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LIVING WATER

F.E.Raven

There is a good deal of interest in seeing the progress in the unfolding of the truth in these chapters. In the second chapter the Lord brings to light how everything is established on earth on the ground of resurrection. What could be established after the flesh? Nothing! How could He ally Himself to Israel? They were under death and the curse, and it was only on the ground of resurrection He could come in as the Bridegroom. Israel will have to pass through death in figure and come out in resurrection, and He will establish Jehovah's pleasure in them. So in regard to the temple, the Jew would destroy it; He would raise it up.

In the third chapter there is an advance; we come to God's love, and how it has found its expression. It is the establishment of a point of contact in a risen Man, a Mediator between God and men, and man may touch God and know the love of God. There was no light here until Christ came, but He was the true light, a perfect standard, and hence all is brought to an issue by the light coming into the world. Every man is tested by the light of Christ; because the true light has come in we have a standard by which we can judge everything, and good and evil are disentangled in the mind of the believer. I refer to that to connect these chapters. I dare say some may ask, What is God's mind? Well, it is "God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believes on him may not perish, but have life eternal", and the point of contact is there.

In the fourth chapter we have the power by which the mind of God may be reached in the believer. Among believers I have no doubt a great many accept God's mind, but there are many who have not gone much further. I want to get the good of it. Faith was there in Old Testament times. The promises made known God's mind, but the time was not come for them to enter in to what was promised. I am not content with resting on a text. It does not give me God's mind, it does not give me anything but the statement of it. You would not get it if you did not believe, but believing will not give it. The revelation of the thought will not give it. There must be a power to enter into the thought. The third chapter brings into view what God had purposed for man. The fourth chapter brings to light the power by which the soul may enter into the mind of God with regard to man. The fifth and sixth chapters unfold what the thing is. Living water is the great point in the fourth chapter. All for us depends upon our appreciation of Christ. It is bound up with our knowledge of God and our appreciation of Christ. It has been said there are two things which a Christian has - forgiveness and the Spirit. I have nothing else, but still I have all in the knowledge of God's love and the appreciation of Christ. There is no limit to the blessing. In Christianity all depends on knowledge, and therefore it depends upon the Spirit. Christianity is different from the time past; what the Spirit enables man to enter into is the knowledge of God and the appreciation of Christ.

The light in which Christ is presented here is two-fold, viz as Prophet and as Priest. In the fourth chapter He is the object of faith and point of contact. The woman said to Christ, "Sir, I see that thou art a prophet". He told her all things that ever she did. Everyone has to make acquaintance with Christ as prophet. We could not go on if we did not know that He knows all about us. He could not be a Priest unless He were a Prophet, for He must know all about those to whom He is Priest. That is where Aaron failed as a priest, for he did not know the workings of the people's mind. I would not confess to a priest in this world. He does not know all about me. It is the lamest thing possible to confess to a priest. It is going back to Judaism. Very few people can confess their inward workings, but if you have a priest who knows all about you, you do not want, in a sense, to make a confession; you feel like the woman, He knows me perfectly. We have to confess our sins, but what gives us confidence in doing so is the knowledge that He knows all about us. All will be bound to admit that for a high priest you must have a prophet. A prophet is a seer, viz. one who sees, and for a priest to be effective he ought to be a prophet. He is priest as being a prophet. The woman found herself in the presence of One who knew her perfectly. She said to the men, "Come, see a man who told me all things I had ever done". It is a great comfort in our relations with Christ that He knows all about us. We confess indeed, but we feel that He knows all about us, and confession takes it s proper character in the soul from the fact that we feel the One to whom we confess knows all about us. Many may be puzzled about my connecting the priest with the fourth chapter, but it is the priest who gives living water. Living water is symbolical of the Spirit. We read in Isaiah, "Come ye to the waters" (chap 55: 1), and in Revelation, "I will give to him that thirsts of the fountain of the water of life freely ", chap 21: 6. It is a symbol of the Spirit; it is the gift of Christ. "If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that says to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water". In the third chapter you get the point of contact, and when that is apprehended you ask Christ, and He gives you living water. Christ never gives living water without being asked. The soul comes to Christ and He gives living water - the gift of the Spirit.

