"They have forsaken Me, the Fountain of living
waters."—Jer. 2:13
No one familiar with Bible-teaching can doubt that Jesus
is here set forth. He speaks, and adopts the Fountain as fit emblem of
Himself. Faith hears, and hastens to seek improvement. The well is deep; the
surface only can be slightly touched.
I. A Fountain is pure. Its waters bubble
from a bed which no pollution can approach. Free from infection, they can
convey no injury. Their element is healthiness. The river and the brook may
receive tributary flowings. Thus noxious refuse may defile. Contaminated
soil may introduce poison.
Jesus corresponds as the very purity of truth. From His
lips and in His Word no taint of error can find place. His teaching never
can mislead. It comes clear from heaven, and to heaven it clearly guides.
Other teaching may be soiled by countless fallacies. A mis-personated Christ
is often preached. A vitiated Gospel often poisons souls. Man's
misconceptions may adulterate the Word, and thus impure streams prove deadly
to the flock. It is the part of wisdom to seek refreshment from the Fountain
of living waters. How can they thrive in health who turn aside and rather
choose a tainted stream? They drink and perish: for the reproach is true,
"You will not come to Me, that you might have life." (John 5:40)
II. A Fountain is full. Its vast supplies
are buried in low depths. They cannot be drained by human hand, or checked
by human effort. They equally defy the summer heat and wintry frost. They
are secure from emptiness. Cisterns may leak and soon be dry. In times of
drought, rivulets and brooks may show exhausted channels. Through many
causes reservoirs may fail. It is not so with the fountain. It boasts
perennial flowing.
A Fountain ever full is type of Jesus. He is "the same
yesterday, and today, and forever." (Heb. 13:8) "It pleased the Father that
in Him should all fullness dwell." (Col. 1:19) He is full of love, with no
beginning and no end; of mercy, which endures forever; of grace, which is
co-equal with Himself; of merit, which is as exhaustless as His Deity; of
righteousness, which never can decay; of power, omnipotent from age to age;
of intercession, lasting as His life in heaven. None can seek Him and fail
to find supply at all times. He is heart to pity; ear to hear; hand to help;
might to save. In every age, in every climate, sinners have drawn near and
found a Fountain always flowing with streams of salvation. He is a Fountain
ever ready and ever full. Those who pitch their tents beside deep wells can
never take up the lament of Jerusalem: "They came to the pits, and found no
water; they returned with their vessels empty; they were ashamed and
confounded, and covered their heads." (Jer. 14:3)
III. A Fountain has cleansing properties.
Its pure stream has beneficial use. Uncleanness appertains to fallen earth.
Corruption is its very atmosphere. Everywhere the leper's cry resounds,
"Unclean, unclean." The dwelling, the clothing, and all things around,
require perpetual cleansing. For this the fountain lends its purifying aid.
Let fountains cease, and filth would be earth's poison. There is no remedy
but washing; there is no washing but by water.
Uncleanness is the common type of sin. It defiles the
total man. It renders him loathsome before God and all creation. The foul
tempter is emphatically "the unclean spirit." But the Scripture points to
relief: "In that day there shall be a Fountain opened to the house of David
and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness." (Zech.
13:1) That Fountain is the blessed Jesus. He, and He only, can completely
purify. His atoning sacrifice removes iniquity. How precious is the familiar
word, "If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship
one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all
sin." (1 John 1:7) His meritorious righteousness is the robe in which no
accuser can detect a blemish. Is it not written, "Behold, I have caused your
iniquity to pass from you, and I will clothe you with change of clothing."
(Zech. 3:4) His Spirit so elevates the heart, that miry paths are shunned,
and purity is the chosen walk. How teaching is the scene of Jesus washing
His disciples' feet! How solemn is the warning, "If I wash you not, you have
no part with Me!" How blessed is the response, "Not my feet only, but also
my hands and my head." (John 13:8, 9)
IV. A Fountain relieves thirst. To thirst
is common to the sons of earth. Its cravings are extreme distress. The
feeling is fomented by feverish malady, by scorching heat, by laborious
work, by countless excitements. To this suffering the fountain gives relief.
