Gen. 21:11-1911And the thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight because of his son. 12And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called. 13And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed. 14And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beer-sheba. 15And the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs. 16And she went, and sat her down over against him a good way off, as it were a bowshot: for she said, Let me not see the death of the child. And she sat over against him, and lift up her voice, and wept. 17And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is. 18Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great nation. 19And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink. (Genesis 21:11‑19); Isa. 40:11Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. (Isaiah 40:1). John 4:10-14; 7:37-3910Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. 11The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? 12Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? 13Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: 14But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. (John 4:10‑14)
37In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. 38He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. 39(But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) (John 7:37‑39); Revelation 21:6; 22:176And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. (Revelation 21:6)
17And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. (Revelation 22:17); Luke 16:19-3119There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: 20And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, 21And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. 22And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; 23And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 24And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. 25But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. 26And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence. 27Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house: 28For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. 29Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. 30And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. 31And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead. (Luke 16:19‑31).
IN each of the above scriptures water is mentioned. Water is the most essential thing on earth, and the easiest to be obtained. We can do with a very little air; we can do almost without light; but we cannot do without water.
In the Scriptures water typifies three things; i.e. the Spirit, the Word, and eternal life. Now turn to the first scripture (Genesis 21:14-1914And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beer-sheba. 15And the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs. 16And she went, and sat her down over against him a good way off, as it were a bowshot: for she said, Let me not see the death of the child. And she sat over against him, and lift up her voice, and wept. 17And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is. 18Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great nation. 19And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink. (Genesis 21:14‑19)), and you will find two things spoken of that hold water — one is the bottle, the other is the well, and every person in the world is drinking of one or the other. The bottle is supplied and filled by man, and is exhaustible; the well is supplied and filled by God, and is inexhaustible.
Now I want you to notice the various steps which Hagar took from the bottle to the well. The first thing we find is that “the water was spent in the bottle,” and it is always so. Those who have only got the bottle to drink from will find sooner or later that the bottle runs dry, that the bottle never satisfies. You who are drinking from the bottles of religion, pleasure, wealth, popularity, ambition, indifference, skepticism, must find out that, in view of eternity, they none of them satisfy the eternal cravings of the immortal soul. You will discover on a death-bed, if not before, that the water is spent in your once-loved bottles. God in mercy grant that you may awake to the fact before it be Forever too late. Hagar did, and it caused her to take a second step, and that was to cast her child under one of the shrubs. Her child, her darling idol, around which all the tendrils of her heart’s deep affections were entwined, like the ivy around the trellis-work; and you too, poor sinner, have some darling idol — some sin — that stands between you and your soul’s salvation. God knows what it is, and you know what it is. Oh, cast it aside as the blind man did his garments in the gospels, and come to Jesus!
And now Hagar takes a third step, and that is, she “sat her down.” Only a little while ago she was wandering in the wilderness; but now she sits down. Oh, poor restless soul, give up your wanderings in this wilderness world in search of bottles of pleasure that can never satisfy, and come and sit down at the Saviour’s feet and take salvation, take it now and happy be! Now she does a fourth thing — she “lift up her voice;” that is, she prayed, she expressed her helplessness and dependence. All the prayers of Holy Ghost-convicted sinners, recorded in the word of God, are very short. The thief on the cross said, “Lord, remember me.” He put the Lord at one end of this short sentence and himself at the other end, and then connected the two with the word “remember,” and he was immediately answered. Have you done the same, poor anxious soul? But Hagar not only lift up her voice, she did a fifth thing — she “wept;” and there was another One who wept in this world of woe over willful, wayward wanderers — “JESUS wept.” Oh that the remembrance of this might produce in you repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ! There is no salvation without repentance — “Unless ye repent ye shall all likewise perish,” said the blessed Lord; but whilst there is no salvation without repentance there is no salvation in repentance; salvation is in a Person, and that Person is JESUS. “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” Look then away, poor sinner, from your prayers, your tears of repentance, and your faith too, to “JESUS ONLY.” Do you ask what repentance is? It is thinking bad of yourself, even as God thinks of you, and faith is thinking well of Christ, even as God thinks of Him. Remember that God has given the best in heaven for the worst upon earth, and believing this produces repentance towards God.
“God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water;” and thus will it be with you, dear soul, when He has caused your bottle to run dry, enabled you to cast aside your darling idol, caused you to sit down as one that can do nothing in the matter of your precious soul’s salvation, and then as a truly repentant one led you to own your entire dependence upon Him for salvation. It was so with the poor prodigal. When he had spent all he came to himself, and said, “In my father’s house there is enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!” The Lord bring you to see and own that you have nothing, but that He has everything for you, and that you are welcome to it.
Look now at the second scripture: “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” God has plenty of water for you if you are only thirsty, and “everyone” who is thirsty is invited to come, and those who have no money are asked to buy, just showing that it must be accepted as a gift; for God is too rich to sell, and man is too poor to buy, so that the only terms on which the living water is to be had are— simply receiving it.
There are three things in this illustration to be had “without money” — water, wine, and milk; as there are these three in reality for us — eternal life, the Holy Ghost, and the word of God. What priceless blessings!
