Rev. 21:6 And He said to me, They have come to pass. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give to him who thirsts from the spring of the water of life freely.

2. His side was pierced, and living water flowed out for God’s people to drink; this living water is the water of life in resurrection—the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit as the ultimate issue of the Triune God.

B. Since Christ has been crucified and the Spirit has been given, there is no need for Christ to be crucified again, that is, no need to strike the rock again, that the living water may flow; to receive the living water from the crucified Christ, we need only to “take the rod” and “speak to the rock”—Num. 20:8:

1. To take the rod is to identify with Christ in His death and apply the death of Christ to ourselves and our situation.

2. To speak to the rock is to speak a direct word to Christ as the smitten rock, asking Him to give us the Spirit of life (cf. John 4:10; Luke 11:13) based on the fact that the Spirit has already been given.

John 4:10 Jesus answered and said to her, If you knew the gift of God and who it is who says to you, Give Me a drink, you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.

Luke 11:13 If you then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father who is from heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!

3. If we apply the death of Christ to ourselves and ask Christ in faith to give us the Spirit, we will receive the living Spirit as the bountiful supply of life—Phil. 1:19.

Phil. 1:19 For I know that for me this will turn out to salvation through your petition and the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,

C. In being angry with the people and in wrongly striking the rock twice, Moses failed to sanctify God; in being angry when God was not angry, Moses did not represent God rightly in His holy nature, and in striking the rock twice, he did not keep God’s word in His economy—Num. 20:7-11.

Num. 20:7-11 Then Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ⁸Take the rod, and gather the assembly, you and Aaron your brother, and speak to the rock before their eyes, so that it yields its water. Thus you shall bring forth water for them out of the rock and give the assembly and their livestock something to drink. ⁹And Moses took the rod from before Jehovah, as He had commanded him. ¹⁰And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said to them, Listen now, you rebels: Shall we bring forth water for you out of this rock? ¹¹Then Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his rod twice; and abundant water came forth, and the assembly and their livestock drank.

D. In all that we say and do concerning God’s people, our attitude must be according to God’s holy nature, and our actions must be according to His divine economy; this is to sanctify Him; otherwise, in our words and deeds we will rebel against Him and offend Him—vv. 12, 24; 27:14.

Num. 20:12 And Jehovah said to Moses and Aaron, Because you did not believe in Me, to sanctify Me in the sight of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.

Num. 20:24 Aaron shall be gathered to his people, for he shall not enter into the land which I have given to the children of Israel, because you rebelled against My word at the waters of Meribah.

Num. 27:14 Because you rebelled against My word in the wilderness of Zin, in the strife of the assembly, and failed to sanctify Me at the waters before their eyes. (These are the waters of Meribah-kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin.)

E. We need to realize that what God’s people need when they have problems is God’s practical salvation—the processed Triune God Himself as the living water.

III. “Therefore you will draw water with rejoicing / From the springs of salvation”—Isa. 12:3:

Isa. 12:3 Therefore you will draw water with rejoicing / From the springs of salvation,

A. We need to know the difference between the words fountain and springs:

1. The fountain is the source, the springs are the issue of the source, and the river is the flow.

2. In the Bible a spring signifies life that flows out of God in resurrection into His chosen people—Exo. 15:27; Rev. 7:17; 21:6.

Exo. 15:27 And they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees; and they encamped there by the waters.

Rev. 7:17 For the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and guide them to springs of waters of life; and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

Rev. 21:6 And He said to me, They have come to pass. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give to him who thirsts from the spring of the water of life freely.

3. The term the springs of salvation implies that salvation is the source:

a. The source of the springs of salvation is a fountain, and that fountain is salvation.

b. The springs, which are Christ, issue out of the fountain and become the rivers, which are the Spirit—John 4:14b; 7:37-39.

John 4:14b the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into eternal life.

John 7:37-39 Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. ³⁸He who believes into Me, as the Scripture said, out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water. ³⁹But this He said concerning the Spirit, whom those who believed into Him were about to receive; for the Spirit was not yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified.

