Not only is God the source, the fountain of living waters for us to drink, but in His eyes the wicked one is the one who does not come to drink of Him, and we as His people commit an evil when we forsake Him as the fountain of living waters. Oh, Lord Jesus!
The entire Bible reveals that Christ is the living water flowing out for us to drink, and that God’s desire from Genesis to Revelation is for His people to partake of the flowing water of life.
As believers in Christ, we are those who not only were convicted by the gospel and had the Lord shine on us to expose our sin and wickedness, but even more, we have tasted of the living water.
We drank of the living spring, and all other things became empty to us, for only the living water can satisfy us.
Now we are learning to continually drink of the Lord as the living water, and throughout the day in all our circumstances we’re learning to turn to Him so that He may be the fountain of living waters to us.
As we live the Christian life, we are discovering that drinking the living water is as seen in the good land: in valleys and in mountains.
The river has its source, its spring, from the mountains, but the large flow of the river comes down the mountains or hills, and it is in the valleys that we have an abundance of water.
Spiritually speaking, we have many “valleys” in which we need to open to the Lord to drink the living water.
The apostle Paul is the top apostle, and his life and ministry was not always appreciated or received.
Worse still, he spent a lot of time in prison, and everything seemed to have stopped for him outwardly.
Yet he was one who, even in the valleys he passed through, drank the living water and flowed out this living water.
He testified that, though death operates in him, life operates in others (2 Cor. 4:12).
When we remain under the killing of the Lord’s death in the environment sovereignly arranged by God for us, His resurrection life is imparted through us into others.
This is true ministry; the real ministry is not outwardly successful but it is the imparting of the divine life into others for them to be supplied with God in Christ as the Spirit, the flowing river of water of life.
We need to be enlightened by the Lord and receive His mercy to be those who open to Him as we go through all kinds of difficulties and the cross is applied to our being so that we may have the ministry formed into us.
The way for the church to come into being and to increase is not by human glory; it is by the death of the cross for the release of the fire of the divine life.
This is what the Lord Jesus testified of in Luke 12:49-50, John 2:19 and John 12:24-26.
He came to release the divine fire, the impulse of the divine life, so that many would be regenerated with the divine life; for this, however, He had to go through death and resurrection.
The Lord Jesus as a grain of wheat that fell into the ground, lost His soul-life through death so that He might release His eternal life in resurrection to us, the many grains.
Now as the many grains, we also must lose our soul-life through death so that we may enjoy eternal life in resurrection.
May we follow in the footsteps of the Lord Jesus and allow the Lord to flow through us as living water so that many others would receive, enjoy, and be filled with the divine life, even as death operates in us and life in them.
God’s Intention in His Economy is to be the Fountain of Living Waters to Satisfy us
On one hand, God has an economy; from eternity to eternity He has a particular plan and purpose, and according to His purpose He created all things.
We all were created and exist because and for the will of God (Rev. 4:10).
On the other hand, the way God carries out His economy is not merely by teaching us, training us, or perfecting us, but by giving Himself to us.
God’s intention in His economy is to be the fountain of living waters to us to satisfy us for our enjoyment.
He doesn’t want us to merely serve God because we fear God and we want to obey God; He wants to dispense Himself into us as the living water so that we may drink of Him and be satisfied with His riches.
God intends to be the source of living waters to His people so that He may satisfy them for their enjoyment.
The goal of this enjoyment is to produce the church as the increase of God, the enlargement of God, to be the fullness of God for the corporate expression of God.
This is what was in His heart in eternity; this is the good pleasure of God (Eph. 1:5, 9) in His economy.
What a mercy that we can see that God’s intention in His economy is to be the fountain of living waters to satisfy us!
The full development of this thought is in the New Testament, and it is sown as a seed in Jer. 2:13.
In John 1:1 and 14 we see that the Word, which was God, became flesh, full of grace and reality.
When He came, those around Him received of God’s fullness, and grace upon grace.
When the Lord Jesus met the Samaritan woman in John 4, He spoke to her concerning living water (vv. 10, 14).
He did not come to condemn or judge the sinners; He came to give sinners to drink the living water.
God’s intention in His economy is to be the fountain of living waters to satisfy us.
We are sinners, full of sin, and far away from God, but God still comes to us, meets us where we are, and intends to give Himself to us as the living water for us to drink.
We may try to enjoy the world and have all kinds of parties and fun with others, but even then, at the end of it all, the Lord still comes to us to say, If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink (John 7:38).
