From the beginning to the end of the Bible we see God’s intention to be the water of life to man. In Genesis 2 there’s the “seed” of this truth, throughout the Bible there is the development and experience of the water of life, and at the end of the Bible in the very last chapter of Revelation we have the consummation.
In Psa. 72:8 we see that Christ will reign from the River unto the ends of the earth, and the way He will have dominion over the earth is by flowing as a river!
God doesn’t want to force people into submission to Him – He wants to fall on the whole earth as rain and then flow as a river to water all men, and then man will be under His dominion.
Yes, in His second coming Christ will also judge all men, but the Bible also shows us that Christ will reign over the earth and will have dominion over everything by flowing as a river of living water to quench people’s thirst!
Jer. 2:13 strengthens this by showing us that God’s intention is to be the fountain of living waters to man, and it is an evil thing in His eyes for His people to try to hew out cisterns for themselves (which hold no water) and leaving God as the source.
God desires to be the fountain of living waters for His chosen people for their enjoyment so that the church would be produced to be His increase for His expression!
God Reigns by Flowing – He will have dominion over the Earth by Flowing as a River!
The river in Psa. 72:8 is the same river in Psa. 46:4, which is the river of water of life whose streams gladden the city of God.
The way God brings in His kingdom on earth is not by forcefully subduing man and then reigning over him. God’s kingdom and reign spreads to the ends of the earth by the flowing Triune God as a river of living water.
First, He rains on us with showers of water of life, then He flows into us as living water, and we are slowly brought under His headship and dominion.
When the Lord Jesus returns, on the one hand, He will exercise His righteous judgement upon the earth, but on the other hand, He will come back as the rain to water the earth and bring in His kingdom.
People on earth today are very dry, disappointed, and dissatisfied because they don’t drink of God as the river of water of life.
Men do a lot of evil and sinful things because they are so dry inside, and nothing they drink of this world with its pleasures satisfies them. When God sees man in such a condition, He is not coming to man to judge him but to water him.
Whenever man opens to God and turns his heart to Him, God flows as a river of living water into man to water him, quench his thirst, and fill him with the life of God. As man drinks of this living water, he becomes happy and satisfied with God, and he is slowly brought under God’s dominion.
Even when Christ comes back again to judge the earth and bring in His kingdom, He will do so as showers of rain and as a river of living water flowing all over the earth to water man and bring him under His dominion (Ezek. 47:1-12; Joel 3:18)!
In that day Jerusalem will be the center of the earth, and in the center of Jerusalem there will be the house of God, out of which a river of living water flows all over the earth! Hallelujah for our watering Triune God, who loves us so much and cares for us by raining on us and flowing into us as rivers of living water!
God Intends to be the Fountain of Living Waters to Satisfy His People for Their Enjoyment
Jeremiah 2:13 is a very precious verse in the Old Testament showing us God’s intention toward His people. This verse says,
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.
Instead of enumerating His people’s sins as being the evils they do, God exposes the root of the problem: forsaking God as the fountain of living waters and hewing out cisterns (which are broken, holding no water) for themselves. God’s intention is to be the fountain of living waters – the source of life – to His people, so that He might satisfy them for their enjoyment.
Man thinks he can provide water for himself and many times even the believers forsake God as the source of living waters and strive to dig other cisterns….But God desires that we would take Him as the fountain of living waters in our daily living.
This means that we need to drink of God day by day. Right now, we need to drink of Him! You may be at work or at school, travelling somewhere or resting at home, doing something that is time-consuming or simply taking a walk – in all the things you’re doing, inwardly drink of God as the fountain of living waters!
God wants to be our enjoyment as the water of life, and the goal of this enjoyment is to produce the church as His increase for His expression! The way God gets His expression on earth is by obtaining a Body for Christ, a people who daily choose to drink God as the water of life.
How can we express God? By drinking Him. How can we be the Body of Christ? By drinking God as the water of life. Forget about anything else, and focus only on drinking God as the water of life for Him to get His expression, His enlargement, His fullness!
Lord Jesus, thank You for Your intention toward man – You desire to be the fountain of life as the unique source of satisfaction and water to man! Keep us drinking of You. Whenever we’re empty, dissatisfied, down and out, remind us to return to You as the fountain of living waters. Lord, rain on us with showers of water of life. Flow into us as rivers of living water. Flow out of us unto others as living water. Rule and reign in us by watering us all the time! Praise You, watering and flowing Triune God!
References and Further Reading
- Inspiration: bro. Minoru Chen’s sharing in the message and portions in, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1969, vol. 3, “Christ and the Church Revealed and Typified in the Psalms,” (ch. 11), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on the Crystallization Study of Genesis (1), week/msg 7, The River of Water of Life.
- Further reading: Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1969, vol. 2, “The Crucial Revelation of Life in the Scriptures,” (ch. 4).
- Hymns on this topic:
# Rain on me; rain on me; / Let Your mercy rain on me; / It is not by willing or by running, Lord; / Let Your mercy rain on me.
# The earth absorbs the soft, refreshing rain, / And sends it back in flow’rs and fruits again; / So we receive Thy life so rich and free, / And live it out for joy and praise to Thee.
# Many weary years I vainly sought a spring, / One that never would run dry; / Unavailing all that earth to me could bring, / Nothing seemed to satisfy. / Drinking at the Fountain that never runs dry, / Drinking at the Fountain of life am I; / Finding joy and pleasure / In abounding measure, / I am drinking at the Fountain of life.
# 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!
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