Living Waters
Dearly beloved, the Lord Jesus, in a conversation with the Samaritan woman by the well said, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that said to you, ‘Give me to drink;’ you would have asked of him, and he would have given you living water.” This record is in John 4.
There are two things she needed to know: what is the gift of God and what is the living water?
Further in their conversation the Lord said, “Whosoever drinks of this water [the water in the well] shall thirst again; but whosoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”
What is the gift of God? “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” The woman was talking with the gift of God - Jesus the Christ.
What is the living water?
The Lord speaks of living water again in John 7. “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. He that believes on me, as the scripture hath said, out of His belly shall flow rivers of living water.' (But this spake he of the spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the holy spirit was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)”
Before his ascension into heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ told his disciples, “And behold, I [Jesus Christ] send the promise of the Father upon you: but tarry you in Jerusalem until you be endued with power from on high.” Luke 24:49.
Acts 1:4 and 5 teaches us that the promise of the Father, which the Lord Jesus Christ would send was the holy spirit.
Acts 2:32 and 33: “This Jesus has God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore, being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of [from] the Father the promise of the holy spirit, he [Jesus Christ] has shed forth this, which you now see and hear.”
“He that believes on me, as the scripture hath said, out of His belly shall flow rivers of living water.” “Belly” is here put for the whole person himself, referring to Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ’s Father - God, Who is Spirit - is the fountain of living waters. He is the Giver, and He gave the gift of holy spirit to His Son to give to all that believe on him. Christ has become a life-giving spirit. Rivers of living water flow from him.
The Lord told the woman by the well, “Whosoever drinks of this water shall thirst again; but whosoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”
In John 7, the Lord said, “If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believes on me, as the scripture hath said, out of His belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the holy spirit was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)”
Rejoice and live in thanksgiving for His unspeakable gift!