The peasant drinks and is refreshed for work. The sick man drinks and finds
repose. The panting deer drinks and flees with fleeter speed. Thus precious
is the fountain's recruiting boon.
Here Christ appears. The warrior in the fight of faith is
often faint and weak. The Savior brings the refreshing of His presence. Thus
the arms are braced and the combat is renewed. The pilgrim is exhausted in
the heavenward race. Jesus supplies some Gospel-cordial. Strength is
restored; the feet recover speed. The sick believer is parched and languid.
The Savior draws near, and heavenly help cools the parched spirit. David's
sigh is repressed, "Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well
of Bethlehem, which is by the gate!" (2 Sam. 23:15) The spiritual Fountain
is ever near. The children of Israel "drank of that spiritual Rock that
followed them; and that Rock was Christ." (1 Cor. 10:4) That Rock still
follows in full stream. The cry still sounds, "If any man thirst, let him
come to Me, and drink." (John 7:37)
Woe, woe to them, who choose rather the unhealthy puddles
of this world's vanity. "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty
again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed,
the water that I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to
eternal life." (John 4:13, 14) Thanks be to God for the thirst-slaking
"Fountain of living waters!"
V. A Fountain fertilizes. Its waters flow
not forth in vain. It sends a trickling stream throughout adjacent lands.
Crops raise their heads, and verdure robes the fields. Rich is the district
in which fountains abound. Great is the contrast between the watered valley
and the dry mountain-top. Achsah's request was wise: "You have given me a
south land; give me also springs of water. And Caleb gave her the upper
springs, and the nether springs." (Josh. 15:19)
The Gospel here shines forth. The curse which fell upon
the soil of earth fell heaviest on the heart of man: "Thorns also and
thistles shall it bring forth to you." (Gen. 3:18) In Christ Jesus the curse
relaxes into blessing. The promise to the vineyard is precious: "I the Lord
do keep it; I will water it every moment." (Isa. 27:3) Is it not written,
"From Me is your fruit found?" (Hos. 14:8) Is not the believer to be a tree
of righteousness, richly laden with luxuriant fruit, to be holy and pure,
even as his great Exemplar! This luxuriance is the work of Jesus by His
Spirit. The living principle can only come from Him who is "the Life." If no
sap flows, the branches wither. If no warmth melts, the ice continues hard.
Without steam the engine moves not. If no breeze blows, the sails cannot
expand. The child unfed expires. So without irrigation there can be no
fruitfulness. But Jesus is ever ready to revive and fructify. His presence
implants grace, and causes it abundantly to thrive. The believer thus
visited becomes like "a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose
waters fail not." (Isa. 58:11) "Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir
tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall
be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut
off." (Isa. 55:13) The holiest man on earth is the happiest; and the holiest
is he who is most watered by "the Fountain of living waters."
VI. A Fountain is precious. Its value
baffles description. Unsearchable are its benefits to animal and vegetable
life. All creation joys in its use, and gives testimony to its worth. In
lands where wells were scarce, they were the cause of constant altercation.
"Abraham reproved Abimelech because of a well of water, which Abimelech's
servants had violently taken away." (Gen. 21:25) Repeated and angry was the
strife between the herdsmen of Isaac and of Gerar for these blessings. If
they should fail, what misery would ensue! Death and drought would show grim
form.
Here thought quickly flies to Jesus. "To you who believe
He is precious." (1 Pet. 2:7) What mind can grasp, what thought can
conceive, what intellect can measure, what tongue can tell, what eloquence
can state, what pen can portray, what figure can represent, the immensity of
His preciousness? The Spirit testifies that His riches are "unsearchable."
(Eph. 3:8) Let earth exhibit its treasures in multitudinous array, let art
bring all her triumphs, let science and philosophy be ransacked for their
noblest works, let all the beauty which has ever graced this world be
gathered into one focus—all is nothingness, when placed beside the
preciousness of Christ. What is dark night compared with tropic sun! So
Christ outshines all brightness. To descant on this preciousness is a
charming task; but to unfold its fullness is beyond all power.