B. The processed Triune God is the fountain, the springs, and the river of water of life; God as our salvation is the fountain, Christ is the springs of salvation for our experience and enjoyment, and the Spirit is the flow of this salvation within us.

C. To receive the Lord as our salvation is to draw water from the springs of salvation; when this water enters into us, it permeates our entire being, it passes through our being, it is assimilated by us, and it even becomes us—Isa. 12:3; John 4:10, 14b.

Isa. 12:3 Therefore you will draw water with rejoicing / From the springs of salvation,

John 4:10 Jesus answered and said to her, If you knew the gift of God and who it is who says to you, Give Me a drink, you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.

John 4:14b the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into eternal life.

IV. As believers in Christ, we need to see how to draw water from the springs of salvation in order to drink and flow the water of life—Isa. 12:3-6; Psa. 46:4; John 7:37-39; Prov. 11:25:

Isa. 12:3-6 Therefore you will draw water with rejoicing / From the springs of salvation, ⁴And you will say in that day, / Give thanks to Jehovah; call upon His name! / Make His deeds known among the peoples; / Remind them that His name is exalted. ⁵Sing psalms to Jehovah, for He has done something majestic! / Let it be made known in all the earth! ⁶Cry out and give a ringing shout, O inhabitant of Zion, / For great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.

Psa. 46:4 There is a river whose streams gladden the city of God, / The holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High.

Prov. 11:25 The blessing soul will prosper, / And he who waters will also be watered himself.

A. We have been positioned to drink one Spirit—1 Cor. 12:13.

1 Cor. 12:13 For also in one Spirit we were all baptized into one Body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and were all given to drink one Spirit.

B. To drink the water of life, there is the need of thirst—Exo. 17:3a; Psa. 42:1; John 7:37; Rev. 21:6.

Exo. 17:3a So the people thirsted there for water

Psa. 42:1 As the hart pants / After the streams of water, / So my soul pants / For You, O God.

John 7:37 Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.

Rev. 21:6 And He said to me, They have come to pass. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give to him who thirsts from the spring of the water of life freely.

C. We need to come to the Lord—John 7:37; Rev. 22:17.

John 7:37 Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.

Rev. 22:17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come! And let him who hears say, Come! And let him who is thirsty come; let him who wills take the water of life freely.

D. We need to ask the Lord to give us the living water—John 4:10; 7:37; Rev. 22:17.

John 4:10 Jesus answered and said to her, If you knew the gift of God and who it is who says to you, Give Me a drink, you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.

John 7:37 Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.

Rev. 22:17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come! And let him who hears say, Come! And let him who is thirsty come; let him who wills take the water of life freely.

E. We need to contact God the Spirit in our human spirit and in truthfulness—John 4:23-24.

John 4:23-24 But an hour is coming, and it is now, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truthfulness, for the Father also seeks such to worship Him. ²⁴God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truthfulness.

F. We need to believe into the Lord—7:38.

John 7:38 He who believes into Me, as the Scripture said, out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.

G. We need to draw water with rejoicing from the springs of salvation by speaking to the Lord, by the Lord, for the Lord, in the Lord, and with the Lord—Isa. 12:3-6:

1. We need to practice speaking with the Lord constantly—Num. 20:8; Phil. 4:6-7, 12; cf. Hymns, #255.

Phil. 4:6-7 In nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; ⁷And the peace of God, which surpasses every man’s understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus.

Phil. 4:12 I know also how to be abased, and I know how to abound; in everything and in all things I have learned the secret both to be filled and to hunger, both to abound and to lack.

2. We need to confess our sins—John 4:15-18; 1 John 1:7, 9.

John 4:15-18 The woman said to Him, Sir, give me this water so that I will not thirst nor come here to draw. ¹⁶He said to her, Go, call your husband and come here. ¹⁷The woman answered and said, I do not have a husband. Jesus said to her, You have well said, I do not have a husband, ¹⁸For you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband; this you have said truly.

