The Bible Echo, vol. 14
April 17, 1899
“The Water of Life” The Bible Echo 14, 16.
E. J. Waggoner
Some one will say, “I thought it was spiritual water that Jesus offered; I didn’t suppose He meant to be taken literally.” So it was spiritual water that He offered; even as the water that flowed from the rock in the wilderness, to the refreshing of thousands of thirsty men and cattle, was spiritual drink. The spiritual is not imaginary, but very real. It is only by the things that we can see, that Jesus makes known to us the reality of the things that we cannot see. Everything that God has created is designed to teach us the reality of the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; “for in Him were all things created, in the heavens and upon the earth, things visible, and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions principalities or powers; all things have been created through Him, and unto Him; and He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.” Colossians 1:16, 17. He is the image and the fulness of the invisible God, and is wholly spiritual; therefore everything that comes from Him, and is in Him must be spiritual. BEST April 17, 1899, par. 1
Did you never drink water from the same Source that the Israelites drank from in the desert?—No one ever drank water from any other source. God is “the fountain of living waters.” Jeremiah 11:13. Stop a moment, and think where the water comes from that you drink. It comes from the earth, from springs, or wells that have been dug. Now when you see a spring of water gushing forth from the rocks, you see just what the children of Israel saw in the desert. They did not see Christ, and few of them ever believed that He had anything to do with providing it. They died in unbelief. They saw no more than you see when you drink water from a spring or a running brook. BEST April 17, 1899, par. 2
Can you not see back of that well or spring? Do you not know that the spring is only the aperture whence the water emerges; it does not furnish the water, any more than does the tap in your bath room. There are bodies of water stored up in the earth, yet the earth does not produce it, and if it were riot continually replenished, the stock would he exhausted. The clouds, however, pour out water abundantly upon the earth, and so we have a constant supply. The streams flow on in undiminished rate year after year. But the clouds do not manufacture water; they are simply floating bodies of water gathered together by evaporation and condensation. The earth supplies the clouds, and the clouds supply the earth. You say therefore that there is no new supply of water, but only that which was the beginning. BEST April 17, 1899, par. 3
That which was in the beginning, however, was from Christ, “who is the Beginning.” Colossians 1:18. That which was from the beginning, was the Word of life. 1 John 1:1. Out of Eden there went a river, which, unlike any rivers now on this earth, divided into four parts, going toward the four points of the compass, and so watering the whole earth. That Eden, with its tree of life, is now in heaven, God’s dwelling place. There, from the throne of God, flows the pure river of water of life, clear as crystal. Revelation 22:1. It is from this river of God’s pleasure (Eden) that God allows those to drink, who seek shelter under the shadow of His wing. Psalm 36:7, 8. BEST April 17, 1899, par. 4
As that river, flowing right from God’s dwelling place from God Himself furnished moisture to all the earth, even so it is still. “Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it; Thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God, which is full of water. Thou preparest them corn, when Thou hast so provided it.” Psalm 65:9. So the water that refreshes the earth, and gushes forth from it to renew the life of mankind, is direct from God Himself. We never drink a glass of water without unconsciously complying with Christ’s invitation, “If any man thirst, let him come to Me, and drink!” But because men do not realise whence the water comes, they do not receive the fulness of life that is in it. They drink unworthily, not of faith, not discerning the Lord. BEST April 17, 1899, par. 5
E. J. WAGGONER.