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

1. 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:
   1. 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).
   2. 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.
2. 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:
   1. 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:
      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.
      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.
   2. 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.
      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.
   3. 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.
   4. 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.
   5. 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.
3. “Therefore you will draw water with rejoicing / From the springs of salvation”—Isa. 12:3:
   1. 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.
      3. The term the springs of salvation implies that salvation is the source:
         1. The source of the springs of salvation is a fountain, and that fountain is salvation.
         2. The springs, which are Christ, issue out of the fountain and become the rivers, which are the Spirit—John 4:14b; 7:37-39.
   2. 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.
   3. 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.
4. 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:
   1. We have been positioned to drink one Spirit—1 Cor. 12:13.
   2. To drink the water of life, there is the need of thirst—Exo. 17:3a; Psa. 42:1; John 7:37; Rev. 21:6.
   3. We need to come to the Lord—John 7:37; Rev. 22:17.
   4. We need to ask the Lord to give us the living water—John 4:10; 7:37; Rev. 22:17.
   5. We need to contact God the Spirit in our human spirit and in truthfulness—John 4:23-24.
   6. We need to believe into the Lord—7:38.
   7. 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.
      2. We need to confess our sins—John 4:15-18; 1 John 1:7, 9.
      3. We need to praise the Lord, rejoicing in Him always—Phil. 4:4; Heb. 13:15; Psa. 119:164.
      4. We need to thank the Lord—Eph. 5:18, 20.
      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.
      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.
      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.
      8. We need to function in the meetings of the church—1 Cor. 14:4b, 26.
   8. We need to give the Lord the preeminence in our being—Rev. 22:1; Col. 1:18b.
   9. We need to do everything according to the divine nature—Rev. 22:1; 2 Pet. 1:4.