1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from every sin.

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

3. We need to praise the Lord, rejoicing in Him always—Phil. 4:4; Heb. 13:15; Psa. 119:164.

Phil. 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.

Heb. 13:15 Through Him then let us offer up a sacrifice of praise continually to God, that is, the fruit of lips confessing His name.

Psa. 119:164 Seven times a day I praise You / For Your righteous ordinances.

4. We need to thank the Lord—Eph. 5:18, 20.

Eph. 5:18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissoluteness, but be filled in spirit,

Eph. 5:20 Giving thanks at all times for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to our God and Father,

5. We need to call on the name of the Lord—Acts 2:21; 1 Cor. 12:13, 3; 1 Thes. 5:17; 1 Cor. 1:2; Judg. 15:18-19; Lam. 3:55-56; Hymns, #73.

Acts 2:21 And it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

1 Cor. 12:13 For also in one Spirit we were all baptized into one Body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and were all given to drink one Spirit.

1 Cor. 12:3 Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking in the Spirit of God says, Jesus is accursed; and no one can say, Jesus is Lord! except in the Holy Spirit.

1 Thes. 5:17 Unceasingly pray,

1 Cor. 1:2 To the church of God which is in Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, the called saints, with all those who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, who is theirs and ours:

Judg. 15:18-19 And he was very thirsty, and he called on Jehovah, saying, You have granted this great victory by the hand of Your servant. And will I now die of thirst and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised? ¹⁹But God broke open the hollow place that is in Lehi, and water came forth from it. And when he drank, his spirit returned and he was revived; therefore he called the name of that place En-hakkore, which is in Lehi to this day.

Lam. 3:55-56 I called upon Your name, O Jehovah, / From the lowest pit. ⁵⁶You have heard my voice; do not hide / Your ear at my breathing, at my cry.

6. We need to sing to the Lord—Eph. 5:18b-19; 1 Kings 6:7; 1 Chron. 6:31-32; 2 Chron. 20:21-22.

Eph. 5:18b-19 be filled in spirit, ¹⁹Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and psalming with your heart to the Lord,

1 Kings 6:7 And the house, when it was being built, was built of finished stone, cut at the quarry, so that neither hammer nor ax nor any iron tool was heard in the house when it was being built.

1 Chron. 6:31-32 And these are they whom David set over the service of song in the house of Jehovah after the Ark was at rest. ³²And they ministered before the tabernacle of the Tent of Meeting with singing until Solomon built the house of Jehovah in Jerusalem; and they attended to their service according to their order.

2 Chron. 20:21-22 And when he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed them to sing to Jehovah and give thanks in holy array as they went out before the army and say, Give thanks to Jehovah, for His lovingkindness endures forever. ²²And when they began to shout in song and to praise, Jehovah set ambushes for the children of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who were coming out against Judah; and they were struck.

7. We need to preach the gospel, making known to others what Christ has accomplished—Rom. 1:16; John 4:32-34; Phil. 2:9.

Rom. 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes, both to Jew first and to Greek.

John 4:32-34 But He said to them, I have food to eat that you do not know about. ³³The disciples therefore said to one another, Has anyone brought Him anything to eat? ³⁴Jesus said to them, My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work.

Phil. 2:9 Therefore also God highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,

8. We need to function in the meetings of the church—1 Cor. 14:4b, 26.

1 Cor. 14:4b he who prophesies builds up the church.

1 Cor. 14:26 What then, brothers? Whenever you come together, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.

H. We need to give the Lord the preeminence in our being—Rev. 22:1; Col. 1:18b.

Rev. 22:1 And he showed me a river of water of life, bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb in the middle of its street.

Col. 1:18b He Himself might have the first place in all things;

I. We need to do everything according to the divine nature—Rev. 22:1; 2 Pet. 1:4.

Rev. 22:1 And he showed me a river of water of life, bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb in the middle of its street.

2 Pet. 1:4 Through which He has granted to us precious and exceedingly great promises that through these you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption which is in the world by lust.