"The water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." (John 4:14) "For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light shall we see light." (Psalm 36:9) "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men." (John 1:4)
These texts, together with those in the preceding article, show very clearly that Christ is the life of all who receive Him. His life is the life of God. And we have seen that this life is righteousness; which means that it is of the very nature of the law of God, for it is declared to be the righteousness of God.
A fountain is a place from which water flows freely and constantly. Therefore life may be received from God just as one would drink from a fountain to refresh himself. That this is the way that righteousness is to be obtained, the Scriptures plainly show. Let us trace the figure: "Moreover, brethren, I would not that you should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; And did all eat the same spiritual meat; And did all drink the same spiritual drink; for they drank ofthat spiritual Rock that followed them; and that Rock was Christ." (1 Corinthians 10:1-4)
Unmistakable reference is here made to the bringing of water from the rock in the wilderness, that the Israelites might drink. Let us turn to that. We find the record in the 17th chapter of Exodus. The people were in the desert, and there was no water. The Lord Himself had brought them there, but they did not think of that, but concluded that they were about to perish. "And the Lord said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with you of the elders of Israel; and your rod, wherewith you smote the river, take in your hand, and go. Behold, I will stand before you there upon the rock in Horeb; and you shall 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." (Exodus 17:5-6)
Notice that this rock whence the water came, was in Horeb. Horeb and Sinai are the same, for whereas in Exodus the law is said to have been spoken from Sinai, in Deuteronomy it is said to have been spoken from Horeb; and in Malachi we read, "Remember the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments." (Malachi 4:4)
So the water came from the same mountain from which the law was afterward spoken. Moreover, the water was flowing at the very time that the law was spoken. For there was no water in that place except what came from the rock, and if it had ceased flowing as soon as the people had once quenched their thirst, they would soon have been as bad off as they were before.
Now notice well whence the water came. Moses smote the rock, but he did not give the water to the people. Christ stood on the rock; and in 1 Corinthians 10 we read that the people drank from the Rock which is Christ. The water came in a miraculous manner from Christ Himself. It was the same miracle that was afterwards performed in giving the multitudes bread, as we read in the last paper.
Of the manna we read that it was given that they might know that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. "And He humbled you, and suffered you to hunger, and fed you with manna, which you knew not, neither did your fathers know; that He might make you know that man does not live by bread only, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord does man live." (Deuteronomy 8:3)
So it must have been with the water. It was to teach the people trust in the Lord, not only for temporal blessings, but for spiritual life also.
Now when we remember that Jesus says that He gives the water of life to all who believe in Him, and that this water is the Holy Spirit, which ministers the righteousness of the law of God, we must know that by giving the Israelites water in that miraculously manner, He meant to teach them that just as they drink that water to refresh their physical life, so they might by believing Him, drink of His righteousness.
That this is so is indicated by the words of Jesus in the sermon on the mount: "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled." (Matthew 5:6)
Sinai stands as the embodiment of law. "[But] by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified." (Romans 3:20)
This was indicated in the giving of the law. It was given amid thunders and lightnings, and an earthquake. It was death to so much as touch the mount. That indicated that no one could approach the holy law that was spoken therefrom, to obtain righteousness. "The law works wrath." (Romans 4:15)
It has only death to give to the sinner. Yet it was a fact that no one could have life except he had the righteousness of that same law. What hope, then, was there for the people?
Why, this was the lesson that they were to learn from the circumstance, and which we are to learn from the record of it. Although righteousness cannot be obtained from the law, any more than the people could touch the mountain from which it was spoken, yet as they could stand afar off and drink of the water which was flowing from the mountain, so they could drink in the righteousness of the law by receiving Christ, the giver of the water. Happy would it have been for them if they had learned the lesson.
