We were out in the bush of Northern Ontario, picking pine cones to be sold to the Ministry of Natural Resources, who would then grow seedlings for the next year of tree planting. It wasn’t particularly hard work, but it was hot work. The insects were buzzing around, and there was no shade. But worst of all, on that first day out, we had forgotten to bring drinks. The sweat dripped from our foreheads as we worked for several hours. And then an advertisement came over our radio: “Wouldn’t you like a nice glass of ice cold milk?” That was it! We packed up and went looking for a store by the side of the highway where we could buy something to drink. Thirst has a particular agony of its own.
The Bible speaks of living waters in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. Jeremiah 2:13 and 17:13 make it clear that the Lord Himself is the fountain of living water. This is consistent with John 7:39 which says that the stream of living water is the Holy Spirit. Of the one who trusts Christ for salvation, John 7:38 says that “streams of living water will flow from within him,” a likely reference to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:9). Indeed, based on Romans 8:9, we can say that the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is synonymous with salvation.
Soul Drought
So what is the condition of the person who does not have this living water? Certainly, he or she is an unbeliever and headed for a lost eternity. But the Bible is very good at using descriptive language and metaphor to illustrate deep truths. And so we see Isaiah 55:1 comparing this lost condition to physical thirst, “Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.” Interestingly, this Old Testament passage is not calling the people of Israel to a greater zeal for the Law but rather “let him return to the Lord… for He will abundantly pardon” (Isa. 50:7). To be lost is to have an aching, burning thirst.
The man or woman who does not have salvation is missing something essential. Whether they realize it or not, there is a Christ-shaped hole in their lives. So they try to fill the void with whatever they can find. Some throw themselves into works of mercy, which, while commendable, are not meritorious for salvation. Others throw themselves into false religions, some of which appeal to the senses and others that teach asceticism, but all deny the essential truth of Christ’s finished work. Still others throw themselves into complete hedonism, living for the flesh and making no attempt to deny it. But Jeremiah 2:13 teaches us that to deny the fountain of living waters is to build for yourself a broken cistern. Instead of a ready supply of water to quench one’s thirst, one is left with something that looks like it will quench thirst but will not. The thirst remains.
We can sometimes become discouraged when trying to reach out with the Christian faith. It’s not so much the opposition that discourages us, it’s the atmosphere of studied indifference. It often seems that the average person is completely indifferent to the offer of eternal life, but this is not quite so. While they may refuse the living water, they still know they are thirsty. The man who has abandoned himself to living for the flesh knows that the flesh will not satisfy his deepest need. He may proclaim his happiness to you; he may tell you he doesn’t need salvation; but you can be sure that when nobody else is around to watch, he cries the bitterest of tears.
Thirst at a Well
John 4 presents an excellent pattern for personal evangelism. The Lord doesn’t start by cornering someone and blurting out a formula for a quick conversion. His approach to evangelism flows quite naturally: He was weary from His journey, sitting beside a well, and simply asked a woman for a drink.
Thus a conversation is initiated which will soon turn to spiritual matters. The woman raised a protest based on centuries of religious and cultural strife. But instead of being drawn into the debate, the Lord Jesus used her spiritual thirst to turn the conversation to living water. We read in John 4:10, “Jesus answered and said to her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, “Give Me a drink,” you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.’” When the woman tried to move the conversation in a different direction, the Lord returned to the topic of living water in verse 14, “but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”
Further along, when confronted by her personal sin, the woman sought to depersonalize the situation by engaging in a religious debate. The tactics the woman used are well known to those who seek to share their faith today. But central to this whole conversation is the fact that the lost have a deep thirst.
Given this deep thirst and the fact that the lost know they are thirsty, it is not surprising that the Lord Jesus extends evangelistic invitations in John 7:37 and Revelation 22:17 using the idea of thirst. Some scholars have suggested that there were drink offerings on the seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles but that on the eighth day there were no drink offerings, lending poignancy to the Lord’s proclamation in John 7. But this fact is not needed to understand the essential point, and it is that Jesus is extending an invitation that meets the deepest need in winsome words which are designed to stir the lost. So we read, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water’” (vv. 37-38).
This same invitation is extended at almost the very end of the Bible, in Revelation 22:17. There we read, “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come.’ And let the one who hears say, ‘Come.’ And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost.” Here, at the end of the Bible, we are reminded that this great offer is without cost to us. While it cost the Lord Jesus Christ His very life, the work was done. To the man or woman who has been living in a dry place, to the one who has worked his way into a sweat while trying to earn salvation, to the individual who has hoped in the cisterns of the world and found them dry, the Lord Jesus offers Himself as the water of life—the cool refreshment that eliminates thirst permanently and just gets better and better as time goes on and we pass into eternity.
When Israel’s tribes were parched with thirst,
Forth from the rock the waters burst;
And all their future journey through
Yielded them drink, and gospel too!
In Moses’ rod a type they saw
Of his severe and fiery law;
The smitten rock prefigured Him
From whose pierced side all blessings stream.
But ah! the types were all too faint,
His sorrows or His worth to paint;
Slight was the stroke of Moses’ rod,
But He endured the wrath of God.
Their outward rock could feel no pain,
But ours was wounded, torn and slain;
The rock gave but a watery flood,
But Jesus poured forth streams of blood.
The earth is like their wilderness,
A land of drought and sore distress;
Without one stream from pole to pole,
To satisfy a thirsty soul.
But let the Savior’s praise resound;
In Him refreshing streams are found,
Which pardon, strength, and comfort give;
And thirsty sinners drink and live.
—John Newton, The Olney Hymns
Uplook Magazine, April 2013
Written by Shawn Abigail