We have seen that the shortage of water is a test both to God and to God’s people. In our family life or church life God often allows us to come to a stage of dryness. This is especially true in the church life. There is not one local church which is always flowing with living water. Sometimes in the church life we come to Marah, where the waters are bitter. On other occasions we come to Elim, where there are twelve springs of water flowing. However, we seldom stay at Elim very long. Under God’s leading, we in the church are eventually brought to Massah, where there is no water at all. Here we are put to the test. When there is plenty of water to drink, it is easy for us to behave ourselves in the proper way. The brothers all act like gentlemen, and the sisters are pleasant and nice. But when there is nothing to drink, we may become quarrelsome and unruly, perhaps even casting off all restraint. The situation is the same in married life. When everything is pleasant and positive, the husband and wife may be humble, kind, and gentle. But when we are led to a dry place in our married life, our behavior undergoes a drastic change. Instead of kindness and gentleness, there is murmuring and quarreling. When there is enough food for everyone, there is no fighting. But when there is a shortage of food, even those who ordinarily behave like ladies and gentlemen will fight for it. Likewise, when there is an adequate supply of water to drink, we can be polite and allow others to drink first. But when we are thirsty and dissatisfied because of the shortage of water, we shall fight and strive for ourselves. In this way, in the church life and in the family life, we are exposed.
Actually, the Lord brings us into a dry stage specifically for the purpose of exposing us. In such a situation the Lord tests us, and we test Him. He tests us to see how we shall react. Will we pray, praise, and thank the Lord, or will we murmur and complain? Furthermore, the leading ones among the Lord’s people are also tested by dryness, just as Moses and Aaron were. They are tested both by God and by God’s people. However, among all the parties tested, God is the only One who always passes the test. Rarely do the servants of God or the leading ones among the people pass God’s test. Even more rarely do the people as a whole pass the test.
Ezekiel 47:19 and 48:28 both speak of “the waters of strife in Kadesh.” In each case the Hebrew word for “strife” is Meribah, the name given to the waters in Numbers 20:13. The water which flows from the smitten rock should be the water of peace. But because of our failure, it becomes the water of Meribah, the water of strife, contention, quarreling. Although God is faithful and merciful, we are sinful and faithless. For this reason, the water which should be the water of peace is called the water of striving.
According to our opinion, God should not supply living water to those who are sinful and unfaithful. However, God did not withhold the supply of water. Rather, He used the law to smite His Christ so that living water could flow forth to quench our thirst. This reveals God’s faithfulness and mercy.
The picture in Exodus 17 of the living water out of the smitten rock exposes the sinfulness and unfaithfulness of God’s people and the shortage of His servants. We who serve the Lord must take the lead among God’s people to confess our shortage. We often react in a negative way when tests come. We are simply not able to pass the tests placed upon us by God and His people. Although God is faithful and merciful, we are sinful, just as the children of Israel were. Although they had been redeemed, at Massah they still behaved like sinners. Christ was smitten for us so that the living water could flow out of Him to quench the thirst of sinful people. In this picture we see an important aspect of the gospel.
In Exodus 17 Moses was more than eighty years of age, and in Numbers 20 he was nearly one hundred twenty years old. But neither time could he pass the test. The quarreling that breaks out because of the shortage of water puts us to a very difficult test. When the Lord allows the church to come into such a stage of dryness, not even His leading servants are able to pass the test. Whenever we are short of Christ as the living water to quench our thirst, we are automatically subject to God’s test. Due to the shortage of water, today’s Christians are subject to one test after another. Fighting, striving, quarreling, and criticizing are commonplace because of this shortage.
In order that we might learn a lesson, sometimes the Lord leads us into a dry land. Here we have the opportunity to test God and to be tested by Him. Both His people in general and His servants in particular are tested. But as we have pointed out repeatedly, only God is able to pass the test. He alone is qualified. This indicates the seriousness of being short of Christ as the living water to quench our thirst. How crucial it is for us to have Him to meet this need!
In a later message we shall see that for living waters to flow out of us, we need to be one with Christ in being smitten. He has been smitten, and we need to be smitten also. If we are not identified with Him in this matter, there will be no way for the living water within us to flow out. We all need to be identified with the smitten Christ so that the living water may flow.
In the Bible more is said about spiritual water, or the water of life, than about spiritual food. It is rather easy for readers of the Scriptures to be impressed with the drinking of the water of life. Even when we were in the denominations, we heard messages about drinking the living water. But very rarely, if ever, did we hear anything about eating spiritual food. In the Word drinking is more vital than eating.
According to the revelation in the Scriptures, the eating is in the drinking, and the drinking is in the breathing. Some Christians have seen the importance of drinking, but not the necessity of breathing. Although we may have the doctrine of drinking, without breathing we would have no practical way to drink living water. If we would eat, we need to drink; and if we would drink, we need to breathe. If we have Exodus 16 but not Exodus 17, we have the eating without the drinking. In practice we cannot have one without the other, for the eating is always in the drinking.
The sequence in the Gospel of John indicates this. In chapter six John speaks of the eating of manna. Then in chapter seven he goes on to cover the drinking of the living water. The sequence of eating and drinking in John is the same as that in Exodus, where we have the manna in chapter sixteen and the water in chapter seventeen.
If we are enlightened by the Lord, we shall realize that we need drinking even more than eating. For this reason, in 1 Corinthians Paul emphasizes drinking more than eating. In 1 Corinthians 12:13 he says that we have all been made to drink of one Spirit. If we fail to drink, we shall not be able to eat. Drinking includes eating. This means that the spiritual food is included in the water of life. Hence, without the water of life, we cannot have any spiritual food.
According to Revelation 22:1 and 2, the tree of life grows in the river of water of life. This reveals that wherever the water of life flows, there the tree of life grows. The water brings the tree to us. The water is the source, for it is the water of life, not the tree of life, which proceeds out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. The fact that the river flows from the throne and that the tree grows in the river indicates that drinking of the water of life is even more crucial than eating of the tree of life.