Thus we see that in the very giving of the law, the people were plainly taught that righteousness could not be gained from the law, but only through Christ. The law was ordained in the hands of a Mediator: "Wherefore then serves the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator." (Galatians 3:19)
And Christ is the one Mediator between God and man. "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." (1 Timothy 2:5)
He is not Mediator in the sense that He shields us from the wrath of God, for God does not hate us; He loves sinners. But Christ is Mediator in the sense that through Him the righteousness of God is conveyed to us, so that we may be reconciled to Him. The water flowing from the rock as the law was spoken, was an indication that they could through Christ just as freely drink of the righteousness which the law demanded, and thus have eternal life. "Out of the heart are the issues of life." (Proverbs 4:23)
And the law of God was in the heart of the Lord Jesus. "I delight to do Your will, O my God: yea, Your law is within my heart." (Psalm 40:8)
Therefore the life which comes from Him to us is the righteousness of the law. Now see how things in the heavens were pictured out before the faces of the children of Israel, and before our faces, too, if we receive the Bible record as the living word of God.
The law of God is the foundation of the throne of God: "Justice and judgment are the habitation of your throne: mercy and truth shall go before your face." (Psalm 89:14)
God dwells between the cherubim: "Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, You that lead Joseph like a flock; You that dwell between the cherubims, shine forth." (Psalm 80:1)
In the sanctuary which Moses built, there was an ark, upon the cover of which were two cherubim, and within which, underneath the cherubim was the law of God, the ten commandments. It was between these two cherubim, over the law, that the glory of God appeared, and from there He spoke to the people. "And they shall make an ark of shittim wood: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof. And you shall overlay it with pure gold, within and without shall you overlay it, and shall make upon it a crown of gold round about. And you shall cast four rings of gold for it, and put them in the four corners thereof; and two rings shall be in the one side of it, and two rings in the other side of it. And you shall make staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold. And you shall put the staves into the rings by the sides of the ark, that the ark may be borne with them. The staves shall be in the rings of the ark: they shall not betaken from it. And you shall put into the ark the testimony which I shall give you. And you shall make a mercy seat of pure gold: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof. And you shall make two cherubims of gold, of beaten works hall you make them, in the two ends of the mercy seat. And make one cherub on the one end, and the other cherub on the other end: even of the mercy seat shall you make the cherubims on the two ends thereof. And the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be. And you shall put the mercy seat above upon the ark; and in the ark you shall put the testimony that I shall give you. And there I will meet with you, and I will commune with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give you in commandment unto the children of Israel." (Exodus 25:10-22)
Thus the ark was a symbol of the throne of God, showing that the law is literally the basis of it; for the earthly tabernacle was a pattern of things in the heavens: "It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us." (Hebrews 9:23-24) "And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb." (Revelation 22:1)
This river is a real, literal river, yet it is of it that we are to drink even now. For the call is, "Let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." (Revelation 22:17)
And Jesus says, "I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of water of life freely." (Revelation 21:6)
This river of water of life comes direct from the throne of God, and in that throne is the law. Of it we may drink freely.
But as it comes from the throne of God, it is as it were charged with the righteousness of that law, so that as we drink it, we drink in the righteousness of God. And as that water is our life, just as earthly water gives fresh life to our fainting bodies, therefore our lives are filled with righteousness.
It was to impress this lesson upon the minds of the children of Israel in the desert that the things took place in connection with Sinai. And it was to impress the same lesson upon our minds that the record of those occurrences was written.
The mountain was the embodiment of law; the law had nothing but terror for them; but the water was flowing from the same mountain; it however came from Christ, from whom the law also came. All this was to teach us that the law which was spoken from Sinai is the standard of righteousness, but that while it is death to us when we come to it ourselves alone, it is life to us when we drink of it as Christ ministers it to us.
And thus may we know that His commandment is life eternal, and that whosoever will, may drink freely of the fountain of life, and thereby be filled with righteousness.
I heard the voice of Jesus say,
"Behold I freely give
The living water; thirsty one,
Stoop down, and drink, and live."
I came to Jesus, and I drank
Of that life-giving stream;
My thirst was quenched, my soul revived,
And now I live in Him.
--Horatius Bonar, Hymn: I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say, 1846.
--Present Truth, December 15, 1892--Timeline: III-5 (The Samaritan Woman)--John 4:14.