Who can conceive how precious is Christ's person! He is
equal to the Father as touching His Godhead, and one with man as touching
His manhood! Who can estimate the preciousness of His work on earth,
redeeming countless souls from endless misery, and exalting them to heaven's
eternal bliss! Who can strain sight to gaze on Him on the right hand of the
Majesty on high, ever living as an Advocate to plead, as an Intercessor to
obtain mercy, as a Surety to represent! Who can depict the brightness of His
near return, the glories of the millennial reign, the triumph of the final
surrender of the kingdom unto God! Who can adequately speak of His love! It
"passes knowledge." (Eph. 3:19) His enchanting promises, so exceeding many
and precious, have no measure and no end. He is precious in health and
sickness, in every moment of time, in the hour of death, at the day of
judgment, throughout the ever-rolling days of eternity. Who will not cry,
Thanks be to God for the precious "Fountain of living waters"!
VII. A Fountain is open. It was early
custom to protect by stones the well's mouth. Laban's sheep could not be
watered until the obstruction was removed. (Gen. 29:8) Fountains avail not
if they are blocked up. The fountain to be used must be open to approach.
Such is the blessed Jesus. No hindrances bar access to
Him. No flaming sword prevents free passage; all may approach and find Him
open. "Ho, every one who thirsts, come to the waters." (Isa. 55:1) "Whoever
wishes, let him take the water of life freely." (Rev. 22:17) Invitations and
calls are free as the very air of heaven. The monarch from his throne may
come and partake until his soul can take no more. The poor man from his
lowly hut finds equal welcome. The feeble need no strong arm to roll away
all hindrance. To the aged and the young easy access is allowed. But while
He is open to all the thirsty upon earth, the heart of man is the closed
door. Therefore He cries, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man
hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with
him, and he with Me." (Rev. 3:20)
VIII. A Fountain is generally obvious to view.
Unperceived, it can confer no benefit. Hagar consigns her child to death
because she saw not the near well. (Gen. 21:19) Thus Jesus is open to all
sight. Moses descending from the mount, puts a veil upon his face. (Exod.
34:33) Jesus hides not His luster. No concealment eludes discovery. It was
not so to the elders of the family of faith. Types taught strikingly.
Prophecies rolled in majestic flow. Heralds announced the coming Savior. But
the revelation was not unclouded. The teaching was not the meridian sun.
Obscurity enveloped the clear horizon. It could not be said, "The darkness
is past, and the true light now shines." (1 John 2:8) But Jesus is now
manifest, the truth of every type, the response of all prophetic strains,
the consummated fullness of patriarchal hopes, the substance of all teaching
images, the fulfillment of the vast promises. The inquiry is now
superfluous, "Who is the prophet talking about?" (Acts 8:34) The sigh of Job
is causeless, "Oh that I knew where I might find Him!" (Job 23:3) Prophets
and kings desired to see what we may see, and did not see them. "The
Fountain of living waters" is freely opened. Blessed are the eyes which see,
and the hearts which love, this spring so obviously conspicuous!
But the reproach chides: "You have forsaken Me, the
Fountain of living waters, and dug for yourselves broken cisterns, that can
hold no water." Can any folly be more foolish? Can any madness be more mad?
The cry is still heard, "Not this man, but Barabbas." (John 18:40) Men still
"love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil." (John 3:19)
The power of darkness tempts poor blinded men to choose sickness rather than
health, the dungeon rather than a palace, slavery rather than freedom,
deformity rather than beauty, ignorance rather than knowledge, blindness
rather than sight, gloomy forebodings rather than fair prospects, the storm
rather than the haven, things fleeting rather than things eternal, the
quicksand rather than the rock, the company of fiends rather than the saints
in light, hell rather than heaven, Satan rather than God. Thus miserable is
the choice of those who "forsake the Fountain of living waters, and dig for
themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water." From such
willful destruction, Good Lord, deliver us!