Living Water

In the last post we talked of Jesus as being the Bread of Life and Hidden Manna.  Now, let's consider His promise of "Living Water":

• John 4:13-14: [Jesus said:] “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
• John 7:37-39: [Jesus said:] “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive.

Although the water is a symbol of the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, it appears that it is our relationship to Jesus that provides the means for the Spirit to be released in our hearts.  (Theologians have debated in the past whether the Spirit proceeds from the Father only, or from the Father and the Son.  I must confess that I don't know enough about the relevant arguments to say anything sensible about this issue.)

Anyway, here are some other beautiful verses from the Bible on the theme of Living Water:

• Psalm 36:7-9: How priceless is your unfailing love! Both high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of your wings.  They feast on the abundance of your house.  You give them drink from your river of delights.  For with you is the fountain of life.  In your light we see light.
• Psalm 107:9: He satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.
• Jeremiah 2:13: My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own wells, broken wells that cannot hold water.
• Matthew 5:6: [Jesus said:] “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.”
• Rev 22:1: Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb.
• Rev 22:17: The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!”  Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.

I (and many of my fellow Christians) can personally testify that there is a satisfaction in knowing Jesus and being filled with His Spirit that far exceeds anything that this world has to offer.  Indeed, before I came to know Jesus, despite all my efforts to satisfy my desires, my spirit and soul were "dying of thirst".  As Augustine said, "You made us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless until they find our home in You".