Rivers of Living Water
Rivers of living water.
Exodus 17:5–6 (KJV 1900) “5 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go. 6 Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.”
Numbers 20:7–11 (KJV 1900) “7 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 8 Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink. 9 And Moses took the rod from before the LORD, as he commanded him. 10 And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock? 11 And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also.”
John 4:13–14 (KJV 1900) “13 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: 14 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.”
John 7:37–39 (KJV 1900) “37 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. 38 He 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.)”
Revelation 7:13–17 (KJV 1900) “13 And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? 14 And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 15 Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. 16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. 17 For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.”
Revelation 22:16–17 (KJV 1900) “16 I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. 17 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.”
Father’s riches are limitless,
Father’s supply is boundless,
Father’s grace and provision flow like a river.
Notice that this river of living water comes from our innermost being.
Often, we find ourselves behaving badly—well, no one reading this of course; but I hear that some Christians in faraway lands sometimes behave badly. They do things that, in those moments, make them indistinguishable from the world. Some even have dark ugly thoughts that sometimes make them wonder if they are saved at all.
But Jesus says something else about us.
He says that we who believe,
Have living water flowing from our innermost being.
Have our abode in Christ,
Have been crucified with Him,
Have His indestructible life—real life—to live from.
In John 10:10 (NASB95), Jesus said
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”
That’s the life we have. That’s what happened at the core of our being.
Our spirits were placed into Christ.
His Spirit was placed into us.
We became fused with Him, one with Him, at the level of our spirits.
So, when we behave badly, it isn’t because we aren’t saved.
Bad behavior comes from the flesh, not from our spirit.
We have within us at our core, rivers of living water that never cease to flow. Living from the boundless riches of His grace is the restful way we get to navigate the world.
That’s the way of grace. Never-ending supply that fills us so we overflow life everywhere we go.