“But where does it say that God gives His living water to poor thirsty souls?” you may ask. That brings me to the third scripture, in John 4:10-1410Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. 11The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? 12Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? 13Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: 14But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. (John 4:10‑14). Jesus said, “If thou knewest the gift of God... thou wouldest have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water?” But the poor, ignorant, guilty sinner to whom these words were addressed understood them not, and she asks Him in her ignorance, had He better water than that she had come to draw, which obliges the Lord to draw a contrast between the two waters — the water from earth, and the water from heaven. “Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”
Oh, ye poor deluded pleasure-seekers, money-hunters, do you not find written upon all these things, “Thirst again”? There is naught on earth to satisfy; all things are changing here. Are you thirsty? Then come to Jesus. He will give you the “living water.” He will give you the Holy Ghost, which shall be in you like a well of water, producing superlative satisfaction in this unsatisfied and unsatisfying world. That is what “never thirst” means.
But I pass on to the fourth scripture, in John 7:37-39: “In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.” The feast referred to is the feast of tabernacles, which lasted eight days, and which was to be kept with great rejoicing in remembrance of the children of Israel having lived in tents forty years in the wilderness. If you turn to Leviticus 23:33-4433And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 34Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the Lord. 35On the first day shall be an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. 36Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord: on the eighth day shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord: it is a solemn assembly; and ye shall do no servile work therein. 37These are the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord, a burnt offering, and a meat offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, every thing upon his day: 38Beside the sabbaths of the Lord, and beside your gifts, and beside all your vows, and beside all your freewill offerings, which ye give unto the Lord. 39Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the Lord seven days: on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath. 40And ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days. 41And ye shall keep it a feast unto the Lord seven days in the year. It shall be a statute for ever in your generations: ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month. 42Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths: 43That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God. 44And Moses declared unto the children of Israel the feasts of the Lord. (Leviticus 23:33‑44) you will see God’s account of this feast, what is signified, and how it was to be kept.
Mark, it was on “the last day, that great day of the feast, that Jesus stood and cried, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.” They had been up to Jerusalem, and kept the feast seven days rejoicingly with their relatives and friends they had had a perfect opportunity (for seven means perfection) to get satisfaction in commemorating this divinely-instituted ordinance; and now, as they were returning home on the eighth day, the Lord saw unrest and dissatisfaction stamped of their faces, and invited them to come to Him, any He would give them rest and satisfaction, any make them channels of blessing to others. So Hi says, “He that believeth on me, as the scripture path said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive.”
In John 4, those who believe on Christ get the Holy Ghost as a well of water in them springing up in praise, and worship, and thanksgiving, to God; but in John 7, those who believe on Christ get the Holy Ghost in them, that out of them may flow rivers of living water for the refreshment and blessing of other thirsty souls in this barren sterile scene. There must be inpouring on God’s part first before there can be outpouring on ours.
Poor religious devotee, you will never get salvation, rest, peace, or the Holy Ghost, by observing carefully and reverently religious ordinances. You must come to Christ for these eternal blessings. Coming to Him is eating, and believing on Him is drinking. (See John 6:3535And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. (John 6:35).)
In our fifth scripture God is saying, “I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.” How every scripture we turn to proves that God has plenty of water, if you are only thirsty. God gives to the thirsty of the fountain of the water of life freely. But, remember, God gives, not sells, and to the thirsty; that is, the empty ones, not the full ones. And you have not to wring salvation from God, oh, no; for He gives it freely, FREELY, FREELY.
But though God gives freely, we are responsible to take, and therefore our sixth scripture says, “And the Spirit and the Bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” (Revelation 22) Christ says, three times in this chapter, “I come quickly,” and the two first “comes” in the verse we are now considering are addressed to Christ; but the third “come” is to the thirsty, and such are invited to take of the water of life freely.
Now, poor thirsting soul, you are responsible to take the water of life by believing on Christ. God will not believe for you. In love He gave His Son to die for you. You must believe for yourself or be damned. Christ will not believe for you. He has died for you, and now you must believe on Him and be saved, or not believe on Him and be damned. (Mark 16:1616He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. (Mark 16:16).) The Holy Ghost will not believe for you. He has come down from heaven to tell you all these things in du word of God, and now you must believe for yourself or be damned. Those who preach the gospel to you cannot believe for you. No; you must believe for yourself, or go to the lake of firs through your own guilty unbelief.
There remains one more scripture to consider (Luke 16:19-3119There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: 20And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, 21And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. 22And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; 23And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 24And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. 25But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. 26And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence. 27Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house: 28For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. 29Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. 30And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. 31And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead. (Luke 16:19‑31).) There hope is gone; the day of grace is past. “In hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments.... And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, am cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.”
There was plenty of water for him when he was upon earth, but he neglected it; for he was a stranger to thirst. But now, alas! he thirsts too late; for he is where there is not a drop of water and never will be. The rich man does not ask Abraham that Lazarus may dip his hand or even his finger, but only the tip of his finger, in water to cool his tongue. Oh, precious souls, will you not take freely of the water of life while there is plenty and God is giving it freely? It is for WHOSOEVER, and that means you, me, or anybody.
This is the first prayer that we read of in the word of God as being offered to a saint, and it is from a damned soul in hell, and has never been and never will be answered.
Once more in closing would I remind you, pool unsaved one, that God has plenty of water now for such as you; but if you neglect it until Christ comes or you die, you will speedily find yourself where there is plenty of thirst, and not a drop of water to quench it, through a long, long eternity.
H. M. H.