THE SPRINGING WELL
[p. 233] THE SPRINGING WELL
John 4:13,14; Exodus 2:15 - 17; Exodus 35:20 - 29; Genesis 49:22; Numbers 21:16 - 18
You will observe that there is one idea running through all the scriptures that have been read, namely, that of the well. I have taken the one in the New Testament as the antitype of those in the Old. The Old Testament has been designed to furnish details, to amplify the application of the truth stated in the New. It is only to be rightly understood thus, and we shall miss much save as we understand both parts of the Bible, and read them in this way.
You will remember how the evangelist Philip, joining himself to the chariot of the Ethiopian eunuch, enquired of him, “Understandest thou what thou readest?” (Acts 8:30). This question is one with which we should all challenge ourselves. The eunuch intimated that, whilst he read the scripture, he did not understand it. We may be thankful that he read it, for God owned that reading and gave him understanding. We should read the Scriptures more. There is not enough reading of the Scriptures among the people of God today, either of private or household reading. But then in addition to this, if we do read, we have to ask ourselves whether we understand. For a right understanding of the New Testament in its fulness we must read and understand the Old. The Old Testament was written for us; it is not mere history; and it is my hope to be able to show how valuable it is in the opening up of the well-known passage in John 4, which refers to the subject of the well.
What I have in view is to make clear how substance for God, and His house, is furnished by His people; and in doing so to refer to the heave-offering of the children of Israel. This typifies that which goes up; it suggests spontaneity in our offering. Of course, there [p. 234] must first be that which comes down, and so Peter speaks of the glad tidings being declared “by the Holy Spirit, sent from heaven”, (1 Peter 1:12). It is not this, however, that is typified in the well. The well refers to what took place after the Spirit came down, for He was received at Pentecost by those who believed in Christ, who formed the assembly at Jerusalem. The presence of the Spirit is thus alluded to in John 4:14 in connection with the idea of a well, as is plainly stated by the Lord: “but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life”. After the Spirit has been received He is regarded in us as a fountain, or well. The believer is thus entitled to regard the Spirit in that light, having been received by him. We should thus be greatly concerned to see to it that all hindrances to the up-springing of the well should be removed.
The idea of a well is very remarkable: it is a very small subdivision of water. The thought of water has a great place in Scripture. We read in Genesis 1 that the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters. The waters however were then not serviceable. Evidently a great catastrophe had occurred, and the waters had engulfed that which God had made, the earth. The heavens apparently were not touched by this disaster. But “the earth”, as it says, “was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep”, (verse 2). By the subsequent operations of God account was immediately taken of this situation, for there was light given; and a recession of the waters brought about, a gathering of them into one place, and the merging of the land. Then He gave the waters a name — “the gathering together of the waters called he Seas”, (verse 10). Thus great divisions of water, oceans, have to be taken account of, they have their use. They typically represent great general influential masses or bodies. Then we have seas, gulfs, lakes, rivers, rivulets and [p. 235] ponds; and the smallest subdivision of water, the well. But it is not by any means the least interesting, for it is used by the Lord Himself as a type of the Holy Spirit having come down from heaven and taken up His residence here. But in contrast to the thought of coming down, the well refers to the upward movement expressed in persons who have the Holy Spirit. As the Lord says, “shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life”. The allusion brings before us believers in the aggregate in their faith and spiritual affections, in a striking way. What a depositary they provide for what is of God! We have to look at the saints from that point of view, and see what potentiality exists in them in connection with the mighty power of God come down from heaven. The Spirit is here actually, and here to be the power in believers whereby there may be the truth of the well, the springing up to God.
There are many allusions to wells in Scripture, and several of these in Genesis. The first two wells are in connection with a woman upon whom they made but little impression, Hagar. It is remarkable that there is no evidence that she was genuinely affected. The well as a type of the Spirit of God should have affected her. But she was not affected; she remained an Egyptian bondmaid. And moreover, her offspring grew up like her, and she “took him a wife out of the land of Egypt”, (Genesis 21:21). The natural proclivity remained.
Then I wanted to dwell on Joseph; but in coming to him we have another picture altogether. “Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall”. He is a type of Christ, who as Man here was indwelt by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is here a divine Person; He acts Himself. At Antioch, in the midst of the assembly there, or of the persons mentioned, He said, “Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them”, (Acts 13:2). But He acts always in unison with the [p. 236] Father and the Son. He is here in relation to Christ, to His interests. The lordship and the administrative service of Christ are bound up with the presence of the Holy Spirit here. I hope to show in speaking of Joseph, and later of Moses, that whilst the Spirit is here as a divine Person, yet He is here in relation to the Lord Jesus; He is here, as it were, in that setting. Indeed He was primarily dispensed by the Lord; as Peter said at Pentecost: “Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear”, (Acts 2:33). It was an act of dispensation; the blessed Lord received Him of the Father, and shed Him forth.