I tell you what makes me believe that you get the priest in this chapter, because Christ when He ascended up on high led captivity captive and gave gifts to men. Another thought is that Israel received the law under the Aaronic priesthood. I refer to the seventh chapter of Hebrews. Now, what is the antitype of that? I have no doubt it is the reception of the Spirit, and we receive the Spirit under the Melchisedec priesthood. The Melchisedec priesthood has come in because Christ has ascended on high on behalf of His people and has sent down the gift of the Holy Ghost. The Spirit was not given until Christ went up on high and was saluted as High Priest at God's right hand, so that I am justified in saying the Spirit is given in connection with the Melchisedec priesthood. What you have to apprehend is this, that there is One who represents men in the face of God. The Apostle is High Priest; therefore Man is in the presence of God for us; that is our comfort. It matters not what we are, but we are perfectly represented in the presence of God. We are imperfect, but such an High Priest became us. Being made higher than the heavens He sent forth the Spirit. It is perfectly wonderful. He was Himself sealed by the Spirit and anointed, but He ascended on high, having accomplished redemption on the part of man, that He might send the Spirit. There will be an outpouring of the Spirit on the same ground in a future day. Christ is the One who baptises with the Holy Ghost. He appears now in the presence of God for us, and He has sent down the Spirit. It is the day of the Spirit. "If any one thirst, let him come to me and drink", John 7: 37.

I want to refer to the virtue of the living water. The woman had tried, no doubt, a great many things. She had tried the pleasures of the world but it had not produced much. Underneath this exterior there was a thirsty soul; appearances are deceptive, people keep up appearances to the last moment; even often after the collapse has taken place inside the outward appearance is kept up. Many evangelists can corroborate this. One very interesting thing in connection with the Lord was that He looked at everything in a moral way. "Every one who drinks of this water shall thirst again; but whosoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst". People, and especially the young, look for pleasure in reading, but I do not see them satisfied by it. Many a young Christian is not satisfied, they do not take the right way but they pursue objects that do not lead to happiness. They may give momentary excitement but not happiness, and no person is happy who is not content. Content is an extremely important element of happiness. Peter and Paul were in trying circumstances outwardly, but there was happiness because there was content. "Whosoever drinks of the water which I shall give him shall never thirst... springing up into eternal life".

The object is that the believer may reach God's purpose, and I have no doubt it is by the power within. "Whosoever drinks"; how is it brought about? God is revealed, and the revelation of God is made good. I am not content with the revelation but want it made good. The revelation lies in the death of Christ, the making of it good lies in the Spirit. The living water makes good the revelation. This is the point in the fourth chapter. The love of God is shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost given unto us. It is not a sentiment, but His love is made good to us. The love of God is unfathomable, there is no reaching the bottom of it, but it is shed abroad in our hearts. Do not look at things in relation to the present time but in relation to eternity; measure your riches by what you have for eternity. I have heard of a man who has forty millions but all must be left behind him. Do not measure yourself by the twenty or thirty years you may have to stay here, but by eternity, and see what you have. If you have the love of God shed abroad in your heart you are rich for eternity and you have nothing to desire.

Only the love of God can be riches for man, and if you have that you have inexhaustible riches and you should never thirst. I can say honestly I have nothing to desire. What are riches worth beside the love of God! "Things which eye has not seen, and ear not heard, and which have not come into man's heart, which God has prepared for them that love him", 1 Cor 2: 9. How did we ever come to love God? Because He first loved us. Millions of money have entered into man's heart but these things have never entered his heart, therefore they must be very great things. I trust all here are rich in the light of eternity, and perhaps some of the poorest amongst us in this world's goods may be the richest. God has chosen the poor in this world rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He has promised to them that love Him. We are rich in the love of God and in the possession of the Spirit. We are delivered from the world's pursuits and objects and brought into a scene where every desire is satisfied.

"The water which I shall give him shall become in him a fountain of water, springing up into eternal life". Evidently that indicates an energy in the believer. One virtue of the water is that a believer is to be satisfied; another thing is its energy, it springs up into eternal life. It is an energy in the believer which is ever attaching us to Christ that we may appreciate Him. This is the Spirit's work, giving us liberty of access to God and salvation from the influences of things here so that Christ is increasingly appropriated and appreciated. We are married to another, to One raised from the dead, that we might bring forth fruit unto God. Our power in drawing near to God is in proportion as we appreciate Christ. It is not by the Spirit but by His work in us, enabling us to appreciate Christ and thus draw near to God.

Christ loved us and gave Himself for us, and He now appears in the presence of God for us. He is our Forerunner, and we have the hope as an anchor of the soul. It is very wonderful to think the Forerunner is there. We are getting nearer and nearer, but the Forerunner is already entered.

Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty, and there is salvation from all that is antagonistic to God. "Through him we have both access by one Spirit to the Father", Eph 2: 18. Two things go together, the enjoyment of the love of God and the appreciation of Christ, and it is by this we learn the secret that God intends to bring to pass. These chapters do not tell us what eternal life means; for that we have to go to the fifth and sixth chapters. In the third chapter we have the person described who has eternal life. In the fourth chapter we get the power by which we reach it. The apostle Paul in another language says, "he that sows to the Spirit, from the Spirit shall reap eternal life", Gal 6: 8. If you go in that direction you must have the links distinctly formed which connect you with Christ. They do not exist enough in our consciousness. There must be a link in the heart with the One who represents us there. This is effected by the living water - the Spirit - which springs up into eternal life. The Spirit is here to strengthen our links with the Forerunner who died for us, and who has formed an eternal link in our hearts to Himself by the Holy Ghost. You will not be here much longer in the world. We shall soon pass away, but the great thing is to be rich for eternity. Every penny must be left behind; so survey your riches this way, and it is very likely, as I said, that the poorest here may be the richest of all. The Spirit is a well of water springing up, so that a believer may never thirst. It is riches for eternity. Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

If Christ in heaven is my treasure, my heart will be there.