We may be deeply involved in religion, religious matters, and religious practices, trying our best to please God and do a work for God; God still comes to us to give us the living waters, for He wants us to deeply drink of Him and never leave Him as the fountain of living waters.
If we only open to Him, if we only believe into Him, as the Scripture said, out of our innermost being will flow rivers of living waters.
God intends to be the fountain of living waters for us to drink, even deeply drink and continually drink, so that He may become the fountain of living waters springing up from our innermost being into eternal life. Wow!
Rev. 22:1-2 also speaks concerning God’s eternal intention; even for eternity God still is the fountain of living waters to His people and to all those in the new heaven and new earth.
Out of the throne of God and of the Lamb flows a river of water of life that reaches everyone in the New Jerusalem and flows out the gates to reach and supply everyone else.
Today we need to return to the Lord as the fountain of living waters and drink of Him.
No matter where we are, no matter whether we have failed or whether we have relative success in what we are doing, we need to come to the Lord and drink Him.
The apostle Paul confirms and strengthens this thought when he writes in 1 Cor. 12:13 that in one Spirit we were all baptized into one Body, and we were all given to drink one Spirit.
When we were baptized, we were put into Him, immersed into Him, and at the same time, we were given to drink the Spirit.
To be baptized in the Spirit is to get into the Spirit and to be immersed in Him, even lost in Him.
To drink the Spirit is to take the Spirit in so that we may have our being saturated with Him.
On one hand, we’re in Him; on the other hand, He is in us.
In 1 Cor. 10:3 and 4 Paul said that Christ as our spiritual rock follows us to give us to drink the living water, and Christ is our manna, our daily food (Exo. 16:14-18).
On one hand, Christ is our spiritual food daily to nourish us; on the other hand, He as the Spirit is the living water that flowed out of the cleft rock for us to drink (17:6).
As we drink God in Christ as the Spirit, the reality of the living water, we become the church as His increase, His enlargement, and His expression.
Lord Jesus, we come to You to drink the living water. We are thirsty. We come as we are. Give us to drink. Give us the living water. Be the living water to us. We simply open to You and believe into You. We exercise our spirit to contact You and drink deeply of You as living water. Thank You for being the fountain of living waters for us to drink and be fully satisfied. Thank You for revealing to us the intention of God in His economy, which is to be the source of living waters for us to drink for our enjoyment. Hallelujah, God has become a fountain flowing with living water for us to drink, be filled, and be fully satisfied! Amen, Lord, give us more of the living water so that we may never thirst again! We believe into You. Flow into us, flow within our innermost being, and flow out of us as many rivers of water of life! Keep us drinking until You gain Your corporate expression, Your enlargement, and Your fullness!
Not Forsaking God as the Fountain of Living Waters but Drinking of Him Continually
Jer. 2:13 contains both a positive and a negative side. On the positive side, this verse clearly tells us that God’s intention in His economy is to be the fountain of living waters to quench our thirst, satisfy us, and be our enjoyment.
On the negative side, this verse shows us that His people forsook Him as the fountain of living waters to hew out for themselves broken cisterns, which hold no water.
On the positive side, we need to know and be assured of the fact that God is the fountain of living waters for us to drink and be satisfied.
On the negative side, we need to be warned, for we may forsake God as the fountain of living waters and attempt to hew out for ourselves cisterns to hold water.
The evils committed by God’s people were that they forsook God as their fountain, their source, and they turned to a source other than God.
We may think that we don’t do that, for we still read the Bible, go to meetings, and we even attend home meetings and participate in the prayer meeting.
We don’t forsake God, or at least so we think.
We may not forsake God, but there’s a chance we forsake God as our fountain of living water.
We may still go to the meeting and we may still read the Bible but we may forsake God as the fountain of living waters.
We may actually be in the meeting with the saints and everyone else may be enjoying the Lord, but we try to drink from some self-made cisterns, which hold no water.
Outwardly, we don’t forsake God in a formal way, but inwardly, we have forsaken Him as the fountain of living water.
What does it mean for us to hew out cisterns for ourselves?
The hewing out of cisterns shows our human labor to make something (idols) to replace God.
We may attach ourselves to other things and try to drink from other sources, but all the other cisterns are broken and hold no water.
Apart from God Himself dispensed into us as living water, nothing can quench our thirst and make us God’s increase for His expression (John 4:13-14).
Any human activities, any expression of the natural life, can only hew some cisterns, something that seems to be good, spiritual, and ethical, but is broken and holds no water.
God considers such things and such activities as evil. In the eyes of God, the wicked one is the one who does not come to drink of Him (Isa. 55:7).