So that the allusion to Joseph is very interesting, “Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well”. If there was not fruitfulness in Hagar and in others, there was in Joseph. His “branches run over the wall”. He represents the very great truth of the presence of the Holy Spirit here bringing in the fruitfulness of Christ, and the position in John 4 corresponds almost exactly to this. How fruitful was the Lord Jesus there by the well! At noon He meets there the poor woman with her desolate heart and shameful character. What prospects had she? She had none; and further, she was a Samaritan and a wall existed between Samaria and the Jews, but the branches of the true Joseph ran over it. She becomes fruit for Christ, and brings to His mind that all around the fields were white unto harvest. So He says to the disciples, “Lift up your eyes and behold the fields, for they are already white to harvest”, (John 4:35). He Himself was the source of all the fruitfulness; but it was by the well; that was the divine way. It was in connection with the Spirit. It had just been said that “God gives not the Spirit by measure”, (John 3:34), and this marks the present dispensation. The Lord Jesus as Man here had the Spirit entirely [p. 237] and in His mediatorial position He brings in a state of fruitfulness which will culminate in the whole world being fill of fruit for God. Men attempt to bring about the fruitfulness of the earth by various instrumentalities, there are efforts in the way of cultivation, irrigation and what not. But “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof”, (Psalm 24:1). Men may divide it up amongst themselves, setting out its boundaries, and placing on it the tokens of their proprietory rights but presently the Lord Jesus will come forth putting His right foot on the sea and His left foot on the earth, and will cry with a loud voice as when a lion roareth, and when He has cried, seven thunders will utter their voices. Who will dispute His right? Thus He will take possession of the earth and of the sea. And what will He do with it? He will remove every trace of evil from it and fill it with fruit in every way. And the poor desolate woman at Sychar’s well coming out of the city with the empty water pitcher was to be the sign of all this. She drank into His words herself; and then went to the men of the city, and said, “Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?” (verse 29). Then they also came and believed, and thus the fruit extended.
Now in Moses’ case we have not only the fruitfulness, but also the actual administration of it. He was not as Joseph, simply a fruitful bough by a well, but was more than that; he was the great administrator. He is a type of Christ as Apostle and Administrator. When young he had it in his mind that God would use him, as many young men have. They get impressions from the Lord that they are going to be used by Him. But how could Moses be used? In what spirit could his service be carried out? We read that when Moses was grown “he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens”, (Exodus 2:11). We have a very fine example here, for it is not a question of how I may shine in the ministry,
[p. 238] but of how I can take on the burdens of others. So he came to look upon the burdens of his brethren; but with all that, he was lacking in the spirit of the well. He lacked the power that acts of itself. He attempted to effect the deliverance of the people in his own strength; he slew an Egyptian and hid him in the sand. Egypt was the leading kingdom of the world at that time. It would have taken him a long time to reduce the Egyptians by this means, and longer still to hide them all! You see that although he had a sense that he was to be a deliverer, he had begun in the wrong way. Deliverance of God’s people is not effected by slaying their enemies and hiding them in the sand. The result is he had to flee, for the enemy was stirred up by the false move; and it is ever so. Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian; “and he sat by the well”. That is the thing now; his natural activity had ceased. We have to learn this same lesson: to sit and contemplate God’s power as prefigured in the well; it is living, moving, springing up; it represents the power of God that is ever present and available in the Spirit.
Moses is now a type of the Lord Jesus; and I wish to shew in him how the Lord is able to bring the believer into the good of the well. It is for me to drink, you say. Ah yes! but then there are those who would hinder. Seven women, daughters of Jethro, come to the well: they are a type of unselfish believers, for they come to water their father’s flock. Many today are not like that. Young men and young women of today, in general, are thinking of their own things, “not the things of Jesus Christ”, (Philippians 2:21). But these young women were marked otherwise; they were unselfish. They typify, as such, those who get the good of the well; and what they did was well done; for they filled the troughs, which means there is to be room for nothing else. But then there is the adversary: many are hindered by the [p. 239] adversary, and this is where the Lord comes in. It says, “And the shepherds came and drove them away: but Moses stood up and helped them”. That is what you can reckon on in helping others to get the good of the well; the Lord will help you. Moses at this point did not turn around and slay the shepherds. He simply helped the women. The time for slaying will indeed come; I might cite many scriptures to show this. But it is not now the time for that; it is the time to help. Whenever there is opposition we can reckon on the help of the Lord. So Moses came and helped them and watered their flock. Subsequently he took entire charge of the flock. We read that forty years later he led the flock of his father-in-law to the backside of the desert, to the mountain of God, to Horeb. How true he was to his trust, all through those forty years! It was still the flock of his father-in-law. He was not, like Jacob, bargaining to get a portion of the flock for himself, but was marked by unselfishness, and shines here as a beautiful type of Christ! How infinitely good the Lord is in the care of His people, and His leading, first that we might get the good of the Spirit, and then that we might reach the mount of God, where everything is provided! “On the mount of Jehovah will be provided”, (Genesis 22:14). As under the hand of the Lord you will find yourself watered from the well and then brought to the mount of God.