CONTINUANCE

D.J.Hutson

John 13: 1; Daniel 1: 21; 12; 13; Ruth 2: 7 (last sentence)

I just want to speak briefly, beloved, of continuance, seen so blessedly, and of such comfort to us at this time, in the continuing, changeless and unchanging love of the Lord Jesus: "having loved his own who were in the world" - referring there to the few who had been a comfort to Him in the days of His flesh, but extending, I believe, to those of us who are left in the world at the present time in the testimony - He "loved them to the end", or as the note tells us, 'going through with everything is implied'. Think of what 'going through with everything' involved for the Lord Jesus, what it meant to Him to go to the cross and there to suffer for sins, "the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God", 1 Pet 3: 18. Then there was that cry of His: "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matt 27: 46) and then He was buried, as He could say, "thus shall the Son of man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights", Matt 12: 40. But then the glorious resurrection, the glory of the Father entering into the domain of death and bringing out the One who had gone through it all in love, love for His God and Father, love for His assembly and love for each one of us, as Paul could say, "the Son of God, who has loved me and given himself for me", Gal 2: 20. And still His love is the same. What a comfort this would be to our beloved brother and those who mourn particularly! indeed, a comfort to us all, for we all mourn the loss of one from our midst in this city, though for her we rejoice that, as we have already sung, her portion is with Christ, which is very much better. And that indicates, too, that His love has not only taken Him through death itself, and all that it meant, to the glory, but He loves through everything and He still loves our sister. I say He loves her at the present time, for while she was here with us in the flesh she was in the conscious enjoyment of the love of Christ. We cannot think that a portion which is very much better would be without the enjoyment of that love; although we know little of what that portion is, we do know that it must be in the enjoyment of that love, and that death which has come in in relation to our sister has not separated her from the love of Christ, for He loves through everything. O, the blessed continuance of the love of Jesus! What a comfort it is to us at this time to rejoice in the portion of our sister as she is now with Christ which is very much better!

But then there is the gathering up of what is left behind. Our sister's portion, that blessed portion, is as it says here on the plate on the coffin, 'With the Lord'. "Blessed the dead who die in the Lord", Rev 14: 13; but then the Spirit adds "for their works follow with them". There is something which follows on, something which, may we say, is left behind. Our brother has already referred in prayer to continuance in the testimony over this span of years, and I believe the brief reference at the end of Daniel 1 shows how pleasing this is in the sight of heaven. Much is recorded afterwards in the book - Daniel's experiences, the experiences of his companions, his experiences with God, and prophesies yet to be fulfilled - but, as it were, all is compassed at the end of this chapter, that "Daniel continued unto the first year of king Cyrus". Not in an easy day indeed, but in a day something like our own when things publicly, we may say, are in captivity, it is said that Daniel continued. That is put on record for us; and at the end of the book it says "thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days". Our sister has continued and now she rests, asleep through Jesus, and yet in the consciousness of His love, with Christ which is very much better. But it is for us, the living who remain, to continue. Our sister has continued through the various tests and crises in the testimony, being preserved in the truth right through to the end; she has continued when many have not continued. May it be, beloved, that as we gather this up from this occasion, we all continue, continue through to the end with the Lord in the testimony.

Then as to Ruth it says that "she came, and has continued from the morning until now; her sitting in the house has been little as yet"; that is, there was that which was quite legitimate which might have detained her, but she continued with the reapers, gleaning in the field. Our sister has done this, in weakness of body which some of us have not realised, and perhaps the Lord only knows besides our brother who has been with our sister; she has continued. What an example she has been; rarely have we missed her from our comings together in this city. She has continued with the reapers, she has continued in the field, and this, again, beloved, would be an encouragement to us, for that same love of Jesus which loves through everything would love us through our weaknesses and would strengthen us for "He is Saviour of the body" (Eph 5: 23), so that we might be able, according to the strength He gives us, to continue in the support of what is here in the assembly for His pleasure at the present time and to continue to glean in the field which is being reaped, to receive the present truth and to answer to it.

This was all one had in mind, our continuance in the testimony; her continuance in our gatherings together in this city, from which we shall miss her, is not spoken of in the way of eulogy, but we are thankful for the example that has been left. May we all be stimulated so that there is no lack in the testimony, although there is loss through the departure of our sister, and may what she has left behind be gathered up and continued in each one of us until the Lord come, for His Name's sake.

Word at a burial

LONDON

26 June 1980

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