May we be saved from forsaking God as the fountain of living waters but come to drink Him as the living water.
Adam forsook God as the fountain of living water and tried another source, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
He was deceived by Satan to forsake one tree and partake of another tree, and the result is that the judgment of God came in.
Israel also fell by forsaking God as the fountain of living waters and turning to a source other than God. Oh, Lord!
God’s desire and intention in His economy is that we would drink Him to become His increase as His fullness so that we may express Him.
But we may commit two evils: forsake God as the fountain of living waters and hew out cisterns as another source.
Apart from God as the fountain of living waters, nothing can quench our thirst or satisfy us.
Nothing apart from God Himself dispensed into us as living water can make us His increase for His expression.
May we be saved from being wicked ones, evil ones, in the eyes of God.
The evil condition of the wicked is that they do not come to the Lord to eat, drink, and enjoy the Lord.
They may do many things, but they don’t come to the Lord to contact Him, take Him, receive Him, taste Him, and enjoy Him (Isa. 57:20-21; 55:1-2).
In God’s sight, nothing is more evil than this. May we refuse to forsake God and may we be saved from our human endeavour of hewing for ourselves cisterns, broken cisterns, which hold no water.
Lord Jesus, save us from the evils of forsaking You as the fountain of living waters and hewing out for ourselves cisterns which are broken and hold no water. Save us from our human labor to make something to replace God. Oh Lord Jesus, You are the fountain of living waters to quench our thirst. Apart from God Himself dispensed into us as living water, nothing can quench our thirst and make us God’s increase for His expression. We come to contact you. We come to enjoy You. We open to receive You and taste You. We just want to drink the living water. Give us more living water today! We calm down our being and sit at Your feet; speak to us and infuse us with Yourself. Oh Lord, no matter what happens outwardly, we want to inwardly come to You to drink of You! We don’t want to merely do many things but not come to You. Dispense Yourself into us today. Save us from our toils and human labor. Save us from forsaking God as the fountain of living waters. Keep us drinking You today!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother James Lee in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Jeremiah, msgs. 3, 12, 16-17, 40 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Laboring on the All-inclusive Christ Typified by the Good land for the Building up of the Church as the Body of Christ, for the Reality and the Manifestation of the Kingdom, and for the Bride to make Herself Ready for the Lord’s Coming (2023 Winter Training), week 4, entitled, The All-inclusive Christ as the Good Land—a Land of Waterbrooks, of Springs and of Fountains, Flowing Forth in Valleys and in Mountains.
- Similar articles on this topic:
– Crucial aspects of God’s economy, a portion from, Life-Study of Jeremiah and Lamentations, Chapter 17.
– The Kernel of the Book of Jeremiah, via, Church in Chennai.
– Come and Drink the Living Waters! Via Holding to Truth in Love.
– The Recovery of the Eternal Economy of God, outline via, New Zealand Training Centre.
– The only true God – the God of life, article by Ron Kangas in, Affirmation and Critique.
– The intrinsic content of Jeremiah, a portion from, Life-Study of Jeremiah and Lamentations, Chapter 3.
– Morning revival portion for this day, via, The Church in Auckland.
– What Is God’s Economy? More via, Amana Trust.
– The enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ as the unique solution to all the problems in the church, outline via, The Church in New York City.
– The becoming of the Spirit who was not yet as the consummation of the Scriptures, article by John Pester in, Affirmation and Critique. - Hymns on this topic:
– I have come to the Fountain of Life, / A fountain that flows from above; / I have passed from the waters of strife / And come to the Elim of love; / I have drunk of the heavenly well, / In the depths of my being it springs. / No mortal can measure or tell / The gladness the Comforter brings. / Oh, come to the Fountain of Life, / The fountain that never runs dry; / Oh, drink of the boundless supply, / For Christ is the Fountain of Life. (Hymns #523 stanza 1 and chorus)
– Once I thirsted for a fountain, / Something deep that would satisfy, / But the fountain that I’d drink from, / Left me searching and still so dry. / Then one day I found Him, / He satisfied my thirst, / Became in me a deeper source / Whence living waters burst. / Now I drink Him! / Jesus, Jesus is my life now, / Jesus, Jesus is my life; / I’m fully satisfied now, / Jesus, Jesus is my life. (Hymns #1327 stanza 1)
– O Christ, He is the fountain, / The deep, sweet well of life: / Its living streams I’ve tasted / Which save from grief and strife. / And to an ocean fulness, / His mercy doth expand; / His grace is all-sufficient / As by His wisdom planned. (Hymns #206 stanza 1)