Then in Numbers we see Moses still concerned about the well. At that point it was a question of the well being dug. Believers may have the Holy Spirit, but the principle of digging is but little understood or applied — how much has been missed on this account! There is much concern often as to whether or not we have the Spirit, but little real digging. Moses is not now sitting by the well, he is the lawgiver, directing the diggers. Romans is the epistle that corresponds with the lawgiver: it presents the authority of the Lord. This cannot [p. 240] be trifled with. In that epistle believers receive a great commendation from the apostle, when he says, “ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you”, (chapter 6:17). It is, so to speak, the digging epistle. It enforces the coming under the Lord and the denial of the flesh in the putting to death of the deeds of the body. The record in Numbers is that “The princes digged the well, the nobles of the people digged it, by the direction of the lawgiver, with their staves”. And the people sing: “Spring up, O well; sing ye unto it”. Digging is a feature of princes, of men of power. They work to remove the obstructions, to so act that all may get the gain of the Spirit. The thing whereof the Lord had spoken was now happening. As it is said, “that is the well whereof the Lord spake unto Moses, Gather the people together, and I will give them water”. God would do this, but how? Through digging. We have to do with the Lord, and if there is not digging, discipline comes in. At Corinth there was great remissness. “For this cause”, the apostle wrote, “many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep”, (1 Corinthians 11:30). The Spirit had been grieved. There had been great lack of digging, so to speak, and instead, great allowance of the flesh.
Now in the last passage read we reach the great final result. It is recorded, “And all the congregation of the children of Israel departed from the presence of Moses”. It is as if it were said, How shall I act if the Lord is not actually looking on? Can I be trusted? If the brethren are not looking at me, can I be trusted? The answer lies in the state of my heart. Hence what we find emphasised throughout these verses is the state of the heart, what kind of a heart the people had. So it says, “And they came, every one whose heart stirred him up, and every one whom his spirit made willing”. What kind of a state was found there? They were not being moved by their natural hearts. The Lord gives a [p. 241] picture of my natural heart in Mark 7:21,22: “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness”. Here are thirteen things; and it is not simply that they are in the natural heart of man, but that they proceed out of it. And it is of these things that the world is made up; as in Revelation 16, three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, the beast and the false prophet. Thus has Satan worked on man’s heart, producing all manner of uncleanness therein. It is most humiliating, but it must be admitted. But that is not the heart that is alluded to here; the believer is a subject of the work of God and his heart is purified by faith; it is that heart that we have here typically. It is the heart of those who have submitted themselves to the cleansing power of the word of God; their hearts are purified by faith. So it is said, “every one whose heart stirred him up”. The natural heart will not stir men up to this; it stirs a man to give place to the lusts of this world.
So you see, these verses fit in most aptly with the others read, because it is a question of faith having already taken up its residence in the heart. The movement is from within and the heart is changed; my whole being is changed by the work of God. My heart is changed and my spirit is changed, as stated here: “every one whom his spirit made willing”. Both the spirit and the heart are changed. There is now substance therein for God. Thus you see what the saints are, even the inheritance of God: “That ye may know ... what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints”, (Ephesians 1:18). How beautiful are the movements from the heart here! The women have a part in it too: “And all the women that were wise hearted did spin with their hands”. The promptings of their heart made them willing to work. All this is the fruit, typically, of the [p. 242] reception of the Spirit, and shews what is going on today among the people of God.
Everything comes down first, as I said. There are both the upper and the nether springs. I am speaking now of the nether springs. “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning”, (James. 1:17). But then, what of the return journey? It is what goes up in return that God loves. It is the power of the Spirit of God in the believer producing material for His house, yea, worship in spirit and in truth. Let us take this in beloved brethren. Has your heart been turned from the things of the world to come under the moving power of the Spirit? What is your heart saying to you daily? Is it prompting you to come to the meeting? Thank God if it is. That is not the prompting of the natural heart. Perhaps it is giving you the desire to be of some service to the Lord’s people, to provide the means of taking them to the meetings, for instance. Thank God for that, for it does not proceed from the natural heart. And I might mention many other things in this connection, of which the Lord says, “Inasmuch as ye have done it to one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it to me”, (Matthew 25:40). You become a source of refreshment to the saints as serving them thus.
There are many things you may bring as material for God’s house which result from the prompting of the renewed heart. You can bring the goats’ hair, being an example of true separation from the world. But you will never bring goats’ hair unless you are really separate. Or you can bring the rams’ skins dyed red, coming out as one who has taken on a new, distinctive colour; and you can bring other things which have a place in connection with the outer covering of the tabernacle. Then there can also be brought the blue, purple, gold and precious stones, which stand related to what is inside.
[p. 243] All this typifies the spontaneous outcome in the heart of the believer by the power of the Spirit springing up, supplying substance for God to form His habitation. Hence it is most important to make room for the Spirit in the heart. How one loves to see the brethren getting into the good of the power of the Spirit, of the springing up of the well! May God grant it to us abundantly!